LEWISTON – The Lewiston Maineiacs will pay homage to two former Maine hockey teams this season, part of a series of five “shirts-off-their-backs nights throughout the season.

Thanks to a series of sponsors, the Maineiacs will wear shirts this year with the logos of the Maine Nordiques and the Maine Mariners, and will give those shirts away to some lucky fans following those games.

“Each one of those five games, those commemorative jerseys will be given away,” Maineiacs President Matt McKnight said. “You just have to be at the game.”

The Nordiques’ jerseys, a tribute to the team that skated in Lewiston in the 1970s, will appear on Feb. 21. The Mariners’ jerseys, a tribute to the AHL franchise that now calls Providence home, will debut in Portland against the Quebec Remparts on Dec. 6.

“They’re pretty sharp,” McKnight said. “There’s a company approved by Reebok, which supplies our league with jerseys, and they deal with all of the approvals and everything. It’s pretty sharp.”

Three other jerseys, including one paying tribute to the United States military on or about Veteran’s Day, will also debut this season.

It’s good to be young

Two ticket incentives aimed at younger fans will debut this week to begin training camp.

During the first half of the season – and the dates are clearly marked on the schedule – kids’ tickets will cost just $5.

In addition, for all intrasquad and exhibition games, kids’ tickets are free.

According to McKnight, a youth ticket is defined as a ticket for a person 12-years-old and under, “the same category we sell youth tickets to.”

Those changes mark the only significant change to the price matrix for the upcoming season. Despite increased operating costs, the team found that it couldn’t afford to increase ticket prices based on the current local economy.

Seventh player

A program developed to help non-profit organizations make a little money while helping to fill the seats for Maineiacs’ games has taken off. Last year, the Seventh Player Fundraising Program sold 3,900 tickets and contributed thousands of dollars to local non-profits.

“The program offers tickets to those organizations at a reduced rate, and they turn around and sell them, make a couple of bucks off the tickets they sell and in turn also get 50/50 and chuck-a-pucks,” McKnight said.

This year, the team has already eclipsed last year’s sales, and are approaching a self-imposed cap.

“We’re already over 5,000, and the cap on it is around 8,000,” McKnight said. “We’re looking to max that out.”