Broomball - For the First & Last Time

Broomball

(For the First and Last Time)

Branelle and I went skiing in Winter Park in February this year.  Her brother and both sisters joined us but we were there a couple days before everyone else so we just skied and played around.  After a full day on the slopes we were hanging around in the base area having dinner and noticed that there was a broomball game on the activities schedule that evening.  I thought "Awesome!  I love new sports."

I married a northern chick (how weird is that?) and I've seen people playing broomball on visits to Minnesota but never thought I'd get the chance to try it out.  

I'm the dude in the green jacket in all these pics.

It was basically like a pickup game.  Instead of brooms they had sticks with plastic broom-like things on the end.  The color of your stick (red or blue) indicated what team you were on.

It turned out to be really fun.  I was having a blast and getting the hang of it quickly.  If I had grown up in the frozen tundra I'm sure I would have played hockey but this is as close as I am going to get.

MY FIRST GOAL!

My first goal!  The guy in blue drew the goalie out and put the ball across the crease.  All I had to do was hit an open net.

Celebrating my first goal with a dive into a snow bank....and quickly discovering that it was just pure ice.

In spite of the fact that the red team had all of the resort employees, we were just destroying them.  We decided to mix up the teams and it became a lot more interesting.

My size doesn't always work to my advantage - like when my wife makes me go jogging with her - but on the ice it really comes in handy.  I've just taken out three people by just standing there as they bounce off of me.  (Yes, it's two high school kids and a girl in a skirt, but still - what a monster!)

I was having a blast until the rather innocuous looking fall pictured above.  There was one spot on the ice that was really slick and had been getting people all game.  It finally got me.  I guess I came down on my knee pretty good and when I got up it just didn't feel right.  

MY LAST GOAL!

In true "Scott plays to win" (even when nobody else cares or is keeping score) fashion, I played on for a bit longer but in considerable and growing pain.  I scored this one last goal and just flung my "broom" into the snow and walked off.  (Everybody else kept playing but I'm calling this a walk-off).  My knee was so jacked up that I wasn't able to ski again the entire trip.  Broomball - dammit!