The City of Bathurst became home of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in 1998, when now former owner Léo-Guy Morrissette bought and relocated the Laval Titan to Bathurst. With a new name change and branding, the Laval Titan became the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The puck dropped on the first year for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for the 1998-99 season. The K.C. Irving Regional Centre was packed with thousands of fans and sold-out crowds, who came to cheer on the Titan into what would become a history making season, and the beginning of a legacy along the Bay of Chaleur.
The team won their first President Cup trophy in 1999 – a roster which featured the likes for former NHL legend and Hockey Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo, Ramzi Abid and Jonathan Girard – and went on to compete in the Memorial Cup.
Throughout the 26 years the Titan have called the Bay of Chaleur home, countless hockey players have proudly worn the red threads as they represent the team in northern New Brunswick. The organization has celebrated more than 1-million fans passing through the rink doors. The city is home to many fans who have supported the team since its inception and have become regular staples of Titan games in the crowd. It’s heartwarming to see older generations of fans pass along their hockey knowledge and memories to younger fans who grow to love the Titan just as much.
Acadie-Bathurst is home to many prestigious alumni in NHL names like Luongo, Abid, Girard, Patrice Bergeron, Mathieu Perreault, Noah Dobson, Francois Beauchemin, Bruno Gervais, Jeff Viel and Guillaume Brisebois. The organization has also produced countless alumni who have since gone on to compete in other prestigious and competitive organizations, such as in Europe or the American Hockey League.
After winning the 1999 President Cup, the Titan went on to compete in two playoff championship final series before 2018. Bathurst placed second in 2001 to Val-d’Or and then – after finishing the 2001-02 regular season No. 1 overall in league standings and the Maritimes Division – placed second to Victoriaville in 2002. The Titan have had multiple playoff appearances throughout their more than two decades in Bathurst.
In 2013 the organization changed ownership, with a group of local investors purchasing the team. The team was rebranded – switching from the Viking-era helmet logo to the new Spartan style one today – and a new era was born.
Within the next five years, one of the main crowning achievements for the Titan came together during the 2017-18 season. Titan finished the regular season first overall in the Maritimes Division, and second overall in the 18-team league standings with a 43-15-8-2 record in 68 games for 96 points. They battled Chicoutimi in the first round to win the series in six games, before going on to sweep Sherbrooke and Victoriaville each in four games, to faceoff against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the championship series. Bathurst was a hard-working, no-quit third period team who went on to win the 2018 President Cup championship in Game 6 and punched their ticket to the 2018 Memorial Cup championship. The Titan then went on to win the 2018 Memorial Cup championship, and they won it as the smallest market team in the Canadian Hockey League.
The Acadie-Bathurst Titan is a staple in the community, whether it is reading to children in schools or hitting the ice to help budding hockey players skate in minor hockey to delivering teddy bears to seniors at the veteran’s unit. The team has become woven into the fabric of the northern New Brunswick community, where they win off the ice just as much as on.