Blog #11 – Hockey Night in Israel

---

While caught in a “p’kuk” (traffic jam) en route to Afula on the evening of Adin’s birthday, October 27, 2011, Evgeny Gusin called on my cell phone to say the Bat Yam (a Tel Aviv suburb) Hockey Association would be having its first ice time in Metula on Monday November 7, 2011. Evgeny is the head of the Association, which is the closest ice hockey association to Jerusalem. He is also the former goalie of the Israeli National Ice Hockey Team. Since the ice time was 6:00 p.m. in Metula, and the drive-time from Jerusalem to Metula is three hours, we decided to take the boys out of school for the day and turn the trip north into a full day outing. Six hours driving seemed a little much for one to two hours of ice time. The boys were thrilled with the prospect, probably mostly because they’d be missing a day’s school, but also because of the chance to play real hockey on real ice again.

After checking out possible destinations to visit en route to Metula we settled on Agmon Hulah. This was a place that none of us had ever visited before. The Hulah is a valley located in Israel’s farthest north. Back in the days of the Chalutzim (pioneers) the Hulah was a massive swamp containing a shallow lake about 5 kilometers wide. The swamp itself extended for many kilometers beyond the lake. Apart from being unusable for human settlement and agriculture, the swamp and lake were a fertile environment for mosquitoes, and the source of the malaria that plagued the Chalutzim. Consequently, in the 1950s Israel drained the swamp and converted the area into farming communities and some of Israel’s most fertile lands. The “agum” (lake) and some surrounding swamp area has been preserved as a park - the Agmon Hulah (the Little Hula Lake).

We arrived mid-morning on a beautiful warm sunny day (weather which has already become a distant memory in blustery Jerusalem). The boys and I rented bikes – there’s a 9 km paved riding path around the lake – while Aimee jogged. Being almost perfectly flat, the path was perfect for a family bike ride. The only hazard was the many golf-carts which “shared” the bike path with us. We’ve discovered that pretty much every park in Israel is filled with happy Israeli Arabs enjoying the country’s many outdoor attractions. In this case, being near the Golan Heights, the park is also popular with the area’s Druze population. Not content to simply drive on the pavement, many of the Arabs deliberately drove onto the wet grass and mud puddles on either size of the path where they circled and did figure 8’s. They enjoyed most of all spinning their bald wheels madly in the mud. I figured they’d all get stuck before long, but amazingly they all managed to eventually spin themselves out of the mud. We kept our distance to avoid being sprayed by the “botz” (mud) or flattened by a golf-cart which suddenly gained traction and shot forward (or backward) out of the botz.

The Agmon is also a major transit point for massive numbers of migratory birds traveling between Africa, Europe and Asia. We saw plenty, but missed by one day a flock of thousands of pelicans which had come and gone the day before.

From the Agmon, we drove north to the town of Kiryat Shemonah for lunch. I can report that we’re now set for meals in Kiryat Shemonah. On our previous visit during the summer we discovered an excellent falafel place. For lunch this time we found an equally good shwarma place next door to the falafel. And for supper, after hockey, we returned and discovered a great pizza place – which sells pizza by the meter in long rectangles - one block over from the falafel and shwarma places. At lunch everyone had what has now become their usual; me, shwarma b’laffa/eshtanur (a wrap), shwarma in a baguette for Ezra and Aimee, and shnitzel in a baguette with ketchup - on only one side - for Adin.

The boys waited happily for the meals, focused intensely on their latest passion - Supergol cards. Actually, “passion” does not come close to describing the boys feelings about Supergol. Addiction and obsession comes closer. Supergol cards – pronounced Su-pairrrrrrrrrrrrrr-gol - are actually stickers with soccer players from all over the world pictured on them, which are about half the size of North American sports cards. Like hockey cards, Supergol come in “ma’atafot” (packs), blue or red, and are available at grocery stores, convenience stores, and even MacDonald’s restaurants country-wide. I still don’t have a complete grasp of the Supergoal universe, but I do know that unlike North American sports cards, Supergoals cards come in different categories, with different values attached to each category. The cards also can be used with associated Supergoal books which are kind of like stamp collection books in which collectors can stick the cards/stickers in their designated spots. While at lunch and supper in Kiryat Shemona the boys stuck their stickers into their books. Days later, after discovering that no one sticks the cards in the books, but instead use the cards to play games, Adin cried himself to sleep over his lost cards. … Once stuck in the book, they’re stuck. Adin has since replenished his Supergol supply many times over.

To play Supergoal the boys kneel on the floor, lay out the cards they’re competing with, and then either slap their hands together near the cards, or slap them on the ground. The woosh caused by the slapping flips the cards over. A complete summersault is a “geelgool.” I’m still not sure what it takes to win, but the boys are still neophytes when competing against the experienced sharks in their classes. So far they’ve lost more than they’ve won but are improving and getting more selective about who they choose to compete against and who to avoid.

We arrived in Metula before the 6:00 p.m. ice time to check out the town for future visits. It’s a lovely spot at the end of the world, at least Israel’s world. The town juts into Southern Lebanon with Metula’s red roofs ending abruptly at the border. We drove up to the top of the Metula to look down over the village and into Lebanon and Syria. Little Israel and tiny Metula looked so vulnerable. A friend of ours, Shmulik, who served as a doctor in a commando unit in Lebanon recounted a mission in which his unit secretly entered Lebanon and set up a position several miles into enemy territory. He recalled looking back at Israel from Lebanon and realizing how fragile Metula/Israel was and how vital his service in the army was to the preservation of the Jewish Homeland.

But back to hockey. And back to the rink. By about 5:30 p.m. the buses arrived from Bat Yam (our hockey club), and elsewhere around the country. Evgeny Gusin, our coach, was out of the country so chaos reigned. I asked about a dozen people before I tracked down his assistant Demitri. Demitri was fielding questions from a gaggle of parents, and was switching back and forth from Russian to Hebrew that sounded like Russian to me. Most of the kids appeared to be the kids of Russian immigrants and most likewise switched back and forth between the two languages, with Russian the more common of the two. The dressing room where we helped Ezra and Adin into their gear was filled with sweating teen-agers. No other little dudes to be seen, though Aimee reported there were some in the adjacent dressing room.

We could see the shock and fear in Ezra and Adin’s eyes. Ezra asked how they could possibly go onto the ice with these Goliaths (my choice of word)? Ezra and Adin stood frozen by the boards as the dressing rooms emptied out. The boys stepped hesitantly onto the ice. Aimee predicted Adin would be off the ice with fifteen minutes. I agreed, but hoped for the best. The ice split between the better players at one end and the little dudes at the other. It was immediately clear that Adin and Ezra’s skill level was way above that of the little dudes and the boys, on their own initiative, went to the other end of the ice with the Leviatans (and a few other little dudes). Some of the guys skating with Adin and Ezra were bigger than me. But once the drills started it was apparent that Adin and Ezra were at comparable skill level with the teenagers. They joined in the drills, and the fifteen minute mark quickly approached and then went by. Adin was still on the ice. I approached Dimitri who said they boys looked just fine with the older kids. At one point Adin backed away from the teenagers and Dimitri shouted “Go - Go” which got Adin back into the mix. Before the hour was out Adin had a huge smile on his face and didn’t want to come off the ice. Ezra said he was exhausted, looking both exhilarated and relieved to have survived. Both were sweating like never before. And were already looking forward to their next outing on the ice of Metula.

They quickly stripped off their gear and we headed back to the car, and then onto Kiryat Shemona for a meter of pizza. As we descended the hill from Metula the towns of the Hula Valley and Golan heights sparkled like birthday cakes in the night.

Sitting at a table outside the pizza place the boys turned their focus back to their Supergol cards. A young fellow in a one piece snow suit – did I mention it was quite chilly? – started chatting us up. We only realized he was the pizza delivery guy when he pulled on his helmet, grabbed a stack of rectangular pizzas and kick-started his motorcycle. A group of three boys around Ezra’s age were hanging out at an adjacent table - with no parents in sight - eating pizza and drinking cup after cup of Coke. They too chatted us up. No one spoke English and no one tried to speak English with us. All very friendly. All entirely without pretence. A little piece of the old-time Israel that Aimee and I recall from our teenage years. Before long boys at the next table tucked their supersized bottles of Coke under their arms and drifted off into the Kiryat Shemona night. Life is different on the frontier.

By the time we returned to the road it was after 9:00 p.m. I picked up a tall coffee at a gas station and then pointed the car towards Jerusalem. As we headed south, the boys were quickly asleep, and stayed that way until we reached home around midnight. … The next day was a busy school day, with basketball after school for Ezra coached by a starter for the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team, and soccer and a violin lesson for Adin with his rock-star teacher. We are all pushing ourselves way beyond our comfort zones. But life here is full, life here is good.

---

Photos

Bird Migration
This is a fabulous place for birders. We even saw a pelican fly right over us.

Comments

[Shawn]

Hockey Night in Israel
The latest Connecting - national newsletter of Cdn Friends of Hebrew U. in Jerusalem - Vol 9 Issue 1 - has a feature article "Hockey Night in Israel". Apparently CFHU has established a scholarship program to allow promising Israeli hockey players to study at HU in Jerusalem. The article talks about Metulla, the 8 team Israeli Hockey League and the Israel Recreational Hockey Association. The program was sprearheaded by Cdn businessman Sidney Greenberg of Astral Media and sponsors include the NHL and Air Canada. Check www.cfhu.org/sidney. Enjoying your blogs. Carol will bring greetings soon.

[Daniel]

Etzba hagalil
Your blog brought back fond memories of 1979, hitch hiking from Kfar Blum into Kiryat Shemonah--the 'big city'. You could always tell when a Kfar Blumnik was going into town, because they would tuck in their t-shirt. Of course, you had to get dressed up for KS. Never knew who you might run into...