O

n July 29, the first-ever
championship of Partners
Detroit’s newly formed
ice hockey league took place at the
Buffalo Wild Wings Arena in Troy.
It was a close game, culminating in
a tense overtime shootout. Five nail-
biting minutes later, as the crowd
cheered, the aptly named Pastrami
Penguins scored and ultimately took
home the oversized trophy.
The winning Pastrami Penguins
— Avi Kohn, Daniel Kohn, Dovid
Rosenfeld, Eli Seligson, Jason Cohn,
Jeff Katzen, Jonah Stern, Ron Stern,
Moshe Perecman, Scott Richmond,
Yosef Belen, Tzadok Eliyahu
and Meir Bulua — also received
championship T-shirts and bragging
rights for being the first winning
team on what is likely the biggest
Jewish hockey league in Michigan.

Hockey isn’t Partners first venture
into the world of sports. For several
years, they’ve had successful football
and basketball leagues.
“Ice hockey was our next natural
foray into things,” said Rabbi Noam
Gross, who has worked for the Young
Professionals Division of Partners
for the past nine years.
He had discussed the
possibility of forming a
Partners hockey league
in the past with Avrumi
Lorkis, 35, an avid player
who has organized
the popular Matan
B’Seter Detroit Hockey Showdown
fundraiser for the past six years. The
two men just weren’t convinced they
could find 60 Jewish hockey players
in Michigan.
“It didn’t seem promising, so we

never pursued it before,” Gross said.
When Noah Linkner, 27, a fellow
hockey aficionado and former NHL
equipment manager, moved back to
Michigan from Florida last year, the
three connected and decided to give
it a solid try.
They spread the word via social
media.
Band director Alan
Posner of Berkley saw
the call out for hockey
players on Facebook one
day.
“I hadn’t played since
college, but I thought it
sounded like a great way to get back
into it,” said Posner, who promptly
signed up together with a friend.
In total, more than 50 men from
the Detroit area signed up, ranging
from established players to newbies.

It took about six weeks to arrange the
admin side of things, from figuring
out where they’d be renting ice,
acquiring jerseys, hiring referees and
organizing the teams.
There’s nothing like a good Jewish
pun and the hockey players had
fun inventing their team names.
Ultimately, it was the Hebruisers,
Tefillin Tough Guys, Edmonton
Mohelers and Pastrami Penguins that
took to the ice.
To even the playing field, Lorkis
offered weekly classes to help
improve the skills of players, if they
wanted.
“I heard from many players who
were pretty new to hockey that they
would never have had the confidence
to say, ‘I’m going to play ice hockey
on a big league,’ but they felt
comfortable saying, ‘I’m going to play
a game and this is just going to be a
fun time,’” Lorkis said.
After 10 weeks of league play
on Monday evenings, they hosted
the playoffs — and the Edmonton
Mohelers and the Pastrami Penguins
faced each other at the championship.
About 50 people, mostly family
and friends of the players, were in the
stands enjoying the kosher munchies
that Partners supplied as they

YESHIVA BETH YEHUDAH

14 | NOVEMBER 3 • 2024 Yeshiva Beth Yehudah Special Edition J
N

Partners Detroit holds first hockey league championship.

Fun and Fellowship
on the Ice

Avrumi
Lorkis

Rabbi Noam
Gross

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Noah Linkner, Avrumi Lorkis and
Rabbi Noam Gross at a recent
Partners learning on Tuesday night

Edmonton
Mohelers
watch the
action from
the bench.

ROBERT BRUCE PHOTOGRAPHY

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUGUST 15, 2024