I SPORTS_
CONTRASTING
STYLES
Two 17-year-old amateurs
have different goals in
the hockey world
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Canadian junior leagues receive ex-
pense money and, even those who
refuse the stipend lose their U.S. col-
Sports Writer
0
ne gets the glamour jobs
while the other fills in
where he is needed. One
player is a multi-sports star
who has realistic hopes of
playing professional hockey, while the
other looks to college hockey. Both,
however, currently play key roles on
one of, if not the best, United States
junior hockey team.
The two 17-year-olds play for the
Compuware Tier II junior A team,
based in Oak Park. Compuware has
led the North American Junior
Hockey League for most of the season.
Chicago native Justin Duberman
came to Detroit last season to play for
the Art Van midget team. He traveled
here because of the high quality of
Detroit-area youth hockey, and to be
close to Canada. Duberman planned
to move up to Canadian major junior
A competition this season, which is
the most common route to the Na-
tional Hockey League. But he
changed his mind because players in
lege hockey eligibility. U.S. college
hockey is superior to Canadian, and
has become a second path to the NHL.
So Duberman remained in Detroit to
play for Compuware, which drafted
him last year. He lives with a local
Jewish family and attends West
Bloomfield High School.
Mike Nodler, a lifelong resident of
Oak Park, is a senior at Oak Park
High. He has progressed through the
ranks of local youth hockey, eventual-
ly landing on Compuware's bantam
team, which earned a spot in the na-
tional finals in 1985. That team lost
to the New Jersey Rockets, which
featured a young forward named
Justin Duberman. The two did not —
formally — meet at that time, but
Duberman's travels eventually
brought the two together this season.
"I left home when I was 14," said
Duberman following a recent Compu-
ware practice. He feels his travels to
New York — where he lieved while
playing for the New Jersey Jets ban-
Justin Duberman and Mike Nodler line up for Compuware.
tam club — and Detroit have "made
me more mature." It is not unusual
for a promising teenage hockey player
to leave home in search of better corn-
petition and board with a local fami-
ly. Duberman, who visited his parents
during the New Year's break in the
schedule, says he does not get home-
sick. "No, because I can still keep in
touch with my friends, I see my
parents every once in a while, talk to
`em every once in a while . . . it was
my decision to leave, because I wanted
to pursue my hockey and play at the
best level I possibly could."
Leaving home was not Justin's
first big decision. That came at the
ripe old age of 13, when he had the
chance to attend the most prestigious
tennis development center in the
United States. "About four years ago
I had to make a choice between
hockey and tennis. I was either going
to go to the Nick Bollettieri tennis
academy in Florida, or I was gonna
play hockey. . . I guess I had to put one
sport in front of another. I picked
hockey."
A defenseman for seven years,
Duberman was switched to forward
with the Rockets. The move paid off.
Duberman led his midget league in
ROUND UP
Akiva Wins
League Opener
The Akiva Day School
basketball team opened their
first season of Michigan Class
D play with an exciting, 30-29
win over Liberty Christian,
Jan. 5. Liberty led most of the
game, which was played at
Birmingham Country Day.
They opened a 10-2 lead and
stayed on top for the first half.
Akiva pulled even after three
quarters.
Akiva in-bounded the ball
with 10 seconds remaining
and the score knotted at 29.
Noam Koenigsberg was foul-
ed as time expired. He hit the
front end of a one-and-one free
throw opportunity to end the
game.
Koenigsberg led Akiva with
14 points. Joel Finkelman
had six, Yariv Misgav and Eli
Lopin scored four apiece and
Hillel VanLeeuwen added
two.
"The team played well,"
said coach Gary Yashinsky.
"They played good defense,
the other team only scored 29
points. They hustled. They
didn't shoot very well but
they played good defense and
I think that's what won the
game. They had a lot of
steals."
Akiva and Liberty have a
rematch Sunday at 8 p.m. at
the West Bloomfield Jewish
Community Center.
JCC Varsity
Loses Twice
The Jewish Community
Center varsity basketball
team lost two games in 'Ibron-
to last weekend. The Toronto
JCC won 72-49 Saturday
night and 59-55 Sunday mor-
ning. Tom Sweeny led local
JCC squad with 22 points
Saturday, while Tare Wigod
added 10. Sweeny tallied 14
points Sunday, Marty Belkin
and Greg Wolgin had 10
apiece.
The Center team travels to
Toledo for a game Monday
night. The West Bloomfield
Center plays host to the
Australian Maccabi team,
which is touring the U.S.,
Jan. 25 and 27.
BB Bowling
1st Half Leaders
Bloch-Israel, American
Division: Brother-in-Laws
Plus One (Arnie Levine, Jerry
Schlussel, Jerry Order, Mary
Delidow, Al Lewis). National
Division: MGM (Steve Stein-
way, Ray Feldman, Dan
Feldman, Lenny Rosenberg,
Mark Hertzberg, Randy
Feldman).
Brotherhood Eddie Jacob-
son, Wolverine Blue: T-Shirt
City (Gary Klinger, Steve
Fine, Dale Taub, Harold
Silverman). Wolverine Gold:
Bader Bag (Mark Rowe, Larry
Altman, Jeffrey Tackle, Larry
Schon). Spartan Green: Birm-
ingham Mortgage (Mark
Rosen, Greg Shulman, Mike
Lieberman, Ken Lesson).
Spartan White: 20th Century
Pro Shop (Pete Nathan, Stan
Finkelstein, Alan Finkels-
tein, Ron Kayes).
Morgenthau L'Chayim,
American Division: Team 2
(Gil Friedman, Larry Pazol,
Mike Wayne, Mike Panter,
Mick Altwerger). National
Division: Team 19 (Dale
Silverman, Steve
Silberschein, Al Strickstein,
Howard Genser, Fred Cohen).
Downtown Fox: Team 7
(Bob Grumet, Andy Rubin,
Lee Roth, Dennis Eder).
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
47