The Maine Nordiques NAHL and NA3HL teams are for all intents and purposes, dead on the scene in Lewiston. While the leagues have said nothing publicly, there are no options for these teams to return to Lewiston or Auburn Maine.
With tens of thousands of dollars owed to the Colisee, a local charterbus company, and the Lewiston/Auburn ice arena, there are zero options for survival. This does not include money owed to employee’s of the club, or to other local business operators.
Whats more shameful is that this information was well known in the hockey community for several months. Making matters worse was team management knew that they were not going to pay their debts, still drafted players, tendered players, and held a main camp.
Main camp was held at an arena that is not associated with the NAHL or NA3HL, but has strong ties to the USPHL and NCDC. If that wasnt a big enough clue for people that things were not going well, I dont know what is.
Team management and ownership created false hope, knowing that this day was coming. And they were continuing to recruit for summer showcases right up until last week when the issues became public. Getting paid for events, and camps was the theme of spring and summer operations of the Maine Nordiques.
Multiple lawsuits in Maine and South Carolina listing Shift Sports and its owners as defendants are publicly available and show a pattern of non payment.
Now, what does the NAHL and NA3HL do? Schedules were released, each leagues team members have already begun selling tickets and making travel arrangements. At the very least, you have to imagine that these franchises will be taken back by the leagues.
What hapens to the players? Players who have been off the market for months in many cases and were not allowed to search for other options are now left with a matter of weeks, and a handful of camps remaining to try and catch on with another team.
Shift Sports, the owner of the Maine Nordiques, has said nothing since the Colisee confirmed reports that the Nordiques owe money all over the city of Lewiston, and confirmed that talks for a new lease have broken off. Those talks required the Nordiques to pay off their debt, and pay a deposit for any future ice use.
TJHN confirmed with Colisee management that they have already taken over the Maine Nordiques AAA programs. Honoring the contracts as they are. Thankfully those players were not forced to relocate to South Carolina as it was the other option.
Strange how the NA3HL Carolina Rage are also alegedly owned by Shift Sports, and South Carolina is the noted home of Shift Sports. As of noon on July 17, the Carolina Rage website was no longer showing ownership or coaches listed on the website.
The South Carolina Ice Arena owned or managed by Shift Sports is also a defendant in a lawsuit in South Carolina as of May 2025. So one has to wonder if this will effect the Rage moving forward as well as both Nordiques franchises.
Darren Anderson who was never shy, or afraid of talking to the press and making public statements on behalf of Shift Sports, is somehow now gone silent and/or missing in action. Yet, he was the person in charge of the Carolina Rage tryout camp a few weeks ago. How does an NAHL spokesperson, or owner, become the point of contact for an NA3HL tryout camp? A position typically held by an assistant coach.
Its one thing to have a business fail, it happens all the time. Its quite another thing to know your business is failing and to take other innocent and unsuspecting people down with you. Here’s hoping that NAHL and NA3HL treat Shift Sports with all the disrespect they treated players, parents and the Lewiston community with.
