Who: Lewiston Maineiacs vs. Rimouski Oceanic

Where: Androscoggin Bank Colisee

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Tickets: Available by calling 783-2009, or at the Colisee box office

What they’ve done: The Rimouski Oceanic are one of the top teams in the QMJHL this season, having won seven of 10 games to start the season. They come to Lewiston having won three in a row, giving up just five goals in those three games. Lewiston is 5-6 to begin the season, in fourth place of four teams in the Telus Central Division.

Players to watch: Rimouski – Maxim Gougeon (G), Sebastien Piche (D), Philippe Cornet (F), Olivier Fortier (F), Keven Veilleux (F), Luca Cunti (F), Patrice Cormier (F). Lewiston – Peter Delmas (G), Patrick Cusack (D), Michael Ward (D), Denis Reul (D), Eric Gelinas (D), Garrett Clarke (D), Max Gratchev (F), Danick Paquette (F).

Hockey brought Clem Jodoin to Lewiston in 2004.

Family took him away in 2007.

Hockey is bringing him back in 2008.

Jodoin coached the Lewiston Maineiacs for three seasons, from 2004 to 2007, and in his final year with the team, led it to a league title and a berth in the Memorial Cup. He’ll return Wednesday night, behind the bench on the other side of the ice, leading the Rimouski Oceanic.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Jodoin said Monday. “

Jodoin left for family. His wife had graduated from school, qualifying to be an Osteopath in Canada, but not in the United States. Three years apart for more than nine months out of the year was tough. It wore on him. It wore on them.

“It’s a different environment now, a more balanced life,” Jodoin said. “It’s more, I would say, normal. It’s nice to get out from the game sometimes, instead of thinking about the game 24 hours a day.”

Weeks after announcing his departure, Jodoin secured a coaching job with the Oceanic, former temporary home to Sidney Crosby. The differences between the jobs, Jodoin said, were the job titles and the proximity to his family.

While his fixation and happiness with the latter is obvious, the shift from being a coach and GM to being just a coach was also a welcome change.

“I don’t have to deal with the agents, the parents, the schools or anything, I’m just coaching,” Jodoin said. “I’m not missing the GM part at all. If I had to go through it again, I think it’s a good thing I’m doing right now. I’m more focused on my job, I’m more aware of the details.”

Prognosticators have been quick to peg Rimouski as a favorite to win the league this season. The Oceanic should, at least, make a good run at it, since they will host the Memorial Cup tournament this season, and thereby automatically qualify for a berth.

Don’t try to goad Jodoin into talking about it.

“We don’t talk about it at all,” Jodoin said. “We’re not approaching it like that, because if we’re thinking about the Memorial Cup, we’re going to forget what we have to do right now. we have to go one step at a time, let’s play through the league.”

Jodoin still speaks fondly of his time in Lewiston, and still keeps in touch with friends he made in the city he called home for three years.

“I made some good friends, I’m still in touch with some good friends,” Jodoin said. “It’s a small world, and with coaching, you’re a gypsy, you’re in, you’re out and you never know what will happen in the future.”

And while he’ll likely see and speak to many of these friends this week, don’t expect him to act like it when he’s pacing the visitors’ bench Wednesday night.

“I’m on the other side of the fence now,” Jodoin said. “It’s a game of hockey, we’re in the same league, it’s the same product. There’s hockey in Lewiston, there’s hockey in Rimouski, and after that, it’s junior hockey, it’s winning, it’s developing, it’s competing.”

Some things, it appears, never change.