With five games left in their Ligue Magnus season, the Chamonix Mont-Blanc Pionniers are gearing up for a relegation battle.
Chamonix, set right in the heart of the French Alpes, sit eighth out of 12 teams, just above the relegation playoff places, thanks to a match-winning tiebreaker they hold over the Nice Eagles, who sit in ninth place.
The Pionniers became a team in 2016 after the Ligue Magnus expansion, with their former team, Chamonix Hockey Club, winning 30 championship titles and were the most successful French club in ice hockey.
Now, they prepare to face the Grenoble Wolves on February 20, a team that sits five places higher than Chamonix and who have already qualified for the Ligue Mangus playoffs.
Bordeaux blunder blights Chamonix chances
The Pionniers’ survival took a hit on February 14, losing under the lights of their home rink against the Bordeaux Boxers.
Chamonix welcomed the fifth-placed team to the Richard Bozon Centre last Tuesday, looking to give themselves a vital victory.
At a packed-out venue and with a fantastic atmosphere, the game started in the worst possible way for the home team. Bordeaux scored after just two minutes through the Finn Samuel Salonen, scoring his 20th goal of the season against his former team.
However, the Pionniers answered right back three minutes afterwards through their captain Clement Masson, pulling Chamonix right back into a physical and pacy game they were second best in.
The physicality brought by the Boxers continued as they came in with some fierce collisions against their opponents. But they could not capitalise on that, as Finnish forward Jari Sailio gave the Pionniers a 2-1 lead just after 12 minutes as they grew into the game.
However, just 44 seconds later, Bordeaux scored a crucial goal through Frenchman Enzo Carry to level at 2-2. No side could find another goal as a tight first-period game came to an end.
The second period brought more mammoth hits from both teams, but the Boxers showed their class and turned the tide of the match in the second 20 minutes.
Carry scored his second goal of the game to give Bordeaux a 3-2 lead with just under eight minutes of play left, then Nikita Jevpavlos added another five minutes later as the Boxers took advantage of the powerplay with Chamonix being a man down.
With every point being vital for the Pionniers and their relegation battle, they needed an early goal, which they got three minutes into the final period after the referees had to go to a video review.Β
Daniil Tarasov’s goal stood after a lengthy delay as the referees checked whether the puck crossed the goalline before the goal was moved out of position.
Tensions around the centre and on the ice were high, with altercations between players continually rising, which led to Pionniers defenceman Mikko Kuukka and Boxers defenceman Axel Prissaint going to the penalty box for two minutes.
Chamonix were on the attack as they searched for a crucial equaliser but could not break the stout defence of Bordeaux down. As a result, it left the Pionniers vulnerable at the back, but some fantastic saves from Tom Aubrun kept the home team in it.
However, the pressure from Bordeaux finally broke Aubrun in goal, as Canadian forward Maxime Legault secured the victory for the Boxers. Along with other results in the league, the win sealed Bordeaux’s spot in the Ligue Magnus playoffs for this season.
For the Pionniers, it was their 18th loss of the season and their third in four games, and they missed their chance to distance themselves from the relegation playoffs.
Pionniers prepare for Grenoble test after victory against Gap
After their loss to Bordeaux, the Pionniers travelled to face the Gap Raptors, who sit second bottom of the table and are mathematically into the relegation playoffs.
Chamonix shook off their recent poor form and took a commanding victory by seven goals to three against their relegation rivals, preparing themselves in the best way possible for a much tougher test against the Grenoble Wolves.
The Pionniers sit third-last in goalscoring this season, and that must improve in their final five games if they are going to survive in the Ligue Magnus. Seven goals in their last match against Gap is the perfect way to get into a rich vein of goalscoring form.
However, their work will be cut out against Grenoble and their sturdy defence. The Wolves have conceded just 98 goals all season, the second-least in the league this season, along with scoring the third-most goals this season, being very prolific in front of goal.
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Chamonix will have to watch out for Grenoble’s Damien Fleury, who has 19 goals to his name this season, along with Canadians Alexandre Lavoie and Nicolas Deschamps, who sit first and third in assists this season with 38 and 33 respectively.
Deschamps has had a stunning season, and he will cause the Pionniers problems all game. The forward scored in the Wolves’ last game, and he has totalled 48 points for Grenoble this campaign.
Chamonix has a tremendous amount of history and heritage in French ice hockey. But one of the most renowned French names in the sport is fighting for its life to survive in the top division, and the Pionniers only have five games to do so.
