The family that plays together, stays together: Part 1
They say the family that plays together, stays together. Such is the case with the Nadon family of Whitehorse: father, Roch (pronounced Rock); mother, Danièle Rémillard; and sons, Nicolas and Gabriel. They all play together in Whitehorse in the Yukon Broomball Association on the Sports Experts team. In fact, they recently won the 2024 championship together, with captain Nicolas passing to Gabriel for the winning goal in triple overtime. Unfortunately, Danièle was unable to play because of a shoulder injury.
What’s Up sat down with the Nadon family recently.
Roch started playing broomball in Québec when he was 12 or 13 years old, in Québec City: “I was introduced to the sport during a gym class and I fell in love with the sport.” He wasn’t a good skater or hockey player, but he could run and stickhandle so broomball was his sport of choice. At 62, he has played the sport for 50 years.
Danièle, 62, also started playing in school in Québec City. They met in college and got married and then moved to Whitehorse in 1992. “Then we heard about this league,” she recalled, “and so we started to play again a few years later, in ’95, for a few years.”
The broomball league in Whitehorse started in 1984, and next season will be the fortieth anniversary of the league.
Roch and Danièle paused when they had Nicolas and Gabriel, but started again later when the kids were older. They had an outdoor rink practically in their backyard, so the family would play broomball with another family with two kids the same age as Nicolas and Gabriel. The boys started playing when they were each about four years old.
Nicolas and Gabriel, now 26 and 24, started their broomball careers as timekeepers. “Nic and Gab would come and watch us, and when there were tournaments, they always needed some timekeepers. So they would do that,” Danièle said.
“It was a great upbringing into the league, or the world of adult broomball, doing the timekeeping and the scoring,” Nicolas said.
“They couldn’t wait to be playing,” Danièle added.
The boys started playing at the Function in the Junction tournament in Haines Junction when they were each 14, and in the league at 15. The league’s minimum age is now 16. They’ve played in the league for about 10 years each. The league started in 1984. Next season will be its fortieth anniversary.
Roch played on a Yukon Masters over-40 team at the world championships in Richmond, B.C., in 2008. They lost every game, but only by one or two goals. “We just survive,” Roch recalled. “They were all the time in our zone, so we were pretty good at defence. It was pretty hard.”
But it was a learning experience. They also played in an international tournament in Austria, in 2010, and brought back a bronze medal in their category, which Roch called “an achievement for the league” here. “This is my moment of glory here,” Roch said jokingly.
The boys played in the world championships on Team Yukon, in Minneapolis, in 2018. Gabriel said that 2018 was an eye-opening experience: “It’s definitely a different way of playing our game.”
The brothers always play on the same line.
In the league, Gabriel said, “[We] would be fast enough to get by [the] defence and shoot, then we would lose the ball, run back on defence, get the ball back and run and then shoot again. So it was a run-and-gun kind of thing.
“But, with more-experienced goalies and more-experienced defence, against other more-experienced teams, that didn’t really work. So we had to really adjust our gameplay. And, since then, that’s reflected [in] how we play back here at home. And that’s definitely helped.”
Roch said there are about 120 players in the Yukon league, 15 of which are of international calibre. Of the international game, Roch said, “It’s another world.” He also mentioned how he and his buddy Francois LaFortune used to be at the top of their game and formed their version of the “French Connection.” He said, “Francois was the top scorer. I was the third one for a few years. We were pretty good at the time, so the team was pretty strong.
“At the time, the league was more teams, more rough, very rough—sometimes vicious. I play contact, so I know how to deal with it on the ice when some people try to hit you.”
The league is now non-contact, although some contact does exist but not like the old days.
Roch explained that off the ice, they are father, mother and sons; but on the ice, they are basically equals. He said broomball is more conducive to families playing together.
“You can have [a] sixteen- and seventeen-year-old play with their parents that are fifty to sixty,” said Nicholas.
Roch said, “Seeing the boys growing up playing broomball, they’re building their confidence on the ice … leadership. The boys are pretty good actually, also, so I’m proud of it as well. It’s nice to see that they’re growing as young adults, as well.” He added that broomball and sports, in general, make young athletes better people
“So, team building, team spirit, leadership, sacrifice.”
Danièle added, “At first we had more experience, but they had the lungs—they had three sets of lungs … It’s very interesting, as parents, to be on the same level as your kids. It’s like going to school together. It’s just sharing this experience that you have to do your best, try to perform, try to get better.”
Nicolas said, “We have a good relationship. We have a good vibe together.” He added that it would be easier for family members to quarrel on the ice or on the bench. But as the Nadons report, “That’s never happened.”
Gabriel said that held true even when he played two seasons with the Yukon Brewing Grizzlies, since his girlfriend was on the team and then rejoined his family on the Sports Experts team this season.
“There’s always a black sheep in the family,” Danièle said jokingly. “Every time I played against them, it was always fun. I always laughed, running side-by-side with my brother. I have to admit, though, just because my dad and my mom are on defence, I didn’t shoot the ball quite as hard when they were in the way.
“He just needed excuses because he couldn’t score against us,” she added.
Nicolas said he always looked forward to playing against his brother—that “It’s something exciting.”
About her attitude towards the boys, Danièle said, “[It’s] totally different when I’m on the ice.”
Gabriel shared that he was kind of in awe of playing with his parents, at first, and told them, “You guys knew what you were doing. We’re kind of running like a chicken with its head cut loose—not really knowing what we’re doing out there. But after a few years, we got the sense of the game.”
Along with two other youngsters on the team, the brothers did a lot of running around. “Very disorganized, but somewhat effective,” Gabriel said.
It took a while for the boys to develop their broomball game. As Gabriel said, “For me, it clicked probably four years in; just this sense of, like, rotation of the game.”
Danièle said they tell players that it takes at least three years to get the game figured out.
In Part 2, we’ll speak with the Nadons about why they play the game, how competitive the brothers and their parents are, and how long they plan on playing the game of broomball.
