This small-town Sask. broomball team is hoping to bring home its 4th national championship

Darla Ponace · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 10, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

A colony successful bluish Saskatchewan with a colonisation of 327 has been breeding nationalist broomball champions.

Players connected the Debden Roadrunners, a U20 women's broomball team from Debden, Sask., astir 180 kilometres northbound of Saskatoon, are amped to commencement the run for a 4th consecutive nationalist title successful Valdor, Que., at the extremity of March.

Dean Demers, one of 3 coaches, said the team's occurrence comes not lone from their hard work, dedication and emotion of the sport, but due to the fact that broomball is simply a portion of the civilization successful Debden.

"Everybody who lives present has grown up with broomball," Demers said.

He said the girls are talented athletes.

"They're a cleanable team," Demers said. "We person 18 players, 3 coaches, 21 of america each unneurotic connected the aforesaid strategy each the time."

WATCH | What's successful the h2o successful Debden? 

Peyton Turner, who plays connected the team, said broomball has been passed down from procreation to procreation successful Debden.

"It's conscionable successful your humor here," said Turner.

The athletics came to Debden successful the aboriginal 1970s and took disconnected similar wildfire.

"Back past it was the adults," Demers said. "There utilized to beryllium big teams astir Debden going to different Saskatchewan towns playing broomball, but yet they got kids programs going here."

Close to 50 years later, the municipality has a nationalist champion team. Demers said the archetypal nationalist triumph successful 2022 was amazing, each summation triumph has been great, and a 4th would beryllium the cherry connected top.

"We were conscionable the Saskatchewan squad that had ne'er won before," Demers said of the team's beginnings. "This year, you know, everybody's going to cognize who the Debden Roadrunners are."

'Strong roots' successful Saskatchewan

Chad Schneider grew up successful Odessa, Sask., different assemblage wherever broomball is popular. He started playing erstwhile helium was 15 years old and fell successful emotion with it.

Now, Schneider is the president of the Saskatchewan Broomball Association and Broomball Canada.

"Broomball truly has beauteous beardown roots present successful Saskatchewan," helium said.

He said the crippled was erstwhile referred to arsenic "pond hockey" and has gone through changes implicit the years. It was erstwhile played connected outdoor ponds, oregon dug outs, past yet moved to outdoor rinks, past indoor rinks.

He said radical erstwhile utilized "a maize broom dipped successful wax, and a leather shot a small smaller than a shot ball."

It has agelong been a large athletics successful towns crossed Saskatchewan. Schneider said it gives young radical from tiny communities an accidental to question astir the state and expand their horizons. It's besides much affordable that crystal hockey.

One of the challenges for broomball is competing with accepted hockey for crystal time. He said it is harder successful larger cities wherever hockey is truthful dominant, but successful agrarian areas teams tin much easy get crystal time.

Turner said this year's tourney volition beryllium a spot much challenging, arsenic cardinal players person aged out.

"I deliberation it happens to everybody; it's not conscionable the Roadrunners," she said.

Turner is hopeful the squad volition bring location different title this year, but the emotion of the athletics is what drives her.