Maccabi 2000

The Trip Of A Lifetime

Staten Island Maccabi turns
up gold for Detroit's two
in-line hockey teams.

DAVID SACHS

Staff Writer

"*FINAITE

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Clockwise from top: Eric Lubanski works the puck during practice. David Cohen stops a shot fi-am Yale Miller
during practice. The age 15-16 gold medal winners: Coach Rick Zussman and assistant Michael Robbins, j
Rotenberg, Justin Bookmeyer, Jordan Schwartz, Kevin Ben-Ezra, Justin Friedman, Adam Bishop, Bryan Robbins,
Justin Liebow, Joel Fenkell, father Robert Fenkell, David Cohen, coach David Ben-Ezra, Michael Singer and coach
Steve Friedman. Coaches Steve Friedman and Rick Zussman direct practice. The age 1344 gold medal winners:
Coaches, standing, Rick Zussman, Steve Friedman and Walter Schram; players David Zussman, Ruben Adely,
Josh Borson, Brad Friedman, Michael Fenkell, Brandon Schram, Eric Lubanski, Yale Miller and Ben Gordon.

9/8
2000

14

n and off the rink, it was "an unbeliev-
able week," said the coach.
Steve Friedman's two in-line hockey
teams went undefeated to win gold
medals at the JCC Maccabi Games in Staten
Island, N.Y., Aug. 20-25.
"It was the busiest, most grueling week I've ever
been involved with," Friedman said. "We were up
from 6:30 in the morning until 1:30 at night."
Friedman, along with Rick Zussman, has coache
Maccabi teams for four years. In Staten Island, their
age 15-16 team won the gold medal for the third
year in a row and the age 13-14 team took gold in
the first tournament ever in the younger age bracket
Both teams wore bright red jerseys bearing the
winged wheel insignia of the Detroit Red Wings anc
the words, "Maccabi Detroit."
"Winning four golds in five tournaments is pretty
amazing," said Zussman. "We've lost only one game
in four years."
Friedman could hardly contain his enthusiasm.
"Besides the competition, just being in New York
and seeing all that stuff— it was awesome," he said.
"The kids had the trip of a lifetime. I don't think
they ever expected it to be what it was."
For the Staten Island games, opening ceremonies
were held at Madison Square Garden. The closing
rites were at the Statue of Liberty. In between, over a
thousand Maccabi teens and several hundred coaches
filled a Broadway theater for a private performance
of The Lion King one night and partied at Six Flags
theme park in New Jersey on another.
Many teens were taken by their host families to
Manhattan on another evening to dine at places like
Chinatown or Little Italy and see sights like the
Empire State Building.
Their taste of New York began at the airport with a
loud argument between a bus driver and the driver of
a car that was blocking him. "Finally," said Friedman,
"the bus driver said, 'You're not gonna move?' and
smashes the guy's car five times with his hand. The
kids are cracking up. This was their first experience in
New York and it was a classic New York confronta-
tion."
But amid all the extra-curricular experiences, win-
ning the gold medals for in-line hockey would take
determination and even more grit than of New York
motorists.

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