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Israeli hockey's breaking the ice By Ariel Rubinsky Tags: Israel, Hockey The story of ice hockey in Israel is one of survival. In a land of heat waves, there is only one regulation rink, located far away from those who write the headlines, in the northern border town of Metula. Lacking funding and relying only on a great deal of passion, the Israeli hockey league has nevertheless managed to survive for 19 years. But the league is made up of a mere six teams of amateur players, and due to a lack of training facilities, most of them only encounter ice once they actually play in Metula, after training in roller hockey (in roller blades on a cement surface) during the week. Yet a champion emerges each year (Haifa has won during the last three), there is a national all-star league, which competed in the Division II World Championship in Romania last week (and even attained two victories), there is a youth team, and there are classes for children. Why play hockey in a land of blowing desert winds? "Because the game suits the Israeli personality to a tee," maintains Edward Revniaga, coach of the Ma'alot ice hockey team and a member of the Israeli all-star league. "This is the world's fastest team sport, a nimble game, exciting, powerful - you're allowed body contact to the point of shoving. It's perfectly suited to nervous Israelis." The fact that ice hockey is a major, popular sport in cold-weather countries - like the United States, Canada, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries - fails to dissuade most local addicts. Most of them were born in those countries or are the sons of immigrants who came from there. Revniaga claims that climate is no longer relevant, because both Russians and North Americans now learn how to skate on artificial rinks. "The difference," Revniaga says, "is that in countries where hockey is a popular sport, there are dozens of facilities in each city, and we have only one professional rink in Metula and a tiny training facility in Ma'alot." A few ice rinks have recently been established in Israel, including Tel Aviv's "ISkate," but their small size is not suited to hockey. Advertisement Talent, but no rinks Revniaga believes this lack of facilities constitutes a missed opportunity for ice hockey because of the tremendous potential that exists in Israel, in the wake of a major wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union, North America and France. "There are people here who used to play in professional leagues and experienced coaches, too, who know how to groom players from childhood through to adulthood, but there are no rinks," he says, expressing frustration. Revniaga, a 36-year-old resident of Nahariya, was himself born in Latvia, and played in a first-division Latvian league until he immigrated at age 24. He completed an ice hockey coach's course before arriving in Israel, and manages to earn a living from coaching. He gives lessons to children and trains adolescents and adults twice a week in the local rink in Ma'alot. In addition, he also teaches roller hockey throughout the region during the rest of the week. "The dam will burst once rinks are built in the center of the country," Sergei Belo insists. Belo, who owns a company that produces medical and industrial gas systems, is the chairman of the Israel Ice Hockey Federation. "If a rink is built in an accessible area, all roller hockey players will immediately switch to ice. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union and North America will register their children for classes, and some of them will come on their own, too. There is enormous potential," says Belo, who played on a professional team in St. Petersburg and is now a member of the Israeli all-star league. Belo lives in Nes Tziona - located in the center of the country - and therefore mainly skates on roller blades. He stresses that there are already 350 children, adolescents and adults who play ice hockey in Israel, and another 2,000 play roller hockey throughout the country "by default." He believes that the latter "in-liners" represent a score of potential ice hockey players. 15 kg. of equipment In Ma'alot last Monday, the hottest day of spring to date, the youth team glides across the ice as adults suit up next to the rink (which is more difficult than it seems). A short and particularly agile player takes control of the puck. He glides with break-neck speed to the opponent's goal, carrying the puck along in his stick. Two defensemen try to overtake him. The boy executes a surprise stop and pivots in place. The tall defensemen are thwarted, and collapse on the ice, while the boy continues to race on, breezing past another defenseman, before shooting the puck into the goal. This breathtaking move takes a total of three or four seconds. The defensemen felled by the smaller boy's deception rise without a scratch, fully protected by equipment that costs some several thousand shekels. Adult equipment of this type weighs 15-18 kilograms, but according to Belo, "You don't feel the weight. I'm 38 now and I've been playing hockey since I was 8, so I feel more comfortable on skates than I do on foot." "I tried soccer and basketball, but hockey is the most attractive," comments David Goldnitzky, 13, a forward on Ma'alot's youth team. "It's a lot of fun - a combination of speed, quick thinking, body contact, constant movement. There's action somewhere one minute, and a second later, everything moves to another area. It's fascinating." Goldnitzky is a native Israeli - his father played ice hockey in Russia and introduced him to the sport. He practices twice a week in the rink in Ma'alot, and also does fitness training. Ice hockey requires a high level of physical fitness. The game is so fast that professional players often play for one minute and are replaced to rest for two. That requires a large roster of 20 players, although there are only five players and one goalie on the ice. The pace is somewhat slower in Israel and players last 2-3 minutes before being replaced. Ice hockey requires a combination of speed and coordination in addition to strength, and players must build up muscle mass in the gym without compromising their agility or speed. Sacrifice for the team The ideal age to begin playing ice hockey is between ages 6 to 8 for a child who aspires to become an able player. But there are many amateur players who began as adults. Vachtung Tsintsadze, a mathematics and physics teacher in Ma'alot, was born in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, but he did not play hockey until he was 30. He arrived at the Ma'alot rink by accident, when, "It was hot outside and I was looking for a place to cool off," and the team was short a goalie. Since then, he has learned how to skate, and for the last eight years, he has manned the Ma'alot goal while opponents attempt with all their might to shoot in a puck. Isn't it somewhat frightening? "Not somewhat, it's very frightening. I usually close my eyes when they shoot a puck at me. It's usually also the best I can do. But it's not masochism - it's sacrifice for the team." Tsintsadze has passed down his love of hockey to the next generation: his 10-year-old son has been playing for four years. Revniaga, whose son has also been playing for four years, since he was 5, notes with satisfaction that the future generation of children and youth playing hockey are mainly natives of Israel. But, he explains, they were not privy to the same conditions their predecessors enjoyed abroad at their age, which is why they play at a lower level. He is particularly concerned by the fact that the veteran generation still plays a significant role in the all-star league, although many of them are between 35-38 years of age. What is the future of Israeli hockey? Tsintsadze and Revniaga hope that Arkadi Gaydamak or another millionaire will realize the sport's potential and invest in the ice rinks that are vital to its local progress. Belo maintains that Israeli hockey will survive and even develop. "The first hockey championship among Jewish teams, in which teams from Canada, the U.S., France and Israel competed, took place in Metula a year ago, and it was an enormous success," he says. "The all-star league gave an honorable performance at the last World Championship. There are still no rinks and we all suffer from that, but the league exists. We're not giving up." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Undressed to impress Yeshiva student strips in a supermarket to protest sale of chametz during Passover. Ante up Hamas offers truce in return for a Palestinian state along Israel's pre-1967 borders.

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