The best junior hockey team in Canada will have a new bench boss next year.
Former Acadie-Bathurst Titan head coach Mario Pouliot will not return to the team for the 2018-19 season, according to a news release issued by the team on Thursday.
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The Titan say Pouliot has accepted a position as head coach and general manager of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League-rival Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
“The Acadie-Bathurst Titan would like to thank Mario for the hard work he put in during his time with the Titan and wish him the best of luck with the Huskies,” the news release reads.
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The 54-year-old took over the role of head coach in 2014, leading the Titan to three consecutive playoff appearances and the team’s first-ever Memorial Cup win.
Bathurst became the smallest hockey market to win the Memorial Cup in over 60 years. They also were the first QMJHL team to capture the national championship since the Halifax Mooseheads did so in 2013.
READ MORE: Titan blank host Pats to win first Memorial Cup in franchise history
Pouliot recorded a 126-116-30 record during his tenure with the team.
The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies finished the 2017-18 season with a 39-19-7-3 record and seventh in the QMJHL standings. They fell to the 10th-ranked Sherbrooke Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs.
Former Huskies head coach Gilles Bouchard left the team this year to take an assistant coach’s role with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch.
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