4 Party Planning arInvitations arGifts Striking Gold 32802 FRANKLIN ROAD, FRANKLIN, MI 48025 DOWNTOWN FRANKLIN 248.862.6741 HOME ACCENTS GIFTWARE • ACCESSORIES BABY WEDDINGS • CORPORATE EVENTS LOTIONS SOAPS CANDLES CLOTHING • JEWELR MICHIGAN MADE PRODUCTS GIFT BASKETS STATIONERY MONOGRAMMING ENGRAVING VISIT US AT I 11: EVENTBLISSFRANKLINMI To My Beloved Sharon, Thank you for 50 beautiful years. I love you so! Sharon and Stuart Mills 1866660 "11 Onti_ S SO c 101 • f)() Catering by MATT PRENTICE gist "ght Art _son 1.° Deli Rc Trays, House and Office Parties, Graduations, Shivas, Weddings and Mitzvahs CALL (248) 880-0478. Cater with caterwithmattprentice.com 1869540 riirdc I AV:;:j.,(jel:i Jason M. Golnick DDS, MS r' Gail Molinari DDS, MS Arnold L. Golnick DDS, MS Andreina Castro, DDS, MS Golnick Pediatric Dental Associates treat the dental needs of infants, children, adolescents. • • • • • Positive and friendly staff Emergencies seen promptly Most insurances accepted Nitrous oxide and sedation available Open daily Lakes Medical Center 2300 Haggerty Road • Suite 1180 West Bloomfield, MI 48323 • 248-668-0022 50 21213 Ecorse Rd. Taylor, MI 48180 313-292-7777 Steve Stein Contributing Writer I ra Schlussel will never forget his fifth trip to Israel. He went with his wife and children for the first time and won a gold medal at the Maccabiah Games, a quadrennial gathering of Jewish ath- letes from around the world that's also known as the Jewish Olympics. There's more. The 46-year-old Huntington Woods resident won the gold medal in hockey in Metulla, site of Israel's only ice rink. He scored the tying and winning goals for Team USA in its 7-4 upset of Team Canada, which was coached by former Detroit Red Wings coach Jacques Demers, in the gold-medal game. When Schlussel scored to put Team USA up 5-4 in the third period, it was the first time Team Canada had been behind the entire tournament. Team Canada led Team USA by two goals three times in the championship game, including 4-2 in the second period. But the Canadians couldn't close the deal. Down 4-3 heading into the third period, Team USA scored four unan- swered goals — the first two by Schlussel — to win the gold medal. "When the game ended, we pounced on our goalie, and sticks, helmets and gloves littered the ice Schlussel said. The celebration didn't end at the rink. "We stayed up until 3 o'clock in the morning hanging out, eating dinner outside Kfar Giladi (a kibbutz) and talking about our journey to the gold medal:' he said. "It was quite satisfy- ing." Schlussel had six goals and seven assists in five games playing center on Team USits top line in the four-team masters (ages 39-and-older) division. The assistant captain had two goals and two assists in the championship game. While the players in the masters division are no spring chickens, many have college or junior hockey on their resume. Not Schlussel, an observant Jew who is in shul and not an ice rink on Shabbat, when many college and junior games are played. That fact was part of Schlussel's empassioned, emotion-filled speech to his teammates before the gold-medal game. "I told them everybody likes to win, but not everybody hates to lose he said. "Some are fine with losing, but I'm not. I hate it. I don't care if I'm playing ping pong, HORSE, tiddly- winks, whatever. "I also told them I know a lot of them played higher levels of hockey than I had, but this was the biggest game of my life and with my distain for losing, I would do all I could to make sure that didn't happen." Team USA lost 6-5 to Team Canada and 11-6 to Team Russia in its first two round-robin games before defeat- ing Team Israel 5-2. Revenge was sweet in the medal round. Team USA beat Team Russia 3-2 in the semifinals despite having three goals called off, then it shocked Team Canada. Team Russia beat Team Israel 3-2 in overtime in the bronze-medal game. Hockey hadn't been played at the Maccabiah Games since it was an exhi- bition sport in 1997. Thanks to the sponsorship of six NHL owners, the 16-year drought ended in the summer of 2013. Schlussel hoped to combine playing hockey for Team USA in 1997 with his honeymoon trip to Israel with his wife, Cara, but he didn't make the open divi- sion (ages 18-38) squad. He had better fortune this time. Cara was there in Israel with him to soak in the gold-medal experience along with their children Claire, 15, Gabe, 13, and Sam, 10. Ira Schlussel graduated from Southfield-Lathrup High School in 1985, the University of Michigan in 1989 and Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., in 1992. He's senior vice president and gen- eral counsel for Pleasant Ridge-based ePrize, which designs online promo- tions for companies in 44 countries. ❑ Please send sports news to sports@thejewishnews.com. October 10 • 2013 Round 17.-1 I Notes Farago: II First Read I Notes RenMedia: