Wildcats make coaching change

Darren Rumble is no longer head coach of the Moncton Wildcats.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League club, which has been mired in a six-week slump, announced on Monday that it has parted ways with Rumble. He guided the club to the league semifinals twice during his six seasons and finished with 180 career wins, the second most in franchise history.

“I want to thank Darren for his contributions to the Wildcats for the past 5 ½ years and I wish him all the best in his future hockey endeavours,” said Wildcats president Robert Irving. “He worked hard and was 100 per cent committed to the Wildcats organization. I valued his efforts and enjoyed working with him. “These decisions are never easy, but it’s part of the hockey business. We have a young team with a lot of potential, but given the recent results we felt it was time to make a change.”

Moncton, 24-13-3-2, is fourth in the 10-team Eastern Conference and sixth overall in the 18team QMJHL. The Wildcats will try to snap a three-game losing streak when they face the Rouyn Noranda Huskies on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Avenir Centre. Moncton got off to an outstanding start to this season at 19-4-2-0, sat first overall in the QMJHL at different times and was consistently in the Canadian Hockey League top 10 rankings. But the team’s fortunes then changed drastically and it’s just 5-9-1-2 since Nov. 23.

Four of the five wins during this downward spiral were against the three worst teams in the league.

The Wildcats have just one win in the past six games and during this stretch they lost twice to the Saint John Sea Dogs, the second worst team in the league.