Lewiston names Clement Jodoin as its new head coach and general manager.

LEWISTON – Enter the Jodoin era.

The Lewiston Maineiacs made what many had already speculated to be true official on Wednesday, announcing that Clement Jodoin will be the team’s new Head Coach and General Manager.

“He is the epitome,” Maineiacs President and principal shareholder Mark Just said. “To have him come to Lewiston and join this organization is an honor for us.”

Jodoin has a long resume that includes three different tours as an assistant coach in the NHL, but it was time spent in Halifax that led him to Lewiston.

“He took us from a bunch of nobody’s in Halifax when we were an expansion team,” Just said, “and he took a bunch of players that most people didn’t know and had never heard of and went to the playoffs with them.”

In 1997, after his third season as the Head Coach and General Manager in Halifax, Jodoin was the QMJHL Coach of the Year, and was a finalist for the Canadian Hockey League Coach of the Year Award. He then signed on with the Montreal Canadiens, serving as an assistant coach and a scout until last year, when he became an assistant within the Canadian Hockey Association.

“Now, this is my home,” Jodoin said on Wednesday. “I came here for the challenge. I came here for the hockey. I know that in the NHL, Detroit is the Hockey Town.’ Together, we want to make sure that in the CHL, Lewiston is known as Hockey Town.’ The team is yours, it is ours, not mine.”

The timeline for bringing Jodoin to Lewiston was short. Two weeks ago, in fact, Lewiston was just a city through which Jodoin drove to get to Ogunquit and Kennebunk, two of his favorite summer vacation spots.

“I remember passing through about 10 years ago,” Jodoin said. “I remember hearing about a rink in Lewiston and I stopped to check it out.”

At that, Jodoin rolled his eyes, referring to the condition in which the rink stood at that point, causing laughter from the half-full room.

“Now,” he continued, “I see the rink and the city and I know that this team can be one of the best in the league. That is the goal, that is my vision for this team.”

After a phone call from Just and a brief conversation with his family, Jodoin took the job, agreeing verbally to lead the team. The paperwork was completed early this week.

Taking over

The transition from coaching in Europe, which Jodoin was doing until three weeks ago, back to the QMJHL will be rough to start with. It has been seven years since Jodoin has been a part of the league.

“We have a lot of work to do now, especially before the draft,” Jodoin said. “Still, I cannot judge anything yet. We are starting fresh. I have no prejudice about any of the players because I do not know any of them. To start, I will not try to build, but instead watch and see how things are.”

As far as the team’s assistant coaches, Ed Harding and Jeff Guay, contract offers remain on the table, but nothing has yet been signed.

“Out of respect for a new coach, sometimes you have to wait and see,” Harding said. “Sometimes they want to bring their own people in, and I can respect that. That said, I had some very positive meetings with Mr. Just within the last week and a half, and he told me he wanted me to come back. Nothing has been signed yet. I met with Clem this morning for the first time, and that went well, too.”

“They will have to prove themselves, too,” Jodoin said of the assistant coaches. “Again, I am coming in not knowing anyone right now. But I will know them all very well soon.”

NOTES: Team owner Mark Just announced on Wednesday the creation of a new season-ending award given to the Maineiacs player who is deemed to be the Most Inspirational Player. The award will be named for former NFL star Pat Tillman, who recently died in combat in Afghanistan as a member of the Army Rangers.

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