Jr. B Habs cap off memorable day in La Broquerie
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For the first time in nearly a decade, La Broquerie was able to cap off a celebration of hockey in their community with a top-level game.
With no junior or senior team calling the community home since the mid-2010s, this year’s hockey day in La Broquerie festivities were capped off with a special game, as the Capital Region Junior Hockey League’s expansion La Broquerie Habs pulled off the upset, defeating the league-leading St Malo Warriors 5-3 in front of a jam-packed crowd inside the HyLife Centre.
Head coach Dan Taillefer said the team could feel the energy from the crowd before the game began, and came out ready to play.

“To have that game here on hockey day in La Broquerie was awesome, in front of a bunch of fans, it was an awesome day,” Taillefer said, having to raise his voice overtop of a celebratory locker room during a post-game interview.
“We were kind of the main event so to speak. It was packed and it was awesome to get the win.”
That attitude certainly showed up on the ice, as La Broquerie out-shot St Malo 18-13 and entered the first intermission up 2-0 on the scoreboard. The Warriors were lucky it was only 2-0, with the home team dominating the play even more than the scoreboard indicated.
St Malo stormed back in the second, potting three goals to tie the game, but Colton Pakoo’s hat-trick marker a few minutes into the third period stood up as the game-winner.
With his team short-handed, Pakoo and Mario Gagnon executed a beautiful rush play, with Pakoo tipping a shot-pass over the shoulder of Jozsé Gauthier-Urmos to give the Habs a 4-3 lead.
“Now that we’ve seen this crowd, we’re hoping for this every night in La Broquerie,” Taillefer said.
La Broquerie added an empty netter to cap off a memorable victory.
“St Malo’s a great team, they’re the best team in the league and we had a great game today and we showed we can keep up with them,” Taillefer said.

With playoffs fast approaching, La Broquerie appears destined to face Selkirk in the first round of the playoffs. They hold a five-point lead on Arborg for fifth place, with four games in hand while Selkirk is 14 points behind third-place Lundar.
Taillefer said he’s loved getting back into junior hockey. He spent years playing junior A for the Steinbach Pistons, and was a sure bet to be named La Broquerie’s first junior B coach.
“It’s about playing hard, playing simple and playing our game,” he said, when asked how the team can succeed in the playoffs.
“I think if we do that we can be successful and once you get in the playoffs anything can happen.”
The top team in the CRJHL earns a first-round playoff bye. The final games of the regular season take place Feb. 16.