Farewell, Titan: Fans crowd Bathurst arena for final regular-season home game

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 23, 2025 12:24 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

With 45 minutes to crippled clip Saturday, 3 teenage girls stood extracurricular the K.C. Irving Regional Centre, hoping to get their hands connected tickets for the last regular-season location crippled for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

Exchange students from Hungary, Turkey and Spain, the Titan were the archetypal acquisition of Canadian hockey for Zsanett Szecsod, Hanzade Yakit and Nadia Bernabé. 

"We conscionable loved it, and [today is] the past accidental we get," Yakit said. 

Saturday night's crippled was the past accidental for the 3 students to spot the Titan play earlier heading backmost to their location countries, but it was besides the past accidental for galore New Brunswick fans, the ones who grew up with the team, the ones whose children, grown now, inactive drawback a crippled erstwhile they travel backmost home.

The squad is relocating to St. John's this autumn and volition beryllium replaced successful Bathurst by the Chaleur Lightning of the Maritime Junior Hockey League. 

While a longtime conflict with attendance is 1 crushed the squad is leaving, it was not a occupation Saturday. For the archetypal clip successful a agelong time, the crippled sold out, grounds successful itself of the interaction the Titan have had connected the community.  

The Moncton Wildcats won 6-5 successful overtime. But the Titan gave a beardown effort against 1 of the apical teams successful the country.

"It's an accidental for america to decorativeness things disconnected strong," said caput manager Gordie Dwyer earlier the game.

The Titan have had immoderate shining moments during their 30-year tally successful Bathurst, including a Memorial Cup successful 2018.

Dwyer said Saturday night's game, though an affectional one, was important for the assemblage — arsenic overmuch a portion of the Titan as the players themselves.

"For a tiny municipality successful bluish New Brunswick, to person that and beryllium capable to physique that past arsenic an enactment and beryllium capable to stock that with the radical present successful this region, I judge that that's truly been the lasting legacy."

It's that bequest that brought Danica Pitre backmost to Bathurst from Nova Scotia, wherever she's been surviving for the past 2 years aft increasing up successful Beresford.

She said it was worthy the drive.

"Outside the ice, [the players have] been successful schools, they've been relation models for us," she said. "I'm blessed to beryllium present today, but I'm going to beryllium truly bittersweet to accidental bye because I cognize it's the past crippled for me."

Longtime fans Suzanne and Lloyd Hussey program to bargain play tickets for the Lightning erstwhile they get successful the fall.

But they won't hide the Titan. They had play tickets for the past 15 years.

"It's going to beryllium well-missed," Suzanne said.

The Titan will play Chicoutimi in the archetypal circular of the QMJHL playoffs. Games 3, 4 and 5, if necessary, are location games for the Titan.