LEWISTON — Lewiston Maineiacs’ coach Don MacAdam believes in the hockey talent in Maine. He wouldn’t be here otherwise, saying often the atmosphere and surroundings in Maine remind him of his home on Prince Edward Island.

Graeme Townshend, a former Maine Mariner, former player under MacAdam and now the skating coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs, agreed. Townshend was in town this week to help the Maineiacs with some skating drills, and he took some time to weigh in on the state of minor hockey, as well.

“There’s a lot of good players here in Maine, but what I’ve found is frustrating,” Townshend said. “When I talk to people in the youth hockey and ice hockey community here, the prominent theme I get from these guys is, ‘Well, these kids’ goal should be to get to high school hockey and then be done with it.’ I just don’t understand that mentality.”

Townshend’s wife is from Maine, and they have a home in the Portland area. After he was finished playing, Townshend got into coaching, and one of his stops was in Georgia. There, when his stepson reached high school age, they had a choice to make about hockey.

“Hockey wasn’t good down there, so we sent him up here to play,” Townshend said. “He had a chance to play for the Boston Junior Bruins, but he decided he wanted to play high school hockey in Portland. (His father lived in the Portland area at the time.) After two years there, we had a kid who had aspirations of playing college hockey all of a sudden being content with finishing his senior year in high school.

“It was drilled into his head that no one from this state ever makes it, so don’t even try,” Townshend continued. “It blew my mind. Twelve kids from that Junior Bruins team could have gone on to play Division I college hockey. If my son was going to play on that team, why was he all of a sudden not able to make it? I’ve seen so many good players from here get to high school hockey and they just give up. That’s something I’d like to see change, and I think Don can have a big impact on that.”

MacAdam’s vision from Day 1 was to establish a base of talent from the area that would have the option to play hockey at the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League level, or at the NCAA Division I level. MacAdam and Townshend agreed there is a good base of talent that needs to be cultivated properly.

“I’ve brought kids from here, from Maine, up to Toronto because I figured they needed exposure, they needed to see they’re just as good as these other kids,” Townshend said. “They came to Toronto to a hockey camp I was doing, and there were kids in Triple-A there, the best minor hockey league in the world, and these kids (from Maine) could compete there. So why are they thinking they can’t succeed?”

Townshend used the University of Maine’s roster as a case in point.

“The University of Maine should have 15 kids from this state on its roster,” Townshend said. “There’s enough talent in Maine and enough players for that to happen. Something’s going on here where it’s not happening. Maybe some of the players don’t want to play at that next level, but I think maybe part of that is because it’s being drilled into their heads that they can’t.”

“It’s part of our job to change that image, that mentality and make them see that positive things can happen,” MacAdam said. “That’s part of the Lewiston Maineiacs giving back to the community, which is a big piece of what we’re trying to do here.”

More for the kids

The Maineiacs are casting their nets wide in their latest youth hockey venture.

Taking a page from the very successful V-Reds Prospects camp out of Fredericton, New Brunswick, the Maineiacs announced this week a new springtime hockey venture, the New England Maineiacs Prospects, with a goal of identifying and developing talent at a young age. The program is for all players born in 2001, 2002 or 2003.

“The New England Maineiac Prospects are an extension of the Lewiston Maineiacs’ dedication to youth hockey in Maine and New England,” the team said in a release.

The program will have a working partnership with the V-Red Prospects of New Brunswick, Express Hockey of New Brunswick, Target Hockey of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Prospects of Nova Scotia.

There will be an orientation skate for all interested players on Nov. 18, and the cost for that ice time is $25. Tournament dates will be announced at a later date. Interested parties should call Justin Murch of the Lewiston Maineiacs, or e-mail him at [email protected].

Pow, right in the kisser!

Eric Gelinas’ weekend didn’t start out the way it was supposed to at all Friday.

The Maineiacs’ defender was skating through warm-ups when a slapper off a teammate’s stick caught the 18-year-old defenseman in the face, just under his protective visor.

Gelinas immediately left the ice holding his hand over his face. He returned to action and started the game, and appeared none the worse for wear.

A rare miss

After nearly every game this season, the Maineiacs’ coaching staff has been nothing but complimentary about the team’s goaltending.

Until Friday.

“Tonight our goaltending was not good,” MacAdam said after the game Friday. “But we’re so used to it being so good, I think we can give them a pass for one game. I don’t know that it would have mattered all that much anyway, the way we played in front of them.”

Twenty-year-old starter Adrien Lemay’s goals-against average rose to 3.06 after Friday’s loss, and his save percentage fell to .911, from fifth to eighth among all league regular starters.

Jordan Kennedy, who relieved Lemay in Friday’s game, saw his goals-against average soar to 5.08, second-to-last among all goalies, regardless of number of games played. Val d’Or’s Sean Coulton, who’d been the regular starter in the absence of Rafaele D’Orso, is in the last spot with a GAA of 5.26.