Israeli Prospects; New Rink Info; Gold Medal; Next Championship in Div 1 by Israel

[dslaw]

Last month, as some have already discussed here, Israel won the Gold Medal in the Division 2 of World Championship. Both the Junior and the Adult/Senior teams are coached by Jan Perron, who led the Habs to the 1986 Staley Cup victory.

Israel currently has only 1 ice rink, in the northern-most village of the country with only 65 families. Most Israelis simply can't reach it, as it's too far. They are currently raising funds for a new stadium. The Israeli gov't may donate money, but only if sufficient support is shown for it. The team is looking for donations - anything, even small amounts is highly valuable as it will prove support and public desire for Israeli hockey.

Anyone wishing to help from a fundraisng standpoint can go to the Ice Hockey Federation of Israel web site, or contact Israel Hockey Chair Alan Maislin (514-993-5599) or Israeli Team GM Shlomo Levy (514-996-6656) by phone. [I am not personally affiliated with the team, just a fan of hockey and Israel]

I have been closely following Israeli hockey for over 5 years, and I am well aware of all the quality of all players, both adults and kids (from the age of 13 and up). Thus, I decided to provide more info for anyone interested:

Next year, it will move up to Div 1 and will play against:

Germany
France
Britain
Japan
Hungary

The best Israeli player, Max Birbraer, didn't play this year. He was drafted by the Devils in the third round in 2000. He's 24 and 6'2 200.

Unfortunately, he didn't play for Israel recently because Div 2 wasn't considered good enough for him. He may play in Div 1.

INFO FOR NEXT YEAR'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:

FORWARDS

Top line: 3 Eisenman Brothers. One almost got drafted last year, but didn't quite make it. He had a good year and may get signed by an NHL team to play for their minor league affiliate. He just turned 20 and may potentially improve to play in the NHL, but that's a long shot. But he's almost definitely good enough to play in the AHL, best league after the NHL.

Second line: Birbraer - Frenkel (10 points in 5 games in division 2 championship) - Oren Zamir (16 year old who had 17 points in 5 games for the Israeli junior team against older competition)

Third line: Belo (checker) - Bochner (talented, but small) - Michael Horwitz (small and only 17, but extremely talented. If he grows a few inches this year, he may get drafted by the NHL)

The top 5 players clearly belong in Division 1. However, Zamir and Horwitz are too young, Bochner too small and Belo is no more than a marginal 4th liner at Division 1 level. Others don't belong there at all.

Israel will need at least one good player. They are having try-outs for Israeli-borns who live in Canada now in June. Maybe they can pick up one player who belongs in Div 1.

DEFENSE

Spivak - very talented 16 year old. Played for the Israeli Senior Team this year despite his age, and had 2 points in 5 games (not bad for a D). Already he's 6-0 180, and he should get bigger (hopefully taller and definitely stronger).

Soreanu: 5-11 175, 3 points in 5 games in Division 2 last month. Marginal to avg player in Div 1.

Berman: 6-0 165. Very thin, but talented. Belongs in Div 1, but as a marginal player. 24 years old

Nobody else belongs in Division 1. They will need at least one more defenseman to compete effectively.

GOALIE

Gussin: aging, but very good. He was tutored by Tretiak in the past.

Amromin: don't know much, except that he has been Gussin's backup for a long time.

Ilan Kilimnik: played very well in the U18 World Championship.



2006 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREDICTION

It will be very tough for Israel. Germany will absolutely abuse it by a huge score (double digits). France will not be kind on Israel either. Israel may have a chance against England, and maybe an outside shot at Hungary and Japan due to Israel's superior coaching in Stanley Cup winner Jan Perron. Most people have Israel going back to Division 2, but hey, nobody thought it would make it to Div 1.

The progress made by both Junior and Senoir players due to Perron (his coaching and just the fact that he attracted players who used to play hockey before they moved to Israel from Russia, Canada, US, etc) has been amazing this year. But nothing great can happen without an ice rink in Tel Aviv (and in the future, hopefully, in Haifa, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva, Eilat, etc). Israel needs to get more kids and Russian/American/Canadian immigrants involved in the game.



PROSPECTS AND UPCOMERS:

Eli Sherbatov: 13 years old. Had 9 points in 5 games in the U18 world champship where competition was almost exclusively 17-18 years old. Has NHL potential (maybe, as he's still only 13) and will almost definitely be drafted if he continues to progress.

Oren Zamir (OLD article at http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=5139): Playing in the best HS for hockey in Canada. 17 points in 5 games in U18 World Championship. Definitely should get drafted when he's 18.

Daniel Spivak: 3 points in 5 games as a Defenseman against adult competition at the age of 16. Already 6-0 180 pounds.

Raviv Bull: 18 years old. 3 points in 5 games. Big, tall and fairly strong. If he gets stronger, he should be able to play in the AHL, the top minor league.

Yogev Shamir: 10 points in 5 games in U18 World Championship as a defenseman. Extremely talented, but small at only 5-9 175 pounds.

Shlon Norman: 5 points in 5 games in U18 Championship at the age of 14 against 17-18 year olds.

Others with potential: Navot Kantor, Ayal Anava, Dan Erlich, Harel Harosh, George Pisha.



More articles on Israeli hockey:

http://cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=6176

http://www.dailygazette.net/Default...005/04/26&EntityId=Ar02401&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

http://www.jewishtribune.ca/tribune/jt-050421-23.html

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/News/2005/04/15/998998-cp.html


P.S. Anyone wishing to help from a fundraisng standpoint can go to the Ice Hockey Federation of Israel web site, or contact Israel Hockey Chair Alan Maislin (514-993-5599) or Israeli Team GM Shlomo Levy (514-996-6656) by phone. Remember, not only is the amount important, but also how many people show support by donating.

Click to read more...

 

[Douggy]

Eli Sherbatov: 13 years old. Had 9 points in 5 games in the U18 world champship where competition was almost exclusively 17-18 years old. Has NHL potential (maybe, as he's still only 13) and will almost definitely be drafted if he continues to progress.

Are you kidding me?! What league does he play in?? What division of the U18 did he do this in??

 

[Fedz]

Are you kidding me?! What league does he play in?? What division of the U18 did he do this in??

2nd Division. Probably Midget B Level. Still pretty solid for a 13 year old.

 

[fredez]

2nd Division. Probably Midget B Level. Still pretty solid for a 13 year old.

Consdering he is still playing in pee-wee during the season, yes.

He was indeed at the Quebec Peewee tournament and I got a chance to watch him on TV and you could noticed he is a special player. Very good hands and vision for his age.

 

[freeper]

He's currently playing Pee-Wee AA in Canada, where he's a dominant player. He has 48 points (22 goals) in 21 games (2.3 points per game). http://lesconquerantsaa.ca/hockey/page.asp?id=181

The second highest scorer has 37 points in 23 games (1.6 points per game).

A couple years ago, he played in a kids league in Canada where he had 105 points in 24 games. Yes, 105 in 24 games (4.375 points per game). The second highest scorer had 44 points and the third had 20 points.

The Montreal Gazette wrote: "The only barrier standing in the way of Eli Sherbatov becoming the first big-league hockey player born in Israel may well be a growth spurt."

He's currently only 5-foot-5 132 pounds. Given his height and age (13), he's fairly strong. Height is a question-mark. It's definitely possible, if not even probable, that he'll grow to be 6-feet tall, but nothing is guaranteed until it actually happens. Some kids stop growing at 14, some grow until they are 21 (I grew until I was 16).

The average person grows 8 inches (http://www.teengrowth.com/growth_chart/gchart_detail.cfm?i=boysheight_3_18.gif) from the age of 13 to adulthood, so he may well be 6-foot-3. In fact, boys' growth spurt is only beginning at 13.

 

[CH Wizard]

He's currently only 5-foot-5 132 pounds. Given his height and age (13), he's fairly strong. Height is a question-mark. It's definitely possible, if not even probable, that he'll grow to be 6-feet tall, but nothing is guaranteed until it actually happens. Some kids stop growing at 14, some grow until they are 21 (I grew until I was 16).

The average person grows 8 inches (http://www.teengrowth.com/growth_chart/gchart_detail.cfm?i=boysheight_3_18.gif) from the age of 13 to adulthood, so he may well be 6-foot-3. In fact, boys' growth spurt is only beginning at 13.

Dude this isn't something to worry about now (we don't know, he'll maybe not grow but it's very unlikely).I was 5'7 in my early thirteen's and at the end of my thirteen's I was 5''11.I'm 14 (and will turn 15 in like one month) now and 6'2 LOL!

But size is important cause in the higher levels of competition the players are way bigger.I'm gonna play midget next year and the most of the d's are 6'2 200 lbs.

He's gonna have a growth spurt anytime soon.

 

[freeper]

He's not a D, he's an offensive forward. Size isn't as important for them. He's not a power forward either. If he's 6-0 190, he will make it into the NHL. This kid skates circles around 17-18 year olds. Granted, these 18 year olds are from Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Bulgaria, etc., but still, they are literally twice his size. Imagine a kid getting checked by (almost) grown (almost) men.

There are two more Israeli kids with NHL potential, and both are 16.

Zamir dominated U18 tournament.

Spivak is a 16 year old who was on the top defense pairing on the Gold Medal winning Israeli Adult team. I think he was the youngest person in the tournament, certainly the youngest player who was that important. He will play for Sarnia Sting next year.

 

[HF-Addict]

Interesting nonetheless, didn't even know they were playing hockey over there...nice to know there may be a NHL future for some of them.

 

[X0ssbar]

I think this is a pretty incredible thing and its another sign of how this great sport is reaching places people wouldn't have dreamed even 10 years ago.

Ice hockey in Israel -- whodda thunk it? Fantastic!

 

[Habsfan 32]

It's nice to see that hockey is spreading all over the world. I hope at least one of these kids makes the NHL someday.

 

[salzy]

Holy wrong attitude batman..!

I think this is a pretty incredible thing and its another sign of how this great sport is reaching places people wouldn't have dreamed even 10 years ago.

Ice hockey in Israel -- whodda thunk it? Fantastic!

It sounds like nobody IN Israel actually gives a crap about it, and all they're really doing is airlifting in kids from other countries who just happened to have been born there a number of years ago. To me, it really says absolutely nothing about the state of hockey in Israel.

 

[freeper]

It sounds like nobody IN Israel actually gives a crap about it, and all they're really doing is airlifting in kids from other countries who just happened to have been born there a number of years ago. To me, it really says absolutely nothing about the state of hockey in Israel.

That's false. The best Israeli prospects, Oren Zamir and Michael Horowitz, are both local products.

Oren Zamir played hockey from 8 to 15. Then he met Jan Perron, who got him to move to Canada to play hockey in the Notre Dame HS (same as Lecavalier and several dozen other current NHLers). But his family is still in Israel.

Michael Horowitz played since he was 6, and he lived 4 hours away (each way) from the rink. Then he and his sister (who also plays hockey) threatened to move out if their parents didn't move north, closer to the hockey rink.

So the whole family moved north, quitting their jobs and selling their house, just to allow kids to play hockey.

Plus, Israel now has 1 million+ Russians. I am not sure if Eli Sherbatov was born in Israel or if he moved there when he was a baby. In any event, he only began playing hockey in Israel.

But Russians have a lot of experience in this. The Israeli goalie used to be backup to Tretiak in Russia's Elite League. Several other former Russian players and coaches are now in Israel.

It's precisely because of Russian experience as players and coaches in the Russian league, that Israel has made this much progress in the last few years.

 

[freeper]

Michael Horowitz played since he was 6, and he lived 4 hours away (each way) from the rink. Then he and his sister (who also plays hockey) threatened to move out if their parents didn't move north, closer to the hockey rink.

So the whole family moved north, quitting their jobs and selling their house, just to allow kids to play hockey.

By "north", I mean northern Israel, not Canada.

 

[Porn*]

did you guys know that roger nielsen built a fairly big hockey rink somewhere in Israel? He married an Israeli woman, and after a few trips to the area he thought there was talent so he put money up for development.

 

[ArtG]

Not sure if this is a fact, but I heard somewhere that the Canadian Jewish community put up some dough to build an ice rink in Israel.

 

[freeper]

Not sure if this is a fact, but I heard somewhere that the Canadian Jewish community put up some dough to build an ice rink in Israel.

That's the Canada Center, the only real ice rink they have. They hve another rink, tiny and not fit for league games, in Rishon Letzion.

 

[freeper]

did you guys know that roger nielsen built a fairly big hockey rink somewhere in Israel? He married an Israeli woman, and after a few trips to the area he thought there was talent so he put money up for development.

That's not true. Roger Nielson ran a summer hockey camp in Israel before he died. This year, it will be run by Ken Hitchcock and Jan Perron. The camp features the most NHLers of any kids camp in the world. Past participants were Eric Lindros, Marc Crawford, Mike Fisher, Jody Hull, Ron Tugnutt, Jason Spezza (and his brother Matt), Kris King, Zac Bierk, Keith Acton, Mike Hough, Jeff Beukaboom, Dallas Eakins, Simon Gagne, Doug Jarvis, Keith Jones, Steve Mondafor, Mike Murphy, Chris Neil, Craig Ramsey, Mike Ricci, Marc Savard, Steve Dubinsky, Corey Stillman, etc. Ken Dryden also recently visited Israel (he's a parliamentarian in Canada, and came to visit Israel on some political/diplomatic mission, but stopped by the Canada Center in the north).

That's the advantage Israelis now have -- they are coached (during tournmanents against foreign teams, and during summer camps for kids) by NHL coaches and players. Even Canadians don't get this many NHLers coaching them.

The disadvantage is the lack of ice rinks and lack of money. Everything in Israel is done by by volunteers. In fact, league's chief, Alan Maislin, is spending his own money. All the coaches and NHLers are just volunteers, including Jan Perron.

Also, the game is very young there.

It began a decade and a half ago when a group of Russian immigrants started a pick-up hockey game on an ice skating rink that about half the ice of a hockey rink. They had skates, sticks and a puck, and no other equipment, but people began watching and other boys joined them.

Israeli league started with 4 teams and shut down after two years. It came back two years later.

Israel won Pool D (now Division 3) championship in 2000. Pool D/Division 3 is the worst group of hockey teams, but even that was an accomplishment for the only hockey team in the Mideast.

Next year, it took silver in Division 2, losing last game against Romania which moved on to Division 1. The following year, it got the Bronze in Division two and the last couple of years, the team did not perform well, as its top players (3 Eizeman brothers, who are the top line, as well as Devils draftee Max Birbraer, as well as several other key players) did not participate.

This year, it moved up to Division 1, by tying North Korea in the first game (one of the Eizenman brothers was still involved in French league playoffs the first two games). It then went on to defeat the host Serbia (originally favorite to win the group), Belgium (which was just relegated from Div 1), Spain and Iceland.

Given that the team was able to go from no hockey until 1990 to Pool D/Div3 Championship in 2000, and from Division 3 in 2000 to Division 1 now is huge.

Next year, it will have a VERY tough group. France was supposed to move up to the top Division from Div1, but Italy upset it. It's very strong. Germans are a team made up of current NHLers, past NHLers and future/potential NHLers. Youngers like Spivak, Zamir, Horowitz and maybe Sherbatov if they let him play (he'll be only 14 next year), should definitely benefit from playing against NHLers to see what will be required of them in the future. But the team will have a very difficult time in this group. Even the other group in Division 1 is much easier.

Also, there are teams in Turkey, Armenia, South Africa, Mexico. Turks and Mexicans are pretty bad, but they can at least skate. Armenians can't freakin skate, lose all games by 30/50 goals to nothing to teams like Turkey and Mexico.

There are teams in Ireland and Iceland that are both terrible (like Mexico and Turkey) for some reason, even though these are northern nations.

You'd think that Iceland, freakin ICE-land, the LAND of ICE, would be good at hockey, but they are absolutely awful. ICE-land just got sent back to Division 3 to play against teams like red hot Mexico and Republic of SOUTH Africa (the RSA team is made up of whites of Dutch, French, English, Jewish and German descent. Very few blacks in RSA play hockey and none are on the national team).

 

[Vikke]

You'd think that Iceland, freakin ICE-land, the LAND of ICE, would be good at hockey, but they are absolutely awful. In fact, the red hot Mexico and SOUTH Africa are better than ICEland.

That's a misprint. Someone mixed up Iceland with Greenland.

 

[freeper]

That's a misprint. Someone mixed up Iceland with Greenland.

What's a misprint. Think of the word iceland. It has two parts: "ice" and "land".

 

[Vikke]

Yeah, but Iceland isn't very icy, except for the glaziers. However, Greenland is 99% ice and snow. Iceland is a beautiful country, very grassy.

 

[freeper]

Yeah, but Iceland isn't very icy, except for the glaziers. However, Greenland is 99% ice and snow. Iceland is a beautiful country, very grassy.

Still, you wouldn't expect a team that's that far north to be playing with Mexico, Turkey, Armenia and SOUTH Africa (also Ireland and Luxembourgh), would you?

And what's up with Ireland? They are a wealthy country now, so come on, throw a few million dollars on some 3,000-seat ice rinks.

And Luxembourgh is the wealthiest country in the world. Their top player is an immigrant (import for hockey purposes) from France. But their players have nowhere to play. Before World Championship games, they run to practice. That's right, they don't skate, they run.

Mexico, et al have an excuse. These 3 do not.

 

[Vikke]

Maybe not, though I know Iceland isn't a very "sporty" country. They've got soccer, what else?

 

[freeper]

Also... what's up with Norway?

Finns kick ass. Swedes kick ass. Norwegians are busy skiing.

Come on, Gary Bettman needs to expand some more to make sure every village in Alabama and Montana has an NHL team (then he'll whine that salaries are too high, without understanding that increasing demand for hockey players while keeping supply the same means higher salaries and also lesser quality of hockey).

Norway is not bad, it's on the border of the elite division and division 1, but they are just not producing NHLers. Stop skiing dammit, play some real sports.

 

[Tb0ne]

I wonder..

How much does it cost to build an ice rink roughly?

One thing I would like to see the NHL do is put aside a certain amount of money a year to build ice rinks in countries where hockey is still in it's infancy.

Even if it was only one or two rinks a year, that's a lot more kids playing hockey world wide.

 

[freeper]

I wonder..

How much does it cost to build an ice rink roughly?

One thing I would like to see the NHL do is put aside a certain amount of money a year to build ice rinks in countries where hockey is still in it's infancy.

Even if it was only one or two rinks a year, that's a lot more kids playing hockey world wide.

You can build a rink for a few million dollars. It won't look like the Madison Square Garden, but you don't need MSG to develop talent. You need a regular sized ice and enough seats for 500 to 3,000 fans.

Israel is not the only country looking to build its hockey program. Many are beginning from scratch including:


Azerbaijan
United Arab Emirates
Philippines
Thailand

Others, like Luxembourgh and I think Bosnia, lack a single stadium.

Teams like Israel, Bulgaria, etc. need a lot of help. They have a lot of potential because Israel has a lot of Russians, and Bulgaria is in Eastern Europe. There is no reason why Czechs, Slovaks and even Poles should play hockey, but Bulgarians, Romanians, Serbia, etc. should be in Division 2.