The Baltimore Broomball Club’s (BBC) Co-Rec team traveled to the land of 10,000 lakes in September to play in an exciting, emotional, and extraordinary 2009 Rec-A-Palooza. The Schwan Super rink at the National Sports Center in Blain, MN was the setting of this nail biting event mainly featuring teams from the Minnesota area.  The hard work and dedication of all the members of the team, along with the support of fellow league members, helped to make this clash one of the best tournament showings for the BBC in the American birthplace of broomball.

The locker room before the first game against the Gopher Nuts was more overwhelming then the smell of sweaty pads that were still not dry from the league game the night before.  The anticipation of finally being out on the ice after all the practices and nights talking over beer about positioning made the moments before ice time only comparable to the feeling in your stomach when you lean up just enough to look over the edge of the roof of the Empire State Building. 

Then our fearless leader Speedy (J.Williams) stood and reminded us of how far we had already come as a group, how much he believed in us as a group, and how far he believed we could go in this competition.  Then it was time for our cheer.  “What time is it?”, “Game Time!”, “What time is it?”, “Game Time!”, “Let’s GO B-B-C!!!!”  It was time to take the ice; it was time to play!

The first game of the tournament and the first game for the BBC was a tremendous success against the unknown local team.  One of the newest members of the travel team, Adam, came rushing on to the ice to score the first goal of the game with an assist from Angelina with only two minutes on the clock.  The BBC defensive was challenged, but remained solid to keep the ball in the offensive zone allowing the wings and center to continue to attack the goal.  With one line change later Adam crashed the goal to score unassisted, to lead the game 2-0.  The team continued to play tough until the second half when Jamie scored the third goal with help from Kara to ensure a 3-1 win for the BBC. 

Spirits were high leading in to the second game against the Gadabouts, who are the defending national champions in the B division.  The Gadabouts were a strong team that played very well together, however they greatly underestimated the playing ability of the BBC.  As soon as the Gadabouts had their first experience against the solid defense of T.J. , Becky, Beth and Cory and attempted to shoot at the impenetrable net against Paul they learned that this game was not going to be an easy win.  As the first half was winding down Speedy pushed the ball in to the offensive zone and dumped into the corner to Michelle.  Michelle made a quickstep maneuver to avoid a defensive attack and made a quick cross pass to Annie who was able to sweep the ball in to the goal making it 1-0 BBC.  Moments later the Gadabouts answered back scoring to tie it up.  Both teams put on a ravishing brawl throughout the second half causing the game to roll into over time.          

The BBC stayed focused during this pivotal moment.  The Gadabouts tried to grasp a win but could not even move the ball in to their offensive zone during the entire two and half minutes of constant pressure.  The BBC attacked the goal furiously, so much so that the center needed to change lines while still in the attacking zone.  At this same second Annie had possession of the ball in the corner as Speedy came sprinting down to the goal to receive the feverishly passed ball to him right in front of the net.  Speedy swept and swept until he pushed the ball past a defensive man and the scrambling goalie to score the winning goal of the game to close it out 2-1.

The exuberant cheers of pleasure for now being two games in to the tournament and so far being undefeated were mind-bending.  Still on a high from the win the BBC did still expected the next challenge to be a vigorous endeavor.  TC Crush took the life out of the team.  Playing a traditional Minnesota game where the occasional interference, crease violation, or obvious off sides is only really called was the advantage of our opponent.  It’s the type of Broomball that the BBC doses not play on a regular base, forcing us to adjust during regulation time.  We know how intense a game can be played, because we have rivaled other types of these matches in the past.  Yet, on this day it would not be our opportunity for a triumph.  The TC Crush wiped out our chance for a win by ending the game two minutes early in the second half by mercy rule with a score of 0-6.

The team took a tough hit and you could feel the moral tip a little in to a reflective state, because at this moment we thought the tournament was over.  We had thought that we had played our three games and it was time to go home the next day.  As the results from the last games were finished being tallied, the BBC was excited to learn that we would have the chance to play in the semi-final game against a familiar contestant Tanuki Attack. 

The moments leading up to the game were focused on our fellow Men’s team who was fighting a tough battle of their own in a semi-final game.  Still ready to play a third game in the day we had one problem, some of our men would be jumping off one sheet of ice to race over to another.  However, that did not stop our team from coming off the benches hungry for a goal.  Both teams goalies and defense were doing well protecting the goal and the offensive teams frantically scratched at the door for a score.  Upsettingly, the only score of that game came from Tanuki, ending the Rec-A-Palooza tournament for the BBC, 0-1.

Despite the saddening close of the tournament, the Co-Rec team did root long and hard for our Men’s team who ended up being made up of a mix of regular men players and Co-Rec players for their showing in the finals.  Even with dominating a majority of the game and carrying the clock in to over time, the BBC Men lost the game 1-0 with only 4.3 second left on the clock.  It was a tough loss for everyone.

It’s been some time since we have been home now, the pain has come and gone, the burses are slowly fading away, and our minds are still out there on the ice.  No matter how the tournament ended we all brought back an exciting story to tell and great memories of playing card games and just being with our friends.  Each teammate out on the ice played with every ounce of strength and ability in their body, which made this the best tournament showing in our young teams history.  The Minnesota broomball players did not expect the BBC they saw out on the ice.  The team that travelled half way across the country to participate in this event showed that they were well trained, focused, and simply elated to be playing a sport we adore.