LEWISTON — With two games remaining on their season-long, six-game homestand, the Lewiston Maineiacs are poised to complete their most successful stretch of 10 games since the first dozen contests of the season.

The two teams standing in their way won’t be pushovers, though, and with all of the roster movement over the last two weeks, the team may take some time to figure itself out.

“It’s tough, a lot of new faces. I have to go back to a lot of the practices earlier this week that we already ran,” Maineiacs coach J.F. Houle said. “Just to get everybody on the same page, it’s going to be this way for a little bit. It’s catching me by surprise a little bit.”

Two players who’ve been with Lewiston all season had a chance to practice with Houle for the first time Wednesday. Sam Henley and Francis Beauvillier were off representing Quebec in the World Under-17 tournament, and rejoined the team in time for the pair of games this week.

“Both had a good practice, and I saw both a lot last year in Midget AAA when I was scouting for Clarkson, too,” Houle said. “I know those two players, what they can bring to the table, and I think they’ll be a big asset for us in the lineup.”

Also skating with the Maineiacs for the first time Wednesday was newly-acquired goalie Dwayne Rodrigue, who took the ice opposite starter Adrien Lemay.

“I was pretty impressed today. Guys were taking shots and he’s got that quick twitch,” Houle said. “His gloves, his pads, hopefully it works out well for him — he seems like he’s adapting well.”

As fate would have it, Lewiston’s first matchup of its two-game set this week is against Acadie-Bathurst, with which the Maineiacs completed a trade last week. Cameron Critchlow and Jess Tanguy will skate against their former mates Thursday, while Sebastien Trudeau and Luke Dillman will likely dress for the Titan after spending the first half of the season in Lewiston.

“It’s only been a week since we made the changes,” Houle said. “(Assistant coach) Jeff (Guay) clued me in a bit, and I talked to Critch this morning to see what he could tell me about them. It should be a good game and we’re excited about getting going here in the new year.”

Rimouski, which has reportedly dealt its top two players — both of whom played for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships — is Friday’s opponent. The Oceanic, coached by former Lewiston head man Clem Jodoin, have also made a couple of other trades, but have taken at least a point in eight consecutive games.

With the announcement of a trade sending Eric Gelinas to Chicoutimi on Wednesday, Lewiston will play both games this week with limited experience and manpower on the blue line.

“Now we’re even younger on defense,” Houle said. “We’re going to have to make the most out of it. It’s for the future of the organization. We’re going to work with the young kids to try and make them better.”

Also possible to make his debut for Lewiston this week is Czech forward Michal Hlinka, who arrived Wednesday from Saskatchewan, where he was representing the Czech national team at World Juniors.

“If he can skate with the team in the morning if we can find some ice
for him (Wednesday) night, hopefully he can play,” Houle said. 

Both games this week are at 7 p.m. at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.