A faulty compressor doesn’t get in the way of the Maineiacs’ first day of training camp.
By Justin Pelletier
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – It wasn’t quite a steam bath at the Central Maine Civic Center last weekend, but it was close.

After crews painted lines and laid down ice last Thursday, one of the two giant compressors that cools the building and keeps the ice cold quit, leaving just one working generator. The dehumidification system, which also runs off of the compressors, also shut down. The clash between the cold of the ice and warmer air created a fog that hung over the ice until Monday.

“Naturally, we never would have expected a compressor that’s less than a year old to go out on us like that,” said Civic Center owner Roger Theriault. “It wouldn’t have been as big of a problem had it been in the winter, either.”

By Monday, crews had the compressor working at about 1/2 capacity. Thanks to those efforts as well as hourly window cleanings by Theriault himself, the glass defogged itself, allowing people in the stands for Monday morning practice to see what was going on on the ice.

“We’ll have that replaced by the end of the week,” said Theriault. “We’ve had to put everything into keeping the ice at it’s top level, so in turn the air got a bit humid, and therefore steamy along the glass.”

Ice chips

The first group of players out on the ice on Monday morning were officially the first to skate on the revamped surface. Assistant coaches Ed Harding and Jeff Guay were pleased overall with the ice surface and its response to the players’ blades.

“I think had we had 80 or 90 like in the old high school tryout days here, we might have been in trouble,” said Guay. “But where we had it well divided, we were OK.”

During the second session, the puck seemed to flip over sticks and take funnier hops, but that, according to Theriault, was a function of not scraping too deep with the Zamboni.

During the third session, Harding skated toward Theriault and gave him the thumbs up, indicating the ice was in much better shape after dropping the blade on the final Zamboni run.

Skill-full

Assistant coach Jeff Guay grew up in Lewiston and played hockey at Lewiston High School. Guay went on to play juniors in Canada. Now, as a coach, the memories are coming back to him.

“There is a lot of good skill in this league,” said Guay. “Only a handful of players have left the L-A area and seen this level of hockey. It’s exciting to know that people here have this opportunity.”

As far as cutting players, Guay can only agree on one thing.

“It’s going to be a very tough decision,” said Guay. “The thing about this league is that all of the top players have the total package. What determines who makes it can be a very small detail.”

Cut, cut, cut

After Tuesday’s intersquad games, coaches will meet with the team owner and general manager to decide who makes the first cut. The team will keep approximately 40 players and re-divide those players into two teams for the remainder of training camp.

On Friday, the team will travel to Salem, N.H. for a three-day tournament, followed by an exhibition in Moncton, New Brunswick on Aug. 26.

The team plays two exhibition games in Maine, the first on Aug. 29 against the Quebec Remparts, and the second against the Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Sept. 5. Both of those games will take place at the Kennebec Ice Arena in Hallowell. The season opener is on Sept. 12 at Baie-Comeau, with the home opener scheduled for Sept. 19 against Drummondville.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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