QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan to move to St. John’s Newfoundland

[BondraTime]

I'm all for the Newfies getting a team, but feel for Titan fans and will always have doubts about the herculean financial issues and logistics that a team faces out there.

This has been in the works for a long time, and has been a very poorly held secret around town for people on the hockey scene around St. John’s

It’ll go well for the first season, numbers will begin to dwindle the 2nd year, and past that it will be sparse with them moving again within 5 years of coming.

It happens with every team, with every league we bring in. We keep jumping at the opportunity and it never works out long term. This will be no different, and I’ve heard that from some people who would have a very good idea on the economics involved.

 

[GKJ]

Jake Allen played for St. John's.

And Huberdeau played with St. John in their Mem Cup year of 2011.

Whoever had Jacob DeSerres as an overage is who I’m thinking of.

 

[eojsmada]

Whoever had Jacob DeSerres as an overage is who I’m thinking of.

Looks like Saint John Seadogs, based on quick search

 

[LadyStanley]

Check out this Podcast: Soft Tampering ft. Patrick Burke Soft Tampering ft. Patrick Burke

Jeff Marek, The Sheet podcast.

About an hour in, new franchise will pay one way for travel, and any additional days due to being snowed in.

 

[ColinM]

I'm curious as to what the travel costs for St. John's will be relative to Rouyan Noranda or Val D'or. On the surface I would think its easier to fly out of Moncton, Halifax, or Potentially Ottawa than either of those 2 locations, given the number of direct flights from those cities.

As others have mentioned given the long string of failure in St. John's over the past 20 years I'm curious about what the ownership intends to do differently this time? Or did they just grab the lowest hanging fruit and are hoping for the best?

 

[jetsmooseice]

As others have mentioned given the long string of failure in St. John's over the past 20 years I'm curious about what the ownership intends to do differently this time? Or did they just grab the lowest hanging fruit and are hoping for the best?

Yeah, colour me skeptical. It feels like every team there fails, and always with some kind of dramatic flourish. Not just hockey teams, they've had basketball teams that have all failed as well. Mary Brown's Centre is cursed.

 

[EH7]

I'm curious as to what the travel costs for St. John's will be relative to Rouyan Noranda or Val D'or. On the surface I would think its easier to fly out of Moncton, Halifax, or Potentially Ottawa than either of those 2 locations, given the number of direct flights from those cities.

You've got the gist of it. From Stephane Leroux:

Already, draft calendars for the 2025-2026 season are being prepared. Basically, the 12 Quebec-based teams would travel to Newfoundland once every two years to play two games. The other five teams in the Maritimes Division will travel to Newfoundland twice to play doubleheaders for a total of 32 home games.

Currently, Quebec teams travel by bus twice a season to the Maritimes for three-game trips. Let's take the example of a team like the Drummondville Voltigeurs. They would travel to the Maritimes on the same principle as they are now: (Moncton, Saint John, Charlottetown, Sydney) and for their second trip, they would travel to Halifax for one game and then fly from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland for two games. It remains to be finalized, but basically the Quebec teams would save a long trip or a long return by bus from the Maritimes.

The Newfoundland team would go out on the road between 8 and 10 times a season to play 3 or 4 games on the road.

Chronique de Stéphane Leroux | Le Titan déménagera; la LHJMQ de retour à Terre-Neuve | RDS

Le club sera relocalisé à compter de la prochaine saison, rapportent plusieurs sources.

www.rds.ca

It’ll go well for the first season, numbers will begin to dwindle the 2nd year, and past that it will be sparse with them moving again within 5 years of coming.

Perfect timeline for one of the American markets to come on board via relocation.

 

[ColinM]

You've got the gist of it. From Stephane Leroux:

Chronique de Stéphane Leroux | Le Titan déménagera; la LHJMQ de retour à Terre-Neuve | RDS

Le club sera relocalisé à compter de la prochaine saison, rapportent plusieurs sources.

www.rds.ca

Interesting. It definitely sounds cost efficient although it sounds like on a given year some teams will have more difficult opponents than others. Although 6 road games taken out of a possible 35 of so seems like a bit of an after thought. I wonder if this also means the divisions will go back to being 6 teams each.

 

[voyageur]

Yeah, colour me skeptical. It feels like every team there fails, and always with some kind of dramatic flourish. Not just hockey teams, they've had basketball teams that have all failed as well. Mary Brown's Centre is cursed.

It's not likely to succeed in the long run but Newfoundland is a hockey market, and with the Growlers being phased out of the ECHL this is the next available option, and seemingly a more financially feasible one.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Sais tu, Acadie, j'ai le mal du pays
Ta neige, Acadie, fait des larmes au soleil

 

[LadyStanley]

Sale finalized

 

[jetsmooseice]

I feel bad for the fans in Bathurst and area. I've been in their shoes and it's not a great feeling.

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[ColinM]

I'm not sure that I care for Green as a hockey Jersey. Blue, Red, or Black seem like the more classic colors.

Personally I think St. John's Titan rolled off the tongue.

 

[Yukon Joe]

I'm not sure that I care for Green as a hockey Jersey. Blue, Red, or Black seem like the more classic colors.

Personally I think St. John's Titan rolled off the tongue.

Yeah but you can't have a league filled with only red, blue and black. Personally I like it when teams embrace the offbeat colours like orange, yellow, teal or green.

 

[Jeffrey93]

People already mentioned that Mile One Centre's ownership is a reactionary group who believes they can jack up rent prices and have teams bend to their whims due to being the only suitable arena on the Rock. What makes a Q team any different in this regard from the IceCaps or Growlers who left for those very reasons?

Ownership? You mean the City of St. John's?

The Growlers didn't leave for those reasons.....they were almost kicked out for harassing arena staff, but then came to an agreement and signed a new lease, they were later turfed from the ECHL for violating the league's by-laws.

The IceCaps were financially stable in St. John's but the Jets wanted their farm team closer, the team relocated to Winnipeg for that reason.

 

[LadyStanley]

Welcome Regiment

 

[BruinDust]

People already mentioned that Mile One Centre's ownership is a reactionary group who believes they can jack up rent prices and have teams bend to their whims due to being the only suitable arena on the Rock. What makes a Q team any different in this regard from the IceCaps or Growlers who left for those very reasons?

From what I heard Mile One (St. John's Sports and Entertainment) and the ownership of the Fog Devils had bad blood right from the get-go as both organizations bid on the expansion franchise and Mile One lost out. They were never going to do the Fog Devils ownership any favors to keep them viable. Then factor in it was an expansion franchise and Junior hockey tends to run on 4 year cycles, they never got to the point where it was a truly competitive team that would draw decent numbers. There was also a bit of "this isn't close to AHL caliber" that fans had grown accustomed to after many years of the Maple Leafs AHL club.

The IceCaps were never intended to stay here long-term. It was a stop-gap for Winnipeg's original intention of putting their AHL team in Thunder Bay. When Winnipeg left it became a stop-gap for Montreal's farm club until they moved to Laval. I don't think their were any expectations of a long-term operation.

The ECHL started strong, selling out the building in the playoffs. Covid lockdowns/restrictions didn't help. Ownership crossed a line when they openly declared their interest in owning the building outright and wanting to renovate it. What do you need St. John's Sports and Entertainment for (and the cushy high paying administrative jobs that go with it) if you no longer own the building? The relationship just spiraled downward from there apparently. Then the accusations of harassment, and finally the league itself deciding St. John's just wasn't worth it to their other member clubs who felt the economics of their teams travelling there didn't work. I travel to St. John's for work sometimes and talk to people at the games and quite frankly the ECHL product left something to be desired, as did the in-arena experience. Long concession line-ups, stale and dated concourse, bizarre strict rules around where and when you could purchase alcohol. On-ice the hitting was minimal, most of the players seemed to be far too similar, all average height/weight, skated the same speed, played the same way, probably why they are in the ECHL and not the AHL. No one stood out. Great jerseys and branding though.

Will this attempt work? Well from Mile One (SJSE) side, this is likely the last kick at the can of having a viable long-term hockey tenant for the arena. It really is in their best interest to do what they can to make this work for both parties. On the team side, the Titan (now Regiment) will be in what I would call "year 4" of the cycle, meaning that they should have a strong team next year comprised of a lot of 18/19 year olds and be a team that could contend for a league championship and maybe a Memorial Cup. Will they survive year 2 and 3 when the team will reset a bit with younger players and be less competitive? Hopefully fans and Mile One understand this and support the team through tougher times on-ice.