Whitehorse hosts world-class broomball players for championships

27 teams are taking part in the tournament, including a hybrid squad made up of players from the NWT. We're here playing in the World Broomball Championships at the Takini Arena here in Whitehorse, Yukon. Playing for Team Australia. Joined up with the men's team because the Yellowknife team wasn't able to send a team in so Daryl and Don, they have some connections because they went and played in Australia. All three of us are from Yellowknife and years ago I joined the team. We got invited to go to Australia and play internationals about 16 years ago and this is how we met some of the boys. The players from the Northwest Territories joined forces out of necessity. They don't actually have enough players to field their own team. The diminished roster, one of the lasting impacts of COVID. The hope is that momentum from this championships encourages others to play the sport. It's a great social sport. It's kind of a cheap sport to play also, right? Compared to like buying skates and stuff like that. So it's amazing. The people are awesome. You know what? They're never hard on each other. It's all about fun. Making memories and meeting new people and seeing old friends. Some of them are playing this week with a heavy heart. I'd like to give a huge shout out to the Australian Association for honoring our fallen comrades by putting the number 10 on everybody's jersey. It's a great tribute and we really appreciate it. His brother, Comrade, we lost a couple months ago. He was a big broomball player, traveled the world with me and Don most times. Yeah, here's to Lawrence Pellissey. You're here with us, buddy. The jerseys they're wearing include a special reminder of their former teammate. The World Broomball Championships continue in Whitehorse until Saturday. George Maradis, CBC News, Whitehorse.