LEWISTON – On the meaninglessness scale, regular-season hockey ranks somewhere between campaign promises and Hollywood wedding vows.

Barring a catastrophe of Old Testament proportions, the Lewiston Maineiacs knew in September that they would qualify for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs. Just about everybody does.

The Maineiacs endured a tumultuous start to the season, kept a close eye on their watches and cell phones through the trade deadline and calmly shook off nagging, mid-winter aches and pains, all the while knowing that you can count the number of teams better equipped for a ‘Q’ championship run on a clenched fist.

“We’re the defending champs, so I guess we’re the favorites,” said Lewiston left wing Stefano Giliati. “You know, guys don’t realize that, but experience counts for that much in the playoffs.”

Giliati, Marc-Andre Daneau and Chris Tutalo were the three permitted 20-somethings honored prior to Sunday afternoon’s final regular-season home game with hugs, kisses, applause and photos for posterity.

They rolled up to Androscoggin Bank Colisee three years ago (four, in Daneau’s beginning-to-end case) in the back seat of family cars, armed with dreams and luggage, barely able to contemplate growing the sparsest playoff beard.

Now, they’re men.

Tutalo walked the carpet for the pre-game introduction flanked by biological parents, billet parents and a petite blonde introduced as his fiancee. Daneau was recognized for his acceptance to McGill University. Giliati needs two points in the impending three-game swing through the Maritimes to cement his status as the Maineiacs’ all-time leading scorer.

Together with fellow playoff old-timers Jonathan Bernier, Stefan Chaput, Kevin Marshall, Danick Paquette, Patrick Cusack and Jakub Bundil, the three grownups give Lewiston the look of a team that should start exceeding the sum of its parts any second.

“We’re not too happy with the way we’ve played lately, but we think we’re going to be ready,” Giliati said. “I mean, I know we’re going to be ready. Whoever we play, we’re going to be ready for them.”

Sunday’s 3-1 squelching of St. John’s in a penalty-filled matinee enjoyed by a packed house of 3,677 should remind the rest of the league whom to fear in this season of rampant parity.

Sure, it merely leveled the Maineiacs’ mark in its last 10 games at a tepid 5-5. Yes, there were wasted opportunities and bad penalties. Of course, it only lifted Lewiston into a temporary tie for fourth place in the Eastern Division with Acadie-Bathurst, which plays its game-in-hand against Moncton this evening.

“We can still play better,” said Chaput. “We just need to work on the little details of our game.”

Oh, but there was a lot to like: Two goals from Chaput; more run-of-the-mill brilliance between the pipes from Bernier; a power-play that actually had a pulse; a passion that hasn’t always been there this season but isn’t a cinch to summon until Game 71 of a title defense.

This was No. 67, for those of you Baie-Comeau, Rouyn-Noranda and Halifax fans keeping score and buying those pre-printed President’s Cup tickets.

“It’s always good to win at home,” said Chaput, who will turn 20 himself on Tuesday and spoke with the even keel of someone about to flick the ignition switch. “Going into the playoffs, it’s definitely motivation for us to start the playoffs strong. It was great to have a big crowd and a big win.”

Doesn’t hurt the Lewiston cause a smidge that the playoffs essentially began this weekend. OK, the calendar confirms that best-of-sevens don’t start until March 21, but where you play and how much false bravado you must pack in the storage bin of the bus largely depends upon what you do this week.

The East standings constitute a chilly game of Twister. Headed into the weekend, any of the top three teams (Halifax, Saint John, Cape Breton) had a chance to be the division’s top seed. From Cape Breton on back through Bathurst, Lewiston and St. John’s, rungs three through six on the playoff ladder were up for grabs.

“That’s the thing. Last year, we had a little breather the last couple of games,” Giliati said. “This year we’re really playing for home-ice advantage. We’ve got to keep on working to get in the playoff mode.”

If the champions don’t live up to last year’s heroics and bow out early, Giliati’s career in Lewiston could be two home games away from an exit sign.

Sunday’s win delivered an invisible, unspoken message: Now, it starts to matter.

“The best thing that ever happened to me was getting traded to Lewiston, and it’s coming to an end, so it’s a little sad,” Giliati said. “But it’s going to get even more interesting now.”

Kalle Oakes is a staff writer. His e-mail is [email protected].