The Pionniers de Chamonix Mont-Blanc (French for 'Chamonix Mont-Blanc Pioneers') are a Frenchice 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.
History
Origins
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]
2016-17 season
2016–17 Chamonix-Morzine logo
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]
Aftermath
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]
^"U11: Tournoi Megève Tiers de glace". megevehockeyclub.fr. Megève Hockey Club. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2021. Pingouins, [...] chamois [...] ont bien compris qu'il faut maintenant compter sur les Boucs de Megeve...
^"La naissance des Pionniers". Altus-Vallée de Chamonix. No. 19. Chambéry: Grands Espaces. p. 18. Pour cette saison 2016/2017, le « camp de base » de l'équipe sera Chamonix, avec des entraînements principalement à la patinoire Richard Bozon.
^ abcdeThéveniau, Yves (24 October 2017). "Comme on se retrouve…". ledauphine.com. Groupe EBRA. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
