Brooms used for more than just sweeping in broomball
Don’t show up at the Eccles Ice Center, broom in hand, ready to play broomball. The game has nothing to do with the haggard, dust-covered tangle at the end of a stick that most college students would call a broom.
In fact, the brooms used for broomball would create some very interesting challenges for anyone intent on using them to do their spring cleaning.
“You’re going to have a hard time sweeping up with one of those things,” Todd White, a broomball competitor, said.
This broom resembles the standard broom about as much as broomball resembles actual janitorial work – the bristles of a normal broom are replaced by angular, odd-shaped, hard rubber ends, and there’s no sweeping or toilet cleaning involved in the game play.
Broomball is actually quite close to hockey, except without skates, checking or fighting. According to the rules, broomball is a “no contact sport.” A player can even get a penalty for sliding into another player, which is pretty hard to avoid when the players are running around on a sheet of ice with tennis shoes for traction.
Broomball has been around since the early 1900s. It started in Canada – with actual brooms – and spread into America, where it has gained popularity in areas where hockey is also big, said Brandon Taylor, sales and promotion associate at the Eccles.
A mix of teens, college students and some smaller kids, clad in helmets, elbow and shin pads, have been playing the sport at the Eccles for three weeks now.
The ice center has used the last three weeks to pique interest about the sport in hopes that some broomball leagues can be started, Taylor said.
And it may be working. The turnout for the last three weeks has been increasing, from 22 the first week to almost 30 last Friday, he said.
But, the last three weeks it was free to play. The price now will be $5.50 per person to play, which includes a stick and a helmet. Extra pads can be rented for a dollar a pair. Taylor said they are waiting to see how many people still come to play before making any further decision about leagues or intramurals.
Although there is some uncertainty about the amount of people that may come play broomball, everyone seems to be certain about how fun the game actually is.
“It’s the best thing that ever happened at the ice center,” Grady Brimley, a junior in speech communication, said.
The enjoyment is evident on the faces of the competitors, who come off the ice with smiling faces after 40 minutes of slipping, sliding and occasionally falling.
Taylor said he thinks broomball is so great because people don’t have to know how to skate to play.
White, who has played two of the three weeks, said it was the equality and inclusive nature of the game that made it so fun.
“Everybody is kind of on the same level, so everyone just has fun,” he said. “Nobody really gets left out. The ball always comes to you. You don’t just have to sit on the sidelines. Everyone is involved.”
Since the game is very laid back, it is easy for newcomers to feel welcome.
Stacey Peterson was one of the newcomers last Friday. She said it was very casual, and she wasn’t intimidated because messing up wasn’t a big deal.
Peterson was the only girl in her game, and she managed to score a goal.
Even though she was able to score, Peterson said broomball isn’t that easy at first. She said she was afraid she was going to fall, but after a while she was confident enough to start playing harder.
Control is a big issue. Taylor said controlling the ball and himself at the same time is the trickiest part of broomball.
After all, the game is played on ice, and “the ice gets really slippery,” White said.
But White isn’t just stating the obvious.
At the first of the game, the ice is chopped up, either from skaters or the Zamboni. Taylor said they have hockey players on the ice right before broomball, which makes the ice choppy and easier to run on. Another option he mentioned was a dry cut with the Zamboni. This is when the Zamboni shaves the top layer of ice off, which makes it dry and grippy, Taylor said.
No matter what method is used before the game, by the end, some of the traction disappears, which makes it harder for players to run and stop.
“The more you play, the slipperier the ice gets. So you almost have to change your whole game by the time the end hits,” White said.
Not everyone thinks the lack of traction is a bad thing.
Scott Beard is used to having control on the ice. Beard is a goalie on USU’s hockey team, a broomball referee and a newcomer to the sport.
“It’s totally different (than hockey) because you don’t have as much control, and that’s what makes it fun,” he said.
Besides being fun, Taylor sees broomball as a challenge.
“Every time you play, even though you’ve been playing and you improve, you always run into a hard spot and learn something new,” he said.
Taylor is also hoping some will find the challenge to be a good dating opportunity as well. He said he thinks broomball would be great for dates because it’s different and fun.
“Come see if your date’s got what it takes,” Taylor said.
Broomball will continue at the Eccles Ice Center throughout the summer. Games are scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. on Fridays, but this may change. For more information on broomball, prices and new game times, visit the Eccles Ice Center Web site at http://www.ecclesice.com.
-dabake@cc.usu.edu