Vernon Winter Carnival Broomball will again sweep the city in February.
After a hiatus of a few years, the popular event is back for the 59th annual Carnival with a new sponsor and new location. Once a fixture in the downtown core, the sport is moving to Vernon’s north end.
“Broomball is back and will be hosted by the Village Green Hotel Complex — the parking lot at the hotel is the perfect place to have the tournament,” said Carnival executive director Vicki Proulx.
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Word of broomball’s return brought some giddiness to the once-proud Morning Starz, who were fixtures in the event for three years, reaching the final in their rookie season (only to lose in an overtime, empty-net shootout to the then-Allan-Francis Lawyers), suffering a stunning 1-0 semifinal upset the following year to the KPMG Accountants, then went 2-0 in broomball’s last tournament but not good enough to make the final.
“We’re an older group now, which would mean more Rub A5-35 after the games, probably some messages and/or a hot tub, but we’ve invested in some younger talent,” said reporter Roger Knox, goalie for the first two years before giving way to now District of Coldstream chief administrative officer Trevor Seibel.
“We have Parker Crook and Brieanna Charlebois, both in their 20s, who would certainly bring the team’s average age way down; we have curlers John White and Kim Slattery and, really, broomball is almost like curling on pavement, just some more bumping into people in broomball but you still hold a broom. And we can always give a paper route to a couple of import players to make it legit.
“We had a ton of fun in our glory days and we hope to relive those days in 2019.”
Registration is now open and you can sign up your team for $100 — partial proceeds from registration will go back into the Vernon Winter Carnival Society.
“Plus the winning team will receive prizes and, of course, the glory,” said Proulx.
Feel free to contact Vernon Winter Carnival with any questions. Registration deadline is Jan. 31.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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