LEWISTON – Center ice at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee has a special meaning to hockey fans Mark and Lisa Ballard.

It’s where he proposed to her last winter during a Maineiacs game. It’s where the crowd went wild when a stunned Lisa said “yes.”

A public proposal was the last thing the former Lisa Legendre expected. Her new husband isn’t a showy kind of guy.

Mark did it, he said, because, “I’m not as romantic as most women would want,” and she deserved some romance.

In December 2006, he contacted the arena asking when they give the crowd T-shirts, could they shoot one his way that had “Will you marry me?” on it.

The rink had a better idea.

Mark’s name was called out during a “Couples Deal or No Deal” game between periods. Mark tried to act surprised. Lisa became “super nervous” walking out in front of 2,500 fans.

On the ice he was to pick one of three boxes. He knew which was the right box. The master of ceremonies awarded the prize: a Maineiacs T-shirt. Lisa was confused, wondering why would they give a couple just one shirt?

The MC pointed to the shirt and told Lisa there was a message for her on it. She read the words: “Will you marry me?” She froze and teared up. Overwhelmed, “I covered my face. The crowd was stomping, but I didn’t hear a thing.”

Mark took out the ring and offered it to her. Lisa was still paralyzed.

The master of ceremonies prodded her, asking if she had an answer to Mark’s question. “I said, ‘Yes, of course.'”

The crowd cheered.

Walking back to their seats people they didn’t know hugged them, shook their hands, said congratulations.

What if she said no? The two had not discussed marriage, but they were buying a home together in Poland. He said she had recently dropped hints, like: “‘Oh, my friend at work got engaged. The ring was so pretty,'” he said with a laugh.

Lisa, 29, and Mark, 35, met in 2003. A mutual friend wanted to fix them up. Lisa went to the friend’s “girls night” gathering and there was Mark. The two started talking.

He asked her to meet him at Oxford Plains where he was racing. She joined him at an after-race gathering in his family’s garage. They clicked, hanging out in the garage until 11 p.m., then talking in the house until 4 a.m. Both went home, but continued talking on the phone until 6 a.m. Since that night “we’ve been attached from the hip,” Lisa said.

He was struck by how much they had in common. “Once we started talking it was amazing how many crossover people we were associated with,” he said. “Because of how much it happened, it seemed like it was meant to be.”

She said she was attracted to him, in part, because she loved his big, “teddy bear” presence. He isn’t a big talker, but not shy. He has confidence. And she likes how he does little things for her.

He works at L.L. Bean in Freeport, she at Bisson Transportation in West Bath.

He goes to work earlier, and often starts up her car and wipes it off. “Other times he’ll come home from work and pick me up an ice coffee he knows I like.”

He admires her sense of humor, saying to him it’s unusual for a woman to be so funny. “Another thing is how she takes care of me,” he said. She dotes on him, “like how my mom took care of my dad.”