By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

CHICOUTIMI, Quebec – The two-hour trade period came and went Friday, and the Lewiston Maineiacs didn’t budge.

For now, the roster remains the same.

“We made some pitches,” said Maineiacs’ general manager and head coach Clem Jodoin. “There was nothing there, though, that was good enough, and we will not make decisions to trade just to trade. They have to benefit our organization, too.”

But that’s not to say that nothing will happen on the trade front. As soon as the draft begins today at 10 a.m., teams can once again make deals and exchange picks and players.

“Of course it is still possible,” said Jodoin. “If we can fill some of the spots we need to fill before the draft, we will do that, otherwise, we will have to do it at the draft.”

While the 18 teams’ general managers and coaches talked trades in the morning, the afternoon gave them a chance to meet one-on-one for the final time with the prospective top draft picks. Jodoin and his staff were in meetings all afternoon, and had some positive meetings with several top players.

As it stands, Lewiston holds the No. 9 pick in the first round of the draft, and will not pick again until the third round at No. 36.

“We are disappointed with that,” said Jodoin, “but that can change, too. We will see tomorrow.”

Jodoin also said Friday night, that he expected his evening to be extremely long with talks, perhaps trying to hammer out a trade or two before the morning draft session. A trade cannot become official until either team is on the clock to make a choice.

Busy day

The Maineiacs may have been quiet Friday morning, but the rest of the league was up and bustling. The biggest move of the day happened early, when the Acadie-Bathurst Titan sent their first pick (3rd overall), their first pick in the European player draft and their fourth pick in the 2006 entry draft to Gatineau. In return, the Olympiques sent the Titan 20-year-olds Olivier Labelle and Nicholas Ranger and 19-year-old Peter Pohl, their No. 1 pick (No. 11 overall) and their third pick in this year’s entry draft. Within a half hour, the Titan also exchanged No. 1 picks again, this time swapping the pick they acquired from Gatineau along with 18-year-old Marc-Andre Cote for Val d’Or’s No. 1 pick at fourth overall. The Foreurs were the busiest team, making six deals.

Draft tidbits

•Former Maineiacs’ and current Acadie-Bathurst coach Mario Durocher ambled up the hallway at the Hotel Montagnais with a smirk on his face.

“What have you heard about Bourret?” he asked. “Do you know where he is going?”

When given no’ for an answer, his smile widened.

Lewiston forward Alex Bourret has been the topic of conversation for weeks as a potential trade candidate, and many people at the hotel were surprised to see him stay put Friday, including Durocher.

•League commissioner Gilles Courteau, meanwhile, was involved in a panel discussion in front of some members of the media Friday afternoon, and among the points that continued to surface was that of expansion or relocation to Montreal, where teams have tried and failed for several years to hold on to a fan base. The most recent example, of course, is the PEI Rocket, who were in Montreal until two seasons ago, but moved at the same time the Sherbrooke Castors took off for Lewiston.

“With a mandate from the Board of Governors and the owners of the league, we know that Montreal and Sherbrooke are two very important towns to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League,” Courteau said. “Whether it is expansion or relocation, we have to look at what happened in the past, why it didn’t work before and change those things.”

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