The popcorn was popped. The beer was flowing. The sights and sounds were very similar to those heard on many nights over the course of a long cold winter at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

It was a chance for friends to gather and share a summer’s tale. For some, the last time they gathered at the Colisee, it was under very different circumstances. It’s not a moment they’ll forget, but one they wished never happened because after all, the good memories far outweigh the bad.

For all that was the same, there was something very different about the Colisee on Thursday night.

Yes, hockey had returned, but it wasn’t the familiar faces we’ve become accustomed too. These guys were a little older than the 16, 17 or 18-year-olds that have wooed fans for the last eight seasons. The uniforms were different as well as neither had Lewiston emblazoned across the chest. Instead, it was the Akwesasne Warriors and Brooklyn Aviators of the Federal Hockey League, a league they would very much like to call Lewiston home, who battled it out in a rematch of last year’s league championship.

Brooklyn gained their revenge on this night, scoring twice on the defending champs in a span of 51 seconds late in the third period to earn a 3-2 victory.

The Federal Hockey League, a single-A level hockey league with a footprint in the Northeast and Illinois, has long pursued Lewiston as a market for a future franchise. It’s essentially the reason why they are giving the product away for free with the “Maine Event”, a five game series scheduled at the Colisee.

However, there are those who still would rather have junior hockey. Better yet, they’d rather have their Lewiston Maineiacs, who folded after eight years and one President’s Cup in the Twin Cities. It’s nothing against the FHL, but they’ve built their allegiances toward a certain brand of hockey, and who can fault them. Time does that to even the best of us.

“I’m cheering for Jordan Bernier – who scored a goal and an assist for Brooklyn – because he played for Gatineau last year,” said long-time Maineiacs fan Gail Sarrazin. “I feel a connection there because he even though he was on an opposing team he played for the (QMJHL) and we have that connection there because we are able to see kids who we know.”

“When the Maineiacs were here, we were part of their lives,” said Lisa Bussiere. “They had host families, went to school, and grew up here. It was special to be a part of it. We had connections you can’t have with an older team. It was fun to say we knew them when. That’s why we liked the boys. We were a small part to their families for a little while. You can’t have that with a team of adult grown guys.”

Yet, for those who mourned the loss of the Maineiacs. There were just as many people who welcomed the change. For far too often we’ve heard the reasons why the Maineiacs could not and would not work in the “All American City”.

Most were myths. Some proved to be truths, but Lewiston can’t look back at it’s past in a sort of revisionist history. We can’t change what happen, but fans in Lewiston can have a real say in what happens in the future.

For the 1,284 in attendance at the Colisee on Thursday, most left having a good time. Again, it wasn’t the Maineiacs, but nothing will be the Maineiacs. A segment of the populous say signs of what could be like, comparing them to the days of the L/A Twins or Maine Nordiques. An era of rough and tumble hockey, which we saw a glimpse of on Thursday night between Akwesasne and Brooklyn.

“This league is pretty much a fast paced game,” said Brooklyn coach Rob Miller. “There’s hitting and fighting. You saw everything which was good for the fans to see. I am sure the other four games that will be here will be just like that.”

It’s that facet of the FHL that they hope will attract even more fans during these five games.

“It’s fast paced, physical, hockey,” Paul LaBonte said when talking about the FHL. “I think we’re pretty lucky to get this league here. It would be great if an FHL team would come here full time. People in the community love hockey and this town needs hockey.”

“These guys have some more experience than what was here with the Maineiacs. It’s good mix of youth and experience with the FHL where as the Maineiacs were a little too young. We had the Maineiacs, and for me they were just young kids. I’d get to as many games as I could because love hockey, but I find myself wanting to support this much more.”

The Federal Hockey League is willing to give Lewiston four more games to decide if that’s what they want because the city is at a crossroads in its hockey future and ultimately it will be the community who decides not with their hearts, but their wallets.