Professional teams have more overhead than school teams. The pros give their players meal stipends. They pay for lodging when they are on the road. They pay travel expenses. They refer to the minor leagues as “”riding the bus”” for a reason. The AHL guys ride the bus to road games and the NHL teams usually fly. Higher overhead for expenses and salaries usually result in higher ticket prices.

I can remember traveling to a visiting schools to compete. My parents had to put money in my pocket if I was going to eat at McDonald’s on the way home.

These 16- to 20-year-old hockey players from the Quebec league will be housed, fed and educated at the team’s expense.

I find it hard to believe that given the choice of watching kids play who could be in the NHL in as little as a year or two for $12 without having to travel to Portland is a gripe.

I was a season ticket holder to the Portland Pirates for three years when they came to Maine. The travel from L/A got tedious.Give me the $12 ticket price, the 15 minute commute and a game played by a bunch of kids who still play for the love of it anytime!

Based on the tedious travel alone I’d have to believe that the L/A junior team could draw more spectators out of Augusta and Waterville than the Pirates. I’d suspect that Pirates’ attendance will suffer as a result of this team being in Lewiston. Who knows? Maybe this would result in the Pirates leaving town and every L/A game being sold out. All we can do is speculate.

As for myself, where do I get season tickets?

If I had any hand in it I would suggest that rather than twin bill high school hockey at CMCC, maybe a high school game prior to a junior game might be a better twin bill. I would think the local kids would love playing before a packed barn more often!

Michael R. Cyr, Auburn