The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s game plan for drawing the community into its folds includes a challenge posed to area business leaders to assist in the marketing of the team in central Maine. A community relations board, led by John Emerson of Emerson Toyota and Emerson Buick Cheverolet of Auburn, has been formed with the specific goal of business outreach.

Their message is consist with that of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and its Commissioner, Gilles Courteau; team owner Marc Just; the organization’s staff and coaches; and the many local community members already committed to the success of the Lewiston MAINEiacs The community must embrace the team and the organization, taking ownership to build a solid foundation for its growth and success. Simply put, the community relations board will be looking to businesses to incorporate the Lewiston MAINEiacs into their own marketing plans through the purchase of corporate tickets for customer appreciation, employee incentive programs and corporate benefits.

“Our primary function is business-to-business networking,” explains Emerson. “We’ll be brainstorming creative ideas for marketing the team and getting the business community as well as the residents to step up to the plate and support them. This is young, passionate, strong hockey. Some of these players will one day be in the NHL.”

Once the board has established marketing direction, the group will begin to implement their ideas. Emerson’s long range vision includes potential for hockey clinics combining the talents of the MAINEiac players with young skaters from the LA Youth Hockey Program, selected player appearances at charity fund-raising events, and even speaking engagements.

For now, the focus remains on helping the Lewiston Hockey organization fill the seats for the season. According to Emerson, that’s 1,000 to 1,500 people 35 games a year.

“We all have a stake in this,” says Emerson. “The City of Lewiston rose to the challenge to assist Roger Therriault with all the renovations that needed to happen in time for the start of the season. If we, as the people who live and work in this community, want to have something to be proud of, we need to embrace and support this.”