Long after they’re gone, we can say we knew them when.

They’re our boys, these Lewiston Maineiacs, who came here from around the United States and Canada to play some real hockey. They lived with us, entertained us and energized us, and turned the crashing of the boards inside the Androscoggin Bank Colisee into cacophony as familiar, and welcome, as the Great Falls’ roar.

Now they are champions, after dispatching Val-d’Or last night in dramatic fashion to seize the coveted President’s Cup, and reach the summit of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. For the four-year-old franchise, this championship validates the visionary decision to bring this sport, and team, to town.

This season, the Maineiacs made the Lewiston-Auburn area forget its worries, and injected an overdue dose of community pride. Signs of support for the team became ubiquitous, from Lisbon to Livermore, as perceptions of the Maineiacs evolved from the new guys in town to become, our boys.

None more so than original Maineiacs Chad Denny and Marc-Andre Cliche, the co-valedictorians in this, their likely graduation year from the team. Denny was the hero on Tuesday night; his third-period score put the Maineiacs on top for good, and set up last night’s championship victory.

And it’s no cliché to say Cliche has become the quintessential team captain. Though the Maineiacs story logically starts with this pair, this championship belongs to the entire team, and every player who’s donned the sweater since the franchise’s birth in 2003.

They’ll always be Maineiacs, because this community has embraced this team, and its players, like nothing else, following closely their exploits on the ice, and in life. We cheered just as lustily for their lofty academic achievements, as we now do for their championship.

No barriers exists between these players and the community. They aren’t superstars, disconnected from the fans and reality. Lewiston-Auburn doesn’t root for a uniform, we root for those who have lived and worked among us, and have now brought such pride to this region.

They will always be Maineiacs because they will always be, in our minds, one of us.

And when Cliche, Denny, goalie Jonathan Bernier and others eventually depart Lewiston for the hotter lights, and smoother ice of the upper echelons of professional hockey, our hearts will swell with memories of this championship, and our hands will applaud in support.

Because we can say we knew them when.

When they were Maineiacs.