Royalty goes to Lewiston, Maine for AHL hockey despite Plato!

Prince outside Androscroggin Bank Colisee

After we left Springfield, Massachusetts Saturday night after the game, we drove up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire which was 142 miles away. We got there around 12:30AM. We stayed over at Motel 6 where we got a good night sleep.

We woke up in the morning and we looked out of the window. It was snowing lightly. We put on the TV and we checked out the weather channel. They said a storm called Plato was on its way up from the South. It was heading towards Maine. Luckily they said that the accumulation was only going to be 3-6 inches after they initially said it was suppose to be closer to a foot.

I knew we may have some snow in the area so I planned accordingly. I dressed warm and I brought my boots just in case. It turned out to be the right move as I wound up wearing everything I took.

Once we checked out of the hotel we went to have breakfast at IHOP which was in a shopping center right up the road. After we had a hearty meal, we drove over to Walmart which was nearby so we could do some shopping.

We got done and we drove to Lewiston, Maine which was 85 miles away from Portsmouth and 35 miles past Portland.

We went to see the Portland Pirates, the Phoenix Coyotes AHL affiliate play the St. John's IceCaps, the Winnipeg Jets farm team at Androscroggin Bank Colisee, which is an old barn with all wooden seats at 4PM. This was one of the four games they were playing there this season.

It should be noted that this the same arena where Cassius Clay aka Muhammad Ali fought Sonny Liston in their rematch back on May 25,1965.

This place was the cornerstone for making this journey. Despite mother nature trying her best to derail our plans we managed to get there and back without too much difficulty. We allowed enough time so we could get there without a problem. We wound up parking the car on the street right across from the arena for free at 2:50PM.

We walked over to the box office which was in front of the building. They posted a sign saying the game was sold out. We didn't buy tickets in advance because we didn't think it was going to be a problem. With that being said, we started asking people as they were coming towards the arena if they had any extra tickets.


They're were other people looking too. Luckily after a little while I had an older gentleman ask me how many tickets I needed. I told him two. He said he had one. I told him that's better than none. He proceeded to give it to me. I thanked him and shook his hand. Now we only needed one more between us. Ironically while I continued to ask if anybody had an extra ticket, a young man came towards the box office and he said he needed a ticket too. Shortly thereafter, the King found someone who had an extra ticket and he gave it to him. He asked him if he had another and sure enough he did. So we got two together right near center ice. We took the third ticket we had and we gave it to this young man who thanked us and he said and I quote "today's my lucky day." With that being said, we all got in for free. The game being allegedly sold out turned out to be a blessing in disguise for us. It should be noted they announced a sellout crowd of 3,750 but there were a good number of scattered empty seats which makes you wonder.

Prince at Androscroggin Bank Colisee

King at Androscroggin Bank Colisee

As for the game we saw, the Pirates scored early and often as they lead 3-0 after the first period. After a scoreless second period, the Pirates tacked on three more unanswered goals before the IceCaps broke the shutout with just 29.3 seconds to go in the game. The Pirates went on to win, 6-1.

After the game, we went to have dinner at Governor's Restaurant and Bakery which was conveniently located a few miles away just before the entrance to I-95.

I got to have a great seafood dinner while the King had steak tips before we got back in the car to drive 335 miles back home to Astoria.

As for dinner, I had a haddock chowder soup to go along with broiled scallops, red skin mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables which consisted of carrots, green beans and cauliflower. It was a perfect way to end our visit to New England. Nothing beats having seafood in Maine.

On the way back home I braved the strong winds that were blowing as we wound up getting back home at 1:44AM. With that being said, another exciting and adventurous weekend was complete.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman