LEWISTON — The Lewiston Maineiacs may have been snubbed over the summer by Hockey Canada when none of their players were invited to the squad’s Under-19 hockey camp, and it hurt a bit when none of the team’s top players were chosen this fall for the Canada-Russia Super Series, but this week, the team finally got some good news regarding some its youngest players.

Francis Beauvillier and Sam Henley, two of the team’s 16-year-olds who have made a solid impression so far this season, will represent Team Quebec in the World U-17 tournament this December.

“We’ve had tremendous confidence in our 16-year-old players all season,” Maineiacs’ coach Don MacAdam said. “We’re proud of them for making that team, and at the same time we wish they’d been able to take J-F Plante, too, because we feel he’d be a positive addition to that squad as well, with how well he’s played so far this season. We’re hoping it will be a positive experience for them, a chance to grow as players even more.”

Beauvillier has five goals and three assists for eight points in 20 games for the Maineiacs this season, while Henley has a goal and two assists for three points in 22 contests.

Gingras sighting

Mathieu Gingras has been invisible in recent weeks, sidelined with an upper-body injury that made it painful and uncomfortable for him to skate.

This week, on the team’s three-games-in-four-nights road trip, Gingras returned to the lineup and made an immediate impact.

“He missed so much time, he was ready to come back hard,” MacAdam said. “We thought he played well all three nights this week, and made positive contributions in all three games.”

Gingras had a goal Saturday, an assist Friday and was even with a shot in the first road game of the series.

Six for 60

With a long stretch of road games this month, the Maineiacs are playing just four home games in November. That will lead to an expanded home schedule around the holidays, a season-long six-game homestand that begins Sunday, Dec. 28.

The team’s marketing department has chosen to use that homestand to its advantage, offering a holiday special to ticket-buyers that will average out to $10 per ticket. The catch, of course, is that those who want tickets at that price need to purchase a ticket for each of the six games, four of which fall during school vacation and one of which is a special 2 p.m. matinee on New Year’s Eve day.

Lewiston will face off against Victoriaville, Gatineau twice, Shawinigan, Bathurst and Rimouski in those six games.

Teddy toss

The team’s annual teddy toss tradition continues this season, with the event scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 13 against Cape Breton. The premise of the event is to toss a teddy bear, or any stuffed animal, onto the ice when Lewiston scores its first goal of the game.

All collected animals will be donated to charity.