SportsBriefs

Author: David Infante

Broomball is back despite blizzard

This semester Middlebury's most popular intramural sport makes its triumphant return to the frozen pitch outside McCullough Student Center after several lackluster winters. Broomball is back at Midd, and despite the recent snow it looks like the ice will soon be clear for competition again.

Bob Smith, Director of Intramurals, hopes to have the ice devoid of snow and ready for competition as soon as possible, realizing that Mother Nature could make things difficult for the broomball faithful. "You never know how much time we have left with the cold and thawing," he warns.

The ice has been created and maintained by a ground crew from facilities management, who spent several early mornings last month working to freeze the quad outside the student center for the competition. As for the sport, Smith attributes its vast popularity in part to the fact that, "the ice seems to neutralize size, speed and strength so that anyone can compete at the same time."

This year, on top of the luck the crew has had with the weather, teams will get an additional treat. The league is making available "top of the line and official broomball equipment this year," made possible by the donation of a fund in the name of the late Peter Westra '99, a former commissioner and broomball enthusiast. In addition to the teams in the contest, broomball draws spectators due to its central location on campus and its intriguing game play. One can only hope the weather smiles on broomball players for the next few weeks.


Hockey comes up huge on the road

The men's hockey team finished regular season play on a high note this past Saturday with a decisive win over the Amherst Lord Jeffs. With the 6-2 verdict over the Jeffs, the Panthers conclude the regular season on a four-game winning streak.

The Panthers scored goals in every period of play, with Mickey Gilchrist '08 and Brett Shirreffs '07 drawing first blood in the first with a couple of goals in close succession. Though they entered the second period with a 2-0 lead, Middlebury allowed the Jeffs to tie the score at 2-2 until the Panthers' Jack Kinder '09 beat Amherst's goalie, Josh Fillman, for the game-winner with about seven minutes left in the second period. From there, Midd kept pouring it on, with a tally from Samuel Driver '08 at the 16-minute mark in the second and Evgeny Saidachev '07 and John Sullivan '09 contributing goals in the third. Middlebury's Doug Raeder '09 was solid between the pipes, turning aside twenty-three shots for the win.

The Panthers finished the season tied with Bowdoin for first place in the NESCAC, but will enter the Tournament as a second seed against seventh-seeded Williams by virtue of a tiebreaker. Middlebury will host the Ephs squad at 4:00 PM on February 24th in Kenyon Arena.