SPORTS
Akiva Teams
Hit The Road
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Sports Writer
he young Akiva Day School
sports program hit a new
high in the past two weeks as
both of its teams made weekend road
trips. Two weeks ago, the floor hockey
team made its first trip, going to
Rochester for three games against the
Talmudic Institute of Upper New
York. Last weekend, the three-year-
old basketball team ventured to
Skokie, Illinois and played two games
against Fasman High School of the
Hebrew Theological College.
The basketball team, without
starter Joel Starr, who was ill, played
well but lost both games. On March
18, they met the Fasman junior var-
sity. That game was a fair test since
Akiva, with no seniors and just one
junior starter, is more like a JV team
than a varsity squad. Fasman pulled
out the game, played at the Skokie
Jewish Community Center, 65-64.
"That was one of the best games
that they played" this year, said
Akiva teacher Moshe Rose, who
organized the trip. A number of key
points could have changed the game.
Rose noted that Skokie hit a half-
court shot at the buzzer to end the
first half. Also, Akiva's Noam
Koenigsberg scored at the final
buzzer, drew contact but did not draw
a foul.
Rose estimated that Koenigsberg
tallied 25 points, while Joel
Finkelman and Danny Najman
scored 12 points apiece.
The following night, Akiva drop-
ped a 59-33 decision to Fasman's var-
sity, at the Ida Crown Academy. The
contest was more competive than the
final score indicates. Akiva was
within five points midway through
the third quarter. The final margin
was Fasman's largest lead.
Koenigsberg scored 15 in the se-
cond game while eighth-grader Eli
Lopin scored 11. Lopin "got hot near
the end. He was hitting from the out-
side," said Rose.
The contest was Akiva's first
following a lopsided loss in the
Michigan high school tournament.
They had only one practice between
games, making their competitive per-
formance more impressive. "It was
really a great trip . . . they played well
the whole weekend;' said Rose.
The hockey team played a group
of Akiva alumni Monday night. The
alumni downed their younger op-
ponents 15-13.
Akiva had only five available
players, leaving them with just one
extra man. They trailed 13-6 after two
periods, tame back strongly, but could
Continued on Page 46
44
FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1988
Bob McKeown
T
-
Ice Time
Goalie Marty Levy keeps his eyes on the puck
The Almost All-Jewish Hockey League
is invaded by a reporter on skates
MIKE ROSENBAUM
S
ports writing is an amaz-
ing profession. How many
other journalists get to par-
ticipate in the areas they
cover. Do courtroom
reporters get to try cases? Do crime
reporters get to commit crimes? Of
course not. But ever since George
Plimpton ran into Alex Karras at the
Lion's training camp, numerous
sports writers have joined in the fun
and games.
So when Bob Shapiro, commis-
sioner of the "Almost All-Jewish
Hockey League" invited me to com-
pete on March 13, it was an offer I
couldn't refuse.
After figuring out how to put on
my equipment and donning my red
jersey, the day of my first-ever hockey
game started well: I shot a couple of
practice pucks past the startled
goalies. This would be no problem, I
decided. When the game started my
line skated into the offensive zone,
and suddenly there was a beautiful
pass coming my way. I promptly — put
the puck into the net? Well, not quite.
Actually, I fell down while reaching
for the puck, which slammed
Sports Writer
harmlessly into the boards. So much
for cockiness.
Hockey is not a sport in which
Jews have made great inroads. Bloom-
field Hills resident Mike Hartman is
the only Jew in the National Hockey
League. But the group of over-40,
mostly professional men I skated with
take their game seriously, and play it
well. At 29 years old, I skated circles
around nobody.
All those who watch, but have
never played hockey, should do it at
least once. You gain a new respect for
what hockey players can do with a
puck while skating and avoiding
other large bodies. Even if you've
never played basketball, you can jump
on a court and not have to worry
about, say, stopping, or turning quick-
ly to catch a pass. But if you've never
played hockey, no matter how well you
can skate, you're going to have trou-
ble coordinating your skating with
the other things you must do.
Most of the players I skated with
were in a similar situation five years
ago, when they started getting
together. Frustrated hockey fans
who'd never played the game, they
began by playing outdoors, eventual-
ly buying regular ice-time at the
Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield
Hills. At that point, recalled Shapiro,
their few good players were non-Jews,
including Bob Moran, Rick Fox and
Ken Hook. Moran "skated around us
like we were pylons," said Shapiro.
Moran centered my line two weeks
ago, with Paul Keller on left wing.
Moran stood out, but there were cer-
tainly no pylons on that ice.
After playing with or against
each other for several years, the
players know each other's tendencies
well. The bench chatter during the
game is little different from bench
chatter anywhere else, as players talk
strategy using clipped, hockey jargon.
"Pinch in at the point . . . " "Hit me
up the middle . . . " "Knock it by him
off the boards . " they say, along
with general rah-rah banter to keep
everyone's spirits up.
Make no mistake, this is not just
a recreational skate for the two dozen
players who don skates and pads
every Sunday for about half a year. "If
you just want exert rise you can ride a
stationary bicycle;' says Shapiro. They