Known to his teammates and fans as ‘BrollDozer’ or ‘Broller,’ David Broll has announced his retirement from hockey.
In truth, it’s something of a shock with Broll a relative youngster at the age of 29 with many players playing on until their mid-to-late 30’s.
Broll was dealing with what almost every player has to think about eventually.
A life after and outside the sport of hockey.
His career won’t be memorable to most but the Ontario native did receive a taste of the NHL.
That is what every player playing junior hockey dreams of and so few achieve, so he’ll be sure to look back on that with a great deal of fondness.
The left-winger played four years in the OHL split between Erie Otters and the Soo Greyhounds.
Selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs 152th overall in the 2011 NHL Draft, Broll played ten games across two seasons for the Marlies’ in the AHL before officially turning professional in 2013.
It was during his rookie year that Broll received his only taste of the NHL.
In a five-game stint, he teed up Joffrey Lupul for a goal, with an assist his single contribution in the scoring department.
Once traded to Tampa Bay and reassigned to the Syracuse Crunch, Broll would spend the remainder of his North America career in the minors.
From 2014-2018, Broll managed to carve himself a limited AHL role with Syracuse Crunch, St. John’s IceCaps and Laval Rocket.
After struggling to find a job in 2018-19 and spending his limited playing time almost exclusively in the ECHL, Broll opted to head to the UK, signing with Coventry Blaze.
Quickly a fan favourite for the Blaze, Broll racked up 18 points and 94 penalty minutes in thirty-five games.
With the cancellation of the 2020-21 EIHL campaign, the Canadian forward headed back to the ECHL to continue his playing career.
Broll returned to Coventry for this campaign and recorded three assists in five games before announcing his retirement.
It won’t just be his rambunctious playing style that will be missed by fans.
David Broll has always tried to help others during his career.
He was named St. John’s IceCaps Speciality AHL Man of the Year in 2016/17 (for his outstanding contributions to his local community and charitable organizations) and was a very active team representative for the Professional Hockey Players Association.
Coventry named Broll Clubman of the Year for the 2019/20 season with the Blaze and he leaves as a much-loved player across the organisation.
Broll will be continuing to help others in the next phase of his working career.
For several years now, the 29-year-old has been working toward his goal of joining the Fire Department.
In mid-November, 2021, Broll was granted permission by the Coventry Blaze to return to Canada to participate in Oakville Fire Department’s application process.
In explaining the situation Broll said: “To cut a long story short, I had to come home for an evaluation in person. I was then on standby for a while but received an offer. They hire 15-20 people from 900-1,000 applicants. Which leaves me here not being able to come back to Coventry.”
He was told by his Fire Chief to keep things quiet on social media, hence the lack of noise surrounding his absence.
Broll began his new job yesterday, January 4th, on his birthday.
“It’s going to be tough not being able to say goodbye in person, but these are the cards I’ve been dealt.”
“I just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart to everyone in Coventry.”
Coventry Blaze interview with David Broll
UK Hockey Blog 