Ice Hockey and More / Baker Rink More Than Just a Hockey Heaven

Letter to the Princeton Alumni Weekly (March 8, 2023)

IN RESPONSE TO:  For 100 Years Baker Rink Has Been Hockey Heaven

It was great to read about the role that Baker Rink has played at Princeton over the years (Sports, January issue). I was part of the Noontime Hockey group when I was a student back in the early 2000s. I also played intramural hockey at Baker during my time. One year the team I organized (named “A Bunch of Grad Students”) won the championship, surprising our undergraduate opponents who thought that they would walk over us — we were a team of mostly Canadians. When I went back several years ago for Reunions, I made it a point to take my skates with me so that I could get back on the ice.

The article did, however, forget to mention another notable activity at Baker Rink: broomball. Not sure of its status now, but back in my time it was the most popular intramural sport on campus, with perhaps two dozen teams registered. It was played in sneakers but on the ice, and with a “broom” and a large soft ball. The ice was a great equalizer, as athletic and non-sporty people would find themselves equally handicapped slipping, sliding, and falling on the ice.