Enjoying their best season since winning the league title three years ago, the Moncton Wildcats are preparing to be rocked out of their building come playoff time.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team is in the process of identifying and arranging a new rink to play their home playoff games this year as the Moncton Coliseum will be taken over in April by the Ford World Men’s Curling Championships.
The Wildcats could play up to three first-round home games at the Coliseum before giving way to the curlers.
Any home games in the second round will need to be at another venue.
One can’t help but feel for the Wildcats who, after going through a rebuild last season, have put themselves back on the map as one of the league’s elite teams.
While the players will tell you the move to another locale within the community won’t deter their play, hockey players are predominantly creatures of habit.
Playing a game in a different rink, with potentially new bounces off the boards and a different ice surface, provides a distinct new feel.
Wildcats head coach and director of hockey operations, Danny Flynn, could be back in some old stomping grounds, however. When reached for comment Wednesday, Flynn said the general feedback from the team’s fan base is to keep the games in Moncton, which means they will need to find a smaller rink than they’re accustomed to.
The team is looking at the possibility of playing their home playoff games, when the Coliseum is unavailable, at the J. Louis Levesque Arena, home of the University of Moncton Blue Eagles.
Flynn previously coached St. Francis Xavier University in the CIS and is very familiar with the rink.
"I can tell you, having coached university hockey at the Louis Levesque (Arena) as an opposing team for 10 years, that’s a wonderful old building," he said. "The fans are right on top of you and the atmosphere is like old-time rinks. It can be a distinct home-ice advantage for us."
As intimate as the atmosphere would be, those hurt most by the circumstance would be the Wildcats’ fans. The J. Louis Levesque Arena holds approximately 2,200 – roughly the Wildcats’ season-ticket base, whereas the Coliseum holds more than 7,000.
So far this season the Wildcats have averaged 4,228 fans per home game.
"The season ticket holders will have the first crack (at home playoff tickets)," Flynn said. "There’s SRO and BRO. ‘S’ is standing room only.’ It’s going to be breathing room only’ because they’re going to have to jam them in pretty good.’"
From one QMJHL team looking for a temporary new rink to another looking for a permanent rink, the Lewiston MAINEiacs made it official on Saturday, formally requesting a move to the north Montreal suburb of Boisbriand. The move is intended to take place next season to an arena that has yet to be built.
In light of the speculation, which has now been confirmed, the move to Boisbriand is just as unlikely now as it was a week ago when I first wrote about it. The Montreal Juniors hold the territorial rights for the Montreal area, meaning the MAINEiacs organization would need permission from the Juniors to relocate to Boisbriand.
The Juniors put an end to the speculation, issuing a release on Monday stating they have contacted league officials informing the league they will retain their exclusive rights to their territory without modification.
The Juniors also revealed they are not seeking financial compensation to allow the MAINEiacs to move in their territory, as was reported last week.
What is even more ironic about this situation is that the Juniors informed the league of their stance on Jan. 21. In spite of declaring their stance, the Lewiston franchise went ahead with the relocation paperwork on Jan. 31, requesting to move within the Juniors’ territorial grounds.
Neither the league, nor either team is willing to comment beyond the press releases issued.
As complicated as this situation appears, one thing appears to be certain: the MAINEiacs won’t be playing in Lewiston next season. Their relocation request states Boisbriand, is their primary destination of choice but it is believed other locations are in the running, should the MAINEiacs be denied in their bid to move to Boisbriand,.
Rumoured cities include St. John’s, NF, Fredericton, N.B., Trois Riviere, Que. and Sherbrooke, Que.
It would be rather ironic if the MAINEiacs moved to Sherbrooke, given that current majority owner Mark Just purchased the team from Sherbrooke and moved it to Lewiston six seasons ago.
