Xavier and Isaac Labelle at the 2022/23 Canada Ball Hockey Men's A Nationals (Submitted photo/Isaac Labelle)

By Ben Tompkins

Hockey Hero

Xavier Labelle wins national silver medal alongside older brother

Sep 16, 2022 | 5:20 PM

Former Humboldt Bronco, Xavier Labelle, has continued his love for hockey, beyond his Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) days.

After being told he couldn’t be in any body contact sports anymore, which prevented him from returning to the ice, Xavier rediscovered an old passion in ball hockey and has been able to play alongside his older brother and the older brother of a former teammate.

Isaac Labelle and Brandon Schatz (brother of another former Humboldt Bronco, Logan Schatz), joined Xavier at the 2022-23 Canada Ball Hockey Men’s A Nationals, this August in Hamilton, as members of the Saskatoon Buffalo.

Xavier told northeastNOW “it was an awesome experience to play on the same team.”

“We really came together and winning second place was just incredible. A great group of guys and just lots of fun playing out there.”

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And as far as playing with Brandon was concerned, Xavier said “it definitely brought back some memories.”

According to him, every time the team stepped out to play, they were doing it for Logan.

“All the boys support Logan out there. We have his jersey kind of in the rafters, so to speak, and we’re all thinking of him when we go out there and play.”

With being unable to play ice hockey anymore, Xavier was excited to find something else where he could still compete at a high level.

He explained when doing certain things, which are familiar to the game of ice hockey, that he is reminded of his days as a Bronco.

“Playing at such a high level, it’s awesome. Ball hockey has been just as competitive and everyone is going out there and playing their hardest and going into the corners and you got to battle for it. I think just being able to battle and put everything into just getting the ball has really been awesome and it definitely reminds me of the Bronco days, playing my heart out there too.”

The boys did a wonderful job representing Saskatchewan, as in the past 11 years, no team from the province has made it past the quarter-finals.

While they are each extremely happy with ending that drought, both have said they will still be looking for more in the future.

“In the next couple of years, we definitely want to be coming back with a gold medal,” said Xavier. “We’ll just have to keep playing hard and work a bit on some systems.”

“It was a great experience for us and I look forward to all the opportunities that we’re gonna get in the future,” Isaac said. “We’re obviously looking forward to playing on a competitive level and we know that it will be that way for years to come as the sport grows.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8