AUBURN — For now, Marc Gosselin has one new title — general manager of the Norway Savings Bank Arena.

A second title, executive director of sports tourism for the city, will wait a few months while he cements things at the city’s dual-surface ice rink.

“We’re going to have to chip away at it,” he said. “I’d love to be able to fix everything at once. But we need to chip away now at increasing ice time, increasing the usage of the ice. What is out there for hockey tournaments, and club/college programs. There is a lot we can do here to grow the usage of the ice.”

Gosselin, a Lewiston resident and alumnus of local hockey programs, took over as the ice arena’s head Monday. He comes to the job after five years as vice president of the Maine Red Claws basketball team.

He was immersed in Maine professional hockey for seven years before that — first with the Lewiston Maineiacs and then with the Portland Pirates.

“Whether you are at the NHL level or D League or here at a local rink, you need to find the right people to support you and come on as partners,” he said. “The bottom line is you need people to use your facility. If you are selling tickets to a professional game or event, they use it. Local hockey, you want to get people on the ice.”

For now, Gosselin said the arena will get his full attention. It’s part of a city enterprise fund and is meant to be self-supporting, paying for its operations with its own advertising and ice rental revenues. However, it ended the year with a $191,000 deficit.

“Ultimately, we need to make this place sustainable,” he said. “We want to make sure we run properly and not with a deficit. So the yardstick for me is to move it in that direction. That’s what we have to chip away at.”

Gosselin replaced Tim Holden, who stepped down from the position in May. Holden was the second person hired to manage the facility since it fully opened in February 2014.

Gosselin said he’s working to make contact with the local hockey community, including youth, adult and local high school leagues.

“I know some of them already, because of my previous experience,” he said. “But a lot of it is just saying hi, seeing how they are and thank you for supporting us.”

His goal is to fill the ice time as much as possible and work to bring in special events.

“It’s reminding people, letting them know that we are here and that they can use the facility for more than just hockey,” he said. “We have a great mezzanine they can use and a great lounge and bar. So it’s getting that word out locally and regionally, little things like that.”

He was given a second title when he was hired, executive director of sports marketing for Auburn.

He imagines that second title and a broader sports marketing effort for the city will begin when the arena is in better financial shape.

He said he hopes to market programs at arena as well as those at Ingersoll Arena. Crews are about halfway through a project converting that facility into a year-round indoor turf field.

“The sports tourism piece comes in later, once we get things settled,” he said. “It’s more than just me. It’s working with the city as a group using my experience to see how we can use these aspects of the city.”

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