La Broquerie Habs – Sixty years of competitive senior hockey

                                                  1948-2008

Le Club Sportif of La Broquerie and the La Broquerie Habs senior hockey team are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year.  The La Broquerie Habs are one of the oldest continuously run senior hockey clubs in Manitoba.  In its 60 year history the Habs have competed in 5 different leagues and have won 17 senior hockey championships, including 2 provincial titles.  La Broquerie senior hockey made its debut in 1948 when the team entered the Carillon Hockey League.  The team won its first league championship in 1949-1950 and then again in 1954-1955.

  In 1960-1961, the Habs joined the Hanover Taché Hockey League (HTHL).  It wasn’t long before the Habs became a dominant force in that league, winning back to back championships in 1961-1962 and 1962-1963.  With some communities concerned about the Habs’ superior talent and strength there was talk that teams would drop out if they had to face the Habs. Therefore, in 1963-1964 the Habs joined the higher caliber Provencher Hockey league.  It didn’t take long for the Habs to make their presence felt in that league as they won their first Provencher league championship in the 1964-1965 season and added back to back titles in 1967-1968 and 1968-1969. In the 1968-1969 season, the Habs also took home their first provincial championship along with the Molloy challenge cup, the Hockeyrama tournament trophy and the Carnival trophy.

In  1969-1970, with the Habs as one the founding members, the Manitoba Eastern Hockey League (MEHL) was formed.  The Habs won the championship in the league’s first two seasons, their forth cup in as many years. They claimed their last MEHL title in  1972-1973. 

In the spring of 1977 tragedy struck La Broquerie and the Centennial arena was destroyed by fire.  With no rink to play in, the Habs did not ice a team for the 1977-1978 season.  This is the only season that the Habs did not ice a team in their 60 year history. 

In the fall of 1978, the Habs moved into their new arena and rejoined the HTHL.  After a 25 year drought, the Habs took home the HTHL championship to cap off the club’s 50^th anniversary celebrations in 1998-1999.  The Habs went on to win back to back HTHL championships in 2001-2002 and 2002-2003.  With the growing appetite for local hockey, the Carillon Senior Hockey League (CSHL) was formed in 2003.  With the demise of the HTHL in 2005, the Habs joined the CSHL that year, adding credibility to the new league.  The Habs finished in first place 3 years in a row and won back to back CSHL championships in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.  The team also captured the Senior A provincial championship in 2007.  For the past 4 seasons every player on the Habs roster is born and raised in La Broquerie and or,  all have come up through our minor hockey system.  No other senior team in Manitoba can make that claim.

How amazing that such a small community can ice a competitive senior team for 60 years and have such success, a tradition unmatched by any other community in southeastern Manitoba.  This is all due to the passion and love for the game and pride instilled in the players at a very young age.  Hockey is not just a religion here it’s a way of life!

Imagine a symbol ... 

Imagine a symbol that represents the pride of an entire hockey community.
No individual is greater, no name bar is better; for it … symbolizes the heart of a champion. To wear this symbol on your chest, you must be prepared to fight, work hard and bleed for it. You must not retaliate or put yourself ahead of anyone, for the team must come first. Play with integrity, with respect and most of all with your heart on your sleeve.

The HABS logo is what we play for; it is who we are.


Vive les Habs! Vive la tradition!

Dream of Closed-In Rink Becomes a Reality Part 1

This story appeared in the Carillon News November 28, 1952. It shows how the community of LaBroquerie worked together to build it's first indoor rink.

The parish of La Broquerie is proving to the world that any community can have what it wants – providing it is determined to have it.
As a result of such determination and the sweat that goes with it, this little community of some 50 homes – the whole parish counts only a little over 200 families – a large closed-in skating rink is now under construction. Already 30 of the 51 required rafters are up, the other 21 are practically finished and ready to be lifted into place.
VOLUNTEER WORK
Only a bunch of hockey fans could conceive an idea so fantastic. But their dream is rapidly becoming a reality.
It started in the 49-50 hockey season, when their hockey players vowed to themselves. “If we win the (Caldron) cup this year, we’ll build a closed-in rink.
They drew a large sketch of the proposed rink, posted it up in the café, and went back to play hockey. On a Wednesday night in March 1950 they played the deciding game and came home with the trophy.
“It was fast action after that”, club secretary Albini Grimard relates. “We met next evening to discuss our plans. Friday we contacted the Forest Ranger and bought a timber permit. Early next week we had 10 men with two trucks and a team of horses heading out for Whitemouth Lake where we had our timber stand. Everything was donated – feed for the horses, the trucks, and the volunteer woodcutters had even packed their own grub.”
The ten men who thus volunteered for the community project were George and Marcien Boily, Narcisse Fournier, Gualbert and Denis Nadeau, Antoine Dandenault, Gerard Pelletier, Joseph and Lucien Mireault and Albini Grimard.
THEY BUCK THE ELEMENTS
The first trip to Whitemouth Lake was no picnic. One of the worst snowstorms of the season almost succeeded in taking the wind and enthusiasm out of them.
The group left La Broquerie early on a quiet afternoon and reached the Marchand Town at three. By this time it was snowing and blowing and the boys practically pushed and shoveled their way to Woodridge. It took them twelve hours to make this distance of about 12 miles – and the group was dead tired, soaked in sweat – and almost ready to give up. But they didn’t. Instead, they unloaded their team, packed everything into the sleigh and proceeded to the lake, where Ovide Coté (Vassar) had a camp he let them have for the duration.
During the following six weeks, 46,000 feet of lumber was cut, sawed and piled.
In late summer the lumber was hauled to La Broquerie. Here was the first concrete evidence, then, that the boys weren’t kidding. Vielfaure Bros., the late Fred Lariviere, Felix Pelletier, Nestor Gagnon and Phillip Laramee hauled it home free of charge.
In the winter of 50-51 another 40,000 feet was cut. The number of helpers was increasing – Nestor Gagnon, Louis Fournier, Adelard Fournier, Roland and Adelard Pelletier, Louis Rocan, and Albert Fournier – all joined the first year’s group to make the work easier. Similarly Joe Laurencelle and Alphonse Coté added their trucks to the group that was hauling it home.
The remarkable thing about this was that here was 86,000 feet of lumber that hadn’t cost the project very much. The only thing that had been in cash so far was $300 for the timber permit. This was raised by a car raffle. Other incidental expenses were met by holding the odd card party at the hall.
In the winter of 51-52 other angles of the project were looked after. An architect was engaged to make up proper blueprints, and the plans had to be OK’ed by the Government. It was also decided that 1952 would be the big year when the rink would go up.
This summer the Club Sportif, as the organization is called, made a loan for $3000 in order to start with the building. Late in September the foundation was laid, and work begun on the rafters. As the work proceeded, enthusiasm in the little parish increased. Today sees an average of 30 volunteers at work every day – and even school boys and young Mademoiselles don carpenter’s aprons in spare time and help to drive the thousands of nails needed in each rafter.
Then there are men like Joe Fabas, 72 year old retired railway man who is there every day when his health permits. Farmers come in between chores and throw in a few hours. It’s a catching, enthusiastic crowd, each man doing what he can for free. Only two carpenters are paid.
Money too, is beginning to come in. And it is felt that as the building progresses, people will donate more freely. Already this belief is being justified.
Building the rink is a big job. Each rafter, in semicircular form, is 144 ft. long, composed of 12 layers of boards. After these are up, which, it is expected, will be soon, the covering boards will have to go on. That will take tremendous work too, but the directors are optimistic. “For a long time a lot of people figured it couldn’t be done, but now people from outside the parish are wishing us well and volunteering help,” Grimard tells us. “And there are good indications that the money will come the same way.”
Of course the $3000 will not complete the rink, but it will be a good start in this day of high costs, and the tendency of ever man to shift for himself, this project will be one that will be watched with interest from near and far.

Carillon News Friday, November 28, 1952 Page 1.