| Team: | Pionniers de Chamonix Mont-Blanc |
| Colour: | background:#FFFFFF; border-top:#9A0B09 5px solid; border-bottom:#000000 5px solid; |
| Colour Text: |
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| Nickname: | Pionniers |
| Founded: | 2016 |
| City: | Chamonix |
| Arena: | Richard Bozon Ice Rink |
| League: | Ligue Magnus 2016–Present |
| Coach: | Marc LeFebvre |
| Captain: | Numa Besson |
| President: | Bernard Molliet |
| Website: | Les Pionniers |
The fr|'''Pionniers de Chamonix Mont-Blanc'''|Chamonix Mont-Blanc Pioneers are a French ice hockey team based in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie. They play in the country's top tier, the Ligue Magnus. For their inaugural 2016–17 season, they were known as Pionniers de Chamonix-Morzine.
In 2016, France's Ligue Magnus adopted an expanded schedule and cut its number of teams from 14 to 12. The league's two Haute-Savoie clubs, the Chamois de Chamonix and the Pingouins de Morzine-Avoriaz, decided to merge their respective professional teams in order to better face the economic and competitive challenges presented by the new setup. The result of that fusion was a joint team called the Pionniers,[1] splitting its home games between Chamonix and Morzine-Avoriaz.[2] The amateur sections remained separate and retained the Chamois and Pingouins names.[3]
While both towns are located within the same department, they are not particularly close, with Chamonix nested in the Mont Blanc massif and Morzine-Avoriaz part of the Chablais region. Following negotiations between the two municipalities, it was agreed that Chamonix would be the united team's training base for its inaugural season,[4] as well as the owner of its league franchise.[5]
The precarious balance between the two organizations was quickly challenged when the new Pionniers limped out of the gate to a dismal record.[6] Mid-February 2017, head coach Stéphane Gros was dismissed as the team was dead last in the standings. The move was not unexpected from a sporting standpoint, but it further aggravated the Morzine-Avoriaz side as Gros had career ties to both clubs, while his replacement Christophe Ville was viewed as purely a Chamonix man.[7] [8] The Pioneers still finished the season in last place and Morzine-Avoriaz renounced the partnership after a single season.[5]
As the fusion agreement was more protective of Chamonix's interests, Morzine-Avoriaz suffered the most damaging fallout.[5] Chamonix kept the organization's trademarks and visual identity, and most importantly its position in the French hockey rankings.[5] While their twelfth-place finish should have sent them to the lower division, they ended up being saved from relegation by the withdrawal of Dijon from the Ligue Magnus.[9]
Morzine-Avoriaz on the other hand returned to its previous identity, the Penguins, and had to start all over at the country's fourth level, the Division 3, in 2017–18.[5]
Updated February 5, 2019.[10]
| Goaltenders | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=5% | Number | width=5% | width=15% | Player | width=8% | Catches | width=9% | Acquired | width=37% | Place of Birth | |
| 29 |  | Lucas Mugnierl | L | 2018 | Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France | ||||||
| 33 |  | Richard Sabol | L | 2017 | Prešov, Slovakia | ||||||
| Defencemen | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=5% | Number | width=5% | width=15% | Player | width=8% | Shoots | width=9% | Acquired | width=37% | Place of Birth | |
| 4 |  | R | 2018 | Crystal Lake, United States | |||||||
| 5 | | R | 2018 | Milford, United States | |||||||
| 25 | | L | 2016 | Sallanches, France | |||||||
| 32 | | Numa Bessone (C) | L | 2012 | Sallanches, France | ||||||
| 44 | Maks Selan | L | 2018 | Jesenice, Slovenia | |||||||
| 45 |  | L | 2018 | Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic | |||||||
| 57 | | L | 2018 | Ostrava, Czech Republic | |||||||
| 94 | | Clément Mermoux | R | 2018 | Sallanches, France | ||||||
| Forwards | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=5% | Number | width=5% | width=15% | Player | width=8% | Shoots | width=8% | Position | width=9% | Acquired | width=37% | Place of Birth | |
| 12 |  | Perry D'Arrisso | R | RW | 2018 | Mississauga, Canada | |||||||
| 14 | | R | RW | 2017 | Sallanches, France | ||||||||
| 16 | | L | C | 2017 | Annecy, France | ||||||||
| 17 | | Fabien Kazarine | L | LW/RW | 2018 | Compiègne, France | |||||||
| 20 | | Cody Freeman | L | RW | 2018 | Markham, Canada | |||||||
| 22 | | Quentin Fauchon | R | RW | 2018 | Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France | |||||||
| 27 | | L | LW | 2018 | Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec, Canada | ||||||||
| 33 | | L | C | 2018 | Saint-Pierre, Saint Pierre and Miquelon | ||||||||
| 40 | | Erik Higby | L | C | 2018 | New Braunfels, United States | |||||||
| 54 | | Scott Jacklin (A) | L | C/LW | 2018 | Kimberley, Canada | |||||||
| 55 |  | Henric Andersén (A) | R | RW | 2017 | Grums, Sweden | |||||||
| 72 | | Loïc Coulaud | R | RW | 2018 | Gap, France | |||||||
| 77 | | Maxence Leroux | R | C/RW | 2018 | Melun, France | |||||||