Mile zero City negotiators believed deal was in place to transfer hockey team BRENDAN MCCARTHY The Telegram

An emotional Leo-Guy Morrissette announces his retirement from hockey as owner of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan during a Monday news conference at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre in Bathurst. His children, Stephane and Annie Morrissette-Hebert, will take over the financially troubled franchise. - Photo by Glen Vienneau/Special to The Telegram

The point man for St. John's Sports and Entertainment (SJSE) in negotiations to bring the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) back to St. John's says he "absolutely" believed a deal was in place to relocate the Acadie-Bathurst Titan here and was surprised to learn the team will remain in New Brunswick.

"What else could we believe when we had an e-mail at 9:36 p.m. Friday saying we had an agreement to move the team here, pending approval from the QMJHL?" said SJSE general manager Bill Thistle, who led negotiations that resulted in a tentative deal - ultimately agreed to by St. John's city council - to have the Titan play out of Mile One Centre beginning this fall.

That e-mail came from Earl Dimitroff, the Titan's director of corporate sales and the man who represented the junior team in much of the week-long negotiations with SJSE.

However, despite the intentions outlined in the e-mail, Titan owner Léo-Guy Morrissette decided neither to move to St. John's nor accept an offer from a group of Bathurst businessmen to buy the team. Instead, Morrissette announced Monday he was staying put in Bathurst and would turn over ownership of the Titan to his son and daughter.

"We considered lots of possibilities as we went through this, but frankly, the one thing we didn't consider was that (Morrissette) would transfer the team to his family," said Gerry Smith, who chairs the SJSE board of directors.

Like Thistle, Smith is disappointed in how things turned out.

"I'm disappointed in the process - not from our side, because our management team put together an excellent proposal - but in what resulted from the process," said Smith.

"All the way through, right until Friday night, we had good talks, a good exchange of information in our negotiations, and we came up with a deal we believed was good for SJSE and the city, while at the same time good for (the Titan).

"We had every reason to think they felt the same way, since we had a tentative agreement."

Morrissette, who purchased the Titan franchise 25 years ago and moved the team to Bathurst, N.B., in 1998, is known as one of the QMJHL's most wily owners and as a cagey buisnessman. Thistle says SJSE was well aware of Morrissette's reputation, but says the idea he could be using St. John's elsewhere to secure a better deal never coloured the negotiations.

"If someone comes to you saying they want to move their team - which they did - what are you going to do, say, 'no,' because you think they might talk to someone else?' said Thistle.

Smith points out that Morrissette, in essence, settled on the status quo, but says there was every reason to believe he was sincere in his proposition to move the team to St. John's.

"He came here on Monday and outlined the criteria for moving the team," recounts Smith. "We offered a three-year deal and they came back with a proposal for five years because they said the league wanted five years - which we agreed to - because it would be an indication of St. John's being serious about the Q.

"They went so far as to outline what would be their ticket-pricing policy for Mile One. When you consider all that, you'd have no choice but to believe they were serious about coming here."

Smith refutes any notion the negotiations were rushed, at least from the St. John's end, because of the league-imposed Monday deadline for Morrissette to announce any relocation plans for the 2009-10 season.

"We've been gathering information for a year about the hockey side. We were ready, so when they came to us, we had detailed information to offer and when we began negotiations, we had detailed information to use," said Smith.

Both Smith and Thistle also disagree with suggestions the negotiations with the Titan were too public.

"Not at all. It was a bit of a roller-coaster," says Thistle, "but (stories in the media) played no measure in the outcome."

"I don't think there was anything very much we could have done differently," adds Smith.

The negotiations with the Titan did "let the Q know we are in business for a hockey team," says Thistle, who says the tentative deal could serve as the basis or template for negotiations with other QMJHL owners considering relocating.

The Lewiston Maineiacs are looking for a new home after their efforts to move from Maine to a Montreal suburb was rebuffed by a dispute over territorial rights.

However, Smith and Thistle say there has been no contact between the Maineiacs and SJSE.

Exploration of the possibility of getting an American Hockey League team for St. John's also continue, although Thistle says there is "no focus on any particular team."

bmcc@thetelegram.com