17 replies to this topic

[DuckFanInHaifa]

Although it is in offseason now, our league finished a very exciting season. Well, exciting to me because HC Haifa Hawks, my home team, won the championship over Bat Yam! The league is mostly Canadian and Russian Jews, but there is growing interest in hockey from the non Canadian and Russian Israelis. (Most of them cheer for Colorado or Detroit. I am the only Duck fan that I know of in Haifa. )

A Canadian who i think got some attention playing college for RPI, or so I am told, is Oren Eizenman. He plays now in our league and represents Israel internationaly.

here are the teams that played in the past season.

Bat-Yam
HC Haifa (CHAMPIONS! WOOOOOHOOOO!)
HC Maalot
Metulla
Bat-Yam

[Ducksfreak93]

It is good to see hockey getting recognition in places you never thought of.

[Ducksforcup]

Strange. I see this topic and then I find this article about two players from the Golan Heights about an hour later, while randomly searching about the Heights .

http://english.golan.org.il/ts.exe?tsurl=0.356.10364.0.0

The snow that fell this winter in the northern Golan may have caused us to imagine we are actually a country with a cold climate. Together with other Israelis we slid down the slopes on a saucer or a sheet of nylon. The pros managed to put on a pair of skis at Mt.Hermon and pretend that they were in the Alps. But for Yugav Shamir and Raanan Moskowitz, two youth from Kidmat Zvi, the winter sport of ice hockey is an integral part of their lives. They belong to the hockey team of Canada Center in Metulla and the Israeli Young All Star Hockey Team. They just returned from a pre-world championship tournament in Bosnia. Before that, they attended a training camp in Canada where they learned maneuvers from the best coaches in the world, played in world-class rinks and felt the biting cold of minus 20 degrees. As members of the Israeli Young All Stars they prove that even a hot country like Israel can produce hockey players who are able to compete with the best internationally.

For the rest of the article, click the link. Interesting and awesome. GL to all!

[DuckFanInHaifa]

I hope they do well! It would be amazing and proud to see Israelis go over to North America and do very well. Israel is open for any sport right now, as we are not the best at any at the moment. A few hockey players that do well could create a hockey craze! Or so I hope.

[drew15]

Wow, sometimes I feel so ignorant. This is really cool though! Who would've thought.

[DuckFanInHaifa]

I have found a picture online of HC Haifa on another board I visit after they win the championship.

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[Veca]

Glad to see you have hockey too. Sports sometimes can help bring people together.......or not. Just ask the Kings across town...

Do keep us informed how your team does. We will be looking for you to keep us updated.

[Lupul1990]

I have found article about Israel Hockey at NHL.com .

[DuckFanInHaifa]

I have found article about Israel Hockey at NHL.com .

That is a interesting article! There is actually a lot of kids my age who play roller hockey, and quite a few Arabs and Ethiopians in my league. The problem for us who want to play ice is that its a long trip to a rink, and that ice equipment is fairly expensive. But things are growing, so hopefully that may be solved soon.

However, I do not know of a Mercaz team, yet it seems that they exist. An expansion team I hope!

[DuckFanInHaifa]

I have a picture of our national team in the Spartak Cup, I really like our uniforms.

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[Ducksforcup]

I have a picture of our national team in the Spartak Cup, I really like our uniforms.

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SWEET! I really like the jersies too!

[duckfan78]

Awesome Uniforms!!

[DuckFanInHaifa]

Terrible news, according to someone who works in one of the rinks where the games are played, if the conflict with hezbollah continues into the hockey season, there will be no season. All of the rinks are located in the north. It's quite possible football and basketball may have to halt as well. The person who said this worries that this could be a huge blow to hockey development in Israel.

Another big thing is that if this continues throughout the season, internet connection will be reduced, meaning I can't listen to the Ducks on the radio.

[DuckFanInHaifa]

Remember this player's name-Eli Sherbatov. He's a 13 year old player who played last year for our U18 team and played for them again this year as a 14 year old. The goal he scored, or so I am told, is not hard to do, but he is supposed to be one of our brightest future stars.

Here's the goal against Bulgaria.

[DuckFanInHaifa]

Here are two Israel hockey links I found that may be helpful if youy are curious enough about it.

http://www.israel-hockey.com/ -this is in English, so it should be helpful.

http://my.area.co.il/view.php?siteid=1725 -The site for champion Haifa Hawks! Unfortunately it is in Hebrew and some Russian, so you may have some problem reading it. There are though, two big pictures of the team on the front page, so you can see the new jerseys (on top), and old ones (on bottom).

[DuckFanInHaifa]

I am back to inform you on our league, which began on October 28. The second Bat Yam team has been renamed Rishon le Zion (or the Rishon Devils). The mighty and defending champion Haifa Hawks beat Maalot 8-1. Maalot played a penalty filled game, with much slashing and tripping. The other game had Rishon beat Bat Yam 5-0.

More info as soon as I get it.

[DuckFanInHaifa]

More scores from this week-end!

Ma'alot-3
Metulla-8

Haifa-12
Rishon-0

Bat Yam plays on Tuesday against Ma'alot. The big win against Rishon was a surprise, as they are quite good. T heir starter goalie had the flu, so they played a 16 year old backup who only had experience in the roller league. Had the starter been there, no way would we have scored 12 goals.

We also have a junior league here as well.
Metulla
Bat-Yam Icebergs
Ma'alot
Merkaz
And a girl's team based out of Haifa!

Merkaz, as far as I know, is not in the league. They seem to be at every level in ice hockey, yet no one knows anything about them. Weird. The girl's team actually held their own in a 5-1 loss against Ma'alot on Saturday. THey have a very good goalie.

Also rumoured:A team of Palestinian players for both top and junior leagues has been proposed, but the problem is finding enough of them who play. As far as I know, they only have enough to ice one line on the junior squad.

More news as I get it.

[DuckFanInHaifa]

The updates a far inbetween, because of screwy schedualing. We get only a handfull of games a month. Not a big fan of that, but oh well.


Rishon - Bat Yam 5:0


Maalot - Haifa 1:8


We have a roller hockey league starting, but I can't find info on that league. Hockey info for Israel is hard to find online.