Less than four weeks before the start of the season, the Maine Nordiques on Monday reaffirmed their intention to play in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

In a Facebook post, the junior hockey club said: “While we are still putting the finishing touches on everything, we are committed to staying in the L/A community and seeking additional billet families for this season, billets are the backbone of a young (player’s) time here and the support system as their home away from home.”

The Sun Journal learned that at the North American Hockey League Board of Governors meeting last week, the Nordiques received approval to move from The Colisee in Lewiston to Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn for the 2025-2026 season, which begins Sept. 12.

Nick Withee, the Nordiques director of media and marketing, said the team is still working out the details of contracts with Norway Savings Bank Arena and the NAHL.

A phone call to Marc Gosselin, Auburn’s Executive Director, Community Partnerships & Sports Tourism, had not been returned as early Monday afternoon.

The Nordiques have played at The Colisee since their inaugural season in 2019. However, this spring, The Colisee and Shift Sports & Entertainment, the owners of the Nordiques, agreed to end the five-year lease that was signed in 2023 to help with the sale of the arena. The Colisee has been on the market since June 2024.

Shift Sports, which also managed The Colisee for the past two years, and The Colisee’s new management company, Mill Town Sports and Entertainment, couldn’t agree on terms for a new lease for the Nordiques. Mill Sports President Nate Bostic told the Sun Journal last month, “Shift wasn’t fit at this point to stay in this community and be able to pay their bills and have a good working relationship with local businesses in the arena.”

The city of Lewiston said in July that Shift Sports and Entertainment owed the city nearly $24,000 in services.

Norway Savings Bank Arena is no stranger to housing junior hockey. The Twin City Thunder of the United States Premier Hockey League had multiple teams based at the Auburn arena from 2018 to 2024 before moving to The Rinks at Exeter in Exeter, New Hampshire, last year.

The Nordiques used Norway Savings Bank Arena for their training camp and exhibition games at the beginning of the 2024-25 season.