Division Metro Home arena Aréna de Buckingham | Founded Unknown | |
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Colours Red, white, black, gold, burgundy | ||
The Gatineau Flames are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Buckingham, Quebec. The team is a member of the Quebec Junior Hockey League, but was a member of the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League for decades, ending in 2015.
History
Originally known as the Voisins de Papineau (Papineau Neighbours), the Neighbours won the 2000 Eastern Ontario Junior "B" title despite being from the Province of Quebec. In 2002, the team became the Buckingham Mustangs. In 2003, the team expanded their name by becoming the Gatineau Mustangs.
In 2006, the Mustangs hosted the 2006 Coupe Dodge, the Hockey Quebec Junior "AA" championships. Coming in the Mustangs defeated Les Rebels de Trois-Pistoles 4-3, and then beat the Express de Suroît 6-5. Sadly, in the first elimination round the Mustangs ran into a brick wall and were put down by the eventual finalist, Marquis de Jonquière, in an 8-5 heart breaker.
At the conclusion of the 2014-15 season, the league announced it was re-organizing to be more of dedicated developmental league to the Central Canada Hockey League and renamed the league Central Canada Hockey League Tier 2. Initially, the league was to down size to twelve teams (one feeder club for each Tier 1 team), however it reduced to 16 teams, eliminating 6 of the current franchises, including the Akwesasne Wolves, Morrisburg Lions, Almonte Thunder, Gananoque Islanders, Gatineau Mustangs and Shawville Pontiacs.
In May 2015, Gatineau announced they were joining the Quebec Junior Hockey League by purchasing the Lachine Maroons franchise and re-locating it to Buckingham. They will be forced to change their name though as the Vaudreuil-Dorion Mustangs are long time members of the QJHL.
