Chill out and grab a broom

Have you ever wished the groundhog would see his shadow so you could have six more weeks of winter? The broomball group in Hill City sure does. They love winter and the fellowship that comes with it on the ice.
For around 30 years, a group of varying members has met on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. to play broomball at Ponderosa Park from January until the ice melts in March.
“I would say that I was the first one to bring broomball up here 25 or 30 years ago,” said organizer Jeff Schlukebier. “To me, it just made sense doing it here.”
Schlukebier is originally from Minnesota where he played broomball in high school and college.
When starting, Schlukebier said, “The first five years were pretty sporadic. I’d come down here maybe on a Saturday, and maybe I’d get a handful of people, maybe I’d get a game. Sometimes it was just passing. It wasn’t until maybe the mid-90s that we really started getting organized. We had a pastor at Community Lutheran Church whose wife was from Minnesota. She played broomball, and so she got a lot of people from our church to come down.”
After that broomball at the pond took off with more continuity to the group. In the late 1990s, the broomball group even joined a parade in Hill City. They decorated the warming house with bows and banners and pulled it in the parade to advertise.
“The theme of the parade was gifts. So our theme was the gift of ice,” said Schlukebier. “Instead of throwing out candy, we threw out ice cubes.”
That is why the sticks used today are partially wrapped with red tape. Once upon a time, they were decorated to look like candy canes.
Over the years “It’s slowly evolved. Like, we got nets that people have made for us. Actually, someone at the 1880 Train many years ago built the framework for the nets,” said Schlukebier. “And then we’ve added this fence just because we’re trying to keep the ball in play.”
Broomball itself started in Canada according to Schlukebier.
“The game was originally supposed to be a poor man’s sport. People would use old brooms,” said Schlukebier. “Over the years, the game has progressed to these sticks that kind of look like a pseudo-broom. You can see the shape is from that, but they’re lighter, they’re stronger and they don’t break which is a safety thing.”
The idea was players could wear shoes or boots instead of skates. However, now there are official broomball shoes made with soft rubber that do better on the ice.
Schlukebier said broomball is popular in Minnesota, Wisconsin and East River South Dakota, “but out here in the Black Hills, there’s not a lot of broomball happening here. We’re one of the very few.”
Down at the pond they need a minimum of six people to get a game going, but two teams of four to six players each is ideal.
“It’s a pickup game. That is whoever shows up. And it’s ages from 10 to 70. Whoever’s willing to participate is welcome,” said Schlukebier.
Players are asked to dress appropriately for the cold weather, wear broomball shoes or soft shoes and wear a helmet preferably with a facemask. Helmets are required to protect players from falls on the ice. The nets, sticks and broomballs for the game are provided.
“It plays with much of the same rules as hockey. Instead of a stick, you have a broom. Instead of skates, you wear shoes,” said Schlukebier. “It’s similar to soccer too with the nets, scoring and goaling.”
Each team has one goalie as well as offensive and defensive players. Usually, the goalie is an experienced player since they are targeted more while guarding the net. For the most part, though, everyone starts on an even playing field because of the ice.
“We really don’t make a big deal about the score, but  we do mix things up depending on how the game is going. If one team is scoring a lot more, if it’s dominated by one group, we switch up right away,” said Schlukebier.
The broomball group used to play up to 40 games a year, but now they play closer to 12 to 16 games a year.
“But I bet you all together, we’ve played a thousand games since starting,” said Schlukebier.
One player said, “It’s a great activity in the middle of the winter, and it gets you out moving.”
Another player said, “It makes winter go by way too fast.”
“I think it’s good physical activity. It’s good to get fresh air, exercise, to be outside, to be engaged and it’s a beautiful place. You couldn’t find a more pristine winter wonderland than the pond,” said Schlukebier.
This group is about more than broomball though. It is also about the fellowship.
“I think a big part of broomball is the interaction. People coming weekly just getting together and having fun. There’s a certain amount of sportsmanship like in any game. You have teamwork and working together, and of course camaraderie and there’s some competition. But it is a group of people who come together,” said Schlukebier.
Spectators come down to watch the excitement, help with set up or clean up and socialize around the fire or in the warming house. There is hot cocoa, tea and coffee available, and in recent years the broomball group started having meals together at noon of soup, hot dogs or whatever else people bring. In the past, there were even broomball banquets as another means of fellowship.
One time, a group from Germany stopped by the pond for a game. Another time in 2020, a family from Florida was in the area looking for a house. Even though they had never played before, they jumped on the ice for a game of broomball. They later moved to the area.
Christmas is another special time at the pond.
Schlukebier said, “Every Christmas we’ve had a lot of people here at the pond. There might have been a little broomball and a little hockey, but people come down to go sliding, and there’s a sharing of food. Christmas Day is always busy here. This year we had somebody bring their guitar who played guitar and also their daughter played. And because of today’s technology, most people had a smart device so we sang Christmas carols. And we sang all four to eight verses of the Christmas carols. We sang for two hours straight around the fire. That was really, really good. I enjoyed that tremendously.”
For family members not interested in playing broomball or sitting by the fire, there is a hill for sledding with extra sleds in the warming house. Ice skates are available to borrow as well. And of course, there is often snow for a good old-fashioned snowball fight.
“That’s just one more thing to bring people down to the park,” said Schlukebier.
No matter the weather, the broomball group will be on the ice at Ponderosa Park from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Saturday.
“It’s very rare that we would cancel because of weather because it’s kind of an outdoor Minnesota thing,” said Schlukebier.