Moncton returns to Lewiston for the first time since the Wildcats abruptly ended the MAINEiacs’ season long 13 game winning streak on December 6th at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. Rest assured, the Wildcats team that enters the ABC tonight will be a much different club than the team faced earlier in the month.

As the trade window opened, Moncton sent team leading scorer Jerome Samson to Val d’Or to complete the exchange that brought Luc Bourdon to the Wildcats last season. With Bourdon’s returning by Vancouver to the QMJHL for the 2006-07 season in late October, that activated the clause in the deal to send Samson to the Foreurs in a deal consumated by former Moncton GM Ted Nolan in the winter trade period in the 2005-06 campaign.

The MAINEiacs main nemesis in the Wildcat line up is that of LW Matt Marquart who has six goals and 7 points against Lewiston in the five games the two teams have met. Scrappy winger Chris Moorehouse has 4 goals and 5 points, and rookie Randy Cameron has 3 goals and 7 points against the MAINEiacs, also in all five previous meetings on the year.

For Lewiston, both Pierre-Luc Faubert and rookie David Perron both have registered the MAINEiacs only hat tricks of the season, and both came in losses against Moncton. Faubert’s three pack came in the first meeting of the year between the two clubs on September 24th in a 7-6 loss, and Perron did the trifecta in the 9-8 shootout loss on November 1st. Both tricks were at the Colesium in Moncton.

The MAINEiacs will welcome back G Jonathan Bernier and likely D Chad Denny back to the line up this evening. Bernier returns after being a late cut to Team Canada’s World Junior Championship team, and Denny returns from a knee injury that he suffered against Victoriaville on month ago.

Both teams will be missing players to the World Junior Championships, as the Wildcats will be without Bourdon and the MAINEiacs will be missing Marc-Andre Cliche and Michal Korenko. Bourdon and Cliche are with Team Canada, and Korenko is with Team Slovakia in the tournament in Sweden.

Tonight is Stick Giveaway Night as all fans in attendance wearing a hockey jersey will be entered in a drawing to walk out the door with a game used stick by one of the MAINEiacs players.

For those that cannot make the game tonight, The voice of the MAINEiacs Jeff Mannix will be on the air with the IBEW/NECA pre-game report on the MAINEiacs Radio Network beinging at 6:30 PM on ESPN 1470 AM and on the link on the home page of lewistonhockey.com.

Celebrate the holiday season with the MAINEiacs with this mid-week classic tonight. The best games of the year so far have been mid-weekers and this one will be no different. Be sure to reserve your seats now by calling the Androscoggin Bank Colisee box office at 783-2009 or stop by the arena anytime today.

Get psyched as the MAINEiacs kick off the second half of The Quest For The Cup!

News, rumours, comments and questions appreciated. offthepost@lewistonhockey.com