Maineicas look forward to a positive weekend

Lewiston, ME – The Lewiston Maineiacs look to extend their home winning streak this weekend when a pair of divisional rivals arrives in town.

On Friday, the Maineiacs will battle the Victoriaville Tigres for the first time this season, while the Drummondville Voltigeurs look to avenge the last time they were in Lewiston, with a contest on Saturday night.

“It will be a challenge with Victoriaville and Drummondville coming into town,” said Maineiacs’ President and Head Coach Don MacAdam. “Both are excellent teams and Drummondville is obviously first overall in the weekend.”

Saturday night will be the Maineiacs Third Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Night. As part of the event, the Maineiacs will wear a special pink jersey that will be auctioned off after the game and both teams will skate on pink ice.

“We have pink the rink on Saturday night and we are really excited about that,” MacAdam stated.

The Victoriaville Tigres are currently second in the Telus Central division, one point ahead of the Maineiacs. MacAdam sees similarities between the Tigres and the Maineiacs.

“We understand they are a hardworking team and we feel we are the same,” he said. “They are an attack team and we feel we are an attack team as well.”

Goal scoring could come at a premium as two of the top twenty-year old goaltenders are between the pipes. Adrien Lemay 2.46 goals-against average is ninth among goalies with a minimum of four games started. Kevin Poulin is seventh with a 2.31 goals-against average.

“Kevin Poulin is a good player and he has a lot of skills,” MacAdam said. “Players with a lot skill are capable of great things.”

The Voltigeurs let a 3-0 lead in the first period slip away in their last visit to the Androscoggin Bank Colisee as Lewiston came from behind to win, 5-4, in overtime. This time around the Maineiacs know they will need to limit their mistakes.

“We didn’t have a great first period,” MacAdam stated. “We need to as a team to be really confident in the fact we need to play sixty minutes. If we don’t, we are (endanger) of losing two points to a great team like Drummondville.”

All four teams in the division are within ten points of each other. In the long run, the competitive division will help the team according to MacAdam.

“We have great parity in our league, especially in our division. We feel fortunate to be playing in a division that we feel it’s the strongest in the league as it was last year. That will force us to get better. It’s nice to be in a weak division and a couple of respects where you have some easy games. But that doesn’t make you better.”

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