The AHL Portland Pirates will not play in Portland, Maine this season. The team filed a lawsuit against the Board of Trustees of their old home, the Cumberland County Civic Center.
After a mediation and settlement process did not resolve the issue, the Pirates decided to proceed with litigation.
Pirates owner Brian Petrovek said he asked that “during this ill-timed, protracted five month period” the Trustees “honor the the deal terms which both parties agreed to,” but that they refused. Consequently, the team will move to the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, Maine.
Whether or not they’ll stay beyond the 2013-14 campaign seems to still be undecided.
“We’ll let the fans of this region determine how we should best proceed for the future,” Petrovek said in a statement. “We need this community’s support but we intend to earn it.”
The Pirates are the AHL affiliates of the Phoenix Coyotes. They earned the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference in 2012-13 before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
The Portland Pirates will retain the name “Portland Pirates” for the present time
— Chris Knoblock (@cknoblock17) September 26, 2013