Philip Demitra was born and raised in Prague, Czech Republic, by two great parents who supported his hockey career along the entire way. Demitra grew up with a couple of younger siblings who were always willing to practice deeking him out, which is how he knew he wanted to be a defender. A two-way drive to be strong offensively has also been in Demetra’s blood as he is related to former big leagues forward who unfortunately passed away. Demitra was able to grow up playing on Ponds and in his neighborhood in Prague, where he made several friends who have gone on to have success in the IIHF and WJC.
 
Demitra’s goal is to one day make an impact in the SHL as a player who can play both special teams and eat minutes. Even if he does not put up the flashiest numbers, being able to be reliable is in his opinion the key to longevity in the league.  He also doesn’t mind what role he plays on the team as long as he is able to help them succeed, something he wants more than anything. Internationally Demitra dreams of being able to represent his team internationally and hopes that one he will be able to play for Team Czechia as he is currently playing for Team Young Guns in the WJC instead currently. He loved growing up in Prague and wants to really show that it’s not always the Canada show.
When playing in Europe, Demitra had been especially strong in passing and puck handling for his age, while also being overall serviceable defensively. Demitra was then originally somewhat overlooked upon arriving in North America as he was quiet and kept to himself. After meeting with a few GM’s and since joining the Timber’s fantastic locker room he has been coming out of his shell.

Demitra was excited when he took the flight from his home in the Czech Republic to North America. It was to all places Maine which he was unsure if he would like, but he was super excited to have been drafted. Demitra knew that coming to North America would be a change, however he underestimated how much, and it took him longer than planned to adapt. As a 5’11 defenseman he found himself to be outmatched physically by many of his counterparts, especially due to his lack of weight training experience. He also found his defensive and offensive IQ was far below where it needed it to be, however that has been a priority throughout the season. Demitra is eternally grateful for all the fantastic teammates he had throughout the season as without them he would have been lost on the ice and with no idea how to improve. Maine’s friendly locker room really helped Demitra get settled and he is now gaining more and more confident with each week.

He started the pre-season with 1 goal, 4 assists in 7 games. Her was also +1 and average around 18:00 mins toi. He also had one blocked shot and 10 hits. The underlying numbers however, sprung some concerns as he had a team low 29 CF%. Maine would go an impressive 5-2 during this run and would tear apart teams that would go on to beat them in the playoffs. The whole team was quite lucky during the pre-season, especially because their goaltending duo in Bloody Oath and Bigga Foryu have had nothing short of an impressive season from the start. Demitra started the season with for some reason limited knowledge on proper shot block techniques, and after one during the pre-season he set to training in the first week right away. He also got a lot more physically fit during the pre-season, while improving his defensive iq and positioning.

During the regular season things would start less well with Demitra and Maine in general struggling to put up points.  Due to the lack of some depth in Maine for a season or more, this would occasionally lead to Demitra playing larger minutes than that of some of his peers who played more sheltered time. Because of this Demitra was on ice for a horrifying number of goals against.

Demitra would end the season with 4 goals, 14 assists, for 18 points in 66 games. He would also end an insane -42 which was one of the lowest in the league. He also had 86 shots with an unimpressive 4.7% shooting. Per 60 minutes as well, Demitra had a terrifying 4 GA vs 1.7 GF. Throughout the first 18 games of the season as well he struggled to get more than a few points, leading to worries that he would not have much of any impact throughout the season. He continued to bleed goals while on the ice which led to a quick switch up to player on the 2nd pairing with Janne Virtanen. From there he would move on to play with several more teammates on the third pairing near the end of the season including Duncan the Walrus and newly drafted Randy Marsh for S61 who a waiver pickup near the end of S60 for the end was.           
    
The playoffs would go better than anticipated for Demitra who improved his numbers in comparison to the regular season. In the first series against the closely matched Outlaws, Maine would sweep their opponents 4-0 in an impressive set of matches. Demitra would finish the series with a goal and two assists in four games. The Outlaws came in with a lot of confidence which quickly got shattered as the Timbers’ goalies were able to stand tall all four games and barely let a goal in. This duo of Bloody Oath and Bigga Foryu had the highest duo save percentage during the regular season and showed why this was so important in the playoffs as they continued their dominant goaltending.
The next series against the Berserkers would go less well, with the team eventually falling to Newfoundland in six games. Demitra would still end the playoffs with a decent 1 goal 6 assist performance in 10 games. He would also go from one of the worst shot blockers on the team to third overall on the team in the playoffs with 21 blocks. The advanced stats were still not great as he played with fellow rookie and current s61 draftee Randy Marsh. The pair did get somewhat torched by the Berserkers offense that has a plethora of scorers. Demitra is profoundly grateful to have played on Maine as he averaged around 18 mins in time on ice throughout the season including seeing some special team’s time. Along with all the above playoff experience Demitra has been able to take the next step and has maximized his development for the coming season.

Demitra would end the season participating in the World Junior Championship on behalf of the new Young Guns team. While the team would meet limited success, it would also give some young players huge opportunities to make an impact and see their skill level against the best young players. Even though the team has lost a lot of games and are 2-7, they have upset Sweden 3-2 as well as beat team North America to take the 2nd last spot in the standings from them in a dominant 5-2 win. Fellow Maine teammate JJJJ Angler has had an impressive 3 goal 6 assist performance in the 9 games; and Demitra has been enjoying playing with another Maine Teammate in Duncan the Walrus on the first pairing. Randy Marsh has also been featured on the 2nd and 3rd pairing as a solid defenseman but has quietly only put up a single point and gone -8 due to unfavourable matchups. Demitra on the other hand has 1 goal 3 assists in the 9 games and has gone -2 doing significantly better in the WJC and the playoffs than the regular season showing his development.

Moving forward, the team just picked up several new exciting draft picks. This included the returning teammate in Randy Marsh. Marsh has continued to develop rapidly and should be a solid leader to the rookies that also joined him in the current draft class. Marsh will likely get 2nd pairing time with Demitra this season and will likely be essentially to the Timbers special teams as he develops. Rusty Remao will also be joining the team as a backup goalie after they lost on this off season. The team will be going from two equal goalies to a 1 and 2 system which will be interesting to see this coming season. New defenseman Luka Kovacsova should be a decent two-way player, although like Demitra and coming from Europe, he may need some time to adapt while playing 2nd/3rd pairing. They also added fantastic new forward addition Big Neff who will likely be playing 3rd/4th line minutes this season on the left wing. They further deepened their d-line by adding to their 3rd pair with Michael Robertson and Christian Bolduc. Both will be bringing a lot of size to the blueline this season as both are over 6’3 in comparison to the 5’11 of Demitra. The last new draftee is Center Ida-mae Mann who has a truly well-rounded game. All the above prospects are proving to be massively exciting, and the coming seasons look better and better for Maine.

After being drafted 13th by the Inferno in this year’s draft, Demitra sees himself playing the 2-3 seasons in Maine before being called up. In his final season the team will have an incredibly deep squad in comparison to a lot of their competitors and should be lethal in a couple of seasons. New General Manager SouthPaw who is also agent for fellow teammate Duncan the Warlus, as well as co-gm Toast, have been creating a fantastic culture and organization like no other, and Demitra has been hugely impressed by the incredible work ethic of both his teammates as well as the new rookies.

The Inferno will be a fun team to join as well and Demitra’s current exposure to their locker room and training has been nothing but beneficial. The Inferno only have a few active defensemen it currently seems, so will have to fill gaps with free agents or going to their draft pool. Demitra hopes that regardless what is going on in the SHL at the time, he is able to move up and have the opportunity to compete with the big folks.

This year Demitra should have a significantly larger impact on the Timbers’ roster this year moving from a 2nd-3rd paring role and getting sheltered special team minutes, to being a large 2nd pairing d-man in the SMJHL. Demitra has worked hard since the middle of the season specially to improve himself physically leading to him really rounding out. He also has gained lots of stamina, as well as increasing his overall movement abilities such as acceleration and speed. He has decided to also focus on the classic two-way attributes such as passing, puck handling, stick checking, and positioning while also being as well-rounded as possible. Hopefully by creating as few weaknesses as possible in his game, Demitra will be able to survive the SHL. His biggest challenge may be the physicality as he is a small D-man at 5’11 and may get run over if he doesn’t continue his physical progress.

He will in a couple of seasons after Puddles gets called up be required to likely be the top d man for a year or two with Duncan and will likely enjoy and thrive in the highly competitive environment. Playing special teams has become a favourite for Demitra, who will also look to increase his versatility in the regard.

Although the team lost center Miguel Hefeweizen sadly, they have truly deepened out their offense. Next year a top line of possibly Dogwood Maple, Jonny Tsunami, and JJJJ Angler could be truly a threat. Puddles O’Duck as well as Duncan the Walrus will also be playing on the patented Honk and Chonk defensive pairing. Maine has really rounded out their roster in every way they really needed to and although it may take a couple of seasons, Maine will be an enormous contender for years to come!!


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