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Maine Nordiques’ Luke Antonacci and New Jersey Titans’ Jack Karlsson watch a loose puck pop up between them during an NAHL East Division semifinal game in May at The Colisee in Lewiston.
Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
Luke Antonacci and the University of Maine men’s hockey program have been in contact with each other for the past couple of years.
Recently, the Maine Nordiques defenseman committed to play for the Black Bears starting in the 2022-23 season. The 18-year-old Antonacci said that he plans to study business.
He becomes the third Nordiques player to commit to the University of Maine, joining teammate Tyler Gaulin and former teammate Connor Androlewicz, who just completed his freshman season with the Black Bears.
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The Colisee welcomed back fans for the Nordiques’ games over weekend, the first time since the fall.
“We had a very internally successful year because we kept playing without fans (for majority of the season),” Antonacci said. “Now that we are returning to fans, (last Saturday) was free admission, last (Friday) was free admission. We want to reengage the community.”
Antonacci added: “My philosophy right now is try to encourage the community to reengage with us. We have a really good product for (junior) hockey and we have really great academy (18U and 16U hockey) teams.”
The Nordiques announced Tuesday that admission to this weekend’s home games against the New Jersey Titans will again be free. The teams play Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.
For over half a century, a massive arena has dominated the corner of Birch Street and Jefferson Street in Lewiston. Since 1958, the venue has hosted trade shows, concerts from national performing artists (Bob Dylan, Dierks Bentley, Kendrick Lamar, and Puddle of Mudd), minor league hockey games, and other sporting events. In the 1960s, it was even the venue for a fight between Muhammed Ali and Sonny Liston!
Now, that iconic venue has a new name. Well, sort of. Actually, it is a return to an old name.
According to the Lewiston Sun Journal, The Androscoggin Bank Colisee will, for now, just be known as The Colisee. It had previously been called The Colisee from 2004 to 2006. Prior to that, it was named the Central Maine Civic Center and Central Maine Youth Center.