LEWISTON – The video message board crackled.

With five minutes showing on the scoreboard before the start of Tuesday’s Lewiston Maineiacs playoff game, and with the arena darkened, Lewiston head coach Don MacAdam appeared on the two screens at either end of the rink. He skated slowly to a position on the ice, stopped and spoke the words hockey fans in the arena had been waiting to hear:

“We are making a commitment to remain here in Lewiston,” MacAdam said.

The crowd applauded, sounded noisemakers and horns, and cheered.

After months of speculation, the Lewiston Maineiacs will remain in Lewiston, and tenants of the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“The bottom line is: We’re here, and we’ve worked very hard over the last couple of months, and the last couple weeks, in particular, with Jim Cain and his staff here at the Colisee, to make sure we are going to build a business foundation here that will make this team economically viable for the future, and not have to be going through this anytime soon again.”

Fans and media gathered in the arena’s Shipyard Lounge following the team’s Game 3 playoff loss to Drummondville to hear more about the team’s plans, which were vague in their early stages.

Team President Matt McKnight was not present at the event, and team officials handed out a release containing McKnight’s letter of resignation.

“The decision to submit a relocation application opens a door in your local market that is difficult to close,” McKnight said in the release. “I felt that by resigning my position, other capable individuals who were not so closely involved in the activities over the last three months stand a better chance to redevelop a viable business model for the Lewiston Maineiacs.”

MacAdam publicly thanked McKnight for his service to the organization.

Team owners Mark Just and Wendell Young were not present either, but likely available for comment later in the week.

Meanwhile, MacAdam, head scout Roger Shannon and Colisee owner Jim Cain attempted to explain a new structure. On the hockey operations side of things, MacAdam spoke.

“As far as titles and things, none of us up here are really concerned with all of that right now,” MacAdam said. “We’ll get it all sorted out, because we want what goes on our business card to reflect our responsibilities and what we do with the team.”

Operationally, Cain stepped in, saying a partnership between the team and the arena is essential. There are still nine years left on the team’s original lease with the rink, which was at the time owned by the city.

“The deal, as it sits itself, is workable if we live within it,” Cain said. “Working together by combining forces on the administrative side is big in all of this, financially and otherwise.”

And on the hockey aspect, Shannon did his best to reassure people the product on the ice would improve.

“One of the things this staff has agreed upon is that we’re going to build this team on character,” Shannon said. “We’re going to have quality people here, from the top on down.”

Details, MacAdam said, are still being worked on. But he continued to refer to a three-year marketing plan. In Dayton, Ohio, MacAdam once purchased and rehabilitated a failing hockey franchise.

“They were almost bankrupt, and in three years, we had a profitable business,” MacAdam said.

It’s not going to be easy, he said, acknowledging a loss in ticket sales and revenue through the process of seeking relocation.

“That’s just the way it works,” MacAdam said. “In my experience, you tend to lose about 15 percent of your season-ticket holders anyway, through attrition, people moving away, what have you, and you have to replenish each year. That’s something we know we have to do. What are we going to do about it? We’re not exactly sure yet. We’re going to get information . . . Let us know what we need to do, and we’ll do it.”