LEWISTON —When the Maine Nordiques made the playoffs last year, the atmosphere resembled the environment at Lewiston Maineiacs games 20 years ago — a couple thousand loud fans in attendance, creating an ultimate home environment.

“We started around 1,100 … and then headed into playoffs, we were able to break that 2,000 mark. We got over 2,500 fans to watch us in the building defeat the Maryland Black Bears,” Nordiques play by play announcer Nick Withee said. “The fans were insane.”

It’s the climate the Nordiques’ ownership and management had been trying to cultivate since the Lewiston Maineiacs left the city in 2011 — and the climate that team coach and general manager Nick Skerlick didn’t want to see fade after a trying divorce with The Colisée this offseason over thousands of dollars in unpaid bills.

Standing in the locker room of the Nordiques’ new home at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn, Skerlick wore a tight, weary smile last week as he recounted the split and the ramifications to team building that came from it.

“This has been the most challenging summer of my 30 years,” he said as the team began practice.

And now, a new version of the Lewiston Maineiacs is poised to make its return; the team has taken over the Nordiques’ spot at The Colisée.

As both teams begin new seasons (competing in different leagues), two questions loom large: How did things get to this point? And how does the future look for a sport that was just starting to regain the fevered support it held 20 years ago?

It’s been tough for the Lewiston/Auburn area to fall back in love with junior hockey since the former Maineiacs folded. Other teams, such as the L/A Fighting Spirit and Twin City Thunder, came through, but fans still hurt by the departure were slow to fully invest again.

“Once you lose a team and you’re there supporting that team and they’re gone, it’s hard to support a new team, right?” Maine Nordiques fan Jeremy Martin of Lewiston said. “I think that’s what happened with a lot of people, and we kind of lost hockey in the community.”

As the Nordiques cut ties with The Colisée, Skerlick hoped it wasn’t a doomed repeat of the past.

“My first instinct was ‘Is this really going to happen to this community again?'” Skerlick said. “Because it happened with the Maineiacs, and it’s happening all over again. … And we just started getting more traction.”

FINANCIAL WOES

The new managers of The Colisée, Mill Town Sports and Entertainment, announced on July 17 that they were unable to come to an agreement with the Nordiques‘ owner, Shift Sports and Entertainment, on a new lease.

The reason, Mill Town president Nate Bostic said, was that Shift Sports had an alarming number of unpaid bills and contracts, and a list of aggrieved businesses that was seemingly growing by the day.

“I’m still getting (word from) new people and companies in the area that are owed money, and that’s in September,” Bostic said. “It seemed like every couple of weeks, there was someone else coming out of the woodwork saying this wasn’t paid, this wasn’t paid.”

“It got sideways pretty quick,” said Skerlick, the Nordiques’ coach and general manager.

It’s not clear how much those debts totaled. Mill Town said it could not provide a specific number and Shift Sports declined an interview to answer specific questions about the scope of the problem.

Of the known bills Shift Sports owed was about $24,000 for water and sewer, sprinklers and police security, city of Lewiston spokesperson Angelynne Amores confirmed in July. Amores said this month that $6,200 in utilities have been paid by The Colisée’s owner Darryl Antonacci, while $13,000 for security is still owed, but that Shift Sports is on a payment plan.

Northeast Charter and Tour Company confirmed in September that the $25,895 the team owes for transportation — the amount Shift Sports owed in July — remains outstanding.

Tim Lafrance, who works at The Colisée on the boards and on making logos, name tags and helmet stickers, said he’s owed over $1,000.

“It was a miserable organization,” said Lafrance, who acknowledged that he had gotten some perks, like free merchandise and new hockey sticks. “The hockey was great. The organization, the ownership, was horrible.”

In a statement, Shift Sports said this month that utility expenses were “misrepresented” to the organization when it signed the lease in 2023, with “actual monthly costs differing significantly from estimates provided.”

“We have maintained ongoing communication with service providers and have arrangements in place to settle current balances,” the statement read.

Central Maine Power, which provides electricity at The Colisée, according to a coverage map, would not confirm if the team was a customer or if it had unpaid bills.

Skerlick is a contracted employee and not part of the management team. But, according to him, the lease payments were “astronomical,” and other events meant to provide income, such as concerts and shows, fell through.

“(Even if) you fill that building up (with) 3,000 fans, you only get four home games a month,” he said. “The monthly bill exceeded six figures.”

According to Skerlick, the company is now up to date on its payments to The Colisée and has had no problems with its new agreements in Auburn.

Bostic said he’s frustrated that Auburn took on the Nordiques without requiring Shift Sports to pay its debts, saying the ownership was “given a lifeline.”

“We’ve just kind of moved on, we’ve stopped pushing and we’re looking at the exciting stuff that we have coming forward at The Colisée,” he said.

RECRUITING PROBLEMS

The uncertainty this spring as the team tried to negotiate a new lease also led to complications fielding teams for the upcoming season.

Skerlick said rumors persisted that the team was looking at a lost season, causing some players to seek out other teams. In addition to the 15 who aged out from last year, Skerlick said he had to replace “eight to nine” additional players who backed out.

“I had to re-recruit every kid that’s now here. Every kid at one point was like ‘Skerls, what are we doing?'” he said. “You get this new kid who’s drafted by us from Boston, let’s say, and he’s got other options in leagues that are lateral to us. … That was the hardest part for me.”

The surrendered lease and pending ownership change at The Colisée also caused the Nordiques to lose control of their youth hockey charters, which are needed to field academy teams. Academy teams aim to develop players for the top team in the organization.

Despite this, Shift Sports and the Nordiques took payments from players to play for those teams, taking the chance, Skerlick said, that they’d be able to resecure the charters. Those efforts failed, but Shift Sports hasn’t yet refunded the players their payments.

“Arrangements have been made with families for reimbursement,” the organization said in its statement. “(We had an) expectation that we would continue operation of our Academy teams as they had been operated in years prior.”

Several players — Bostic estimated half — have gone to play for the Maineiacs, and Bostic said he’s honored the payments they gave the Nordiques.

Still, the move has drawn some criticism within the hockey community. According to emails obtained by the Press Herald and Sun Journal, Maine Amateur Hockey Association President Chandler Buie questioned how “an organization (that would) offer youth teams without the ability to roster them” could “be allowed without any penalty or consequence to continue to have a NAHL team.”

MAINTAINING MOMENTUM

When Shift Sports took over the Nordiques in 2023, there came an effort, led by people like Skerlick, Ryan Shelley, Jim Mercier and Don Lamontagne, to promote the team’s local appeal and drum up support in the Lewiston community.

“The community only has 40,000 people,” Skerlick said, “but if that building’s full, what’s the difference?”

It’s worked. Attendance gradually ticked up as word got around that there was a team in Lewiston worth watching again.

“It took a few years for people to start realizing ‘Wow, this team’s not going anywhere,'” said Crockett, the Sabattus fan. “People look forward to hockey, and look forward to seeing them. They’re like the light of Lewiston/Auburn.”

Now the team is out of its familiar home, presenting another challenge to the hockey hotbed.

“For a lot of people, it is (a big deal),” Nordiques fan and Lewiston resident Mike Bolduc said. “The Colisee is much better, seating is much nicer. Auburn is much colder and bleacher seating. … I think it’s going to be a shock for the first couple of games, and then we’ll see how they handle it.”

It’s a challenge members of the community feel they can handle, however, and keep the momentum from the last few seasons from fizzling.

“Listen, this is a very big community, and we are definitely able to help both teams thrive,” Martin said. “We love hockey. … I think the people are going to come together.”

Early indications are encouraging. The Nordiques have drawn good preseason crowds in Auburn. And under Mill Town’s hands-on management, The Colisée has undergone renovations and improvements, with what Bostic said are half a million dollars in upgrades.

Bostic also said the hope is to draw the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League, the former Maineiacs’ league and one of the top junior hockey circuits in the world, back to Lewiston for the first time since 2011.

“(They’re) so dedicated to making this work, making this better,” Lafrance said. “I think he sees potential in this. I feel it. I feel rejuvenated.”

It’ll be different. But the fans feel their support can handle the difference.

“It’s trending in the right way,” Withee said. “They could be playing in a pond in my backyard. If fans love the team, they’re going to show up.”