Page 12 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 34

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Eric MacDonald Gears Up for Cornwall’s Mixed

Broomball League’s Second Season

By Molly Kett a league. It’s a mixed league, I figured that if I do

a mixed league because there are a lot of women
ric MacDonald, leader of the CRBA
and girls and everything involved in broomball, I
E(Cornwall Regional Broomball Association),

figured there would be more people attracted to it,
is extremely passionate about the sport and has
which was true.”
been playing since he was 18 years old. He
has medalled in both the Ontario regional and For those who don’t know how to play, broomball
provincial championships. He has also been to is closely related to hockey, but instead of a stick
four world championships since 2008 with the there’s an offi cial broom and instead of the puck
masters’ division, winning 3 bronze medals and there’s a designated broomball. Instead of skates,
one silver in 2012. He will also be participating they have shoes that allow players to run on the
in the 2016 world championship in Saskatchewan, ice. Aside from larger nets and the rule that states
Canada. there’s only one off side which is center line, the
game is identical to hockey.
Just last year, MacDonald received The Cornwall
Sportsman of the Year Award and in October of the MacDonald is now ready to start of the second
same year was inducted into the South Stormont season of his mixed league and hopes that with
Sports Hall of Fame as an Athlete and Builder for time, the league will continue to grow. “Well,
Broomball. He’s also won several personal awards what I’m hoping is to get more organizers, more
over the years including MVP, Top Scorer, and people interested to help the team, and increase
Sportsmanship awards along with dedication and the amount of teams that we have in the league,”
selections to all-star teams. says MacDonald. “That way the more people we
have involved the bigger and the more teams we’re
With all this passion for the sport, it’s no wonder
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MacDonald hopes to see his mixed broomball going to be able to have and that’s what’s going to

league flourish in Cornwall. “I started actually help us grow.”
about four years ago, I managed to get some ice Eventually, MacDonald hopes to see a separate
Greater Cornwall & Areas Community Sports Newspaper
in Cornwall at the Benson Centre and I started off men’s league, women’s league, and junior league.
with just one night a week and we had pick ups, MacDonald also encourages all students, who may
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players interested, and so on and that went on for not get extracurricular at school this year to come
three years,” says MacDonald. “Last year I formed play in the broomball league and try out the sport. Eric MacDonald loves the sport of broomball.
Submitted photo
Greater Cornwall & Areas Community Sports Newspaper

Sports Energy presents Sports Panel

Greater Cornwall & Areas Community Sports Newspaper
What is your opinion of Brady vs The NFL?

Sports Energy
Jim Riddell - Seaway Karate Club - Tom Brady vs. the NFL. Tom Brady is just the latest in a long list of athletes accused of tampering
with equipment in order to gain an advantage. Baseball pitchers Gaylord Perry and Joe Niekro, for years were suspected of doctoring
the ball. Basketball coach Phil Jackson has been quoted that on his Knick’s team in the 70’s, several players would carry a needle,
Greater Cornwall & Areas Community Sports Newspaper

deflating the ball to their liking. Legendary boxing trainer and master tactician Angelo Dundee was the prime suspect in the loosening
of the top ring rope allowing Muhammad Ali to “rope-a-dope” George Foreman. This situation is not so much about Tom Brady’s
knowledge of deflated footballs or his lack of co-operation, as it is the power struggle between the NFL owners and the NFLPA.

Gilles Gaudet - Sports Enthusiast -For the past 8 months we’ve been listening to the diatribes of Brady and Goodell, and in the end
most of us think that it’s much ado about nothing. Brady wants to prevent any tarnishing of his reputation as the greatest quarterback
since Joe Montana. He’s not willing to take his medicine for the indiscretions that occurred during the AFC championship game last
January. Goodell’s reputation is already tarnished beyond repair, so this is just another incident in a litany of poor decision-making on
his part. His only saving grace is that he’s been at the helm of the NFL, when they’re making record revenues of 10 billion dollars a
year. As these two sides continue to posture, it’s no longer about deflation of ‘foot’balls, it’s about whose are bigger.

Jake Lapierre - Conditioning Coach - The Tom Brady vs. the NFL saga dubbed “Deflategate” is, in my opinion, absolutely
ludicrous. How America has enabled itself to be sucked into such dramatics, if not complete hysteria, over such a non-issue is beyond
comprehension. If the air pressure in a football was such a critical issue in the NFL, ball preparation would be closely scrutinized by

the league - but it’s not. The last person to touch Brady’s footballs before they’re snapped is the official. If football pressure was an
issue, officials would be trained to recognise soft footballs. It’s not an issue; in fact in 2006, the league started allowing teams to bring

their own footballs to games. The NFL allows quarterbacks to break-in these balls as they see fit, for comfort, and ease of throwing & catching. With
football being so much about strategy, the more comfortable the ball is for a quarterback and his receivers, the more entertaining the game becomes. Has

a rule been broken? - perhaps a trivial equipment rule. Does it deserve a four game suspension? Absolutely not; maybe a five yard penalty, but leave
the officials decide.