True Canadiens superfan displays years of memorabilia in his ‘Habscave’
Posted November 15, 2023 12:13 pm.
Last Updated November 15, 2023 7:21 pm.
As with many collectors, it all started with hockey cards for Sunil Peetush.
The Saint-Lazare man, a true Montreal Canadiens superfan, now has a basement completely dedicated to the team – his “Habscave.”
There are jerseys, signed photos, a near-life-size statuette, a table made of hockey sticks. And the Montreal Canadiens Bleu-Blanc-Rouge logo is practically everywhere – on seats, cushions, a carpet, a ping pong table, even the ceiling.
That passion, which he documents on his Instagram page to more than 57,000 followers, all started at a very young age for Peetush.
“As a youngster I started collecting hockey cards,” he recalled. “As I got older, allowances increased and I got my first job at McDonald’s when I was 14. I made it a goal of mine to start spending some of that money on memorabilia. It wasn’t as easy as it is now as it’s a huge business. I managed to find a few pieces here and there. After the games we were able to meet some of the players. We knew where they’d come out. We’d get some stuff signed: pictures, cards.
“As I got older, it never stopped. I was always sort of collecting things. It amounted to sort of what you see here.”
The Canadiens recognized Peetush’s fandom last year when they inducted him into their hall of fame for fans.
One of Peetush’s earliest memories of the Habs is going to the old Montreal Forum with his father, who passed away 20 years ago.
“At a young age, he actually had early on a job in the Montreal Forum checking the lighting,” he recounted. “Once in a while he brought me with him because he knew how much I liked hockey. Those early memories of walking into the Forum when it’s empty really have stuck with me.”
As Peetush became a fan, he began to idolize one player in particular: Patrick Roy. He watched Roy – first as a rookie, then as a one of the franchise’s best – lead Montreal to Stanley Cup victories in 1986 and 1993.
“Growing up in Montreal and playing hockey, I was lucky enough to be born in an era where some of the winning still happened,” said Peetush. “1986, 1993, when we had a superstar on the team named Patrick Roy and basically, I fell in love with Patrick Roy and the Canadiens and it started there.
“As a child growing up I could never have imagined having anything of Patrick Roy but I have accumulated a lot sticks that are harder to find.”
When it comes to diversity in hockey, Peetush says he’s seeing progress in the game.
“I feel that we’ve come a long way,” he said. “When I started when I was younger, there were certainly a lot of kids of South Asian descent playing hockey, but not at a high level. When I was young, a lot of my friends played hockey. A lot of them didn’t want to make the investment, perhaps of doing the ice hockey, but we were certainly playing ball hockey and following the team.
“I think we’ve come a long way and I do enjoy seeing all the diverse players that are in the league now, such as P.K. (Subban). P.K. did a lot, he meant a lot for the city… I was really proud to see (Nazem) Kadri lift the Cup, for example. I think these are all great idols for us and it’s nice to see representation and I think more is coming. So I’m really happy with the progress.”
