Maine Hockey Journal

Pirates lock down new equipment manager

The Portland Pirates will have a new equipment manager when the season starts in October as Ben Laing will be assuming the duties of former equipment manager Henning Aagaard-Svendsen.

The position became available when Aagaard-Svendsen took a job in a similar capacity with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.

Laing, 26, is coming to the Pirates after spending the last two seasons in the ECHL with Fresno and Stockton.

“This has been an unbelievable process,” Laing said. “I’ve never been to Portland, but I’ve heard a lot of great things about the city and I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Laing, a native of Rochester, NY, shouldn’t be a stranger to the Buffalo Sabres organization who were affiliated for the nearly three decades with the Rochester Americans.

His role with the team will be to manage of all day-to-day equipment-related duties of the Pirates dressing room, including maintenance and inventory of team supplies.

Laing attended Monroe Community college where he received his A.A. in Liberal Arts. He played two years as a defenseman (2001-‘03) and later served as an assistant coach with Monroe for a season. He even suited up for Stockton, playing one game in the ‘08-’09 season on an amateur tryout agreement.

Laing was just recently named Equipment Manager of the Year in the ECHL in his first season with Stockton.

During the offseason in the summer, Laing served as a head instructor of Sport International Hockey Academy in Rochester, and has previously worked in the hockey retail industry.

He’s expected to make his first trip to Portland in the next couple of weeks to begin preparations for the Pirates upcoming season.

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