Plattsburgh Pioneers

The Plattsburgh Pioneers were the first entry of the QMJHL into the United States (1984-85) and may be the best example of what a league with poor expansion procedures looks like. Their tenure did not go well to say the least. The league decided to not give the team an expansion draft, and thus the team ended up being stocked with mostly low-level American players. For their debut the team played a home game against the Hull Olympiques, which had future NHLers Luc Robitaille and Stephane Richer on the team. Miraculously, the Pioneers would force overtime and earn a point in the standings. But after that game their coach quit and they wouldn't earn another point, losing their next 16 games in regulation with a goal differential of -128 (averaging an 11-3 loss each game). The Pioneers folded after their 17th game and the Q did not acknowledge the team's statistics or games in the standings, and has never expanded to New York again. The league would expand to Maine in 2003, the first expansion into the United States since the Pioneers.