Two firsts in broomball
Over this past week, I have played broomball in two different leagues and experienced two things I never have before. The first happened last Sunday evening. On Sunday’s, I play in the Twin Cities Church Broomball League on North Haven’s team. We are normally a fairly decent team. This past week, we were playing a team of former Bethel guys. Ironically, a lot of them are old band guys which made the game a little more fun. That night, the ice was cover in a layer of snow about an inch deep which really slowed the pace of the game. It made the game more like boot hockey than broomball being that there was a lot of kicking of the ball going on. Anyway, about mid-way through the second half, I found myself down on my knees fighting for the ball. This is a pretty normal thing for me to be doing during any given game. Except this time, the guy I was up against hit the ball away and started to run. Unfortunately for me, he ran over my stick and got it caught between his legs and tripped. The whistle blew and I got called on a tripping penalty. This is my first penalty ever and the first of the league for the season. That was my first broomball first of the week.
The second one happened on Wednesday night in the Minneapolis City league. You should know first of all that this league it a lot more intense and way more competitive. Also, the ice is always much better! We started off the first half by going up 2-1. Just as the half was winding up, John Sheehan was on right side fighting to clear the ball out of our zone. As the struggle continued, his opponent tried to hit the ball out and ended up having his stick graze off of John’s and came up and hit John right in the face. He immediately went down to the ice. By the time I got over to where he was, he was trying to sit up and was bleeding out of his mouth. When he moved his hand away from his face, we saw that he had a large gash in the middle of his top lip. Then the whistle blew to end the first half. He ran into the warming hut to try and make the bleeding stop. As the second half was starting, he came back out and said he needed to go to the hospital to get some stitches. He called Marc over to drive him there. As Marc was coming, he said that he also thought that one of his teeth had been broken. This was the worst broomball accident that I have ever seen. Marc came back for some of his things after the game and said that not only would he be needing some stitches, but dental work was also in order. I feel so bad for John. But, knowing him, he’ll be out only as long as the doctors and his wife make him stay out of broomball. I hope he has a speedy recovery.
I’m planning on playing some more broomball tomorrow morning. I hope this crazy week of broomball firsts is all over with and never to return!