I was always curious as to where the “habs” (Montreal) came from...
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We think the “Habs” nickname was the result of an error in 1924. The first man to refer to the team as the Habs was Tex Rickard, the founder of the National Hockey League and the owner of Madison Square Garden. Rickard apparently told a reporter that the “H” in the logo on the Canadiens’ jerseys stood for habitants, which wasn’t true. The C-wrapped-around-H logo stood for the hockey team’s official name, le Club de Hockey Canadien. The “H” stood for “hockey”, but Habs stuck. They’re still referred to as the Habs even today.
Habs is short for “Les Habitants”....”The Inhabitants”.
I heard the Ch in the middle of the rink stood for “centre hice”.
Seriously, I’ve also heard it refers to Habitants, which I believe relates to more French Canadian navel gazing at their collective past. Dunno if it’s true. They need to be reminded of the Plains of Abraham.