Anglet

Anglet Hormadi Élite went down from the Ligue Magnus in 2006 and spent twelve years finding its way back, the last stretch of it settled by a Division 1 title in 2018 that returned the club to the top flight. Along the way it also went through a spell in Spain, in the Superliga Española de Hockey Hielo, finishing runner-up there in the 2007–08 season before coming home.

The club, founded in 1969, carries a name that says as much about its identity as any badge: Hormadi, a Basque word for storm, chosen for a team that plays in green, white and red. It has stood twice at the door of the biggest prizes without opening it — beaten in the Ligue Magnus final in 2000–01 and in the Coupe de France final in 2003 — and made up for it lower down, with Division 3 and Division 2 titles in 2009 and 2010 that built the road back up.

Brian Propp came through that road too, in a way few small French clubs can claim: the Canadian winger, with an NHL career behind him, arrived during the 1994–95 lockout and stayed on to finish his playing days in Anglet. More recently the club has leaned on players it raised itself, among them Nicolas Arrossaména, who joined the first team in 2018.

Games against the Boxers de Bordeaux carry their own name, the Derby du Sud-Ouest. Anglet still plays out of the Patinoire de la Barre, a rink that holds 1,200 and keeps the club rooted in the same corner of the Basque coast it started in.