Impeccable in their previous eight games, Team New Brunswick was finally deprived of gold in the final game of the mixed division on Saturday at the World Broomball Championships which were presented during the last week in Kingston, Ont.
Team New Brunswick, which had taken a 2-0 lead in the opening minutes of the final, saw Team Canada bounce back with four unanswered goals in a 4-2 win.
Team New Brunswick’s two Philippe Robichauds scored the goals for the eventual silver medalists.
For Team Canada, Félix Guerin (2), Michel Brosseau and Pierre-Luc Bourque threaded the needle.
“We had the team to win this tournament,” said goaltender Mélissa Murphy. We were aggressive throughout the tournament, but unfortunately our legs failed us in the final. It is still a Source of pride to represent our little corner of the country.”
Named the tournament’s Most Valuable Athlete, the Pigeon Hill goaltender was also named to the tournament’s All-Star Team. Coach Richard Breau and forward Tyron Breau were also named to the all-star team.
Her teammate France Bourgeois was also disappointed with the final result.
“It hurts, says the athlete from Grande-Digue. And once again we lost against our pet peeve, the Broom-Shak of Bécancour who represented Canada.
“We had beaten them 3-1 from the opening round in the preliminary round, but this time we ran out of legs even though we took a 2-0 lead. We had a good tournament, but it is the last game that counts,” revealed Bourgeois.
“We are still happy with our tournament. We come home with our heads held high,” she added.
Four Team New Brunswick players finished in the tournament’s top 10 in scoring. They are Philippe Robichaud (5-6=11, 3rd), Tyron Breau (7-3-=10), Hubert Blanchard (6-4=10) and Keith Comeau (1-6=7).
Mélissa Murphy posted the best goals-against average of the competition at 0.89, tied with Geneviève Berthiaume of Team Canada.
In the preliminary round, in addition to their 3-1 victory over Team Canada, the New Brunswick representatives triumphed 3-1 over the Minnesota Loonies, 9-0 over the EBA of Switzerland, 2-0 over the Lafleur Custom Work and 7-0 against the Allies, in addition to delivering a 1-1 draw to Daniel Source du Sport.
In the quarter-finals, New Brunswick defeated the Nor’Easters 4-0, then won 3-1 against the Gladiateurs in the semi-finals.
Note that two players from New Brunswick played for the Nor’Easters, namely Jeff Plourde and Mathieu Robichaud.
The Gladiateurs won bronze after defeating Sport’s Daniel Sourcy by a score of 4-0.
In the men’s division, Canada’s Minto Selects won the gold medal by beating Team USA 2-1 in the final. The bronze medal went to Team Canada who defeated Lacombe 4-0.
In the women’s division, Team Canada won the final 2-0 ahead of the Mavericks. The Amigo de Québec secured the bronze by defeating the Rein 2-0.
Finally, in the men’s masters division, the Minnesota Masters made short work of the myadvisor.ca team 4 to 0. The bronze medal went to the Ottawa Nationals who took it won 2-1 against EOQ Legends.
