The Portland Jr. Pirates were a Tier III Jr. A

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team that played their home games at the MHG Ice Centre in

Saco, Maine Saco ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 20,381 at the 2020 census. It is home to Ferry Beach State Park, Funtown Splashtown USA, Thornton Academy, as well as Saco Valley Shopping Center. General Dynamics ...

. The organization continues to host youth hockey programs in the Massachusetts Premier Development Hockey League.

History

From 2004 to 2012, the Portland Jr. Pirates organization had a Tier III Junior A team playing in the

Atlantic Junior Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League (EHL) is an American Tier II junior ice hockey league with teams in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. The EHL was officially announced on June 6, 2013, after the Atlantic Junior Hockey League (AtJHL) we ...

(AtJHL). In 2012, Selects Sports Management, the owners of the

Green Mountain Glades The Green Mountain Glades was a Tier III Junior A ice hockey team in the Eastern Junior Hockey League's North Division from 2000-2012. Overview The team played its home games at Cairns Arena, a 600-seat arena in the suburb of South Burlington ...

hockey club that played in the

Eastern Junior Hockey League The Eastern Junior Hockey League (EJHL) was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III junior ice hockey league. Founded in 1993 by Dan Esdale, the EJHL had fourteen teams from across the Northeastern United States. The EJHL champion then competed for t ...

(EJHL), announced that they were moving the EJHL franchise to Saco, Maine, and merge the team with the Portland Jr. Pirates organization. With the relocation of the EJHL franchise, the Jr. Pirates dropped their membership in the AtJHL and only played in the EJHL. However, after only one season, there was a major re-shuffling in Tier III junior hockey leagues that led to the dissolution of the EJHL caused by several members leaving to form the

United States Premier Hockey League The United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) is an American ice hockey league. Founded in 2012, the USPHL has grown to over 60 organizations from across the United States/Canada fielding teams in the National Collegiate Development Conference ...

(USPHL). After the reorganization of leagues, the former EJHL Jr. Pirates joined the Premier Division of the USPHL. The Jr. Pirates organization also fielded a Tier III Junior B team in the

Empire Junior Hockey League The Empire Junior Hockey League (EmJHL) was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III junior ice hockey league. The league was classified as Tier III Junior B until the 2011–12 season when USA Hockey combined the Tier III Junior A and Junior B classifi ...

(EmJHL). When the USPHL was founded, it also absorbed the EmJHL which led to this team becoming part of the USPHL Elite Division. After the 2015–16 season, the Jr. Pirates organization and its teams were no longer listed as part of the USPHL. The Pirates organization continued to field teams in

youth hockey Minor ice hockey or minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body c ...

at the Midget 18U, Midget 16U, Bantam, Peewee, and Squirt and other various levels as well as in

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

Season-by-season records

Alumni

The Jr. Pirates have produced a number of alumni playing in higher levels of

junior hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from t ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division I,

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

and

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

programs. * Russ Sinkewich – various

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

and

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

teams from 2008 to 2014.

References

External links

Jr. Pirates Home Page

USPHL League Website
{{USPHL Premier Defunct ice hockey teams in Maine Ice hockey clubs established in 2004 Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2016 2004 establishments in Maine 2016 disestablishments in Maine