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The Northern Maine Pioneers, the junior hockey team that last month completed its inaugural season in Aroostook County, has signed a four-year contract to remain in Presque Isle, team owner Brandon Johnson told the Bangor Daily News on Thursday.
The contract, with the city-owned hockey rink The Forum, keeps the Pioneers in the facility through the 2029-30 season — an indication of stability after the team’s chaotic launch.
As part of the agreement, ice will go into The Forum before Labor Day and remain at least through the first round of the playoffs, which begins in late March, Johnson said.
“We want to be here,” Johnson said. “I’m really excited because of the community support we’ve got this year, and we’re excited to stay with it and be in the community for at least four more years.”
The rink has traditionally had one of the shorter ice seasons in Maine because the venue is a multipurpose site used for a variety of other events from spring to fall.
“The Forum staff was one of the reasons why we decided to come back,” Johnson said. “[They were] very easy to work with and in turn everybody in town was easy to work with. It was a great situation.”
The Pioneers finished their first season in mid-March with an 18-37-1-2 record, six points out of the final playoff spot in the New England North Division of the National Collegiate Development Conference.
The addition of the Pioneers to the NCDC — a Tier II junior league — came amid the league’s rapid expansion along the East Coast and in the Midwest. The league had 22 teams during the 2024-25 season. Next season, it will have 50.
Presque Isle, for its part, is already on its second team. Its first NCDC team, the Presque Isle Frontiers, collapsed within the first week of the regular season last September. Visa issues for foreign players and other problems prompted the league to revoke the team from its ownership group.
The Pioneers were quickly established under a new owner — Johnson — and played their first game less than three weeks after becoming a team. That chaotic start forced the organization to hurriedly assemble a roster, a problem it will not face in its second season.
“We have a significantly longer runway to put a team together so [fans] can expect a better team,” Johnson said. “They can expect a playoff team next year.”
The team’s coaching staff — veteran junior hockey coach Jack Lowry and 23-year-old assistant coach Hunter Parker — will return behind the bench, Johnson said.
