The Brûleurs de loups
are a professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team that resides in Grenoble

Grenoble

Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

History

The name comes from an event recorded by Cardinal LeCamus in 1672 at St Christophe en Oisans, see the book from Thomas Pfeiffer, Le Brûleur de loups, Lyon, 2004, and Sur les traces des brûleurs de loups, Paris, 2009. According to the Cardinal, members of his parish became fed up with wolves plaguing and harassing their livestock. One night, peasants cornered a pack into a small section of forest and burned them alive. The story still circulates in Grenoble popular folklore.

Such events were not too uncommon in 18th century France. The movie Brotherhood of the Wolf

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Brotherhood of the Wolf is a 2001 French film directed by Christophe Gans, starring Samuel Le Bihan and Mark Dacascos, and written by Gans and Stéphane Cabel...

 chronicles similar events in the same region of France circa 1764.

The Brûleurs de Loups hockey team is one of the most important of the Ligue Magnus

Ligue Magnus

-Former Teams:*Bisons de Neuilly-sur-Marne*Orques d'Anglet*Sangliers Arvernes*Corsaires de Dunkerque*Albatros de Brest*Jets de Viry-Essonne-Defunct Teams:*Diables Noirs de Tours*Hockey Club de Mulhouse*Séquanes de Besançon*Flammes Bleues de Reims...

 and won the 2009 league. Former Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

 and current Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Cristobal Huet

Cristobal Huet

Cristobal Huet is a French professional ice hockey goaltender playing for Fribourg-Gottéron of the Swiss National League A, on loan from the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. He developed his goaltending skills in Grenoble with Les Brûleurs de Loups. He has also played with the...

 played for Grenoble from the beginning of his career to 1998. He was born in nearby Saint-Martin-d'Hères

Saint-Martin-d'Hères

Saint-Martin-d'Hères is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.It is the largest suburb of the city of Grenoble, and is adjacent to it on the east.-Education:...

.

Former players

 

• Ludek Krayzel
• Martin Masa
  Martin Máša
  Martin Máša is a Czech ice hockey left winger who plays for Bracknell Bees in the English Premier Ice Hockey League. He has previously played for teams in France, England, Czech Republic, and North America.-Trivia:...
  
  

 

• Bastien Bonnefond
• Philippe Bozon
  Philippe Bozon
  Philippe Bozon is a former professional ice hockey player who played for the St. Louis Blues in the National Hockey League between 1992 and 1994. He is the first of only three French-trained players to appear in the NHL, the other two being Cristobal Huet and Stéphane Da Costa...
  
  
• Cristobal Huet
  Cristobal Huet
  Cristobal Huet is a French professional ice hockey goaltender playing for Fribourg-Gottéron of the Swiss National League A, on loan from the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. He developed his goaltending skills in Grenoble with Les Brûleurs de Loups. He has also played with the...
  
  

 

• Calle Bergström

External links

• Team homepage (in French)
• See the book from Pfeiffer Thomas, Le Brûleur de loups, Lyon, Bellier, 2004 who gives the clue of the origin of the Wolf burners.
• See the book from Pfeiffer Thomas, Sur les traces des brûleurs de loups", Paris, L'Harmattan,2009, again available.