Plattsburgh Pioneers
| Plattsburgh Pioneers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Plattsburgh, New York |
| League | QMJHL |
| Division | Lebel |
| Operated | 1984 |
| Home arena |
Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena Crete Civic Center |
The Plattsburgh Pioneers were a short-lived junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, based in Plattsburgh, New York. The team folded after playing only 17 games in 1984, losing all 17 games, although earning one point for an overtime loss, according the rules for the 1984–85 QMJHL season.[1]
The Pioneers were the league's first expansion into the United States. The expansion was widely viewed as an unmitigated disaster, as the league refused to have an expansion draft to stock the team. As a result the Pioneers were unsuccessful on the ice, featuring an all-American lineup of players not good enough to crack NCAA lineups.[2]
Plattsburgh played their first five home games at Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena and their last few at Crete Civic Center. Games played against the Pioneers were not counted in the QMJHL standings that season.
Although no former Pioneers played in the National Hockey League, John Torchetti, future head coach of the Florida Panthers and Los Angeles Kings, played for the team.[3] The team also held the rights to Max Middendorf, who played in the Ontario Hockey League instead, played briefly in the National Hockey League,[4] and later became a linesman.