Richard Pion (born July 20, 1965) is a former American ice hockey player best known for his time with Merrimack the Peoria Rivermen, as well as his time in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey league.
Career Pion attended Merrimack in 1985. Not seeing much playing time his freshman year he would take a big leap his sophomore year. Playing in 36 games and scoring 31 goals and tallying 33 assists helping Merrimack win their first ECAC east championship. During his junior year he would have a 75-point season scoring 35 goals with 40 assists. Winning another conference title as well as well as playing in the 1988 NCAA tournament where he would score one goal in Merrimacks first round upset of Northeastern. He would then have a 70-point season his senior year winning a third straight conference title. He led the team in points in 1986-87 and 1988–89. He would leave Merrimack as second in all-time points with 231.
After graduating, Pion signed with the IHL affiliate of the St Louis Blues the Peoria Rivermen. He appeared in 69 games his first year scoring 10 goals and tallying 21 assists. The following year, during the 1990–91 season, the Rivermen made the IHL playoffs and Pion appeared in 17 playoff games scoring 3 goals with 5 assists as he and the Rivermen won Turner cup. During the 1991-92 next year he had an IHL career high 71 point season. He went on to play another three seasons with the Rivermen. During his time with the Rivermen he became a strong penalty killer along with Mark Bassen the forward tandem went unscored on in 96 percent of their chances during the 1991-92 Rivermen title defense season.
During his tenure, the Rivermen Captain Boosters Club named him to the Pete BardezBanian Trophy four times as the team's most popular player.
In 1996, he left the minor leagues and signed with the St. Gabriel Blizzard of the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey league. He played in 36 games during his first year, putting up sensational numbers, scoring 83 points (30 goals 53 assists). He followed this up with a similar performance the following year scoring 82 points in 33 games. In 1998, he signed with Joliette Blizzard. He played 4 seasons with them. During the 2000–01 season He appeared in 36 games tallying 44 points as Juliette made the playoffs. Pion scored 1 goal in the playoffs and won a league title., before playing for Sorel Royaux for a year. He then played for one year with Granby Predateurs during the 2002–03 season and ultimately retiring.
After retirement he moved to Repentigny, Quebec. Where He served as business development manager for Old Dutch Foods. He has two daughters.
Pion was inducted into the Peoria Rivermen Hall of Fame in 2005.
In 2023, Pion was inducted into the Merrimack athletics Hall of fame.
Career statistics
Regular SeasonPlayoffsSeasonTeamLgeGPGAPtsPIM+/-GPGAPtsPIM1985-86Merrimack CollegeECAC East149132210 1986-87Merrimack CollegeECAC East36313364221987-88Merrimack CollegeECAC east4035407558 1988-89Merrimack CollegeECAC east3428427034 1989-90Peoria RivermenIHL6910213158 500001990-91Peoria RivermenIHL76142438113 17358361991-92Peoria RivermenIHL82215071173 9314301992-93Peoria RivermenIHL74203555119 -1321381993-94Peoria RivermenIHL73133245963621381994-95Chicago WolvesIHL200000 -- -- -- -- --1995-96Peoria RivermenIHL210101 -- -- -- -- --1996-97St. Gabriel BlizzardQSPHL3630538363 1997-98St. Gabriel BlizzardQSPHL3333498277 1998-99Joliette BlizzardQSPHL2914253944 1999-00Joliette BlizzardQSPHL738114 -- -- -- -- --2000-01Joliette MissionQSPHL3617274441 2261218442001-02Joliette MissionQSPHL3914274174 310142002-03Sorel RoyauxQSPHL82352 -- -- -- -- --2002-03Granby PredateursQSPHL13471112 -- -- -- -- -- Source:
Awards and honors AwardYearCollegeECAC East champion1986-87ECAC East champion 1987-88ECAC East champion 1988-89Merrimack team MVP1988-89Merrimack hockey awards https://merrimackathletics.com/documents/2021/7/12/Men_s_Ice_Hockey_Record_Book_without_YBY.pdfMerrimack athletics hall of fame 2023IHLTuner Cup champion 1990-91Peoria Rivermen Hall of Fame 2005Ligue Nord-Américaine de HockeyLigue Nord-Américaine de Hockey champion2000-01
References