‘We’re Habs to the end’ — Junior hockey returns to La Broquerie

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This article was published 13/06/2024 (231 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Weekends at the HyLife Centre in La Broquerie will be a little more exciting, even as the Steinbach Pistons move back to their hometown.

The Capital Region Junior Hockey League (CRJHL) announced June 11 the league would be expanding to the southeastern community. Ken Tallaire is the president of the new team, and was thrilled to be bringing junior hockey back to La Broquerie.

Tallaire said he heard the league was interested in expanding a little over a month ago, and quickly put together a committee to put in a bid. He added as soon as the La Broquerie group finished their presentation, the league was ready to accept them.

“We just had our 75th (anniversary), and when we had the 65th and the 50th we had junior or senior teams, now it’s gone away,” Taillaire said.

“(A junior team) gives our younger kids something to strive for. Now they know there’s somewhere to play for another four years.”

As for the name, there was never any question. Hockey teams from La Broquerie have been called the Habs or Habitants since the town first played competitively, and the new junior B team will be no exception.

“We’re Habs to the end,” Taillaire said.

The Eastman Selects will be graduating a solid group of La Broquerie players, who are looking for places to play now that they’ve aged out of AAA. The Habs will provide a local opportunity for those players to perform in front of home crowds, with plans to supplement the roster with players from outside the community.

“With junior B, we don’t need to have enough kids from La Broquerie every year, we can go outside the box and get players,” Taillaire said.

“That’s another reason we went with junior B, to make sure we have a team here for years to come.”

La Broquerie last had a junior team in the junior C Hanover-Tache Junior Hockey League (HTJHL) in 2019/2020. The Habs lasted only a single season, going win-less and dropping out of the league after play was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous La Broquerie team in the HTJHL stopped playing after the 2012/2013 season.

La Broquerie has also been without a senior hockey team for a while. The Habs last played in the now-defuct Carillon Senior Hockey League in the 2015/2016 season.

The majority of the junior B board played senior hockey together in La Broquerie.

“It’s neat, and all our kids are probably going to play junior together,” Taillaire said.

The Habs will become the seventh team in the CRJHL, which includes franchises in Arborg, Lundar, Selkirk, Beausejour, North Winnipeg and St Malo. Team representatives from both sides were eager to see the return of a St Malo/La Broquerie rivalry.

Ralph Collette has been the manager of the junior B St Malo Warriors for the last 30 years.

“(La Broquerie) has worked hard and are proud of their Habs history, especially in senior and minor hockey,” Collette said, congratulating the community and board for joining the league.

“I have no doubt they will be a great addition. I personally know 99 per cent of their board. They are there for the right reasons.”

The Habs might boast the best dressing room in the CRJHL, after the Steinbach Pistons leave the building. The HyLife Centre had extensive renovations done in order to host Junior A hockey for a year and a half as Steinbach waited for their new arena to be built.

“We want to run it like a professional team, kind of like the Pistons do, but more minor league than them, and be a class act out there,” Taillaire said.

The CRJHL played 30 games in the regular season last year, and the season is set to start in late-September. It will be a quick turnaround for Steve Hildebrand, who is the Habs director of hockey operations.

“We’re going to hit the ground running and try to get as much accomplished as we can in the next few months so we’re ready to go,” Hildebrand said.

In terms of who will become head coach, Hildebrand said the board is trying to find the perfect balance between junior coaching experience and someone with local roots.

“We’re currently tapping shoulders and investigating different options to see who we can have available behind the bench and helping us moving forward,” he said.

Taillaire said players had already began to reach out before the news was made official, and Hildebrand added that some players have already committed to play for the Habs next season. Hildebrand said he expects the team to be competitive right away.

“That’s a great start, because we’re going to need all the help we can get with the short amount of time we have available to us,” Hildebrand said.

For more information on the league, check out their website, www.crjhl.com.