Acadie Bathurst Titan
Rink: K.C. Irving Regional Centre
Capacity: 3,524
Built: 1996
League: QMJHL
City: Bathurst, New Brunswick
Home Of: Acadie Bathurst Titan
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: November 4, 2022 vs Blainville Boisbriand Armada
Unique Arena: #59
QMJHL Arena: #15
The KC Irving Regional Centre looks like so many other arenas across the country. A small but functional lobby sits in front, with the main rink itself being the larger part of the building behind. It sits on a large piece of land with plenty of free parking near the edge of town. Right across the street sits a small movie theatre, which in front has a fantastic gastropub named Cast & Crew which is done up in movie themes. It was terrific, and seeing as nothing else is within walking distance besides a St-Hubert it’s what I would suggest for your pregame food and drink. Bonus points for the large team logo on the outside of the building, even if it could use some touching up. More bonus points for the banner at the sign near the road (and at the city limits) announcing the team’s 2018 Memorial Cup Championship.
The KC Irving Centre inside is also like many other rinks you see across the country. It is your typical clone rink with a small bowl of seats all around the ice and an open concourse on top. The bowl here, however, is smaller than in your typical clone rinks across the CHL as total capacity is about 3,500. It is also a bit more barebones than most rinks in the CHL. The concourse is a bit narrow, but more than adequate for the crowd of near 1,800 we had. Only one main concession stand for food was open with the other being closed. Add in a few drinks-only stands in the corners and that’s about it.
The seats in Bathurst as you can see are all teal and more than comfortable enough. The main scoreboard, unlike most in the CHL now does not have a videoboard, but there is one videoboard at the top of the bowl behind the far end net. I assume this was a much more cost-effective option, but there is no reason not to have a small serviceable one at centre ice much like the ones you see in Victoriaville or Sherbrooke.
Also, oddly the team has banners not just from their own history in Bathurst since 1998 but also from the team’s previous life as the Titan in Laval. The banners are the originals from Laval and boast such great names like Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy, who have likely never stepped foot in Bathurst, NB.
Lastly there is a lounge area above one end of the ice that has a nice bar and seating behind glass like one big communal suite. You do need VIP tickets to access it though. As I said, Bathurst is a pretty barebones rink. I think the size of the rink is perfectly fine for the small city, but they could do much more with it, as seen in my review of Victoriaville. The crowd was into it, and it’s unfortunate that the team would eventually leave less than three years after my visit. I enjoyed my time in Bathurst and I feel for the fans who lost their team. The CHL is built on small town communities, but perhaps Bathurst was just a bit too small to survive in today’s more corporate CHL world.
