The Memorial Cup-winning Acadie-Bathurst Titan have named their new head coach less than a week after the departure of their previous one.
Bryan Lizotte has accepted a three-year contract as the Titan’s newest bench boss, the team announced in a news release Tuesday.
The signing comes just five days after former head coach Mario Pouliot decided to leave the team and accept a position as head coach and general manager of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
READ MORE: Coach of Memorial Cup-winning Acadie-Bathurst Titan leaves team, joins Huskies
Lizotte has been an associate coach with the Titan for the past two seasons. The team says he was the number one choice to take over as head coach.
“Along with being Couturier’s first choice, Lizotte received high praise from Pouliot upon his departure with the now-former Titan coach saying he believed Bryan was more than ready to take on a head coaching role,” the Acadie-Bathurst Titan said in a news release.
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Lizotte was the head coach of the Quebec Cyclones Midget Espoir for two seasons, from 2009 to 2011 before spending five seasons as the head coach of the Seminaire St-Francoise Blizzard of the Quebec Midget AAA Hockey League.
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