WESTBROOK — Later this month, Carter Amico’s life will change in a way pretty much every kid who laces up skates and grabs a hockey stick dreams of it changing. The 18-year old from Westbrook will hear his name called early in the NHL draft, which will be held June 27-28 in Los Angeles. A mock draft published by The Athletic and New York Times has Amico going to the Calgary Flames in the second round with the 56th overall pick. A mock draft published Friday by Bleacher Report has Amico going to the New Jersey Devils in the second round with the 50th overall pick. Sitting in a Westbrook coffee shop, Amico can’t help but smile when he thinks about it. He has no idea which of the NHL’s 32 teams will call his name, but it’s going to get called. He’ll be in Los Angeles for the draft. He can see himself hugging his family, walking across the stage to pull on the sweater and baseball cap of whatever team makes the dream real. “It’s going to be super nice to hear that. All the hard work has paid off for my family and I. It’s going to be an honor,” Amico said. “It’s all just the ticket to the dance. A low number is pretty cool but it’s all just a ticket to the dance. What matters is if you perform good in college next year.” After two years playing with the U.S. National Development Program in Michigan, Amico will begin his college career at Boston University this fall. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound defenseman feels like he has questions to answer after a broken kneecap kept him off the ice most of last season. Amico played just three games with the U.S. under-18 team, registering three assists. Amico looked at his right knee and flexed it a little. He was recently cleared by doctors to resume skating. The knee feels good. There’s always a place for a big defenseman who can cover a lot of ice and transition from defense to offense. That’s why the injury didn’t alter his draft stock much. The final report from the NHL’s central scouting bureau ranked Amico 41st among North American skaters in this year’s draft class. “There are a lot of question marks on the table about what kind of player I am. Other than that, I feel like I’m in a good spot and I’m ready to play next year,” he said. “The big thing is getting healthy, just getting back on the ice. I haven’t really skated in seven months. I just have to get healthy and make sure the knee is all good. That’s when you can start looking at what I need to do to get better.” Maine is experiencing a sports renaissance. After one season at Duke, Newport’s Cooper Flagg will be the top pick in the NBA Draft on June 25 unless the Dallas Mavericks screw it up. Kennebunkport’s Max Murray was selected by New York City FC in the first round of the MLS Super Draft days after helping the Vermont men’s soccer team win the national title. Gorham’s Mackenzie Holmes was chosen by the Seattle Storm in last year’s WNBA draft, although she was cut prior to the start of this season after missing last year for knee surgery. Wyatt Nadeau, a big right-handed pitcher with a fastball that touches 95 miles per hour for Gorham High, could be selected in July’s MLB draft. The NHL is where Maine has seen the most high picks, and Amico will join good company. Yarmouth’s Oliver Wahlstrom was the 11th overall pick in 2018. Biddeford’s Brian Dumoulin was a second-round pick in 2009. Cumberland’s Brian Hart was a second-round pick in 2012. Going back 40 years, Gardiner’s Eric Weinrich was the 32nd player picked in 1985. Back then, that was the middle of the second round. Now it would be the end of the first. Amico knows those names. He knows Dumoulin and Weinrich were like him, stay-at-home defensemen enjoying long careers. Asked to give a self-scout of his abilities, Amico is confident and doesn’t hesitate. “Plays fast, hits people hard, and moves pucks up fast to the forwards with quick transitions,” he said. “I’d like to show more of my offensive side but the season got cut short, obviously. But I think next year will be a good year to show that.” It started with his grandfather, Glenn Amico, taking Carter skating at Troubh Arena in Portland, at first holding him on tentative legs taking unsure strides, then helping put on his pads and bringing him to practice. From there it was Casco Bay youth hockey to Seacoast Performance Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, to Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, to the U.S. Development program, where Amico played for another Mainer, head coach Greg Moore, who preached consistency. Anyone can have a good game. Can you have a good game again and again? Can you adhere to the habits that help ensure that? “He’s such a good guy off the ice, too. He’s always telling me what I do right and wrong, and what I can do better. We’re always going over film. He’s really got it together over there,” Amico said of Moore. Amico joins his BU teammates for offseason workouts later this summer. First, that trip to L.A., where Amico’s life will change. “I still feel like I have more. I know I have more. I feel it coming,” he said. “I know I’m only going to get better every year I’m on the ice.”