The Northern Maine Pioneers were born at a disadvantage.
Strung together in a matter of weeks after the collapse of the Presque Isle Frontiers — the National Collegiate Development Conference hockey team that was supposed to debut in 2025 — the Pioneers had just two days of practice before playing their inaugural game.
And that came nearly a month after the league’s season had already begun.
“What definitely didn’t work was the way the season started,” head coach Jack Lowry said as the team prepared to start the second half of their first season this week. “It was so quick, and it never really seemed to slow down until after Thanksgiving … In the beginning, it was just like, ‘Let’s just throw it at them, see what they can retain and do the best we can.’”
It wasn’t an ideal beginning for Aroostook County’s first junior hockey team, players and coaches admit. But four months later, the Pioneers believe they’re on the right track — even if their record doesn’t yet show it.
The franchise is close to solidifying its future in Presque Isle. It’s in the process of finalizing a four-year deal with The Forum, the city-owned rink the team plays in, owner Brandon Johnson told the Bangor Daily News this week.
“We love the community. There’s been great community support and The Forum staff has been very easy to work with,” Johnson said.
And the Pioneers’ players have adapted to living in the remote Aroostook city of less than 9,000. Even for junior hockey, which has established footholds in smaller sports markets across North America, Presque Isle is among the most rural locations to host a team.
“We’re pretty used to the temperature and everything,” said Grant Matushak, a 19-year-old forward from Minnesota. “But it’s definitely different for us, with the size of the town. It’s been great. These people have really gotten behind us and show up every night for us.”
The team has no native Mainers on it, but is made up of 21 Americans, two Canadians, a defenseman from South Korea and goaltenders from Russia and Finland.
Northern Maine went 11-16-1 through a condensed schedule in the first half of the season (the defunct Frontiers recorded three of those losses), good for fifth in its seven-team division and 28th in the 33-team NCDC.
The Pioneers slumped in December, weighed down by a five-day, five-loss road trip that sunk them below .500. But after a lengthy holiday break and several new additions to the team, January signified a fresh start.
“[We’re] going to be a tighter, quicker, more aggressive team that I feel is going to become one of the top teams in the division,” Lowry said.
Against the Lewiston MAINEiacs — the current top team in New England North Division — Wednesday, Northern Maine came out to prove that. It controlled the pace of the game in the first period, dominating possession and winning puck battles. But Lewiston scored the first goal, and the Pioneers faded as the night wore on in a 4-1 loss to begin the new year.
“We need to find consistency,” Lowry said after the game.
He’s looking to find it within an overhaul of the team’s systems.
Fresh out of the holiday break, the Pioneers have adopted a new forecheck, modeled after the offensive pressure scheme used by two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
The uber-aggressive, swarming attack is conducive to the skill of the Pioneers’ forwards and their home arena.
The ice sheet at The Forum is shorter and narrower than an NHL-regulation rink, and its protective glass is roughly half the standard height. Those unique dimensions can become a nightmare for defensemen, who have less time and space to move the puck behind their net and little margin for error when using the glass to clear the puck out of the defensive zone, the most common high-pressure breakout in modern hockey.
“I personally think I’ve gotten a lot better at making plays in small spaces because of this rink,” Grant Matushak said.
“I’d say overall it’s an advantage for our team,” added Kellen Matushak, his brother and linemate. “We get to play here every day and a lot of teams that come in look at the rink and start questioning what’s going on.”
Of the team’s fast, dynamic forward core, the Matushaks are perhaps the most electric. The twins led the team with 34 and 33 points apiece, more than double the next-closest player, and each sit top-20 in the NCDC in scoring.
“If they can just get a little spark, they can just blast out and be wide awake for 10 minutes,” Lowry said of the pair. “Then they might go back in their cocoon, but [their line] will have put three or four goals on the board.”
Northern Maine will need that offensive production and more as it barrels toward the end of the season with a playoff spot in sight.
It needs to finish top-four in the New England North to earth a divisional playoff berth, a position the team is just two points back from. Only five points separate the Pioneers from second in the division, with games in hand over every team above them.
The Pioneers have 29 games remaining in the regular season, including 14 at The Forum. They’ll play 11 consecutive games at home from Jan. 16 to Feb. 7. The team recently added four additional games against the New England Wolves, a New Hampshire-based junior team the NCDC absorbed from the Eastern Hockey League.
Lowry only sees one way forward for the Pioneers as they make their playoff push.
“You can’t go around it. You can’t go under it. You’ve got to go through it,” he said. “It’s the only way to get to the other side.”