The Maine Nordiques inaugural season is officially over.

On Monday the North American Hockey League held a conference call with Board of Governors during which it was decided to end the junior hockey league’s regular season due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The league hopes it can still have some sort of playoffs. That will be discussed later this week on another conference call.

“We understand that this is a very difficult time for our hockey community, and we are working on all options in order to conclude the season with a Robertson Cup Championship,” NAHL commissioner Mark Frankenfield said in a news release. “We are actively and continuously monitoring a very challenging and fluid environment in order make the right decision everyone involved.”

The Nordiques finish with a 20-32-2 record, which ranked seventh in the NAHL’s East Division. They were five points out of a playoff spot with six road games remaining in the season, which was slated to end April 4.

Nordiques head coach Nolan Howe supports the league’s decision to cancel the remainder of the regular season.

“It’s incredibly disappointing for all of our players, especially our (1999-born players, who are aging out of junior hockey), but anything we are feeling pales in comparison (to people personally affected by the virus),” Howe said. “I keep telling guys, we can only control what we can control and let’s do what’s right here and be responsible.

“I know that Nordiques hockey and sports in general bring a lot of joy to people’s lives, so they are sad and disappointed by this news, as are we, as competitors to not able to finish out the season. But at the end of the day, I believe as a league we are doing the right thing. They are fully supported by us.”

Trent Grimshaw, one of the six Nordiques players born in 1999 who have played their last junior hockey game, was able to find a silver lining to the premature end to the season.

“It definitely makes me angry, but I understand the league had to shut down because no one knows what’s going on,” Grimshaw said. “It’s for the safety for everyone. … But it definitely sucks in my last year of juniors to go out like this, not knowing I had played my last game. I was lucky enough we got our last game at home, though — it was our last home game, so it kind of felt like the last game of the year. That was special that we could do that.”

Howe said the team supported each other as had all season when the bus turned around and returned to Lewiston last Thursday when games were originally postponed. The Nordiques were on their way to Middletown, New Jersey, for a pair of games against the New Jersey Titans.

The team made sure players were kept informed about what was going with the league and any news on the virus itself.

“We are doing the best we can to make sure our players stayed informed as possible,” Howe said. “As we were getting information, they were the first ones to have it. Just having contact with their parents and making sure we had a plan in place getting everybody home safely — players from overseas, to Canada and all over the country — that was important; we took the steps to just ensure the boys stayed safe.”

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