The radio voice of the MAINEiacs Jeff Mannix checks in… 

Road Report: Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Tuesday, March 27

Yes, you did read the dateline right. It says Trois-Rivieres instead of Shawinigan. Why? Because the team is making Trois Rivieres its homebase during the two games against the Shawinigan Cataractes this week.

The team left for Trois-Rivieres yesterday afternoon after practicing in the morning at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. After the skate for about 90 minutes, the team was given an hour to go home and have some lunch. After that, it was back to the Colisee to load the bus for the six-hour drive to Trois-Rivieres. As I got there to get on the bus, WGME-TV Channel 13 sports director Dave Eid was there with a cameraman to film the MAINEiacs boarding the bus. As you may have seen if you watched Channel 13’s news yesterday, Dave talked to Marc-Andre Cliche, Chad Denny, and assistant coach Ed Harding. Good for Dave for coming and giving the team some publicity as they go on the road.

The bus ride took just about six hours. The bus pulled out of the Androscoggin Bank Colisee parking lot at just past 1:00 p.m., and arrived at the hotel in Trois Rivieres just after 7:00 p.m.

After the team was allowed to have dinner on their own in downtown Trois-Rivieres, it was back to the hotel to meet to go to our practice rink for today, the Colisee at the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres, to drop off gear. Their building is small, but very nice with some modern amentities, and more importantly, good ice. The team is in the UQTR Patriotes locker room. UQTR participated in the recent University Cup, the national championship of University Hockey in Canada, or to put in American terms, the Canadian version of the NCAA tournament. They were one of six teams to participate in the tournament, which was held at the Moncton Coliseum in Moncton, New Brunswick. UQTR didn’t do badly, but didn’t make the final, which was an all-New Brunswick final as the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds knocked off the University of Moncton Aigles Blues (Blue Eagles in Anglais) 3-2 in overtime.

UQTR has a number of former QMJHLers, including guys like Yan Gaudette, Nicolas Desilets, and others. UQTR is likely also being so good to the MAINEiacs because head coach Clem Jodoin, at one time, was their head coach. The team practiced and stayed in Trois Rivieres two years ago as well when the MAINEiacs swept Shawinigan in Round 1.

It is almost appropriate that Lewiston makes Trois-Rivieres its headquarters for this trip to Shawinigan. After all, Trois-Rivieres was the original location of the MAINEiacs franchise. Known originally as the Ducs when the QMJHL started in 1969, the club then became known by their more recognizable name, the Draveurs, in the early 1970’s. The Draveurs won back-to-back President’s Cups in 1978 and ‘79, the only two President’s Cups in the franchise’s history.

It’s easy to see why Trois-Rivieres and Shawinigan were rivals when both cities had Q teams. Shawinigan is only about 20-30 minutes away from Trois-Rivieres. Battles between the Draveurs and the Cataractes were normally intense, as shown when the Draveurs won the Jean Rougeau Trophy in 1982, only to be swept in Round 1 by Shawinigan. Some of that same intensity was shown on the ice in Lewiston in the first two games of the series, and is likely to be shown as well here in the next two at Jacques Plante Arena. The Shawinigan fans are expected to be intense and will urge their team on to do whatever it needs to to get back in the series.

No question that these next two games should be intense, fun hockey, just as the first two games were. I look forward to speaking to you tonight on 1470 ESPN or via the webcast. It will get underway with the IBEW/NECA Pregame Show at 6:30 with the faceoff for Game 3 from Jacques Plante Arena at 7:00.

Thanks to Jeff for filing that report. Look for more updates from Jeff soon.

For those that missed Monday Morning Power Play, click here

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