LEWISTON — For longtime fans and local businesses, Tuesday’s announcement about the fate of the Lewiston Maineiacs was no surprise.

“We were in the third round of the playoffs, and we had barely 1,400 people in the stands?” said fan Gail Tarr, a member of the Lewy’s Legion fan club. “So, we knew. We understood that the team was losing money, it was just flying out the windows. But we gave it a good run.”

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s owners voted Tuesday to buy the Lewiston franchise and mothball it. The team’s 50-man roster will be spread around the league in a dispersal draft.

That draft might be the worst part of die-hard fans like Tarr and the rest of Lewy’s Legion.

“We had a great team, with great boys,” she said. “Now, they won’t even be together. If they moved them to another town, we could root for them there. But now, we can’t even do that.”

Fans are not the only ones down in the mouth that they team is leaving.

“A lot of area businesses are going to miss them, too,” said Michelle Manson, one of the team’s host mothers. “The restaurants are going to hurt. The boys went out to eat after games, and so did the fans. And then there’s the hotels, the people that made the signs for the rink. So, there are a lot of people that are going to miss them.”

The QMJHL estimates that small-market teams like the Maineiacs bring home between $3 million and $4 million a year in spinoff business. That can include hotel stays for the opposing teams for the 34 regular season games and any playoffs.

“We’d have the players and the staff and maybe some family,” said Richard Nelson, rooms manager for the Ramada Inn and Conference Center in Lewiston. “Maybe some officials would stay with us, too, and you’re talking 20 rooms for a couple of days. But it wasn’t just the rooms, but the meals. They’d often eat here, breakfast, lunch, dinner and post game. So, between rooms and meals, you’re talking about a $3,000 event each time they stay.”

Nelson and Scott McKenney, general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn/Auburn Riverwatch, said the two hotels pretty much shared the bounty from opposing teams.

“And that’s not something you replace easily,” Nelson said. “Especially when you consider the time of year. It’s not easy finding that kind of business on a Tuesday in the middle of January, or any night during the off-season.”

But Nelson said he was optimistic about the future; the Hilton Garden Inn’s McKenney agreed.

“Maybe now we need to look at what other venues will open up because of this,” he said. “I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. We’re still reeling from the news, but there is still room for optimism.”

Mayor Larry Gilbert said he imagined the Colisee would be in even more demand now as a junior hockey venue.

“A junior hockey tournament brings in eight teams for a weekend, with people from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire,” Gilbert said. “That fills a lot more rooms than a team bus from the QMJHL.”

Gilbert said he wasn’t sure Lewiston would find another team to replace the Maineiacs — not this year, but maybe in 2012.

“This is a town that’s been brought up on hockey,” Gilbert said. “We are a hockey town. It’s in our blood, and that hasn’t changed.”

Chip Morrison, president of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce, said a new team is likely.

“I would tell a new team to work very clearly, and develop a strong marketing plan,” Morrison said. “I’d tell them to work very closely with the local community and the business leaders so that they understand the business model and what the team needs to survive.”

Morrison said he had nothing but praise for the Maineiacs management.

“They brought a lot of people here, people working the games and the subsidiary impact around the community,” he said. “Clearly, there will be a loss, but we loved having them here.”

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