LEWISTON – They’ve lost seven players, maybe even a few more.

Some preseason prognosticators have them pegged as low as fifth in the eight-team Eastern Division.

And they could be short an NHL-drafted goaltender and last year’s leading goal scorer for more than a quarter of the season.

The Lewiston Maineiacs open their fifth season tonight with one goal on their minds.

“Our own prediction, inside the locker room, is that we’re going back to the Memorial Cup,” Lewiston forward Chris Tutalo asserted Wednesday. “That’s where we set our mindset at on Day 1, and that’s what we work to until the last day of the season.”

“We only have one goal, and that’s it,” goaltender Peter Delmas echoed. “That’s what we’re shooting for.”

With a new coach/general manager in place, surely he’s a bit more realistic. Right?

“I have higher expectations than even the fans do, to be honest,” Ed Harding said. “I’ve got a little sign up in our locker room – we want to go to Kitchener.”

Kitchener, Ontario, is the site for this year’s Memorial Cup tournament.

And no, Harding isn’t kidding. He feels that the tools are again in place for another run at the top. And so do his players.

But Harding cautioned that while the team’s ultimate goal is making it to Kitchener, expecting to win every game is a bit much.

“You want to go 70-0,” Harding said. “Is that feasible? No, it’s not, let’s be realistic. But the idea is for this team to improve, develop these young kids.”

“We just want to repeat,” Delmas said. “It’s a whole new season, and we want to do the same as last year. I think we’re going to be as strong as last year.”

Tending the net

There’s no doubt Delmas is a big piece of the ‘why.’

Delmas and Jonathan Bernier combined to allow the fewest goals among starting netminders in the league last season. Bernier, 19, will miss the beginning of the season while he attends the Los Angeles Kings’ training camp. But Delmas, who went 23-10 with a 2.81 goals-against average last season, will step in just fine.

“Goaltending,” Harding said plainly when asked what the strength of the team would be this season.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out,” he continued. “It’s the whole defensive system. There’s a little thing the fans might not see, but there’s a whole defensive scheme that we’ve been working on for two years, and it really is shutting teams down through center zone, and our guys did a really good job last year of doing that.”

Holding the line

That defensive system, which held opponents to fewer than 30 shots on goal better than 75 percent of the time last season, is buoyed by the return of five defensemen from last year’s squad.

“I think our defensive unit is pretty strong,” Delmas said. “We’re going to have some good skilled, ‘D.'”

“We look constantly to be on the attack, because if we have eight completely capable defensemen and three completely capable goaltenders to fix any mistake we might make up front,” Tutalo said.

Surging forward

The forward lines took the biggest hit this offseason. Three forwards aged out of the league. Another one is playing professionally. Another is hurt to start the season, and yet another – returning leading scorer David Perron – is trying out for another pro team.

To replace these players, Harding went with grit in addition to speed. The result? A much more aggressive team, playing in a much more aggressive system.

“The strength of our team is in our forecheck and in our neutral zone play,” Tutalo said. “We changed our systems up completely. We’re going to be on the offensive, we’re going to be attacking, whereas last year we were trapping. It’s going to be more intense hockey. We’re going to create more turnovers, and that’s going to put more pucks in the net.”

More pucks in the net sounds ideal.

Defenders a year older and a year wiser?

Also good.

Two future NHL netminders?

Wow.

The Maineiacs have the chance to again fly in the face of a newer QMJHL tradition and go after a second straight title, and the team appears to be making a serious effort to do so.

Now, all they have to do is play the games.