Kia CHL Top-10 Spotlight: Titan ready to make ascent
Much like the 2020-21 season, it is a different look this year for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
Capturing CHL supremacy as Memorial Cup champions in 2018, two rebuilding seasons followed for Acadie-Bathurst, while the fruits of those downtimes have now ripened to the effect of a 9-4-1-1 showing through 15 games of the new season, with the club sitting second place in the QMJHL’s Maritimes Division.
A youth movement is underway in Acadie-Bathurst and success has followed as the Titan have seen their budding collection of draftees elevate into key roles from top scoring threats to desired defenders throughout the lineup.
At the forward ranks, Acadie-Bathurst is highlighted by a pair of 2021 NHL Draft eligible centres in Riley Kidney and Cole Huckins, the Titan’s top two picks, respectively, from the 2019 QMJHL Entry Draft. Both reaching the 30-point plateau last season, the two forwards have taken the next step in each scoring above or near a point-per-game pace through the early goings of the new campaign.
Cole Huckins, Riley Kidney, and Zach Biggar have been named to @NHLCentralScout updated Players to Watch list.#GoTitanGo⚔️
— Titan Acadie-Bathurst (@ABTitan) January 23, 2021
The success from both forwards is something fellow 17-year-old right-wing Jacob Melanson hopes to replicate. Acquired from the Quebec Remparts ahead of the league trade deadline, Melanson joins the Titan looking to build his own game and help the club make noise in the postseason. A fellow first rounder from the 2019 QMJHL draft class, Melanson had a modest yet injury-shortened freshman campaign with the Remparts last season and is excited to start anew with the Titan once the club returns to the ice.
“I am really excited to be joining the Titan. They are building a championship team and I am happy to be part of that,” Melanson told Darrell Cole of the Amherst News. “I saw the development they did with Riley Kidney and Cole Huckins last year and I knew that is the place I wanted to be. It is a good organization. I hope to play some top minutes and bring energy to the team. I want to develop coming into the next couple of years and be part of something special.”
But it is more than youthful exuberance at the forward ranks with the Titan as invaluable seasoned veterans round out the group, a list that includes overage right-wing Mathieu Desgagnes who tops the charts in Acadie-Bathurst with 23 points on the season – good for sixth league-wide – as well as fellow winger Felix-Antoine Marcotty, a dynamic playmaker who brings added offensive punch up front.
That savvy veteran experience then continues on the back end with reigning Defensive Defenceman of the Year Adam McCormick, an offseason acquisition from the Cape Breton Eagles who was recruited in part to replace outgoing 1999-born blue-liner and former captain Yan Aucoin, last season’s offensive force from the back end who led all Acadie-Bathurst rearguards with 32 points.
After spending four full seasons with the Eagles, it has been a seamless transition to Acadie-Bathurst for McCormick, who has already tallied 11 points through his 13 appearances. Meanwhile, joining McCormick on the back end is 17-year-old rookie rearguard Zach Biggar, who rounds out the list of three Titan players recognized by NHL Central Scouting ahead of the 2021 NHL Draft. Lastly, the Titan are also planning for the return of import blue-liner Harijs Brants who is currently competing on loan in his native Latvia as he awaits to rejoin the team in New Brunswick.
The Titan have signed Czech goaltender Jan Bednar to a Standard Player Agreement.
📰: https://t.co/DLXMMlAWG9 pic.twitter.com/UQmA6JQzya
— Titan Acadie-Bathurst (@ABTitan) August 25, 2020
Sticking in the defensive zone, the Titan are also seeing exciting early returns from diminutive netminder Chad Arsenault, a preseason addition from the division rival Charlottetown Islanders who has won seven of 12 games on the season highlighted by a 34-save shutout coming against the Moncton Wildcats in his second-ever appearance. The Prince Edward Island native then followed up that performance with a stunning 49-save effort in a 2-1 shootout decision against the Saint John Sea Dogs in the club’s next outing.
Beyond Arsenault’s early success, the Titan will soon offer an intriguing tandem between the pipes once Czech-born goaltender Jan Bednar is eligible to join the squad. The second-overall selection from the 2020 CHL Import Draft who then heard his name called again only months later by the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, Bednar brings an ideal combination of size and athleticism to the blue paint.
“We are very excited to add Jan to our group,” Titan general manager Sylvain Couturier said in a statement. “He is big, quick, and possesses a high compete level. Jan is a big piece of the puzzle for us and we feel he will be one of the better goaltenders in the league.”
With plenty of young talent up front, a rebuilt blue line, and a dynamic duo between the pipes, the Titan are ready to make their ascent.