Not the most gifted of athletes, Doug has used his size to his advantage throughout his career. Doug played his college hockey with the University of Manitoba Battlesheep where he captained the team as a left-winger. Never quite the same after the now infamous accident, he made frequent appearances in summer tryouts with the Red Army over the years but was unable to secure a permanent position with the big club. A “checkered” personal history has kept Doug from really breaking through to elite status. “Injuries” were the official entry keeping him off team rosters but drugs and alcohol were always rumored to be the problem. Teammates say it was something else. “It was the pornography,” says Mike Teillet, a Battlesheep rearguard stalwart…. “Wherever Doug went there would be the pictures of women, men, young boys and animals. He would even pull out his 'collections' at midnight practices, sometimes looking at 4 and 5 at a time. My GOD, what he did at two in the morning in the snow outside of the rink!!! I don’t know how he juggled them all. …how has this guy stayed married?…and why did he never share the stuff with me?”

Once Doug began exploring the darker side of his obsession (animals and root vegetables), he decided to move to Europe with its more liberal laws. Doug toiled in obscurity with several European teams, most recently the HC Thurgau Kreuzlinger Lions of the German Elite Bundesleague from 1997-2003. With the retirements of Glen Armstrong and Steve Schultz opening up some space, his hard work finally paid off and Doug was signed to a full year contract with the RA. Says Doug- “While I was still under mandatory personal supervision I kicked around in the Finnish league some but I think I’ve matured to the point where my personal problems are just that. I won’t ever let these things bother my game again. Comes a time when you just realize what’s important in life…which side of the slice your bread is buttered on….I’m just happy to have the second chance to play again on this side of the pond with guys I respect. I think that I have 15 or 20 good years left and we’ll see what happens after that…I'll take one day, one game at a time ‘til then. For now, I look at guys like Kobe Bryant and they are my role models. If they say they can change, so can I.”

“ I think that great sports quotes can win games so I’m trying to communicate that.”- Doug Broeska, winter 1982