LEWISTON – Amid growing speculation of a potential relocation, the Lewiston Maineiacs will try to get back to doing what they are here to do in the first place this weekend: play hockey.

With the prospect of the team’s relocation hot and heavy on the front burner in recent weeks, it’s been easy to overlook the team’s on-ice success.

Since the Maineiacs hired Don MacAdam to replace Ed Harding behind the bench, the team has won three of five and earned seven points out of a possible 10 thanks to a shootout loss against Val d’Or.

This weekend, the team hosts Victoriaville for a pair of games, Friday and Saturday night. They could be two of the final nine games the team plays in Lewiston, pending the possible move.

“We did address the team this week, about all of the rumors,” MacAdam said. “The bottom line is, it’s out of our control as players and coaches. We have a job to do no matter what, and our fans would be pretty disappointed if we didn’t do a great job on our game prep and playing hard every night.”

The Maineiacs meet a Victoriaville Tigres team that is 6-3 in January, having lost only to Drummondville (twice) and Shawinigan, two of the top teams in the Canadian Hockey league. The Tigres also defeated Shawinigan during that stretch.

The matchup will likely see at least one matchup between two of the top 18-year-old goalies in the league in Lewiston’s Peter Delmas and the Tigres’ Kevin Poulin. Both keepers were drafted last summer into the NHL.

Delmas appears to be back on track after a rough stretch through the middle part of the season.

“I know Peter’s been working very hard on turning things around,” MacAdam said. “I’ve been very pleased with the goaltending, with both Peter and Adrien (Lemay). I know the players are comfortable with whoever’s in goal. As for Peter, I know he played better last weekend than the weekend before, and that’s the goal, is to improve with each game.”

The Tigres’ offense is top-heavy, with Alexandre Labonte, Andrj Nestrasil and Maxime Tanguay all on the cusp of the 40-point plateau. Philip-Michael Devos is next on the team with 29.

But the Tigres have managed to get things done this season. They sit at 26-23-0-1 through 50 games, third in the Telus Central and ninth in the overall league standings.

Lewiston’s biggest concern in the standings is making the playoffs at all. Sixteen of the league’s 18 teams make the second season, and Lewiston currently sits on the bubble with 35 points through 51 games. Halifax and Val d’Or each have 31 points, but both teams have games in hand on the Maineiacs.

Both games start at 7 p.m.