Auburn, ME – The Central Maine Community College hockey team continued to revamp its roster with the commitment of Kennett (NH) High School standout Jeffrey Palmer. The hulking right-handed forward brings an element of grit to the Mustangs line-up as well as an element of leadership.
Palmer was assistant captain of his Kennett team who, along with fellow Mustang commit Trevor Olivier, lead the team to a quarterfinal berth as a senior. In 22 games he amassed 3 points and 10 penalty minutes while playing in self-described "grinding" roles.
"I'm a grinder," said Palmer of his playing style. "I like to play with speed and hit hard. I give 100% effort and will work hard every shift. I want to win puck battles, back-check with pressure, and never stop pressuring."
At 5'11" and 215 pounds, Palmer's size and skating making him difficult to play against.
"I can't wait to get Jeff into our line-up," said Mustangs head coach Matt Buotte. "He is what we need more of. We are working on building an identity here. We want to be a team that is hard to play against every night and guys like Jeff are going to set that tone. He's someone I know I can count on to get pucks out, get in on the forecheck, and get pucks to the net. He's not afraid to get his nose dirty."
Palmer is enrolling the colleges precision machining program for the fall with the hopes of pursuing a Bachelor's in mechanical engineering in the future.
"I chose Central Maine so I could get a great background in precision machining," said Palmer of his decision to call Auburn his home in the fall. "I've done a lot of machining through Kennett's advanced machining program and NASA's HUNCH [High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware] program and I wanted to continue that here. I'm looking forward to achieving a higher education at a reasonable cost."
Palmer, who also is an avid golfer, plans on rooming with Olivier, who he calls his best friend.
"I'm so excited to have Jeff coming in," concluded Buotte. "He's a great kid and he's going to add a lot to our program. When you start thinking about how guys like Trevor and Jeff are going to fit in here next year and how this team is shaping up, you can't help but get excited."