La Broquerie shares exciting news with the community as the Habs join the Captial Region Junior Hockey League. 

Ken Tallaire, president of the new Junior B team shares details of the announcement.  

“We’ve been looking at it for the past year because we have some boys coming up to the junior age and we have nowhere for them to play,” Tallaire explains. “We were looking at the process of which league to join and about six weeks ago, we got a call from the Junior B league.” 

Tallaire says they put a presentation together and brought the Junior B committee in to see their rink and business plan. The CRJHL voted to give La Broquerie an expansion team. 

“We are very excited to bring junior hockey back to La Broquerie. It’s been a very quick process and actually would like to get the league schedule out around July 1. We would like to start the league on September 27.” 

Tallaire says they haven’t had a junior or senior team for some time, and he knows that the community will support it.  

“It’s exciting that local towns around us will have a place to come and watch Junior B hockey,” he says. “I think we are in the perfect spot in Southeast Manitoba to host the team.” 

With the season quickly approaching, Tallaire says a committee has already been created to handle player development and they will begin to look for coaches. 

He shares what the first year may look like for the team. 

“We want to be competitive, but we also know that we will have a young club. Most of our players will be first year players but we have time to grow,” Tallaire explains. “We don’t want to go out there and grab a bunch of 20 and 21-year-olds right away and try to win. We want to grow with our local players.” 

Tallaire says that although La Broquerie is a small community, there will be an opportunity to get players from other towns. 

Chris Poponick, president of the CRJHL and head coach of the Selkirk Fisherman is excited to have a new team join the league. 

“We were approached by a group from La Broquerie just before our AGM and they have shown some interest,” he says. “I know they are looking around to try and get something going again in the community and they’ve got a history of some Junior C and some Senior.” 

Poponick says they had looked at bringing a Junior B team to the Steinbach area and with La Broquerie converting their rink to a junior-caliber arena, it seems like the perfect fit. 

“Getting someone in that area which is close enough for all of our league partners, that’s not too much driving is the ideal situation,” he explains.  

Bringing in a new team to the league may spark up a rivalry and create competition that excites the fans.  

“Selkirk and North Winnipeg have had a rivalry since I played in the Junior B league back in the 80s,” Poponick says. “Now St. Malo’s got somebody to wrestle with, with somebody in Southern Manitoba that they’re very familiar with.” 

He says that the league is competitive but mostly about having fun. 

“We try and keep our games each year to around the 30-game mark, so it’s not too overbearing for them,” explains Poponick. “It gives guys an opportunity to continue to play hockey, go to school, and have that work, hockey balance that makes sense.” 

Poponick says it’s great for the community to have a new team to cheer on and for younger fans to have players to look up to. 

“There’s nothing more exciting than playing in front of a bunch of ravenous fans that are either cheering for you or even cheering against you. It’s one of those things in sports that if you could bottle that feeling and sell it, you’d be a billionaire.” 

He continues, “It’s great for the growth of the game and they can see something they can look up to and idolize.” 

-With files from Dave Anthony