SACO — The relationship between the Portland Pirates and the MHG Ice Centre was made significantly stronger, this week, with the addition of MHG co-owner Ron Cain to the ownership group of the AHL club.
Cain, a Kennebunk resident, has purchased what he called a significant stake in the franchise, which will begin its 18th season next month.
“It was not a monetary move on my part,” said Cain. “It was more because I enjoy the product. It’s more of an emotional purchase on my (part) than it is a financial investment, although it is a good solid investment. I grew up playing hockey, and I had an opportunity to become a partner with two great guys (Pirates’ Chairman Lyman G. Bullard, Jr., and Pirates’ CEO Brian Petrovek).”
Since their founding in 1993, the Pirates have called the Cumberland County Civic Center their fulltime home.
However, the 33-year old building is in need of a significant facelift, and with the Pirates operating on a two-year lease extension signed last Spring, commitment to pay for and begin those upgrades must happen soon.
Meanwhile, there have been parallel discussions between Cain and Petrovek about combining their business and hockey interests.
“Ron and I have been talking about this for about two years,” said Petrovek. “We’ve been talking about the synergies of our companies, and one thing led to the other. We both thought we should be marrying our companies. He’s in the business of doing things that are very similar to us. It was kind of a ”˜cradle to the grave’ opportunity.
“We’re two hockey businesses, working together, finding ways to cut costs and grow revenues, which is what we should be doing.”
The Pirates have practiced occasionally at MHG, but the ice sheet there is about five feet narrower than the regulation 85-foot professional width.
Cain has pledged to either widen the existing rink, or put in a second sheet to meet the needs of the Pirates and their NHL parent, the Buffalo Sabres.
That second sheet could be contained within a proposed 4,500-seat venue to be on MHG’s Lund Road property, adjacent to the Ice Centre that would serve as the fulltime home.
Either way, Petrovek sees the MHG Ice Centre as the answer to many of his club’s long-term on-ice and off-ice needs.
“It’s a natural connection to the progress we’ve been making,” he said. “As Ron knows, it is a requirement of ours to have an NHL sheet of ice to practice on permanently, in order to really call it home. But we’re in that transitionary stage. We’ll practice there periodically this year. But clearly, we are moving in that direction of calling Saco home to some degree.”
Cain said that adding another rink to the facility would put the MHG Ice Centre on the national hockey map, and have a positive economic impact on Northern York County.
“Once you get into two sheets,” he said, “that opens up a whole world of possibilities for us. Junior showcases, tournaments, boarding camps. All sorts of different things that will bring a lot of dollars into the region. Those are some of the decisions we’ll have to make as we go forward.”
Cain will join Petrovek and Bullard as members of the Pirates’ Board of Managers.
He will also assume an as yet unspecified role in the club’s AHL affairs, but his focus will remain primarily on the MHG Centre and junior hockey.
“The push (has been) to develop this building and program,” said Cain, “that was second to none in New England, and maybe the country, from the youth on up to juniors.”
— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.
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