Goal! Hockey Team Coming to Lewiston
By Justin Pelletier
Sun Journal
February 14, 2003
A semiprofessional hockey team will call Lewiston home, starting in September.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Board of Governors on Thursday approved a proposed move by the Sherbrooke Castors to Lewiston for the beginning of the next hockey season, according to Matt McKnight, the team’s vice president.
“We will be coming to Maine,� McKnight said. “We are having a press conference (Friday) to talk about everything in more detail, but I can say that we got permission from the league to move the team to Lewiston.�
From the beginning of the talks two months ago, everyone involved in the deal — from the city of Lewiston to Roger Theriault, owner of the Central Maine Civic Center, to team officials — has been positive that the transition from Sherbrooke to Lewiston would happen. “There was no reason to think that there would be any problems,� said McKnight. “There was no third party involved this time around. There was just us, the city and the arena. That’s why the confidence seemed so high.�
A league prospectus and plan for the future unveiled last year also helped. The league had explored expansion into the United States in the past, and in 2002 stated it wanted to speed that process along. Less than a year later, Lewiston will become the first U.S. city to benefit from the directive.
“From the beginning, we were trying to achieve the objective to expand,� said McKnight. “It worked out well for everyone involved this way.�
The most immediate beneficiary of the team’s relocation will be Theriault.
According to the agreement, the Civic Center owner will benefit from a loan guarantee of $2 million to help pay for renovations to the decades-old building on Birch Street. In an earlier interview, Lewiston Finance Director Richard Metevier said that he expects the city to loan much less than that, but the guarantee helped to satisfy the league’s expectations.
“This was the only way that these types of renovations would take place here,� said Theriault. “And the team will provide us with the income to take care of the large debt service that we have from the outset.�
The most important thing to Theriault, however, is the fact that hockey at a level above high school is finally back in the area.
“This is the best caliber hockey we can hope to get in Lewiston,� said Theriault. “This is an investment in the building, but more importantly in the city and in the people of this community. The best thing out of all of this to me is the fact that we have a hockey team in town at this level. That’s just great for everyone.�
