# A couple hockey questions. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339 "2003-10-29T23:35:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![heimarkj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c2a13f/32.png) [@heimarkj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heimarkj)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/1 "2003-10-29T23:35:15Z")
why are the montreal canadiens referred to as “habs”? and in newer arenas that have basketball as well, do they melt the ice, or just cover it with the court? thanx! ---
**Author:** ![leenmi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@leenmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leenmi)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/2 "2003-10-29T23:38:08Z")
Habs is short for, and forgive the spelling, les habitantes. It’s a French thing. The Candiens are the habitants. The homeboys. Cursed since they pissed off Patrick Roy. They don’t melt the ice. They cover it. Carefully. ---
**Author:** ![heimarkj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c2a13f/32.png) [@heimarkj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heimarkj)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/3 "2003-10-29T23:43:36Z")
ah, yes…that is along the lines i was thinking…thank you, and thank you to the habs as well for sending us patty roy…was a very cool ceremony last night…feel lucky to have watched him play here the last few years… ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/4 "2003-10-30T00:33:03Z")
BTW: contrary to popular belief, the “H” on the Canadiens’ sweater doesn’t stand for “Habs.” It stands for “Hockey.” In some arenas they do melt the ice. Depends on what arena you’re talking about. They can flood a rink and melt it very quickly. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/5 "2003-10-30T01:39:13Z")
[At Savvis Center](http://www.savviscenter.net/content/oneminute.html) (home of the St. Louis Blues), they handle the ice thusly. I would hazard a guess that this is largely industry standard. > [@](#): > > To make ice, the floor is chilled to 24 degrees and then a thin sheet of water is poured over the floor. This process is repeated every 20 minutes until a ¾" sheet of ice is made. It takes approximately 12-18 hours to make a ¾" sheet of ice. When 1/3 of the ice thickness is completed, white paint is coated over the ice. When 2/3 of the ice is frozen, the lines and logos are painted onto the ice, then the final 1/3 is laid. During hockey season the ice is left down and is covered with a Styrofoam insulated plastic-coated floor and the basketball floor or concert is placed on top. For the circus the ice is removed and then re-made after the final performance. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/6 "2003-10-30T01:54:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joe K \* > \*\*[At Savvis Center](http://www.savviscenter.net/content/oneminute.html) (home of the St. Louis Blues), they handle the ice thusly. I would hazard a guess that this is largely industry standard. \*\* Yeah, that is the standard. In big cities with multi-use arenas that have both hockey and basketball usually try and keep the ice in for as long as possible. As your link states, it is a time consuming process to make the ice and while it is being made you can’t have any events. Plus ice generally sucks when it is first laid, it needs to be skated on and resurfaced to get it smooth. ---
**Author:** ![habs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@habs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/habs)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/7 "2003-10-30T05:15:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by heimarkj \* > **why are the montreal canadiens referred to as “habs”?** Why, as luck would have it, just take a quick gander at my username! How amazing that I, of all people, would get an opportunity to answer this question! 😃 Being the (probable) resident expert on the Montréal Canadiens here, I can give you the definitive reason why the Canadiens are often referred to as the “Habs”. **RickJay** is absolutely correct when he wrote that the “H” in the Canadiens’ logo does not stand for Habs, but rather “Hockey”. The official name of the Canadiens is “Club de Hockey Canadien”. This is often confused by many people. According to the magazine “Les Canadiens”, the following is the true origin of the nickname “Habs”: > [@](#): > > \*\* > "Partial credit for this nickname actually goes to an American. Madison Square Garden owner Tex Rickard had picked up on a rumour (a false one, of course) someone had told him about the ‘H’ on the Canadiens’ uniform. It seems that someone mentioned that it stood for “habitant”, a French word that in those days was used to denote the farmers of Quebec. > "This guy told Tex that the French-speaking players on the team came from the country, and since they were “farmers”, they were therefore “habitants!”’ recalls Camille Desroches. ‘Habs’ is simply a short form of the word. At the time, the Canadiens were considered Montreal’s “French” team, as opposed to the primarily “English” Montreal Maroons. "\*\* So there you have it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/8 "2003-10-30T12:52:46Z")
Habs, can you confirm my recollection that the early versions of the logo looked more like a big red C with a smaller C inside, and an H in the middle, thus standing for “Les Canadien Club de Hockey”? PS: ////LET’S GO ISLANDERS!!! ---
**Author:** ![habs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@habs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/habs)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/9 "2003-10-30T14:51:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NoGoodNamesLeft \* > **Habs, can you confirm my recollection that the early versions of the logo looked more like a big red C with a smaller C inside, and an H in the middle, thus standing for “Les Canadien Club de Hockey”?** Yep, you are correct (although the correct grammatical name, in French, of the team is “Club de Hockey Canadien”). If you look closely at the Canadiens’ logo, it is actually the three letters with the two “C’s” superimposed on one another. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-couple-hockey-questions/210339/10 "2003-10-30T15:07:24Z")
## quote from **Habs** post: (bolding mine) ## "Partial credit for this nickname actually goes to an American. \*\*Madison Square Garden owner Tex Rickard \*\*had picked up on a rumour (a false one, of course) someone had told him about the ‘H’ on the Canadiens’ uniform. It seems that someone mentioned that it stood for “habitant”, a French word that in those days was used to denote the farmers of Quebec. "This guy told Tex that the French-speaking players on the team came from the country, and since they were “farmers”, they were therefore “habitants!”’ recalls Camille Desroches. ‘Habs’ is simply a short form of the word. At the time, the Canadiens were considered Montreal’s “French” team, as opposed to the primarily “English” Montreal Maroons. " Just a bit of a nit pick first: As far as I have read, Tex Rickard was the President of MSG not the owner. And as an added piece of NHL name trivia: The NY Rangers were so named as a play on G.L “Tex” Rickard (President of MSG) and the Texas Ranger police. Since he was the President of MSG and they had a new hockey club (at the time the NY Americans were already playing hockey in MSG a few years earlier and continued for a few more) memebers of the press nick named them “Tex’s Rangers”. The rest is history.