B10

Peter Assaff

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The general manager of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan is sticking by his coach.

Despite the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team's struggles this season, Sylvain Couturier said he is confident Ron Choules is the right man to have behind the bench.

"He is the same guy that, after replacing Denis Francoeur, allowed us to win 18 of the last 22 games of the season two years ago when we had a veteran team," Couturier said. "I don't think Ron has changed in the last two years. It is just that the team is younger and we knew that we were in a tough division this year."

Choules made his Titan debut Feb. 1, 2008, and despite his early success, has compiled a 46-95 record since then. He is also in the first year of a three-year contract he signed last May.

Couturier said that contract isn't the reason he is standing by his head coach.

"Last year, we had the youngest team in the league and we made the playoffs thanks to our coach, which we knew would be tough," pointed out the GM. "By Christmas, we were pretty much set up for the playoffs and that allowed us to make some moves. We got two second-round picks (and forward Julien Tremblay) for (Tomy) Joly. If we were not where we were at Christmas last year, we probably wouldn't have made that deal because we wanted to please our fans. We want our team to be at least in the playoffs every year. That is still our goal this year."

Acadie-Bathurst is coming off an 8-2 loss to the Saint John Sea Dogs at Harbour Station Saturday and has dropped seven of their last eight games to fall to 8-14-2-1. To make matters worse, the Titan have averaged just 1,147 fans in their last five home games, with people starting to point the blame at Choules.

Couturier knows fans are frustrated, but says it is important to be patient.

"It's easy right now to criticize everybody, and everybody is allowed to do that, but you have to be realistic and you have to look at the big picture," he said. "We are in the second year of a rebuilding program. This year is a bad year for us because Cape Breton, Moncton, Saint and Prince Edward Island all expect to be in the top teams in the league. "¦so we knew it was going to be a tough year."

In addition, Couturier said the loss of European forwards Artem Demkov, who decided to remain in Europe this year; and Radovan Pulis, who has struggled with an injured pelvis for the last two seasons, have contributed to the Titan's woes this season.

"But there are no excuses either," he added.

"We are not playing our best hockey right now, I think everybody can see that. We are struggling as of today and we are going to have to work harder. But if I look at our young guys, guys like (Jeremie) Blain and (Jeremie) Malouin, they are progressing."

"We are still going to go through some tough times, like every other organization in the league," Couturier said. "But sometimes you have to go through those times to get better."

Acadie-Bathurst is at home for a pair of games at the K. C. Irving Regional Centre this weekend. After playing host to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens Friday at 7:30 p.m., they'll entertain the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles for a 7 p.m. matchup Saturday.

Peter Assaff is the sports editor for the Northern Light in Bathurst. His Titan Trail column appears Wednesday in the Telegraph-Journal. He can be reached at passaff@nbnet.nb.ca.