LEWISTON – For three years, the Portland Pirates and Lewiston Maineiacs acted like two popular kids at school, one who’s been popular for a long time, and one from “away.”

The Maineiacs, the “new” cool kid, threatened the Pirates’ standing in the Maine hockey community. The two viewed each other with skepticism, and stayed largely out of each other’s way.

“From Day 1, there really wasn’t a relationship at all,” Maineiacs’ President and Governor Matt Mcknight admitted. “I hadn’t talked to Brian (Petrovek, the Pirates’ CEO) for three, three-and-a-half years from the day we first moved here.”

McKnight finally invited Petrovek to lunch. The two forged a friendship – and more importantly a business relationship.

“From that point we looked at what we could do that would benefit both organizations,” McKnight said. “It’s the age-old saying, together we’re stronger.”

The two organizations are at the height of their partnership just a year and a half later, and they’ve submitted a bid to jointly host the 2009 MasterCard Memorial Cup at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

“Those are some of the strengths of partnering up with the Pirates,” McKnight said. “The strength of the American Hockey League is big. They’ve been around for a long, long time, they do some really great work and to be able to use the assets they have to bring to the table and better our overall bid is a big reason to bring the two teams together.”

Nice timing

Two important non-hockey factors play a role in a successful bid: finances and location.

On the location end of things, Portland has been a host city for major events before. It’s also been rated on some lists as one of the top places to live in the country.

More importantly for this bid, Portland is a fantastic place to visit in the spring.

“The timing of the Memorial Cup is ideal with respect to the tourism industry here,” McKnight said. “The month of May is kind of the shoulder season, just before it gets into the busy season. For us to come in and say, ‘Look, we’re going to guarantee you’re sold out for a 10-day period in May,’ you get plenty of cooperation from the hotels.”

On the financial side of things, the Civic Center also came through.

In late May, unless the Pirates make it into the AHL’s Eastern Conference finals, the Civic Center will be empty.

“At the end of the tournament, the Civic Center is going to have renovations done to it that they can keep,” McKnight said. “There will be some new rooms constructed underneath that, basically, it will be up to the Civic Center whether they want to keep them or not.”

Affordability and exposure

The Maineiacs and Pirates, in their joint bid, have guaranteed the league $630,000 of revenue as part of the finaincial package they had to put forward.

The average fan – especially the season ticket-holders – will have a chance to see the tournament at prices well below normal.

“We have to be cognizant that we’re still trying to expose a new brand of hockey in an area of New England,” McKnight said. “It’s still something that not everybody is familiar with. To put in five to six thousand people every game, price can’t be an issue.”

Fans would be able to purchase ticket packages for all nine possible games for $375. Season ticket-holders would be discounted to $350.

This year, in Kitchener, fans have to pay $462 per ticket, plus taxes and surcharges, bringing the total to near $500.

In addition to local fans, the committee has reached an agreement with the NHL Network that would allow the tournament to be broadcast in the United States, conditional on a successful Maine bid.

“The fact that we went out and talked to the NHL Network and brokered a deal with them to open up the Memorial Cup to their audience is unique,” McKnight said. “Everybody in Canada knows what the Memorial Cup is, because it’s on national television … Now, we’re going to be able to show it to everyone who gets the NHL Network, and expose our brand to millions of people.”

Contending team

Another of the criteria on which the committee will grade Lewiston is the strength of the team’s hockey operations, including a prospectus for next year’s squad and the depth of the overall talent in the organization.

That led to some meetings between McKnight, principal owner Mark Just and head coach and GM Ed Harding.

“Whether or not we got the bid or not, most of what is laid out in that plan was going to happen next year, regardless,” McKnight said. “There’s a few obvious things we have to change to better the team next year that we would do anyway.”

McKnight was quick to point out, though, that even the best laid plans are maleable.

“Those are the plans as of today,” McKnight said. “It doesn’t mean that’s what the plan is going to be six months from now, because everything changes when you hit draft time, when you find out which players are coming back. It’s certainly a bit of a fluid concept.”

Not going anywhere

The partnership between Portland and Lewiston has sent the local hockey rumor mill into overdrive, especially with credible rumblings surfacing from Anaheim that the Ducks may be looking into ending their affiliation with the Pirates.

Published reports have pointed at Buffalo as a possible new affiliate in Portland.

Some local rumors involved the Maineiacs leaving Lewiston to fill the void at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

McKnight had a direct answer.

“This has nothing to do with a move to Portland,” McKnight said through muffled laughter. “Portland has a franchise in place for however long their deal is. There’s no moving the team to Portland. This has nothing to do with that. This is simply the only way we would possibly have a chance to host the Cup.”

With all of the bells and whistles in the Maine proposal, the possibility is definitely there.

Now it’s up to the committee.