Maine Hockey Journal

Federal Hockey League to test Lewiston market

The Federal Hockey League is coming to Lewiston.

Well… It’s not an expansion franchise, but it’s a chance for hockey fans in Lewiston to voice their opinion with their wallets on a potential future expansion team at Colisee.

The league announced that the Androscoggin Bank Colisee will be the site of four regular season games and according to Jim Cain, president of Firland Management, which owns of the Colisee, it will be a test to see if the market is ready for another franchise.

“It’s essentially a test to see the responsiveness to Federal Hockey League type hockey versus junior hockey,” said Cain. “I’ve made no bones about it that I’m fundamentally in favor of having junior hockey being played at Colisee in the future, however the FHL has portions of it that are somewhat attractive and we agreed that we wouldn’t close the door on anything.”

“We’ll test the market, play four games, and let our loyal fans see what they think of it.”

The Colisee, who was home for the former Lewiston Maineiacs for eight seasons before they folded nearly two months ago, will be holding one game each in November, December, January and February. The FHL schedule will be released later this week, but Cain indicated that all games will be held on Thursday night’s.

Cain has been steadfast in the past that he was more in favor of bringing the USHL or NAHL to Lewiston, but he has one big roadblock in the way that he doesn’t have with the FHL.

Location, Location, Location.

The USHL is a Tier 1 league that is predominately based in the Midwestern United States and any expansion to Lewiston would have to be a part of a bigger plan by the league to expand eastward. Although, talks are underway about that possibility in the future there are no current plans for USHL to make such a seismic shift eastward.

Same goes for the NAHL, which is a Tier 2 league, which has junior programs spanning from New York to Alaska.

“Any form of expansion of Tier 1 or Tier 2 junior is going to require the expansion of a division with about five or six teams,” said Cain. “At the present time we are out of the geographic footprint of both leagues, and in order for expansion to happen, it would have to be an expansion of an entire division.”

“The USHL, in particular, takes a serious amount of pride in their league. Expansion has to be well thought out and it’s being thought out.”

The Federal Hockey League is considered a Single-A level league currently with eight teams, mostly in the Northeast US, with the lone exception being the Danville Dashers, which is a new franchise based in Danville, Illinois.

The league, which will play a 53-game schedule this season, has experience several hardships in their inaugural season with the relocation of the Broome County Barons to Hyannis, Massachusetts and the recent collapse of the Niagara Falls (ONT.) Nationals. The Green Mountain Rock Crushers were recently taken over by Ray Latona, former minority stakeholder of the AHL’s Rochester Americans, after the original ownership group failed to meet league requirements.

That being said, Cain, who attended league meetings last month, understands this is a league in it’s infancy. That’s the reason why he’s not diving into the shallow end of the pool head first, instead, he using this as an opportunity to “get to know each other” as he put it, while seeing if the fanbase has any interest in this type of hockey.

“We talked at their meetings about junior hockey in general, the FHL and where it’s come from and where it’s going,” said Cain. “I think my understanding of their organization is better. This is just year two of their existence and some of their teams there have had former QMJHL players. My interest is in the quality of the hockey being played and the stability of the league. I’m going to watch this season much more closely, the level of activity, the level of fan support as well as testing my own market to see if a team could thrive in a market such as Lewiston.”

Cain continues to insist that he’s not in any rush to do anything that will jeopardize the current viability of the Colisee. He’s going to absorb what he learns from these four games, continue his communication with various leagues including the FHL and listen to fans to make the best decision possible for the Colisee’s future.

“It’s got to be long-term and long-term means it got to be financial viable,” said Cain. The revenues need to support the team of any kind be it FHL, USHL or junior hockey. No need going to the top if it won’t work, and we’re going to do it to lose money. I’m taking my time and getting facts together and will make the right decision. We’re a financially successful entity right now and I want to continue being that way.”

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