Chad Denny, one of the original three Maineiacs on the team, hoists the President’s Cup above his head after Lewiston was victorious over Val D’Or in the President’s Cup final in 2007. Sun Journal file photo

The Maineiacs are returning to Lewiston.

Well, kind of. The Maine Nordiques will change their name to the Lewiston Maineiacs and wear Maineiacs jerseys for the next three home games in honor of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (now known as the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League) franchise that called The Colisee home from 2003-11.

Former Maineiacs players and staff members will attend the games against the Northeast Generals on Friday (7:30 p.m.) and against the Elmira Aviators on March 27 (7 p.m.) and 28 (7:30 p.m.).

At the March 27 game, the 2006-07 Jean Rougeau banner — for the best regular season record — will be unveiled and hung in the rafters at The Colisee alongside the 2006-07 Presidents Cup champions banner, which was raised in 2020.

“You mention the word Maineiacs around here, people go crazy,” Nick Withee, the Maine Nordiques’ director of media and marketing, said. “I mean, there’s still a deep love for that team, and it means a lot to people.”

The Nordiques are able to use the Maineiacs’ name and logo for the jerseys because the copyrights on both have expired.

Once the Nordiques announced the Maineiacs jerseys and invited Maineiacs alumni to the games, former players started reaching out to say they were interested in attending.

One of those players is Jakub Bundil, who played for the Maineiacs from 2005-08.

“It was a few months ago (when) this idea came up,” Bundil said. “So I reached out to a few guys from the team when I played. And I think a few of us are going to be able to make it on Friday.”

Bundil who is from Slovakia and now lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, will be joined by two other former players: Chad Denny, who played four seasons with the Maineiacs from 2003-07 and was a second-round draft pick of the Atlanta Thrashers in 2005, and Mike Diallo-Lafleur, who played 15 games during the 2004-05 season.

“It’s nice to see that … to go to an event like that, especially to go back to Lewiston, where it all started,” said Denny, who played for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL and in the ECHL for Gwinnett Gladiators and the Utah Grizzlies before regaining his college eligibility in Canada and playing for the University of New Brunswick.

The Nordiques will honor former Maineiacs staff members during the March 27 game, and former players Stefano Giliati, Stefan Chaput, Bobby Gates and Colby Gilbert will be in attendance March 28.

Giliati — the Maineiacs’ all-time leader in points — and Chaput (2006 fifth-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes) were members of the 2006-07 QMJHL Presidents Cup winning team, along with Denny and Bundil, while Gates played from 2003-2005.

Gilbert, a former Edward Little standout who helped the Red Eddies to back-to-back Class A state championships in 2003 and 2004, played during the 2004-05 season and was the first of two local players to make the Maineiacs.

Good memories

Bundil and Denny have fond memories of playing and living in Lewiston, and both still visit their billet families yearly.

Bundil is particularly grateful to the people of Lewiston and Auburn.

“I always look back at how young I was when I first came, being from Europe, not, you know, not really speaking English, and how everything was new,” he said. “And just the people who kind of helped me along the way. You know, anyone from the owners, management, coaching staff, teammates, billet family, anyone in the community.”

Denny, who lives in Nova Scotia, said his strongest memories are of being part of the first Maineiacs team, being drafted by the Thrashers and winning the league championship, which secured a berth to the Memorial Cup in his final season with Lewiston.

Gilbert enjoyed spending time with his teammates, and especially competing against them.

“Playing pingpong in my parents’ basement — well, we played pingpong everywhere … we played cards all the time, (we) hung out,” Gilbert said. “We were on the road a lot, so we got to know each other. But some of the best times (were) competing with them in different types of sports. If it was playing pingpong or playing soccer before the game to warm up or anything like that, those were some good memories.”

Gilbert, who still lives in the Lewiston-Auburn area and occasionally is asked about his one season with the Maineiacs, also remembers facing 17-year-old Sidney Crosby, who at the time played for the Rimouski Oceanic.

“I enjoyed it,” Gilbert said. “I felt honored to be able to take faceoffs against him, to be exact. I matched up against him many times in the faceoff dot. Beat them many times, too.”

End of the Maineia

The QMJHL purchased and dissolved the Maineiacs after the 2010-11 season, ending the club’s time in Lewiston.

“To be honest with you, I was speechless,” Denny said. “Like, when I first heard about it, I was like, for real?”

“It was sad,” Bundil said. “But, you know, Lewiston is the only thing that I knew about the Q. I didn’t play for any other team. So, I have very fond memories of Lewiston, Maine. I thought that junior hockey should work in Maine. So it was sad to see. I always look forward to going back and, you know, seeing the place, seeing the jersey, seeing the name.”