#14 Maine Thing To Do Portland Pirates Hockey 2011-2012 Win 4 Tickets to see a game!
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The Portland Pirates is a minor professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They are the top affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League. They play in the Cumberland County Civic Center in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks from 1982 to 1993. Previously, the Pirates were affiliated with the Washington Capitals (1993-2005), the Anaheim Ducks (2005-2008) and the Buffalo Sabres (2008-2011).
The Pirates first season proved to be their most successful one, as they won the Calder Cup with a 43-27-10 record. Their next season they had 104 points, but were upset in the 1st round of the playoffs. In the 1995-96 season, they again reached the Calder Cup Finals, despite a subpar record of 32-34-10, but lost to the Rochester Americans.
Since then, it has been a roller coaster ride for the Pirates. Despite an excellent 100 point season, they were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round in 1999-00. For the first four seasons, they were coached by current Nashville Predators head coach Barry Trotz. They played host to the AHL All-Star Classic in 2003. In the 2006 AHL playoffs, the Pirates went for a thrilling playoff run, only to be defeated by the eventual Calder Cup-winning Hershey Bears in a dramatic seven-game series.
In 2005 the Pirates announced a five year lease extension at the Cumberland County Civic Center, ending speculation that the team might relocate. The Pirates also signed a three year affiliation agreement with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2005, but the Ducks announced on June 3, 2008, that they were affiliating with the Iowa Stars instead of renewing the agreement.
The Sabres era On June 10, 2008, the Pirates and the Buffalo Sabres announced that they had reached a new affiliation agreement, ending several months of speculation. On August 5, 2008, the team announced that Kevin Dineen has been retained as head coach.
On February 10, 2009, the team played in Buffalo at HSBC Arena for the first time before a crowd of 11,144. The Pirates lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Albany River Rats. The Sabres faithfull were pleased with the aggressive play and numerous fights during the game.
On June 27, 2011 the Phoenix Coyotes announced that the franchise had entered into a five-year player development contract with the Pirates. WMTW-TV mentioned that during the announcement of the Coyotes being the Pirates affiliate that 2 of the 4 teams that were negotiating with the Pirates wanted the Pirates to change the team name and logo, but the Pirates agreed to the deal with Phoenix in order to keep their name and logo and because the Coyotes “wanted it the most”.
2011 - 2012 Season
