‘Billet families’ give hockey players places to live
AUBURN – Nancy Mennealy and her family love ice hockey.
Her two boys grew up playing the game. Her brother was part of a Canadian Major Junior Hockey League. Mennealy even dreamed of joining a team.
“I always tell my friends that when I come back in my next life, I am going to play hockey,” she said with a smile.
So the Lewiston resident was thrilled when she learned that her city was getting its own semi-professional hockey team.
And she was even more delighted to learn that one of the young players might live with her family.
“I’m excited about the camaraderie. Relating to him. Being part of the hockey family, the new team,” Mennealy said. “We’re excited about the new team.”
Mennealy and 18 others have signed up as “billet families,” agreeing to become season-long second families to the 23 teenagers and young adults who will take to the Lewiston ice as Maineiacs this winter.
“We thought it’d be fun,” Mennealy said.
Officials announced last spring that Lewiston would be the new home of the Sherbrooke Castors, a team of 16-to 20-year-old National Hockey League hopefuls. The team, which is the only American franchise of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, changed its name to the Lewiston Maineiacs in April.
Soon after, hockey fans from around the state started offering to host players.
“We had someone from Portland. Someone from North Yarmouth,” said Ron Guerin, billet family coordinator. “A lot of inquiries began before we started looking for families.”
Travis Dubois was one of the first.
“I’ve been following information on the team for a few years,” said Dubois, a Lewiston man who searched the team’s Web site for information on hosting players. “It really sounded like an opportunity to get involved.”
Although team officials ruled out families living more than 10 or 12 miles from the Lewiston ice rink – too far for the young players to travel during a snowy winter – inquiries continued to stream in.
Volunteers had to fill out an applications and submit to home visits. Eighteen new families showed up at the Fireside Inn in Auburn last week for their first orientation as Maineiac billet families.
“Their parents are not going to be there. You are going to be their new parents for them,” said head coach Mario Durocher in a thick French accent.
Each family will be matched with one player, for whom they will provide a bedroom and dinner each night. Host parents are encouraged to set house rules and demand respect while providing a safe, nurturing home.
In return, billet families receive $90 a week and two season tickets to the hockey games.
But for most volunteers, the money and tickets weren’t much of a consideration.
“It’s a new addition to the family,” said Dubois, wearing a Maineiacs hat as he sat with his wife and two young stepsons during the meeting Wednesday.
Dubois’ enthusiasm even rubbed off on his parents. Dot and Denis Dubois also agreed to become a billet family.
“We’ve got a big house and it’s an empty house,” said Dot Dubois, whose youngest child is 21 and living away from home. “I think we could handle an 18- or 19- or 20-year-old.”
Team managers are looking for about 30 families to serve as hosts. Seven will end up being short-term homes, since some prospective players will be cut from the team within the first month.
The billet family coordinator isn’t worried about finding another dozen families willing to open their homes to young hockey players. In Canada, he said, semi-professional hockey teams have more than enough host families. And with so many eager fans already in Lewiston, he expects the same will happen here.
“I know for a fact it’s going to spread like wildfire,” Guerin said.
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