FEBRUARY 16 • 2023 | 51

No Medal, No Problem

Team USA didn’t make it to the medal round 
in women’s hockey last month at the World 
University Games.
While that was a disappointment for team mem-
ber Sasha Hartje of Bloomfield Hills, she wouldn’t 
have traded the experience in upstate New York 
for the world.
“I have no regrets. It was incredible. Totally 
worth it. I’m extremely happy that I did it,” she said.
Hartje’s hockey career is coming to an end.
The 23-year-old is in her second and final sea-
son as a graduate student hockey player at Long 
Island (N.Y.) University after she played tennis at 
Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., for four years, 
helping the team win a Division III national champi-
onship in 2021.
Hartje’s first hockey season at Long Island, a 
Division I program, was interrupted and brought 
to an early end when she suffered a broken leg 
during a game.
The Detroit Country Day School graduate and 
2017 Jewish News Female High School Athlete of 
the Year jumped at the opportunity to play hockey 
for Team USA even though the World University 
Games were in the middle of her college season.
“I got to wear the Team USA gear and play 
against other countries,” Hartje said. “It’s some-
thing I’ll remember for the rest of my life. And I got 
to keep the gear!”
Team USA went 2-3 at the World University 
Games, finishing with a 2-1 loss to arch-rival 
Canada on Jan. 18 in a sold-out arena. Hartje 
missed a Jan. 13 win over Czechoslovakia because 
of a conflict with the Long Island schedule.
She scored a goal against Great Britain on Jan. 
15.
“I was in the slot and a teammate passed the 
puck to me,” she said. “I put a backhand shot over 
the goalie’s leg.”
Hartje said Team USA was at a disadvantage 
because many of the other teams had been prac-
ticing together for months. That wasn’t the case 
with Team USA.
“We did the best we could,” Hartje said.
Team USA’s five games were in pool play in 
Pottsdam, N.Y. The medal round games were held 
at the iconic Lake Placid, N.Y., rink.
Hartje didn’t get to play there, but she and Long 
Island teammates who were on Team USA got to 
spend a day walking around Lake Placid and tak-
ing in the atmosphere there.

quick hits
BY STEVE STEIN 

MAGGIE HATCH

Perfection in a 
Perfect 300 Game
Lyle Schaefer rolled his second 
300 game in the Brotherhood-
Eddie Jacobson B’nai B’rith 
Bowling League. This one was 
much less painful.
The 64-year-old Southfield 
resident bowled 223-300-219 — 
716 on Jan. 23 at Country Lanes 
in Farmington Hills.
Schaefer’s first perfect game 
in Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson 
was Nov. 18, 2018, at the 300 
Bowl in Waterford Township. 
He underwent hip replacement 
surgery two months later and 
was sidelined for eight weeks.
“I was hobbling around back 
then,” he said.
He isn’t hobbling around 
anymore. Schaefer played in five 
softball leagues last summer, 
about 80 games in total. He 
played in the outfield and infield 
and pitched.
Schaefer didn’t like the two 
games that sandwiched his 300 
on Jan. 23. He said they were 
characterized by bad breaks and 
frustration.

But his perfect game was 
about as perfect as possible, 
according to his teammates on 
the NHL Property Management 
team (Schaefer owns NHL 
Property Management).
“My teammates told me that 
every ball in my 300 game was 
right in the pocket,” Schaefer 
said. “Rick Sherline [a teammate] 
said there was only one ball 
where all 10 pins didn’t go into 
the pit.”

Schaefer’s 742 was his third 
700 series of the Brotherhood-
Eddie Jacobson season. He was 
averaging 215 going into league 
play Feb. 6.
In an interesting coincidence, 
Jeff Berlin was competing on 
the set of lanes next to Schaefer 
when Schaefer rolled his 300 
game in 2018. The same thing 
happened Jan. 23.
Schaefer now has 11 300 
games in his bowling career, 
which stretches back about 
40 years. He’s had seven 
800 series, another bowling 
milestone, but none of those 
series has featured a 300 game.
Josh Alpert and Brandon 
Achtman were the stars of 
Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson 
play Jan. 30, leading the way in 
the night’s bowling.
Alpert rolled a 298 game 
and 726 series, both lifetime 
bests. He was a league-best 
108 pins over average in his 
298 game and 156 pins over 
average for the night. Achtman 
was a league-best 184 pins over 
average with his 682 series.

Sasha Hartje guards the Team USA net 
during the World University Games.

GARY KLINGER

Perfect game bowler Lyle 
Schaefer (front left) with 
teammates (clockwise) 
Harold Grossbart, Stu 
Epstein and Rick Sherline.

Montreal Star 
is Tanzman 
Tournament MVP
Gabe Bodokh from the Hebrew 
Academy of Montreal was named 
the Most Valuable Player in 
the fifth annual David Tanzman 
Memorial basketball tournament, 
held in late January at Farber 
Hebrew Day School in Southfield.
Ezra Feen (Atlanta Jewish 
Academy) received the 
Sportsmanship Award, and he also 
was one of the six All-Stars named 
along with Benji Gardin (Farber), 
Ben Avner (Denver Academy 

of Torah), Noam Azagury (Hillel 
Academy of Pittsburgh), Elior 
Haimovici (Montreal) and Aviel 
Metz (Columbus Torah Academy).
Here are the winners of the 
tournament’s skills competitions: 
Shooting Stars-Gardin; 3-point 
contest-Ari Schon (Farber); Hot 
Spot-Zachary Agichtein and Sam 
Kutner (Atlanta).
Farber won its first three 
tournament games, then lost to 
Montreal in the championship 
game.

Groves Tennis Standouts Make a Racquet
Birmingham Groves High School singles players Michael Liss and Nolen 
Koven and the doubles team of Jake Rosenwasser and Dylan Wolf were 
named to the Division 2 All-State Team by the Michigan High School Tennis 
Coaches Association.
Liss, a sophomore, had a team-best 26-6 record last fall. He played No. 2 
singles. Groves’ co-MVP for singles was a regional tournament champion and 
state tournament semifinalist.
Koven, a senior, played No. 1 singles. His 22-9 record was second-best 
on the team behind Liss. He shared singles MVP honors with Liss. He was 
a regional champion and a state semifinalist, losing in three sets to the No. 1 
seed.
“One of the best leaders we’ve ever had,” 13-year Groves coach Dave 
Farmer said about Koven.
Rosenwasser, a junior, and Wolf, a senior, played No. 1 doubles. They were 
21-12. They made it to the regional finals and state finals, but lost both times.

JENNIFER LISS

Michael Liss of Groves 
returns a shot during a 
match last fall.

HEBREW ACADEMY OF MONTREAL

Josh Levisohn, head of school at Farber Hebrew Day School, 
congratulates David Tanzman Memorial Tournament MVP 
Gabe Bodokh of the Hebrew Academy of Montreal. 

