Three Saskatchewan girls teams and three boys teams were in the hunt for broomball’s biggest prize during the 30th Juvenile National Broomball Championships at Merlis Belsher Place March 29 to April 1.
Hosted by the Aberdeen Attackers on the 8-team girls side and the Odessa Bandits on the 8-team boys division, the competition showcased 150 of the best young Canadian athletes, aged 16-19, in the sport. In addition to the six Saskatchewan teams, Manitoba sent two teams, while Ontario and Quebec each had four squads – equally divided in the boys and girls divisions.
The Saskatchewan girls teams included the Aberdeen Attackers, Debden Roadrunners and Bruno T-Birds. The Saskatchewan boys teams were the Bruno Axemen, Odessa bandits and Debden Speedballs.
The Debden Roadrunners successfully defended their national title, downing the Eastern Thunder from Ontario 3-1 in the championship final on Saturday, April 1.
The Aberdeen Attackers were edged 1-0 by the Twisted Sisters from Ontario in the B-side gold medal game. The Bruno T-Birds won the B-side bronze by virtue of a 3-0 win over Team Manitoba.
The defending champions also won on the boys’ side, as the Blitz from Quebec claimed their second straight Juvenile Boys national title after beating the Junior Moose from Ontario by a score of 1-0 in the championship final. The Bruno Axemen won the B-side gold with a 5-0 win over the Odessa Bandits.
The several hundred spectators who converged on Saskatoon for the four-day tournament got their money’s worth.
Even without skates, the game features fast, clean, hard-hitting, high-energy action.
“It’s similar in some ways to hockey, with three forwards, two defense and a goalie on the ice,” said 17-year-old Aberdeen Attackers forward Devyn Tomolak, a member of the tournament organizing committee. “But the goal nets are bigger – they’re five feet wide by five feet high – and the red line is the offside line. It’s a contact sport and you have to be in good shape to play at the top level.”
There are five juvenile minor broomball teams in the province, where the sport has deep roots that reach all the way back to the early 1900s. The area around Perdue and Asquith was legendary for its epic games on the local sloughs.
The official history of broomball in Canada (www.broomball.ca) makes mention of a match in Asquith on March 16, 1909, when the women’s team beat the men’s team 2-1.
Broomball equipment has come a long way since the days of farmyard gumboots, kitchen brooms and rolled-up tape in the shape of a ball.
“The equipment is definitely updated now,” said Tomolak. “The brooms are like a three-cornered paddle. We wear shin pads, elbow pads, a full helmet with cage for the girls and a half-visor for the boys. The goalie doesn’t have any large pads. She has basically the same equipment except she also wears a chest protector.
There’s not much slipping and sliding.
“We have traction shoes that are like sneakers, but they have a composite soft rubber sole that really grips the ice,” said Tomolak. “You need to be able to have a lot of traction to move quickly and make the plays because there’s a lot going on.”
Unlike a hockey game where the blades slice into the ice, broomball shoes tend to polish the ice surface. One of the big differences between a broomball tournament and a hockey tournament is the quick turnaround time between games. It’s just a matter of minutes between the end of one contest and the start of another. The zamboni makes just a few rare appearances.
Tomolak said because there are only five juvenile minor broomball teams in Saskatchewan, the athletes who make the team have to be committed to the sport and their team.
“On our Aberdeen team, most of the girls are local,” she said. “But we have a couple girls from Odessa, and five girls from Big River. They make the trip to Aberdeen every Sunday to practice. We work hard because the competition, especially from the eastern teams, is very stiff. In Ontario and Quebec, they have broomball academies where the training is very intense.”
But even though the pool of players is smaller in Saskatchewan, the athletes are just as determined.
“We put in a lot of time and effort,” said Tomolak. “Last year Debden won the national juvenile girls championship, and Saskatchewan juvenile boys teams took the A side bronze and the B side bronze. We think we’re going to be competitive, and we’re definitely going to give it our best shot in front of a home crowd.”
The Aberdeen Attackers roster included: goalies Savannah Chicoine and Kathleen Zinovich; defense Briana Harrison, Hayley Wutzke, Kassidy Hryniuk, Kelsee Lafreniere, Michelle Kennedy, Rachel Boyenko; and forwards Adison Hamoline, Brodie Ziegler, Devyn Tomolak, Eloise Gerwing, Erica Kennedy, Franchesca Sort, Sara Olsen, Kenzie Kalinocha, Fallyn Klassen, Nicole Regush, Sabrina Bussiere and Brooke Breker. Coaching staff included: Natasha Vetter, Mike Kalinocha, Joel Hamoline and Candice Regush.
The Attackers won their opening game 1-0 against the Twisted Sisters, an Ontario team, but lost 5-0 to the Debden Roadrunners, 3-0 to the Quebec City Blizzard, and 7-0 to the Ontario Blizzard. Their strong play allowed them to make it to the B-side final.