For the third time in six seasons, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is realigning, sending the Lewiston Maineiacs into yet another new division starting next season.

Lewiston will begin 2008-09 as one of four teams in the Telus Conference’s Central Division, alongside Drummondville, Shawinigan and Victoriaville.

“This is the first time we’re in the right spot, actually,” Maineiacs’ president Matt McKnight said. “These are the three closest teams to us. Geographicaly, this is the best spot for us.”

The Maineiacs started the 2003-04 season – their first – in a five-team division with Quebec, Chicoutimi, Baie-Comeau and Rimouski. With the addition of Saint John and St. John’s two years later, Lewiston shifted to the Atlantic Conference with the seven Maritime Province teams.

With this latest shift, Lewiston will forge division rivalries with three more teams, bringing to 14 the number of teams with which the Maineiacs have shared a division.

“The other thing,” McKnight said, “is that our fans associated more with these teams, having more of a French-Canadian background.”

The league’s Board of Governors recently voted to reduce the season by two games, to 68 per team. This, combined with the realignment, also means a shift in the scheduling process.

Now, Lewiston will see its division rivals eight times each (four at home, four on the road). Two sets of rivals, Rouyn-Noranda and Val d’Or, and Chicoutimi and Baie-Comeau, will see each other 10 times.

The Atlantic Division, now just six teams strong (Acadie-Bathurst, Cape Breton, Halifax, Moncton, PEI and Saint John), will see each of the 12 Telus teams, including Lewiston, just twice each season, once each at home and on the road.

Within the Telus Conference, teams not in each other’s divisions will see each other four times, twice each on the road and at home.

In an effort to boost the new team in the Montreal area, the Montreal Juniors, the league has also provided for an extra game for that team with Shawinigan and Quebec, which calls for a six-year rotation involving the Atlantic teams and the rest of the Telus.

“This is the most balanced schedule we’ve had,” McKnight said. “There will be more teams coming in more often than ever before.”

Closer to the present time, the Maineiacs will begin the 2008 Presidents Cup playoffs on the road March 21 in either Bathurst, New Brunswick, or Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Tickets for the first two home games of the postseason will be available at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee beginning Monday, March 17. Tentatively, those games will be on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 25 and 26.