SPORTS FLASHBACK 2017: How tiny La Broquerie built three huge arenas

The story of how the tiny hamlet of La Broquerie turned a few acres of Sandilands forest into southeastern Manitoba’s first indoor skating rink makes for fascinating reading, and is indeed the stuff of which movies are made.

And like every good movie, The La Broquerie Arena Story has had a couple of very successful sequels, perhaps more controversial, perhaps more divided in community priorities, and perhaps decisions less-rushed, but all with the same happy ending as the original.

And it is the first unlikely arena project that sets this community apart. It all began in the winter of 1949-50, when the La Broquerie Habs iced a pretty good senior hockey team that got its training on outdoor ice, in sub-zero temperatures.

The team captain was George Boily, a brash young man who suggested a team as good as the Habs deserved an indoor rink, and if they won the Carillon League championship and the Prefontaine Cup, the players would build it themselves.

The last week in February, 1950, the team defeated Grunthal to win the championship and within two weeks 10 volunteers were out in the bush at Woodridge, cutting timber to build a new home for Habs and the Prefontaine Trophy.

January 31, 1953, Broquerie Habs trounced Steinbach 8-1 in a hockey game that was part of official opening ceremonies at the arena. It was a friendly contest, and the neighbors to the west maintained they were being neighborly, letting the Habs win as an appropriate christening of their new arena.

It was an arena that Steinbach and La Broquerie senior teams were to share for the next 15 years. When Steinbach finally opened their own indoor rink in 1967, La Broquerie proved to be an equally good neighbor, letting Steinbach win its first “home” game.

But The La Broquerie Arena Story does not end back in 1953, or in 1967, or in 1978, or even in 2017. Today, the community boasts a first class facility with two ice surfaces, nine dressing rooms, an ultra-modern canteen, a spacious concession area, banquet hall and meeting rooms.

As an added bonus, when St Jean Baptiste Days or the annual fall supper rolls around, the main ice surface is transformed into a giant hall, capable of seating 800 comfortably.

At this year’s St Jean Baptiste Days, La Broquerie’s second ice surface became the most popular spot for youngsters, as it was transformed into one giant bouncy castle.

Next door, continuous entertainment was the order of the day, taking time for special recognition of the St Jean Baptiste Society, which had originally donated the land on which the arena was built in 1978.

The HyLife Centre represents a third round of arena construction for La Broquerie, and is an incredible example of what can be accomplished by a total community effort, no matter how small the community, or how large the obstacles.

And obstacles there were. La Broquerie council was split on a plan to build a new arena when the community’s second arena burned a decade after it was built. Newly elected reeve John Giesbrecht voted in favor of the project to break the deadlock and the proposal finally passed second and third reading, and construction began.

An arena board, established at the recommendation of the provincial municipal board, included Reeve Giesbrecht, Gilbert Tetrault, Art Gagnon, Aime Vielfaure, Leo Nadeau, Jules Balcaen, Larry Tetrault and LUD chair Yves Lafreniere.

That group was to build an arena for the ages, and for the next 40 years, the community could be counted on, over and over, to reach for their wallets (or their hammers) to improve the facility, maintain the facility in a first class manner, and expand the facility as the demand for its use increased.