LEWISTON – The black scribbles on either side of his hockey stick made Isaac Lapointe proud.

“I have even more over here,” he said in a shy, reserved voice as he twisted the stick around to show more on the heel of the blade and back of the shaft.

“He’s loving this,” said his father, Yves. “There’s no doubt about it.”

The Lapointes, and more than 200 other screaming fans gathered outside the Multi-Purpose Center on Birch Street in Lewiston on Wednesday night to officially open this year’s Lewiston Maineiacs’ training camp.

“It’s a tradition in this league to open camp with a meeting between the draft picks, the invited players and the members of the organization,” said Maineiacs Vice President and Governor Matt McKnight. “We thought it fit to include the most valuable asset to our organization – the fans.”

And they came en masse, despite a change in venue from the Courthouse Plaza between Park and Lisbon Streets due to impending bad weather that never materialized.

“To have the crowd this big with the weather calling for rain and with the change in venue, it’s just awesome,” McKnight said. “What used to be a small group of hard core fans is growing and growing quickly.”

In all, more than 50 of the 68 players scheduled to try out for the team appeared at the gathering, and each of them was introduced by public address announcer Ernie Gagne. As their name was called, they had to walk by themselves to the makeshift stage and accept a t-shirt, allowing the public to see them, many for the first time.

“It is lots of fun here tonight,” said Maineiacs’ first round selection Jonathan Bernier. “I am anxious to play now in front of these fans.”

All of the players elicited applause from the audience, but the loudest cheers remained reserved for last year’s fan favorite (and still blonde from last year’s playoffs) Sheldon Wenzel.

“It’s great to see all of the fans show up,” Wenzel said. “It’s good for the team in general to see this. It shows great potential for the fan base.”

Close on the decibel meter to Wenzel was Brandon Verge, a goaltender from last year’s team, and Travis Mealy, who walked from the crowd without a shirt on, which brought laughter and a few cat calls from the crowd.

The local athletes trying out for the team also had their moment of glory, being introduced to nearly identical, frenetic applause.

“This just makes me want to play (Thursday) even more,” said Auburn’s Colby Gilbert. “I didn’t know what to expect, really, but now it’s really exciting to know that it’s finally here.”

As one fan in a Brandon Roach (No. 2) jersey tugged at players walking he asked where they were from and welcomed them to Maine.

In another corner of the crowd, a group of girls watched anxiously, waiting to see if their favorite player had returned.

And, of course, Isaac Lapointe was out looking for signatures, making sure not to whack people across the back of the knees as he walked by.