Titan fall to Wildcats despite late comeback
BATHURST, N.B. – The Acadie-Bathurst Titan battled back to within one late in the third period but were ultimately edged by the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday. The Wildcats won 4-3 at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre, handing the Titan their second loss in a row.
“We were a very different team than Friday night to tonight that’s a little disappointing to be honest with you,” said Jason Clarke, head coach of the Titan.
Moncton’s Brooklyn Kalmikov put the first points on the board on the powerplay with less than 60 seconds left in the first period to edge the home team by the end of the first 20 minutes. The Wildcats maintained the lead throughout the second frame and then went on to score three more goals in the third. At 1:40 Yoan Loshing netted their second goal and Jonas Taibel scored their third at the three-minute mark in the final frame.
Riley Kidney registered the Titan’s first goal of the night at 7:44 as they started to climb out of the three-goal deficit, before Alex Mercier responded with the game-winning goal for Moncton at 11:10 on the powerplay to make it 4-1. Marc-Andre Gaudet and Ben Allison scored on the powerplay at 14:24 and 19:36 respectively to help bring the Titan within a goal of the Wildcats before the buzzer sounded on Moncton’s 4-3 win.
Acadie-Bathurst and Moncton each finished the night with 34 shots on goal, while the Wildcats scored twice on their five powerplay chances and the Titan were 2-for-6.
Before puck drop on Sunday the organization celebrated and honoured its three 20-year-old players in Felix Lafrance, Bennett MacArthur and Captain Logan Chisholm. The trio of veterans have made a lasting impact on the team as both on and off the ice.
“All three 20-year-olds are just all very, very good people off the ice and that is obviously what’s giving them a foundation in order for them to be so successful at the arena,” said Clarke. “So, just really good people and couldn’t be happier to be associated with all three boys.”
Meanwhile, we’ll be planting hundreds of trees in the Chaleur region this year, thanks to our talented Acadie-Bathurst Titan. With the three goals on Sunday, the Titan have now scored 274 goals since the puck dropped on the 2021-22 season. We announced earlier this season our organization will plant one tree for every goal scored this season through the Trevali-sponsored environmental project called One Goal, One Tree.
We would also like to take this time to thank our Game Day staff, all of whom go above and beyond for this organization every home game. Our staff are energetic, fun and above all else dedicated to making every Titan game the best possible experience for our beloved fans. Thank you, Titan Game Day Staff and Titan fans for being awesome and the best of the best! We wouldn’t be able to make every game a memorable experience if it weren’t for all of you.
With Sunday marking the final home game of the regular season, Acadie-Bathurst will play now head out on the road for their remaining three games of the season before playoffs begin in May. The Titan will visit the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Tuesday night at the Palais des Sports Léopold-Drolet. Puck drop is 8 p.m. Atlantic Time.
