Michigan Tech Plays Broomball the Right Way

The school rules make it so anyone with a broom and a hockey helmet can jump onto one of the school’s three rinks and play
Players on ice playing broomball
All photos courtesy of Dylan Appold.

Houghton — “Broomball” doesn’t mean anything to most people. It sounds like a game that some PE teacher created for middle-school gym class. But this is a favorite winter pastime for many Yoopers, especially students at Michigan Tech.

As a student here, I often get asked what I do for fun when I’m not occupied with doing homework or drinking beer. There are plenty of things to do outside in the summer when it’s nice and warm, and just as many when the snow begins to fall. The thing I look forward to most is taking the jersey off the hanger, strapping on a helmet, and hopping in the rink with my broom. 

Players on ice playing broomball

Broomball isn’t exactly a mainstream sport, though it is played professionally. I explain it like this: It’s hockey, but you use a ball, you can’t use skates, and instead of a stick, you use a broom.

Professional broomball players use specially molded sticks and shoes that maximize grip on ice, but at Michigan Tech, this equipment is banned. It’s school tradition to keep the sport accessible to all students here. All you need to play on the ice rinks is a duct-taped broom and a hockey helmet. The Inter-Residence Housing Council Broomball Rulebook outlines how we play it here. The council is also responsible for setting up and maintaining the three rinks on campus every year, along with staffing the games with referees. It’s rather impressive how much effort goes into making sure broomball season runs as smoothly as possible each winter. 

Players on ice playing broomball

As a first-year student, you have a few things to do before you can take to the ice. First, you need to make your broom. As outlined in the rulebook, it must be a corn broom with a wooden handle and have all the metal rings and fibers holding its shape removed. This allows you to mold the shape of the broom using duct tape to make it more suitable for hitting the ball.

My RA, who was on our hall team, took us to the campus workshop to give us some pointers on how to make a broom the right way. Once this was done, we decorated our stick using whatever colorful duct tape we could find at Walmart. One of my friends used leopard print tape, and another used hot pink. I used an American flag pattern and affectionately named my broom “Manifest Destiny.” I’ve had to change its shape a few times, so now it’s “Manifest Destiny III.” Some people go all out in the decoration, but most cover it in regular duct or hockey tape.

Players on ice playing broomball

Next, you need to find some knee protection. Your mobility during broomball is severely limited by not having skates, and it’s often effective to slide around the ice on your knees. I didn’t have hockey pads, so I went to Harbor Freight and picked up some carpenter knee pads which I still use to this day. 

What makes broomball fun is the challenge of staying on your feet. Walking on ice is already difficult, but add stopping and turning, and you can get quite a comical scene. People often fall right on their backs, like they slipped on a banana peel, which is why we wear helmets. Heavy snowfall also often creates rough patches on the ice. You could be gliding one second and then coming to a complete stop the next. The conditions of the rink can be totally different from one game to the next. 

It’s a meticulous balance of trying to be where you need to be on the ice to help your team, but also making sure you don’t overcommit, because it’s very hard to get moving again if you fall.

Broomball champions posing in snow with trophy

Once you get a team that can figure out how to work together, then you start getting into the real fun. I’ve been playing with the same group of guys since my first year here, and a few of them, including our goalie, are hockey players. We’ve developed a system, and our new team haven’t lost a game yet.

Vintage photo of broomball champions

The coolest part about all this is that my dad, who graduated from Tech in 1987, had more or less the same broomball experience. Playing this niche sport for two months of the school year is something that unites all us here at Tech, even between generations.

Every Husky learns to play broomball the same way it was originally meant to be played: No fancy equipment, no specialized shoes, just your broom and pure determination to stay on your feet.

Dylan Appold is a student studying electrical engineering at Michigan Tech.

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