If you were to look up the word "broomball" in your dictionary, you would definitely find its definition to include the words ice, orange ball, stick, shoes, fun, competition, athleticism and Bruno, Saskatchewan.
Broomball's roots run deep in Bruno. Only a select few towns in Saskatchewan have bragging rights to this sport at the Juvenile level. Odessa, Debden, Big River, Balgonie, Estevan and, most recently, Maymont, have boys' and girls' teams that take to the ice in the winter months to participate in a sport that is played across Canada.
The Juvenile age group includes youth 20 years of age and under.
The Bruno Jr. Axemen and T-Birds hosted their annual tournament January 22-23.
Three boys' teams: Odessa, Maymont and the hometown Axemen, and four girls' teams: Debden Road Runners, Big River Crusaders, Odessa Flames and the home town Bruno T-Birds, met to be a part of the weekends tournament.
The 13-game tournament included nine round-robin pool games and four medal-round games.
The T-Birds took on the Debden team for their first win of the tournament (4-3) with goals by Lanette Detillieux (assist BreeAnne Basset) , Aleah Thoms (assists Rebecca Renneberg and Chantal Stadnyk and Stephanie Serblowski), and Chantal Tremel (assists by Jessica Weiman and Dawn Dust).
The Big River Crusaders were the next to taste defeat served up by the T-Birds with goals by Jessica Weiman and Aleah Thoms ( assists by Chantal Stadnyk and Stephanie Serblowski) for a 2-0 win.
The Bruno girls took their first loss to Odessa, losing 2-0.
Their 2-1 record allowed the T-Birds to play for the gold medal on Sunday morning against the Debden Road Runners.
The T-birds fought the battle, but came up short with a 2-1 loss. The lone Bruno goal scorer was Lanette Detillieux, assisted by Jessica Weiman. The loss handed the Bruno T-Birds a second place finish.
On the boys' side, the Jr. Axemen met the Maymont team for their first game of the tournament. The Axemen prevailed with a 3-1 win, with goals by Tyrell Hering (assist by Riley Thoms), and two goals by Tyler Dust.
The Jr. Axemen then took on the rival Odessa Bandits. The Axemen competed intensely but came up short to the tune of a 3-0 loss.
The Axemen met the Odessa team again in the gold medal game. The penalty-riddled game ended in a 3-1 loss for the Axemen. Their sole goal was a crushing shot by Joe Basset (assists by Tyler Dust and Kyle Hale). The Axemen took home the second place finish.
The Bruno Juvenile T-Birds include Kelsey Buckle, Chantal Tremel, Chantal Stadnyk, BreeAnne Basset, Jessica Weiman, Jenna Weiman, Morgan Thoms, Aleah Thoms, Andrea Hoffman, Breanna Anderson, Robin Niebrugge, Lannette Detillieux, Rebecca Renneberg, Stephanie Serblowski and Dawn Dust, and coaches Richard Thoms and Alain Tremel.
The Bruno Juvenile Axemen are: Joe Basset, Andrew Dauvin, Riley Thoms, Adam Streitenberger, Drew Thiemann, Jared Weyland, Kyle Hale, Kyle Helgert, Chad Helgert, Nathan Hafner, Brendan Hemm, Tyler Dust, Drake Neufeld, Ward Olchowski, Tyrell Hering, Brandon Serblowski and Riley Thiel, and coaches Danny Olchowski and Jim Basset.
