Let's talk shoes. There is a big misconception that broomball shoes have suction cups on the bottom. Broomball shoe traction is determined by the fingers on the bottom of the shoes. These little fingers grab the ice and give you better traction. The difference between indoor and outdoor shoes is simple. Outdoor shoes have holes on the bottom that are designed to allow obstructions to fall out of the shoe. Obstructions could be snow or ice chips that are left behind after ice skating. Ideally, we would like to play broomball on perfectly smooth ice. More often than not, broomball is played on obstructed ice. I always suggest an outdoor shoe for first time players. An outdoor shoe will work indoors or outdoors. It has fewer little fingers to grab the ice, but the holes on the bottoms will allow obstructions to fall out of the sole so that the fingers can grab the ice. If there are obstructions on the ice, I would continually hit your shoes with your broom to free up the fingers.
In late 2019 Hagan introduced a new sole design. See the bottom pic. The sole does not have fingers. It has a work boot sole with a bottom that is not sealed. D-Gel/Knapper now makes a similar soled shoe. These are game changers on dry ice. Traction improves 15-20%. The advantage is gone if the shoes get wet. In general they are not a good choice if there are obstructions on the ice such as snow or water.
Currently, every shoe that we sell is a good quality shoe with good traction. D-Gels Gripper and Tractor are a little wider fit. The Acacia is a little narrower fit. The Blue Ox shoe is about a 1/4 size big and wider everywhere. Similar to the fit of the old Forest Ice Elite. The new Hagan shoes have a similar fit to traditional D-Gels. The soles of broomball shoes are made from latex. There is a point of diminishing returns. If you make the shoe sole too soft, the fingers will break off faster, but you will have great traction right out of the box. Shoes do break in over time. The latex softens up. There are tricks to softening the soles. Be careful, the softer the sole gets, the more likely you are to lose the fingers that give you traction in the first place.
We all need and want to promote the game of broomball. If you get into this sport and grow to love it like I did, borrow, gift, or sell your shoes to a new player and upgrade your shoes on a regular basis. That way you will always have ultimate traction on the ice. It is a great way to get someone into the game. A lot of people never play the game with broomball shoes. If they do wear shoes, their success increases and usually they will stay with the game and promote it to their friends and family.
