46 | OCTOBER 17 • 2024 J
N

T

he JCC Maccabi Games were 
canceled in 2020 and 2021 
because of the COVID-19 
pandemic.
Those cancellations twice deprived 
Noah Tracht of the opportunity to 
play for the Detroit hockey team in 
the Maccabi Games. Then he aged out 
in 2022. He became too old to com-
pete in the event for Jewish teenage 
athletes.
“I remember being disappointed 
about the cancellation in 2020, but I 
thought I just needed to be patient. 
I’
d play next year,
” he said. “When the 
Maccabi Games were cancelled in 
2021, well, that really stung.
”
Fast forward to Oct. 7, 2023. 
Tracht’s life was impacted negatively 
again by another terrible event. 
The West Bloomfield resident was 
in Israel, studying and working in a 
gap year after graduating from Frankel 
Jewish Academy, when Hamas 
launched its attack on the country.
Tracht had arrived in Israel in late 
August 2023 and planned to stay until 
late May or early June this year. 
In addition to taking classes in 
Israel, he was an intern chef at Dvora, 
an upscale kosher restaurant in Tel 
Aviv. He also was living in Tel Aviv.
His internship wasn’t because he has 
a career goal to be a chef. He just has a 
keen interest in cooking.
“It’s a skill I can use my entire life,
” 
he said.
Tracht’s life in Israel was good. 
But his plans to stay there until this 
year had to be changed because of the 
Hamas attack. He returned home Oct. 
21, 2023.
A few months later, an opportunity 
presented itself that eased the pain of 
leaving Israel.
In January, Tracht joined his father 
as an assistant coach for the Detroit 
hockey team coached by Mark Berke 
that would compete in the Maccabi 
Games this summer hosted by 
Detroit.
After being shut out twice from 
playing hockey for Detroit and partic-
ipating in the Maccabi Games, Tracht 
finally was able to partake in the 
Maccabi Games.
“
As they say, when one door closes, 

another one opens,
” Tracht said. “I was 
ecstatic, very happy to be an assistant 
coach for Mark.
”
Berke is a neighbor who would have 
been Tracht’s coach in 2020 and 2021 
Maccabi Games.
Tracht got another dose of good 
news after he returned home early 
from Israel.
He had played for the Little Caesars 
18U AA travel hockey team during his 
senior year at Frankel.
His Little Caesars coach, Johnny 
Sayig, knew Tracht had a year of eligi-
bility remaining, and contacted him. 
Sayig told Tracht there was an open 
roster spot and asked him if he’
d like 
to rejoin the team. His answer was an 
emphatic “yes.
”
“I loved playing on that team,
” 
Tracht said. “It was just like a family 
to me. Playing with the guys again 
gave me a sense of comfort, a sense of 
home, after what happened in Israel.
” 

Tracht transferred to Frankel in the 
second semester of his freshman year 
after attending Walled Lake Northern 
High School.
Even though he was a Frankel stu-
dent, he was able to play on the WL 
Northern prep (junior varsity) hockey 
team when he was a sophomore and 
junior because he lived in the WL 
Northern enrollment area.
Tracht is now a 19-year-old fresh-
man at Loyola University of Chicago. 
He’s not sure what career path he’ll 
follow there, but he’s continuing his 
hockey career as a forward on the uni-
versity’s club team.
Ryan and Debbie Tracht are Noah’s 
parents. Noah has a twin sister Emily 
and a younger sister Jessie, 16, who 
played volleyball for Detroit at the 
Maccabi Games this summer. 

Please send sports news to 

stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

Silver Linings

Noah Tracht found joy through hockey 
after the COVID-19 pandemic and Hamas 
attack on Israel impacted his life.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

SPORTS
Noah Tracht in 
Jaffa, Israel, in 
September 2023
quick hits

BY STEVE STEIN 

Ben Rosenblatt’s Reward 
for Perseverance: His First 
Goal for Syracuse Soccer

Ben Rosenblatt 
played in 47 games 
for the Elon University 
men’s soccer team 
from 2020-23 
before transferring to 
Syracuse University 
for his final season of 
college soccer.
In those 47 games for the North 
Carolina school, Rosenblatt scored 
four goals. The graduate student from 
Huntington Woods already has his first 
goal at Syracuse. It happened Oct. 5 
and helped the Orange defeat visiting 
Notre Dame 2-1 in an Atlantic Coast 
Conference game.
Nine minutes into the second half 
of a scoreless game, Rosenblatt found 
the back of the net. He corralled 
a deflected crossing pass from 
teammate Gabe Threadgold and sent 
a shot past the Notre Dame goalie.
“I took a step back, threw my 
(left) foot at the ball and it went in,” 
Rosenblatt said.
Notre Dame (5-2-3, 2-2-0) tied 
the game five minutes later, but 
Threadgold scored 1:36 after the 
Notre Dame goal to give Syracuse 
(5-4-3, 1-2-2) its first ACC win of the 
year.
The goal that Rosenblatt scored had 
a special meaning for him.
“It was awesome because I’ve been 
fighting through an injury. It was nice 
to be rewarded for all that work,” he 
said.
Rosenblatt’s injury is a sports hernia 
in his right groin. He said he’s been 
feeling the effects of it for about six 
months and doing what he can to 
manage the pain so he doesn’t need 
to have season-ending surgery.
Rosenblatt was a 2020 Jewish 
News High School Athlete of the 
Year and the recipient of a Dr. Steve 
and Evelyn Rosen Stars of Tomorrow 
Scholarship. He played soccer for only 
his sophomore year at Berkley High 
School, opting to play travel soccer 
the rest of the time.

Ben Rosenblatt

