The Lewiston Maineiacs are down to 29 players after Thursday’s late afternoon cuts.

The team has sent goaltenders Nathan Kelley and Antoine Bibeau back to their respective midget teams.

“That will bring us down to four goalies which we will run with until the end of the preseason,” Lewiston Maineiacs general manager Roger Shannon stated. “We will start with three (goalies) for the season for sure, because (Nicolas) Champion will be heading to Montreal Canadiens training camp.”

Matt Myers was also apart of the latest cut.

“There won’t be anymore cuts until the end of the preseason,” Shannon added.

The reason for the low number of cuts is due to the number of players that have a minor injury.

“We have nagging injuries to few of the guys like Olivier Dame-Melka, Jonah Coonishish-Coon, and we are being very cautious with (Michael Chaput).”

“Chaput won’t play this weekend.”

Also on the sideline is Ian Saab and Matthew Bissonnette, but both shouldn’t miss any significant time.

Shannon pointed out if this was the post season, the players would be in the line-up.

“Our objective obviously is one, have them as healthy they can (be) when they go to their NHL camps and for our team to be as healthy as we can manage it for opening weekend.”

Two players returning to the ice on Thursday were Etienne Brodeur and Francis Beauvillier.

“I think those guys are coming around,” said Shannon. “Those kind of things can be cured usually by medication.”

The team also saw Marc-Antoine Rousseau rejoin the team after being cut on Monday due to schooling reasons. He’s expected to stay with the team for the remainder of the season.