Members of the Russell Orange Crush team took first place in the U16 division. Courtesy Photo

FINCH – There was plenty of activity at the Finch Arena this past weekend as Finch Youth Broomball (FYB) hosted its 29th annual tournament on Jan. 9, 10 and 11. Four divisions took part – U7, U9, U12 and U16 – with the U7 and U9 teams playing exhibition games, while medals were awarded in the U12 and U16 divisions.

There were 24 co-ed teams from Finch, Russell, Vankleek Hill and Ottawa Valley East attending the event. Organizer Christina Durant mentioned the number of participants in the tournament has grown from 319 in 2024 to 372 in this year.

Durant mentioned there was a lot of activity throughout the weekend with family members of all ages watching the games and supporting the teams. At noon on Sat., Jan. 10, broomball fans were able to watch an exhibition game between two local co-ed adult teams, the Hillbillies and Lafleur.

Eastern Thunder, the local juvenile girl’s team, served up a delicious breakfast and bake sale between 8:00 a.m. and noon on tournament Saturday. A spaghetti dinner was hosted that evening by a local boy’s team, Eastern Warriors. These two events were in support of the two teams jointly hosting the 2026 U20 Canadian Broomball Nationals tournament scheduled for March 24 to March 28 of this year at Carleton University.

A former FYB player and now official photographer Shannon Seay was on hand to take photos of the winning team and one of the coaches who runs her own business, XTG Sports Apparel and Custom Gifts, did custom clothing during the weekend.

There are many people who contribute to the success of events such as the weekend tournament. Durant expressed her appreciation to “members of the Finch Youth Broomball Committee who organized the door, helped with registrations, and were available for whatever needed to be done on the fly. All the players, coaches, parents, and spectators for coming out and supporting youth broomball.”

Eastern Warrior and Eastern Thunder, noting that not only ran the fundraising meals, but helped “to keep the hall open all day Saturday and both teams did all the time keeping.” Margaret MacGregor, who will be taking over the tournament for the 2027 event, was thanked for her assistance in organizing the successful tournament this year.

Standings in the U12 division saw Finch White Frost take first place, with Finch Black Shadows in second place and Russell Black Ninjas in third. In the U16 division first, second and third place teams were the Russell Orange Crush, Russell Green Gators and Russell Blue Blaze respectively.