Maine Mariners Coach Terrence Wallin talks to players while explaining a drill during a practice last week in Portland. The Mariners begin their 2022-23 season Friday night in Quebec against Trois-Rivières. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
The last time Francois Brassard boarded a bus with Terrence Wallin, they were teammates.
OPENERS
SEASON: 7 p.m. Friday at Trois-Rivières, Quebec
HOME: 6 p.m. Friday vs. Trois-Rivières.
Both still represent the Maine Mariners, but the relationship has changed. Wallin, 30, will make his ECHL head coaching debut this weekend alongside an assistant, Johnny McInnis, 33, who also played for the 2018-19 Mariners. The Mariners departed by bus on Thursday afternoon for their season opener in Quebec on Friday night.
“It’s a little different for sure,” said Brassard, 28, who earned ECHL Goaltender of the Year honors last season with the Jacksonville Icemen. “But it’s good to see familiar faces and good to be at a familiar rink.”
Brassard, 28, is one of three Mariners who are under contract to the American Hockey League Providence Bruins, the top minor-league hockey affiliate of the Boston Bruins. He played two seasons in Portland when the Mariners were affiliated with the New York Rangers. This season will be Maine’s second as the Bruins’ ECHL affiliate.
“I think it’s good to have Wally as a head coach,” Brassard said. He knows the DNA of the team, the DNA of this town. He’s been here a long time and he knows what it takes to win.”
The Mariners open their fourth season Friday night at the Trois-Rivières Lions and fans are invited to watch the action on the video board inside Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, where the teams will play Saturday night in Maine’s home opener. They meet again at CIA on Sunday afternoon.
Doors open at 6:30 for Friday night’s free viewing party. Concessions will be available. Game time is 7 p.m.
Saturday’s game at CIA is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and team officials are anticipating a crowd larger than any last season. Because the team is not selling seats behind the Center Street goal this season, capacity has been reduced from 6,733 to approximately 5,200.
By Thursday afternoon more than 4,900 seats had been sold, said Adam Goldberg, the team’s vice president for business operations. He said reducing capacity will help to consolidate staffing on game days and may help boost demand.
Wallin is two years removed from his playing days. He was a Mariners assistant last season to Coach Ben Guite, who left in July to take over the hockey program at Bowdoin College.
“I think having that gap year (the Mariners didn’t play a season because of the pandemic) and having that year as an assistant really helped me earn their trust,” Wallin said. “We have a really good relationship, all the guys that I played with. I don’t think it’s a thing where they still look at me as a teammate. I think they look at me as a coach now.”
Besides Brassard, forwards Nick Master and Conner Bleackley are the only other holdovers from Wallin’s playing days, now that Alex Kile has re-joined Lehigh Valley of the AHL. Bleackley said Wallin as a player was always ready with advice or counsel, so “it was pretty easy to see him coaching.”
The current roster includes 13 players from a Mariners team that made its first playoff appearance last season. Brassard is joined by fellow goalie Brandon Bussi, who signed an NHL contract with the Bruins after three seasons in net at Western Michigan University. He is expected to start in goal Friday night.
“There’s a lot of guys who returned, and that’s not very common in this league,” said forward Tim Doherty, acquired in a summer trade with Wheeling. “I think that’s a good sign that we’ll be really good.”
Doherty is a 2020 graduate of the University of Maine, where he centered a line that included Mitch Fossier and Pat Shea. All three are currently playing for the Mariners, albeit on different lines.
“It’s a great place to be,” Doherty said. “Even just around the rink, the way we get treated and the group of guys we have here, it’s awesome. I couldn’t be happier to be here.”
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