The Portland Pirates — the team’s ownership and coaching staff, at least — appear to be looking forward to the challenge of playing six home games in Lewiston this season.

“This is a unique situation and we’re excited to take our team to Lewiston and hopefully garner some new fans,” Portland head coach Ray Edwards said. “I don’t know how many of the folks there have come down to see us, but we want to play well in front of them, we want to put on a good show, we want to win in front of them, and we’re excited about getting to meet some new people.”

The hockey-savvy fan base in Lewiston/Auburn will get its first taste of high-level, professional hockey at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee since the Pirates last played a home game at the arena in 2010.

Prior to the most-recently expired lease between the Pirates and the Cumberland County Civic Center, which precluded the AHL club from playing away from the Portland arena, the Pirates made some trips to the Lewiston rink, with plenty of success.

They played two games during the 2008-09 season, and two more in 2009-10. The Pirates have posted a 3-0-0-1 record in the previous games played at the Colisee.

“I think we’re getting the buy-in we were hoping for from the fan base, and I think they’re going to see a talented two teams that will go on the ice this weekend,” Pirates’ Managing Owner and CEO Brian Petrovek said.

Lewiston was home to the Lewiston Maineiacs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 2003 to 2011 and hosted low-level minor pro games featuring teams from the Federal Hockey League last season.

The games in Lewiston — Friday’s contest against the Worcester Sharks is the first of six this season — mark the beginning of a partnership Petrovek said he sees expanding in the future.

“It takes that northern piece and plants a really exciting seed for us,” Petrovek said. “We’ve got the Saco project that’s moving along and hopefully we’ll be living in that facility starting next summer and we can train there year-round. Then we’ve got Portland for the core of our season. But we are looking to the Lewiston/Auburn location as a permanent part of our long-term plan.”

The team itself is more concerned with the short-term, namely finding a way to win its first game of the young season after suffering a setback to Adirondack last Saturday.

“The game was interesting because, really, for the first 30 or 40 minutes, we felt like we were in control,” Edwards said. “We had a 3-2 lead and we were playing very well. We shot ourselves in the foot by taking needless penalties, getting undisciplined, and it ended up costing us in the end.”

The Pirates face a Worcester team Friday that may evoke strong feelings from those who followed the team last year.

In an April game, accusations — from those involving stealing food to more serious, on-ice foul play — boiled over into a bench-clearing brawl. The Pirates’ Jimmy Bonneau was suspended eight games and Worcester’s Matt Pelech was given a four-game suspension.

Bonneau still has two games remaining on his suspension, while Pelech will be available to the Sharks.

To a man, the Pirates said that most of that is behind them, given the long offseason and different makeup of the teams. But Edwards did say that should the need arise, his team this year is better equipped to handle itself in a physical battle.

“One of the strengths of this year’s team, and it’s a little different than last year, is that we’re a bigger team,” Edwards said. “Last year we had a decent amount of skill, but we were small in stature, and we played sort of a small game. We’re a bigger team, a heavier team, a weightier team.”

With the National Hockey League in a lockout, the AHL has seen an uptick in talent this season.

“I think the fans around the league are starting to realize, when they’re looking at rosters, it’s not just one team, it’s every team,” Petrovek said. “Even if you strip that small group away as they sooner rather than later, it appears, head back to the NHL, the rosters around the league this year are as good as at any time during the 12 years we’ve owned the team. I think the fans are going to be entertained and in for a great experience.”

Friday’s game in Lewiston between the Pirates and Sharks begins at 7 p.m.

Information from Maine Hockey Journal was used in this report. For more from Maine Hockey Journal, visit www.mainehockeyjournal.com