Tonight, the Wildcats play host to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 7PM at the Coliseum. This will be the second of four appearances the Titan make in Moncton this season, with the last two games slated for January 26th and February 19th. The question I keep asking myself is this: will that game a little over two months from now be the last time the Cats get the opportunity to host their Northern New Brunswick rivals?
Before continuing, it should be noted that I sincerely hope this is not the case. The Titan franchise has one of the longest histories of any team in the league, they play in a state of the art arena that is - for my money - one of the best junior hockey barns you could ever hope for and their have - or should I say had - a strong, loyal following that made players from all over the world feel like locals, even family members.
On the flip side, It's impossible not to hear the cries of "hard times" from Titan owner Leo-Guy Morrissette, and times have indeed been tough on the franchise for the past number of years. Some of this can be traced back to Morrissette's relationship with certain local sponsors, a relationship that has gone down a bumpy road at times. The support that this franchise received in droves at the turn of the millennium is simply not there in nearly the same quantity or quality anymore - and is no longer an option as long as the ownership remains the same, many people say. Mr. Morrissette is not a dumb man. He didn't get where he is today by being so. However, the alienation several prominent people once affiliated with the organization feel is a potentially lethal situation - particularly in a small, close knit community such as Bathurst. Word gets around alot quicker there as opposed to a place like Laval.
Then there's the attitude towards the fans. In the beginning, it seemed like the Titan directive could do and say whatever they wanted and the fans would simply line up with open wallets. Leo-Guy promised a winner... and he delivered. A President's Cup in his first year on the North Shore... two more finals appearances in the next three seasons. It was a magical time at the KCI and it seemed everything Morrissette touched turned to gold. That is, until he lost that touch. Two seasons removed for their last appearance in the finals, the team was out of the playoffs - the first of two consecutive years the Titan were left on the outside looking in. This of course is to be expected in the up and down cycle of junior hockey. However, this was a side of the cycle noone in Bathurst had experienced before... and it didn't go over terribly well. Knowing full well that this was the name of the game at this level (the Titan had actually finished dead last in the Q just three seasons before moving out of Laval), Morrissette nonetheless did not appease these fans to any great degree. He simply shrugged his shoulders and told the fans they had to go through it and that was that. Have you - as an out-of-towner - ever tried to tell someone in Bathurst how to go about their business? I haven't... and frankly, I'm not about to start now. People stayed away. Only once in the last nine seasons - that being the 2006 playoffs, when the Titan came within a game of reaching the Q finals and by extension, within a game of a Memorial Cup berth - have the fans ever bothered to come back in any considerable numbers... and that was the team drawing them back, not their owner. Time and again, Morrissette has rolled out his "break even" mark for attendance and threatened to pull the plug, only to come out at the eleventh hour and emotionally declare that he's saved the team for the people of Bathurst once again. In a community as hard working as Bathurst, where many of the citizens have their own tales of misfortune to tell but elect not to, that sort of dog and pony show doesn't fly from one end of the Tim Horton's parking lot to the other.
Earlier this year, Gilles Corteau mentioned in an article written by Neil Hodge that the situation the Titan are currently in is a concern for everyone in the league. The league has loaned money to the franchise to keep them afloat. Essentially, the Titan - with their microscopic attendance and with wheels spinning to gain any traction in the overall standings - are living in the hockey equivalent of a welfare state. The league understands that the Bathurst market was once one of it's most vibrant and that the Titan have been a flagship franchise of the Q on a number of occasions. That being said, the QMJHL is not in the business of losing money to keep franchises afloat. If you don't believe me, ask the people of Lewiston, Maine. Mr. Corteau has to be accountable to all high ranking league officials, the other 17 team executives, and the rest of the league's fans... because frankly, that's where at least part of the funding for the Titan is currently coming from.
Then there is the consideration of the economic viability of a junior team in a smaller locale. When the Titan moved to Bathurst, they were the smallest market in the CHL and still are. However, at that time they didn't seem quite as out of place as they do now. The city of Baie-Comeau, Quebec with a 2010 population of 22,113, or about 11,000 more than Bathurst, had been granted an expansion franchise just one year prior to the Titan leaving Laval for New Brunswick. Since then, every market entered into (or re-entered) by the league has been significantly larger. Junior hockey is a much bigger business than it was in 1998. Bathurst is a different city as well. A combination of economic downturn, aging population and an ever rising cost of living has hampered the fiscal state of many residents in the region. It has been said many times that if Leo-Guy Morrissette severed all ties with the organization, the fans would come back. No doubt they would like to... and many would but how many, in all justification, could? The money that once was is simply no longer there to enjoy a handful of hockey games, much less purchase season tickets. Add to that the ever increasing overhead required to maintain a junior hockey franchise that all owners - be it local or outside interests - must endure and you can almost hear the suitcases being zipped and the bus starting up for the proverbial eternal roadtrip out of town.
The people of Bathurst are truly excellent. I love visiting the area because of the residents. In previous seasons, going on a road trip to Bathurst meant heading to a social gathering, with the game being still important, yet somehow secondary. In more recent times, going to a Titan game in Bathurst has been mainly to see the game itself... and if you happened to see a few people you knew, it was strictly a bonus. Many of those people simply weren't going to all the games anymore. The reasons for this have piled up to the point where I can't see how they can be totally overcome. The city loves their hockey... but they've also become incredibly jaded since the Titan's glory days. It feels as if the point of no return has past.
I hope none of this comes to fruition. A strong, healthy Titan organization brings with it one of the greatest fan bases and an organization that treats it's players like gold. However, how many cards can be staked against the franchise before finality is inevitable? That is the question I'm both eager and dreading to get an answer to... because unless something drastic changes, the contests Bathurst play in Moncton this season will feel less like hockey games and more like a funeral procession.
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