Maine Hockey Journal

NA3EHL eager to call Lewiston home

LEWISTON — The commissioner of the North American 3 Eastern Hockey League Wayne Sheehan called the Androscoggin Bank Colisee one of the league’s flagship buildings.

In 2015-16, the Colisee will become the full-time home of the New Hampshire Fighting Spirit, which will be renamed the Lewiston/Auburn Fighting Spirit.

“We are really thrilled to have a team in this community for the 2015-15 season,” NA3HL commissioner Wayne Sheehan said in his opening remarks at Monday’s press conference to announce the relocation of the Fighting Spirit. “(Firland Management Owner and President) Jim (Cain) and I have met on numerous occasions and have had numerous conversations the last few months to bring a quality program into (the city).”

Lewiston will get a sneak peak of the team in February when they play two games against the Lockport (N.Y.) Express on Friday, February 6 at 7 p.m. and Sunday February 8 at noon. Fighting Spirit Owner and coach Rod Simmons said there may be a chance the city will see some playoff games as the team’s contract with the Laconia Ice Arena ends in the first week of March.

In either case, the Colisee will see playoff hockey.

“We will also have the league championship here,” Sheehan said. “The west division winner will play the east division winner in March. It will be a best-of-three (series).

The NA3HL is a pay-to-play Tier III Junior ‘A’ Hockey League, formerly known as the Northern States Hockey League before partnering with the Tier II Junior “A” Hockey League North American Hockey League.

The NAHL has 21 of their 24 teams operating west of the Mississippi River.

“I think the league has been pretty successful to this point,” Simmons said. “That’s why the North American (Hockey) League wants to be a part of it. “You bring another strong league under their umbrella, so I think it carries a lot of weight especially if the Tier II wants to expand out here.”

Sheehan, who acted as commissioner for the NSHL, made the decision in September right before the season opener to ceases operations of the Maine Timberwolves. The Timberwolves were set to play its first season in the Colisee, but team owner Jeff Dupere failed to make payments to the league.

Besides the NA3EHL, the NAHL also operates another Tier III Junior “A” League, the North American 3 Hockey League. The NA3HL is primarily based in outside the eastern time zone and is a feeder league to the NAHL. The NA3HL has moved 13 players to the NAHL this season.

Another player signed a tender – a contract – with an NAHL team for next season.

“We also believe in feeders,” Simmons said. “So if we ever have the opportunity, if the North American league does decide to come to the east coast, we would be interested in continually feeding guys one team to another.”

The ten member NA3EHL, which includes the Maine Wild who play out of the Biddeford Ice Arena, is currently an independent league, but playing under USA Hockey rules in hopes of becoming members of USA Hockey for the 2015-16 season.

The league will have an 11th franchise next year as the Skyland Kings will operate from Stockholm, N.J. Any other expansion teams have yet to be determined. The league is also looking at more expansion options, but any announcement will come at a later date.

There will be a vote by USA Hockey to allow the league to become full members of USA Hockey is scheduled for January.

“The difference between our league and USA Hockey is we are still trying to merge our import rule,” Simmons said. “We have more imports than USA Hockey (allows).”

The NAHL, which is the only Tier II Junior League in the US, is only allowed to carry four import players while the Tier I United States Hockey League teams can carry two. An an independent league such as the NA3EHL can carry up to ten import players.

The league is currently is playing a 40 game schedule for the 2013-14 season plus showcase games that count as exhibition games. Owner and head coach Rod Simmons said he hoped Lewiston will be able to host a showcase before the start of next season.

“We approximately play a 40-50 game schedule, and we are going to add other events,” Simmons said. “We are going to add a college jamboree where we are going to enter prior to the beginning of the season. We are going to have teams throughout the US and have the college coaches come here to watch them.”

The league plays its games on the weekend primarily, but Simmons would not mind playing a game or two on a weekday against an Eastern Division opponent.

“If we go back to back, like a Friday and Saturday, we will play what’s best for our team and community,” Simmons said. “I am not necessarily going to say we are going to play 7 o’clock and 10 o’clock the next morning. We want to make sure there’s the right amount of rest for both teams.”

He would later to go on and add it could be a 7 o’clock, 3 o’clock or noon time situation for back to back games.

As for the attendance the NA3EHL averages 97 fans per game. The Lockport Express lead the league with 185 fans per game while the East Coast Minutemen are last averaging 37 fans per game. The Jersey Wildcats, the Western Division leading team at 27-0-0 are ninth with 50 fans attending each game.

In the NA3HL, attendance is a little spread out. The Southern Tier Admirals average 1,126 fans per game, while the North Iowa Bulls average 1,046 fans per contest. North Iowa used to be an NAHL franchise from the 2005-06 through the 2009-10 season before moving to La Crosse, Wisconsin to become the Coulee Region Chill. North Iowa joined the NA3HL in 2011. The league average is 348 for the 31-team league. The Chicago franchise draws the least at 102 fans per game.

When the league was under the NSHL name, they had over three dozen players committed to playing college hockey. Most of the commitments were to NCAA Division III conferences in the Northeast. The Fighting Spirit had seven players committed to NCAA school’s last season.

“The last four years, approximately 45 guys moved to NCAA,” Simmons said of the league number. “Not everybody is going to be an NCAA Division I college hockey player. We try to get them to the right level, not only athletically but academically as well, which is very important.”

You must be logged in to post a comment Login