New and improved rink locations, new and improved webcams, and new and improved coverage in the Lode hopefully made this broomball season one to remember. The Broomball Committee deserves its props for running an efficient season with very few bumps along the way.  We encourage you to share some of your favorite memories from this past broomball season via a comment below.

Before officially signing off for the year, there are several features we want to provide. Here is the final playoff bracket. To go along with that, you can see just how poorly our staff did at predicting the playoff bracket. So that we would not feel so bad, or because we love our readers so much and like giving out free things, we sponsored the first-ever broomball bracket challenge. The top ten winners, who have all been notified via e-mail, are listed below (the list of prizes is in the broomball bracket challenge link above):
1. Anthony Rossetto (67 points)
2. Joe McSweeney (64)
3. James Juip (61)
4. Matt Goldsworthy (60 – won tiebreaker)
5. Taylor Pashak (60)
6. Scott Yager (59 – won tiebreaker)
7. Evan Schweda (59 – won second tiebreaker)
8. Alex Cotton (59)
9. Andy VerSteeg (58 – won tiebreaker)
10. Roy Manninen (58 – won second tiebreaker)

Finally, for myself, Stephen Anderson, and the Lode’s two outstanding broomball writers, Matt McGuire and Mike Metzger, I would like to thank our readers for the great interaction with our content throughout the season, particularly the playoffs. Broomball is more casual than Michigan Tech’s varsity sports, so we’ve tried to have fun with it via power rankings (links to all of them below), bracket picks (link above), etc. We will do everything in our power to provide even more extensive, in-depth, multimedia coverage next broomball season. We encourage you to continue checking back to the Lode for other campus news, sports, opinion and features. Any feedback at all is greatly appreciated. While you’re at it, please become a fan of us on Facebook. Thanks again for making this an outstanding broomball season for all.

Power Rankings links:

Power Rankings No. 1

Power Rankings No. 2

Power Rankings No. 3

Power Rankings No. 4

Power Rankings No. 5

Power Rankings No. 6

With the drop of the ball to signify the start of this game, both teams came out very physically while also showing impressive offenses.  In the first half of action the shots favored Pirate Sheep; however, Ridikulus was able to fire some impressive shots as well.   Perhaps the difference maker though was the quality of shot that was fired.  Tyler Reno has become known as a broomball legend that of course has an amazing shot.  He would score first in this contest early in the half to give the Pirate Sheep a lead of 1-0.  Moments later it was his teammate Drew Madek who nailed a shot to give The Pirate Sheep a 2-0 lead.  Madek was not done scoring however as he would net one more goal before halftime giving his team a comfortable 3-0 lead during the intermission.

The second half of action was a back-and-forth battle with both teams taking shots left and right.  However, no one would score in this half making the final score 3-0, as The Pirate Sheep earn the 2010 Broomball Championship!  In this half Ridikulus would finish 0-for-2 on the powerplay and The Pirate Sheep would finish 0-for-1.

After tonight’s contest, Mike Engesath said that he felt alright about his team’s performance tonight. He said that he felt as if his team gave The Pirate Sheep a run for their money in this championship game.  He was not disappointed as his team finished second of 220 teams.  When asked who he thought his MVP of the year was he gave me no hesitation in his answer.  He gave the honor of MVP to Andrew Heikkinen.

These past few years have seen dominance by a certain group of people.  Whether they call themselves The Pirate Sheep or not, this team has certainly proved themselves worthy of being called a dynasty in Michigan Tech Broomball.  Tonight’s game marks the 45^th consecutive game won by this team of players. You can see the names of all the players who contributed to this at the bottom of this article.   However, there are two players in particular that I feel worthy of a special title in a league of their own.  Tyler Reno and Drew Madek have been playing as teammates for many years now and perhaps are the best duo to ever play the game here at Michigan Tech.  Tyler wraps up an amazing career with 521 goals and 261 assists, while Drew wraps up his stellar career with 336 goals and 245 assists.  With these numbers, it is no question that I feel the duo of the decade goes to Drew Madek and Tyler Reno.  Both players stated that they would like to not only thank each other, but the rest of their teams for their successes.

Full photo gallery from the championship game below

The Pirate Sheep (2010)

Benjamin Hutton

Daniel Michalski

Daniel Pierson

Drew Madek*

Jacob Gefroh

James Hueter

Jon Sanders

Joseph McSweeney* *

Tyler Reno

TEAM SEASON RECORD: 15-0

The Abnormal Force (2009)

Andrew Kaiser **

Drew Madek *

Dustin Sommer

Gregory Ross

James Hueter

Jon Sanders

Kyle Adams

Tyler Reno

TEAM SEASON RECORD: 15-0

The Pirate Sheep (2008)

Andrew Kaiser **

David Tefft

Drew Madek *

Dustin Sommer

Gregory Ross

Michael Matuszak

Nathan Thompson

Shawn Chrostowski

Tyler Reno

TEAM RECORD: 15-0

*= Team Captain

**= Goaltender

In the first half of action Caliente would come out dominating on offense.  They led the period with 14 shots on goal compared to the four of JAX.  With so many shots on goal, it would only make sense that Caliente would convert on some of these shots.  Converting first for Caliente was Jared Recker early in the period.  A few moments later it was Recker again with a goal giving his team a 2-0 lead.  Recker was not the only one who would score this half for Caliente as Tyler Losinski notched a goal before halftime giving Caliente a 3-0 lead.  Caliente finished this half 0-for-1 on the powerplay as JAX would successfully kill the charging penalty that was called.

In the second half of action Caliente again was red hot on offense.  With another half with over ten shots on goal, Caliente would convert on two of these opportunities.  The final score of this game would be 5-0 with Caliente pulling off the victory and earning themselves a third-place finish in all of broomball.  JAX finishes fourth overall this season.

Both captains of this game noted that it was great to be a part of this championship weekend.   James Juip captain of JAX said that it was “something special to be among the top four teams.” Jared Recker captain of Caliente said that he was impressed with the play of his seniors this year; they include himself, Tim Cook, Brett Anderson and Andrew Bomstad.  When asked the all important question of who he thought was his team’s MVP of the season, Recker gave the honor to Tyler Losinski stating that he played phenomenally for only being a sophomore.

Will the Pirate Sheep win it all, as several of their players did for last year’s Abnormal Force, or will Ridikilus be the only team able to take down the broomball legends?

What is your prediction for tonight’s game? Here are our “expert” picks, which are clearly to be taken entirely seriously after the outstanding success in predicting the playoff brackets:

Stephen Anderson: The Pirate Sheep 6-3

Mike Metzger: The Pirate Sheep 5-2

Mat McGuire: The Pirate Sheep 6-4

Don’t forget to check out the consolation game between JAX and Caliente at 9 p.m. on the Black Rink.

Check back later tonight for a full recap of both games!

Well, they were able to shake off the close games and were able to pull off a very decisive win over a very hot JAX team. For a team that was used to scoring goals most of the season, they found a way to get back to that habit in this game by lighting the lamp so to speak nine times before the game was over. JAX’s defense, which had shutdown teams such as Goon Patroon, Big Red Machine and a very hot Excello I team, seemed out of sync in this game. A factor might have been having to shut-down an extremely high powered Baby Sheep team just an hour before hand. Whatever the reason they were not able to get it done today, which led to the overwhelming victory.

Scoring the goals for Ridikilus were Andy Lacombe with four, Darrin Evans with two and Max Pace, Mike Engeseth and Ryan Kolbus all with one. Scoring the lone goal for JAX was James Juip. Ridikilus with the win was the overall on campus champion and will go on to play in the overall championship tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. on the black rink.

The first half of action started off as an all-out offensive battle as both teams would have over 15 shots on goal.  It was Pirate Sheep, however, that would strike first taking an early 1-0 lead.  Caliente answered back with a goal of their own to bring the score to one all.  Caliente would snipe one in for their second goal of the game taking a lead of 2-1.  However, after finishing up playing his other game, Jim Hueter would join The Pirate Sheep midway through this period.  His presence would drastically change the momentum of this game as he gave his team the extra boost they needed.  The Pirate Sheep would go on to score four answered goals to take a halftime lead of 5-2.

The second half began as the first ended with The Pirate Sheep coming out proving that they truly are the team to beat.  The Pirate Sheep would add four goals this half, and the final score would be 9-2 with The Pirate Sheep advancing to the finals.

After the game Drew Madek, captain of The Pirate Sheep said that he was feeling “tired” and said that all he wanted to do was head back and take a bath.  However in regards to tomorrow’s championship game he said that he and his team are ready for the game.

This game’s MVP was a pretty obvious choice for me to make.  Scoring six goals for his team and adding an assist, Jim “Hot Undies” Hueter played on a whole different level earning him this game’s MVP.

The Brick House ladies put up a great fight against a high-powered Caliente offense. Goaltender Kelsy Ryskamp saved some spectacular shots that Caliente threw at her. But it was just too much for them to take in the end with Caliente cruising past Brick House by a score of 13-0 and putting them comfortably in the off-campus final.

Caliente would have to play the mighty Pirate Sheep later in the night so they might have thought about saving some for that tough challenge. They did seem in high spirits after the game joking that they just hoped to keep it close against the power house. Scoring goals for Caliente were Tyler Losinski with five, Jonathan Salzman with three, Jason Julien with two, Brett Anderson with one and Jared Recker with one.

In the first half of action both teams played an extremely physical game.   So physical, that the ball could not even handle it as it broke early in the first half.  With a new game ball both teams went back to work and still this was an extremely rough contest.  However, roughness will not necessarily win you games and JAX realized this first.  JAX would start the game quickly with a goal and would lead 1-0.   Later on midway through the period JAX would score again and take a 2-0 lead.  However, Baby Sheep were not going to just lie down on this game, as they would answer this time with a goal of their own.  The score at halftime was 2-1 with JAX out in front.

The second half went underway and JAX again would score quickly in the half.  Down by two goals Baby Sheep needed to score, and that’s exactly what they did.  After the Baby Sheep goal the score was 3-2 in favor of JAX.  A few minutes later though, JAX would regain control of the game with a goal to take a 4-2 lead.  One more goal would be scored as JAX went on to win the game by a score of 5-2.

Scoring goals for Baby Sheep were Tyler Reno and Derek Probstfield.  For JAX, James Juip would score two, Nate Eyster would notch two and Ben Zondlak would add one.  JAX now advances to take on Ridikulus in the On Campus Championship Game.

The game was back and forth the whole time with neither team taking a clear advantage or lead over the other. For the second night in a row though, Ridikilus would find the goal they would need just minutes into the overtime period, and it came off of the stick of Andrew Lacombe who completed a hat trick with that game-winning goal. Despite another outstanding showing by Victorious Secret’s goaltender, who had played an absolutely outstanding series of playoff games, Ridikilus again showed why they have been the team to beat all year in on campus thus sending them to the on campus final later that night.

Scoring the other two goals for Ridikilus were Kevin Jozefczak and Ryan Kolbus with one each. Scoring the goals for Victorious Secret were Logan Mahowald with two and Dustin Vreeland and Matt Goldsworthy with one each.

1. The Pirate Sheep (Off Campus 2): 12-0

Six of the eight Wednesday games were decided by two goals or less, but The Pirate Sheep won their game by six goals. The score at halftime was 5-0, and not to say they necessarily took their foot off the accelerator, but the Baby Sheep played immediately after, and Reno and Madek had no need to go full bore in the second half against IrishCat.

2. Ridikilus (McNair 1): 12-0

They faced a scare against Brute Force and Ignorance, trailing 3-0 at the half. They showed why they have been in the top two teams all year long, scoring four unanswered goals to advance to the next round. They face a Victorious Secret team that scored three goals on MooCrew, so the task certainly does not get any easier, but my gut feeling is that they’ll pull it off.

3. Caliente (Off Campus 2): 11-1

Coming from No. 9 in the standings yesterday, their victory over the previous No. 3 in the power rankings (MooCrew) proved that this team is for real. They should face an easy victory tonight against Women’s League Champion Brick House, but the road will get a lot tougher from there, as they will more than likely face The Pirate Sheep.

4. JAX (West Wads 3): 11-1

The Baby Sheep will be a tough opponent tonight, but having started the playoffs with two 9-0 victories, and defeating an on-fire Excello I, the second-highest scoring broomball team should advance to the next round. They face an uphill battle at the championship, though, possibly having to go through Ridikilus and The Pirate Sheep in consecutive games.

5. Baby Sheep (East Wads 2): 10-2

It’s really hard to know what to make of this team in terms of their chance at a championship. Sure, they have Tyler Reno and Drew Madek, not to mention Derek Probstfeld, but a 2-1 OT victory last night more than proved their vulnerabilities. On paper, they are the underdog against JAX, but we all know that anything can happen come playoff time.

6. Victorious Secret (DHH 1): 10-2

These guys have performed admirably, and probably do not deserve to be ranked this low after knocking off O RLY? and Misnomer, two previously undefeated teams, in consecutive nights. However, I think last night’s 7OT game probably took just about everything out of these guys, and they have to face Ridikilus, who had ranked at No. 1 on the power rankings for the majority of the season. Maybe they do indeed carry some kind of victorious secret, but I just don’t think they have enough left to win the championship, or even tonight.

7. Black Ice (Off Campus 5): 11-1

These guys have felt gypped so far in the power rankings, and they seem supremely confident heading into tonight’s match-up against The Pirate Sheep, but their opponent tonight is the lone reason they are ranked this low. They have strung together impressive victories over The IceBreakers, Arctic Warriors and Cotton’s Candy, but now they run into the broomball juggernaut. If they win tonight, they should be the odds-on favorite to win the championship. That’s a big if.

8. Brick House (Women’s 1): 10-2

These ladies deserve some love. They’ve dominated the broomball women’s playoff bracket so far, winning their fourth consecutive women’s championship, but it’s been a long time since the women’s championship has even posed a strong threat to the best of the Off-Campus and Residence Hall teams. They lost 24-0 to last year’s eventual overall champion. It’s been a great run, but I don’t think anyone expects it to continue beyond tonight’s match-up against Caliente.

Power Rankings No. 1

Power Rankings No. 2

Power Rankings No. 3

Power Rankings No. 4

Power Rankings No. 5