Editor's note: The Yk Ravens are the second-seeded team in the competition and also won gold at the World Broomball Championships in 2014. Here's a look back at how they did it thanks with some help from their friends from around the country.
The year was 2014. The NWT Rebels and Yk Ravens both made the trip to Tomakomai, Japan for the World Broomball Championships.
The Rebels would go on to win the women's crown that year and make history. The Ravens, though, would not be denied their place in the record book as well.
Even more impressive, perhaps, was they did it as perfectly as a championship team could.
The Ravens swept the board on their way to winning it all: eight wins out of eight games and giving up just two goals overall while scoring 49.
NNSL Medial spoke with Curtis Debogorski, the Ravens' captain, following the win (“Broomball history made”, Yellowknifer, Nov. 12, 2014) and he said the win as a fairy tale story, reflecting on the fact that in the weeks prior to the event, they weren't sure if they would be able to send a team.
"Six weeks ago (in 2014), it didn't look like we would be able to send a team due to player availability,” he said. “I can't say enough about Lynn Fowler's support from the back end to spear head it and have everything come together so quickly.”
defender in the men's gold medal game at the 2014 World Broomball Championships in Japan. The Ravens would go on to win the game and the title.
photo courtesy of Curtis Debogorski
Fowler stepped up to put together fundraising events to help pay the team's travel expenses, according to Debogorski. Fowler wasn't able to travel to Japan to support the team.
"Lynn not being able to make it was disappointing but I know he was pulling for us," Debogorski said.
The Ravens began the round-robin in the Blue division against Team Furious from the U.S. and won by a score of 3-0. Next up was the Calgary Cowboys, which ended in a 6-2 win for the good guys. It would be the only game where the Ravens would allow anyone to find the back of the net.
They would then take down the Japan Nationals and the Italian national team by identical 6-0 scores and would wrap up the opening round with a 13-0 drubbing of the Australia Dingoes Green unit.
In the quarter-final, the Ravens met Legame Japan and beat them, 7-0, and followed that up with a 5-0 win over the Australia Dingoes Gold squad. The final would be a rematch with the Cowboys and it was another three-goal win for the Ravens, this time a 3-0 triumph to hoist the title and ensure a NWT sweep of the gold medals.
Even though they shut out the Cowboys, it wasn't the easiest of wins, said Debogorski.
"The final game was very challenging,” he said. “They played a disciplined and defensive game against us that took us a while to break down."
The Ravens are taking on the 2016 Yellowknife Coyotes, bronze medalists from that year's World Broomball Championships, in the next round of the competition starting tomorrow.