Maine Hockey Journal

Will the USHL be Lewiston bound?

Lewiston, ME – When the Lewiston Maineiacs were sold to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and promptly dissolved, it left Androscoggin Bank Colisee empty, and it’s owners, Firland Management looking for a new anchor tenant.

The process for finding a new tenant for the Colisee began immediately afterward with the hopes of having something in place for the 2012-‘13 season.

“I have huge reservations about developing a long-term plan or relationship for this upcoming fall,” said Firland President Jim Cain, “however, the following year we expect to have negotiations in place to have junior hockey back in Lewiston, either through North American Hockey League expansion or the United States Hockey League.”

“Those are two options. There are others, but have to do our research and make sure that we do is viable. We will be owners along with others and go from there.”

“The USHL, a 16-team league based primarily in the Midwest United States, is USA Hockey's only Tier I junior hockey league, and the equivalent to the Canadian Hockey League which governs the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The NAHL is a 28-team league, and the lone Tier II junior hockey league in the United States.

Unlike the CHL, both leagues allow players to keep their NCAA eligibility, making them a prime recruiting target for NCAA schools. The USHL had 272 players in the league last year with a Division I commitment, while the NAHL had 89 players. During the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, 22 players were selected from USHL teams, matching the number of players selected from the QMJHL.

Cain said he held talks with talks with the USHL.

“I did (several) months ago,” said Cain. “I can't really go into detail because they were just preliminary.”

The USHL confirmed those talks.

“I know (USHL commissioner) Skip (Prince) several months ago had informal discussions, but those were really primarily,” said USHL Director of Communications Brian Werger. “They weren't formal discussions.”

Because the USHL is a midwestern based league and move to the east coast will involve a multi-team expansion. The USHL is currently examining such a move, but is it has to be the right opportunity.

In other words, they will not move east just for the sake of moving east.

“It's something USHL is looking at,” Werger said. “We are doing our due diligence and research in terms of possibly expanding beyond our current foot print. If we go out east it will take more than one or two teams. It would have to take a group of teams for the USHL to commit.”

Werger wouldn't comment on other interested cities in the east, however, Cain said he would certainly like to be one of them.

“We have an interest of being a part of a new division of junior hockey on the east coast, whether it be a part of the longer term plan of the USHL,” Cain stated. “This is something that has been talked about in junior hockey quite some time now. No one has taken the next step to solidify a plan to move eastward.”

One of the reason why the USHL or the NAHL haven’t made the move east already, according to Cain, is the already heavy concentration of junior hockey being played in this region.

The area is already to home to several Tier III Jr. A and Jr. B leagues with the Eastern Junior Hockey League, Atlantic Junior Hockey League, Metropolitan Junior Hockey League and International Junior Hockey League.

“There's a lot of junior hockey being played right now on the east coast,” said Cain. “There's the reality of the strength of those organizations and how they are doing and whether the fact those teams or leagues would want to move up to a Tier II or I level.”

“Do they want to move away from where players pay-to-play to a different model obviously where the players don't pay to a fan driven model along with corporate sponsors and the rest of the stuff similar to what the Maineiacs were doing in Lewiston?”

Werger states you can't pick and choose teams from other leagues to just move into the USHL.

“You don't just bring a Tier III team in,” said Werger. “It's not a matter of taking existing teams and bringing them in. There's a lot that goes into bring in a new USHL team to a new city. It has to be the right ownership, the right arena, the right market, and just the right people in place to make sure they will be in the league for the long term, not just the short term.”

The USHL will maintain their current 16 teams for the 2011-’12 season. In the case of any expansion, they like to give future teams a full year to be prepared to play.

“At a minimum, you like to give a team a full year. 18 months would be ideal,” said Werger. “We just had Dubuque (Fighting Saints) and Muskegon (Lumberjacks) come into the league this year and even those teams will tell although they had successful first years in the league they wish they had more time.”

The USHL attendance averages between 2,600 to 2,700 per game with a league high of 3,790 in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the lowest at the 1,000-seat Ann Arbor Ice Cube where the United States National Team Development Program averages 327 per game.

Cain made a point of local ownership could help get fans through the gate with consistently good numbers, something that was missing with the Maineiacs.

''Something critical to the whole process is local interest and ownership, Cain stated. “I think that's critical in any formula going forward. I think there need to be a financial model that needs to make sense.”

“The operating cost in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, in certain markets, such as Lewiston, is a struggle right out of the gate because you are working with at least a $1.5 million operating budget. The need to engaged corporate support and fan support is so intense that it makes it difficult to achieve your goals to make financial sense. If you can develop a scenario where you have an operational budget closer to a million dollars, then all sudden the level of corporate support and fan support including your pricing strategy is dramatically different.”

“That's what I think needs to be the basic premises to getting involved or getting a team.”

Werger said the average operational budget in the USHL is roughly between $1.2 – $2 million dollars.

Cain is not unfamiliar to the USHL or the NAHL as they operate in a pair of buildings he owns in Michigan.

“I’ve worked with teams in both leagues in other rinks in Michigan,” Cain said. “One is a first year team (Muskegon Lumberjacks) in the USHL and drawing more than 2,000 every single game in its first year, and it's not bigger than Lewiston. The economy is not better than in Lewiston. The financial framework in which they operated is drastically different.”

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