LEWISTON – More than 2,500 fans watched the Lewiston Maineiacs take on the Victoriaville Tigres at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Saturday.

Meanwhile, in the offices on the building’s first floor, the fax machine started to churn, and Lewiston’s grip on the Maineiacs slipped away, one thin sheet of paper at a time.

The Maineiacs sent a notice to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League offices during the game, notifying the league of the team’s intention to relocate in time to play hockey elsewhere next season.

Majority owner Mark Just called the decision to move the franchise one of the most difficult decisions of his life.

“We have such an unbelievable core base of fans, sponsors and volunteers,” Just said. “I can’t thank them enough for their support over the past five and a half seasons.

The announcement of Just’s intentions came nearly six years to the day of his announcement that he would move the franchise from Sherbrooke, Quebec, to Lewiston.

He said Saturday that it was time to acknowledge that the owners could not continue to subsidize the team, “considering it has not once broken even over the past six seasons.”

Rumors of the Maineiacs’ relocation surfaced a few weeks ago, and at first the team denied each one. At the time, Just mentioned his disappointment with the team’s attendance figures.

“I’ve been putting money into this for six years, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, waiting for people to support this team,” Just told the Sun Journal last week. “I’ll say it time and time again, we have 2,000 great, loyal, unbelievable fans. But 2,000 people aren’t enough. Where are the other 70,000 who live in the community?”

Just didn’t change his tune Saturday, but was much more pensive.

“Our business model was based on an average attendance of 3,000 spectators per game, something that was never achieved, even during our remarkable President Cup championship season in 2006-2007,” Just said.

“At its pinnacle, we had close to 2,000 season ticket holders, along with sponsorship and group sales revenue that exceeded budgeted expectations. However, our casual fan base never reached expectations, resulting in the team operating substantially in the red since its inception.”

The likely destination for the team is Boisbriand, Quebec, a town northwest of downtown Montreal. Led by former NHL defenseman and current Montreal Junior assistant coach Joel Bouchard, a group of former and current National Hockey League players are building a new arena. In the reported deal, Just would transfer 49 percent of the ownership of the team to the group and retain a 51 percent controlling interest.

The Maineiacs, so named after a fan contest the spring before the first season, arrived from Sherbrooke to begin the 2003-04 season. In five years previous to this one, the team had a record of 188-124-38, the third best record in the league in that span behind Gatineau and Cape Breton.

The team’s best effort came in 2006-07. Under the leadership of coach Clem Jodoin, the Maineiacs went 50-14-2-4, won the Jean Rougeau Trophy as the regular-season champions, the President’s Trophy as the playoff champions, and represented the QMJHL at the 2007 Mastercard Memorial Cup in Vancouver. There, Lewiston came less than one minute from playing in the tournament final.

At the height of the team’s popularity, in 2006-07, the Maineiacs averaged 2,712 fans per game at the Colisee, a run that included three sellout crowds.

Last year, the team drew 2,580 per game, and had one sellout during the final game of the regular season. This year, attendance was down to 2,170 per game, and on six occasions there were fewer than 2,000 fans in the building.

The Maineiacs have seven regular-season home games remaining, 15 in all counting road contests. If the team qualifies for the playoffs – it currently occupies the league’s 16th and final playoff position – the Maineiacs will play at least two more home games in the postseason.

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