LEWISTON — With a potential sale of The Colisée looming, arena officials have agreed to break their lease with the Maine Nordiques organization, raising questions about where the minor league hockey team will play next year.

Shift Sports & Entertainment, the owners of the Maine Nordiques, signed a five-year lease in 2023 with The Colisée after purchasing the NAHL club from Darryl Antonacci.

Antonacci, who bought The Colisée in the spring of 2020 from Firland Management, is in the process of selling the arena at 190 Birch St. The team and the arena have decided to walk away from the lease, according to Nick Skerlick, the Maine Nordiques organization general manager and coach of the NAHL team.

“The owner of the facility and the owners of the team agreed to break that initial lease with the sale of the building becoming very possible,” Skerlick said.

The club has a Tier II junior hockey team that plays in the North American Hockey League, and a team in the Tier III North American 3 Hockey League, along with the Maine Nordiques Academy, which has Tier I AAA 15-only, 16-under, and 18-under youth hockey teams.

Antonacci still owns the Maine Nordiques Academy, but Shift Sports & Entertainment of Greer, South Carolina, oversees the teams. Shift Sports & Entertainment was awarded an NA3HL franchise in 2024 and had a 17-29-1 record this past season.

Antonacci couldn’t be reached for comment on the potential sale of the 66-year-old building. It’s been nearly a year since The Colisée has been on the market. The initial listing was $4.9 million in the middle of June 2024. The listing on SVN the Masiello Group’s website, is $6.2 million.

“We are negotiating and it would be premature to disclose any information,” Marc Brunelle, senior commercial real estate adviser for SVN the Masiello Group, said in an email to the Sun Journal.

Nate Libby, Lewiston’s director of economic and community development, confirmed this week that there is a group in active negotiations with the seller, but declined to give further details.

“We are optimistic a deal can be made,” he said.

With a potential sale of The Colisée, Skerlick is unsure of the Nordiques’ future.

The goal is to stay local by either working with the new owners of The Colisée for a new lease or playing in Auburn.

“I do want to share how important it is to stay inside the Lewiston and Auburn community no matter what happens,” Skerlick said. “We’ll stop at no ends to do so and I can’t thank our ownership group enough for seeing it that way.

“It’s a little bit hard when they’re not up here all the time to see … how much support the hockey team has been given. I mean, (2,645) fans at a playoff game was pretty insane. So, hopefully, we’ll know more and then we can figure out the game plan moving forward.”

The NAHL team reached the East Divisional finals for three straight seasons. In the 2020-21 season, the team won the East Division and played in the Robertson Cup in Blaine, Minnesota, where it lost to the Shreveport Mudbugs in the league semifinals.

Skerlick said his organization spoke to the city of Auburn about potentially playing games at the city-run Norway Savings Bank Arena at 985 Turner St. next season. The Nordiques held training camp and exhibition games for both the NAHL and NA3HL teams last season at the nearly 12-year-old building.

Neither Marc Gosselin, executive director for Sports Tourism and Community Partnerships for the city of Auburn, nor Robbie Berube, Norway Savings Bank Arena’s general manager, responded to requests for comment.

Norway Savings Bank Arena was home to the Twin City Thunder, a junior hockey organization that played in the United States Premier Hockey League from 2018-24.

When the Thunder announced they were heading to Exeter, New Hampshire, in May 2024, Gosselin said Norway Savings Bank Arena would fill the ice time lost by the Thunder with youth and high school hockey.

Skerlick said his organization is on the ice 42 hours a week between games and practices for the five teams.

Since the Thunder’s relocation, the Norway Savings Bank Arena lost a high school hockey partner in St. Dominic Academy, as the Diocese of Portland closed the high school at 121 Gracelawn Road in Auburn after the 2024-25 school year. The Saints played their boys and girls home games at the arena.

Gosselin said that after the Thunder left, getting another anchor tenant for the arena is an option.

“There’s nothing out there right now, but it does open the door for something else,” Gosselin said in May 2024. “That’s how things fluctuate in hockey. Who knows what the future holds?”

The Nordiques will need league approval to relocate to the Norway Savings Bank Arena. Mark Frankenfeld, NAHL and NA3HL commissioner, didn’t return an email asking about the relocation process for both leagues.

“We need a place, we need it, we need a rink. And league bylaws (have) certain rules in place,” Skerlick said. “You can’t just pay a rink local to the team an hourly rate; you need an official agreement like a business agreement. That’s the process we are in right now.”

Staff Writer Andrew Rice contributed to this report.