Hockey’s back: QMJHL returning to St. John’s next season as group purchases N.B. team | CBC News

Sixteen years after the Fog Devils left St. John’s, the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League is returning to Newfoundland and Labrador next season.

Local group SPS Entertainment, headed by prominent business owners in St. John’s, has purchased the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and will relocate the franchise to St. John’s in time for next season.

“St. John’s is a market that the league has kept an eye on since the departure of the Fog Devils more than 15 years ago,” said QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini in a news release on Friday. “The ownership is solid, the arena is outstanding, and Newfoundland and Labrador fans love hockey.”

Titan team president Serge Thériault told CBC News earlier this year that there had been financial struggles for the franchise for a decade and the pandemic made the problem ever more difficult for ownership. 

The team has had success on the ice since arriving in Bathurst, including QMJHL championships in 1999 and 2018 and a Memorial Cup that same year.

Newfoundland and Labrador has long ties to the QMJHL, with over 160 players from this province having played in the league.

SPS Entertainment says having a major junior franchise in the city again will allow local talent to grow in front of hometown fans.

The ownership group is made up of John Patten, John Steele and Jason and Jeff Sharpe.

Glen Stanford, a longtime figure in high-level hockey in St. John’s, is also involved.

More to come.