Last Maineiacs home game a sellout
By Justin Pelletier
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – It was only eight people. Maybe 10. But, a line is a line, and it was a foreshadowing of what was to come.

When April Cyr, a ticket sales representative at the Colisee, walked up to the office door on Friday morning, there were people standing in line, waiting to purchase tickets for Friday night’s Maineiacs hockey game against Baie-Comeau.

“I had not seen that before,” Cyr said. “There were only about eight or so, but after that the door just kept swinging open.”

There weren’t many seats left to begin with, and by 9:30, well, 9:28 to be exact, someone purchased the last available ticket.

“They’ve still been calling all day,” Cyr said. “I had a feeling they’d try to show up later in the evening, to see if anything had opened up or if they could weasel their way in, but I can pretty much say that it won’t happen.”

So, why the buzz?

According to Maineiacs Vice President and Governor Matt McKnight, there are several reasons that the final home game of the season is traditionally a strong draw.

“I think the biggest difference, really, is the number of groups we have, and that is pretty consistent across the league,” McKnight said. “You have groups that, for whatever reason, wait until the last minute and realize that there is just one or two more games left to go, and then they act. In this case, we had half of the building sold two weeks ago for this game.”

Procrastination. It is one of the more prominent traits developed among the American public over the last 30 years, and on Friday it even cost some people a chance to get their tickets.

Those who tried to buy tickets after 9:30 a.m. were simply turned away. Some people were put on a list, in case some season ticket holders gave up their seats, but that list was short and there was little to no upward mobility by mid-day.

“The other thing about this game,” McKnight added, “is that for eight months people have been carrying around calendars with March 12th as the last home game. That sticks in people’s minds.”

So is an early sellout good, or is it bad for future business?

“This is actually a very good thing,” McKnight said. “What this does is it entices people to get tickets for future games earlier, and it sells the idea of a season ticket. If any of the people that did not get tickets today had a season ticket, they wouldn’t have had to worry about it.”

Playoff tickets go on sale Monday to the general public.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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