LEWISTON – A season that began with high hopes and an optimistic outlook for the Lewiston Maineiacs will conclude today with eight regular players sitting in the stands, most of them wrapped, taped or on crutches.
Three weeks ago, Lewiston looked at the final 10 games, looked at the point standings and set a goal of 74 points.
That goal now impossible to reach with only today’s game remaining, Lewiston is just hoping to survive a game without incurring more injuries.
“We are just hoping to play a little, quiet game,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “We will try to keep everything as simple as possible with only nine forwards and six defensemen.”
Victoriaville, the Maineiacs’ opponent this afternoon, has clinched the No. 12 seed in the tournament and will face whichever team claims the No. 5 position. With neither an avenue to move up nor down, it is possible that many of the Tigres’ better players, or those with nagging injuries, will sit today to rest for the playoffs.
“They will come down to play the game, and the players that play will be ready,” said Jodoin. “I cannot say anything to judge what they might do, but I would think they would like to play without injuries going into the playoffs. We will see tomorrow, though, because it means nothing.”
The Maineiacs, however, are still involved in a battle for position. Possible scenarios include a No. 11 seed to face either Quebec or Moncton in the opening round, or No. 10 seed to face the same two teams.
“There are too many possibilities for us to start thinking about it right now,” said Jodoin. “We’d like to see some of our injured players come back, but still too many we just don’t know.”
Three players will officially be out for a first-round playoff matchup, and therefore also out for the season finale against Victoriaville. Michal Korenko, Derek Bailey and Marc-Andre Cliche are all out with breaks or severe tears.
“Maxime Mathieu and Mathieu Aubin will see the doctor this week,” said Jodoin. “We will know more then. Colby (Gilbert is still out, and (Alexandre) Picard, with his mother, we don’t know about him either.”
Gilbert was hit hard in a loss to Drummondville on Friday and made his way back to the United States after spending the night in a Canadian hospital. Picard’s mother fell ill last week and is in intensive care.
Friday, Chad Denny, himself just back after a bout with mononucleosis, played half of the game as a left wing, forming a line with Gilbert and Olivier Legault. The top line consisted of Picard, Stefan Chaput and Alex Bourret, and Picard’s absence leaves a hole there, too. In the third period Friday, Ryan Murphy plugged that hole, leaving Marc-Andre Daneau, Pierre-Luc Champagne and Eric Castonguay on a makeshift third line.
Sheldon Wenzel is expected to play today, helping to fill a hole at forward, while defenseman Marc-Andre Crete made the trip back to Lewiston with the team Saturday and is also expected to see some time on the blue line while Denny plays forward.
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