LEWISTON – Jeff Guay pokes his head around the corner of his small office in the back of the Androscoggin Bank Colisee, just off the main hallway in the Lewiston Maineiacs’ locker room.

“You want to talk to me?” Guay questions, his tone suggesting modest surprise.

Anyone who’s ever met Guay, a 1990 graduate of Lewiston High School, wouldn’t be shocked by his demeanor. He walks slowly, deliberately, but not overly-confident. His strides are longer than you’d expect from a 5-foot, 7-inch man – so, too, was his playing career, which spanned eight years and four leagues.

On Sunday, Guay strode across the ice, dressed sharply in a navy blue suit. He stepped onto a temporary carpet, shook head coach Don MacAdam’s hand and wrapped his hands around a trophy – the trophy in the Lewiston Maineiacs’ vault of awards, the Bernard Just Trophy, indicative of the most valuable member of the organization.

“It is definitely an honor to be recognized for all the hours of hard work you put in as a coach,” Guay said. “It really is a 24-7 type of working atmosphere, but I would never change a thing, to be coaching in my home town.”

False start

The way Guay ended up back in Lewiston in the first place is a long, winding tale, woven through Texas, New Mexico, Iowa, Ontario and New York, among many other places.

His first coaching gig was in New York, with Salmon River. He won two state titles there as an assistant.

But in the distance, back in Maine, something was stirring.

“I moved back for this reason, because I knew this team was coming,” Guay said. “I moved back maybe two years too early, but this is why I came back in the first place.”

Another attempt to bring major junior hockey to Lewiston two years ahead of the Maineiacs fell through. Since Guay was already in town, he partnered up with Tim Smith at Lewiston High School, his alma mater, and helped coach the team to the 2002 Class A state title.

“I figured I’d wait until the next junior team came in, I popped in my resume, and here I go.”

Six years, four coaches

Guay is the only current member of the Maineiacs’ staff to have been with the team since the very beginning. He’s lasted 418 regular-season games, 44 playoff games and worked under four different coaches in six seasons.

“The four coaches, it was a great experience,” Guay said. “Two of them coached world junior teams, and you learn a lot from them. I just sat back and took it all in.”

Mario Durocher, Clem Jodoin, Ed Harding and now MacAdam all left impressions with Guay, some good, some not so much. But each was instrumental in helping Guay build his own style.

“It hasn’t been too bad, because I think I’m pretty open-minded about a lot of things,” Guay said. “That’s one of the biggest things I learned from Clem. Have there been a lot of changes a different things over the four coaches? Absolutely. But you just have to be open-minded. You’re there to be that support for the boss and for the boys.”

Working with the players in a close setting is something Guay believes in strongly.

“You know the kids have good skill at this level, wherever they’re coming from,” Guay said. “The opportunity to have the face time, the one-on-one time for development, that’s something that’s so important, and I’ve enjoyed working with every single kid for the past six years, and that’s the most important development part.”

What’s next

Friday, Guay and the Maineiacs will embark on their sixth consecutive playoff run, something only six other teams in the league can currently claim.

Eventually, he said, he’d like to be the top guy on the bench.

“When I first came into this league, I didn’t know if I could ever be a head coach,” Guay said. “As time goes on, you learn and you grow, and through four coaches, you take a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and you start building your own system. That’s something I’ve done, and I’m looking forward to someday being a head coach.”

MacAdam also gave Guay a glowing recommendation.

“He’s a real hard worker and he works at the right things,” MacAdam said. “He’s had the opportunity to work with some excellent coaches … Jeff is one of those guys, even though he’s an assistant coach as well, he’s got a head coach mentality. I never hesitate at all to give Jeff full reign to do what he wants. We think the game the same, and we have very similar principles that you should base your coaching on.”

It was a long slow process, that included a few interesting stops along the way, but Guay said there really is no place like home.

“I tell people this all the time: I had to leave Lewiston to learn how to play the game, and I had to come back to Lewiston to learn how to coach this game,” Guay said. “It’s been a tremendous experience.”