Broomball
Among the first team sports to be played in Springhill, was a game that required only an old broom that was cut off on the straw end, and an old soccer ball. Having brand-new out-door straw brooms wrecked, often made a lot of mothers pretty unhappy. Broomball was the most popular winter sport at its time. No matter what the temperature was, minus 40 or not, broomball was still played and enjoyed.
Broomball was played on a packed out field in the playground behind the old school, since moved to Fairway Colony. “We always played broomball after lunch from 12 to 1 p.m., almost everyday!” Paul Hofer remembers. “I often went to the shop and took the Bobcat to clear the snow instead of going to dinner. We sometimes had the walls up to 8 – 10 feet high!” Almost all the males came to play broomball, from ages 10 to until they got married. It didn’t really matter how cold it was. Broomball was much anticipated; the people who played were very interested in playing the game.
“It was fun… it got pretty rough, there were sometimes stick fights! Joe was the goalie, and sometimes when you went into his crease you got to be a bit of a hassle.” states David Wollmann while being interviewed about Broomball. Body checking was also to some extent being tolerated.
The biggest change in broomball occurred when the new generation of broomball sticks was discovered. It proved to be the biggest step in Springhill broomball history. “I remember when David came along with a new, factory made broomball stick. Everybody was in awe because a new stick was about 12 dollars. That was a lot of money back then!” says Paul Hofer. So from then on, they all slowly upgraded to the newer version of broomball sticks, relieving a lot of the moms.
Slowly, as the years passed, the desire for broomball faded. Some say that it just got out of style because there was a stretch of years where there were no “buem”. Others say that the age of retirement declined remarkably fast till there were no players left. But most people think broomball died off because the desire for hockey had increased.
Broomball was played until the 2002-03, but was not played with interest like it was being played in the old days. There were no more games being played during noon-hour. No more buem played. Broomball was only played by student during recess. But as more years passed, recess broomball also faded away. There is only speculation why broomball was stopped.
Throughout broomball’s history, it has made a lot of mothers miserable, but kept a lot of kids and men pretty happy. It was probably the most appreciated sport ever played in Springhill, before hockey. People actually loved to play the sport, old and young, big and small. 40 below or not, a foot snow or not, people still played the sport.
Kelsey Wollmann
