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Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Israel's hockey team wins tournament!

Hockey? In Israel?

Once upon a time Ephraim Kishon wrote a funny story about an Israeli hockey team that didn't know how to skate.

TEL AVIV - As it turns out, our hot and humid Middle Eastern nation has an ice-hockey team, and not a bad one at that.

At the beginning of the week, Israel won the gold medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation Division II Group B world championships, an achievement that pushed it into Division I, one tier below the top division.

Under the direction of Canadian coach Jean Perron, Israel was able to win four of its five games and tie one.

More impressively, the team won without Israel’s most renowned hockey star, Max Birbraer, who was drafted by the NHL’s New Jersey Devils three years ago.

However, Israel did enjoy the services of the three Eisenman brothers, Alon, Erez and Oren.