LEWISTON — The Lewiston Maineiacs will be making a bid to host the 2011 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Midget Draft, and will make another bid to host the Memorial Cup in 2012, two goals that appear to exhibit the team’s desire to remain viable in the Lewiston-Auburn market in the long term.

To help in that venture, the Maineiacs have married themselves with the building in which they play. With the recent personnel shuffle within the Maineiacs’ organization, the owner of the Androscoggin Bank Colisee, Jim Cain, is now the team’s executive vice president of Hockey Operations.

“I’ve been involved in junior hockey before and this fan-base model,” Cain said. “And with a lot of the uncertainty around the team since I bought the Androscoggin Bank Colisee, I thought that if the opportunity ever came along to be a part of the organization, that would be good for the Colisee and good for the community, which is why I bought the building in the first place. I think the things truly go hand in hand.”

Cain has been helping out to some degree in the front office for a few weeks, and the Colisee took over handling the team’s ticket sales in the off-season. Now, Cain said, he’ll have input in the day-to-day operations of the club.

“The community is asking for it, for the stability of this team in this marketplace,” Cain said. “I think I can help that along. I’ve gotten to know a lot of the season ticket-holders, I’m pretty impressed with the size and the group of people. The people truly are committed to helping out and ensuring that junior hockey at this level — which, in case people forget, is world-class — stays here, and I think it’s important that I help in that process.”

To host the draft in 2011, the rink would likely have to add a second sheet of ice, part of Cain’s master plan since he acquired the building from the city of Lewiston last year.

For now, his focus with the Maineiacs remains on the team’s bottom line, Cain said.

“In a nutshell, I’ll be coordinating the financial side, the marketing side, the sales side of the business,” Cain said.

Cain also didn’t rule out the possibility of future part-ownership of the franchise.

“It’s on the radar, and I intend to have discussion with Mr. Just in that regard with an investment group and/or myself to at least own a portion of this organization, which I think also would help out as far as long-term stability goes, because I’m here for a long time,” Cain said.