Yeshiva Ice Hockey League

by: Peshie Needleman

Question:  What’s better than a husband who is obsessed with ice hockey?

Answer: A husband and son who are obsessed with ice hockey!

I, for one, am happy that Tzvi is signed up for the new Yeshiva Ice Hockey League.  Why?

I’ll give you my top 10 reasons:

1.  I anticipate having no problems in getting him to do his Sunday homework.  The new rule is:  Finish your homework or you can’t go to Yeshiva Ice Hockey.  Tests, worksheets, Rashis, Mishnayos, come what may, it will be completed by 4:00 p.m. every Sunday.

2.  No more shlepping to Bear Mountain to go ice skating.

3.  No more shlepping to the ice rink at the Palisades Mall to go ice skating.  I am the first to admit that I love shopping, but Sundays at the mall are just too noisy and crowded for me.  Lavi, is of course thrilled to have me spending less time at the mall!

4.  I am happy to have Tzvi under the loving tutelage of Rabbi Yehudah Koblick, who is a very good friend of Lavi’s.  Calm, friendly, full of chessed, always b’sever panim yafos, good with kids, that’s the Koblicks.  We feel confident and happy that Tzvi will learn how to play better and certainly learn good midos and sportsmanship.  In a family like ours where kids have been known to throw full scale fits upon losing Junior Monopoly, these good sportsmanship lessons will be welcome!

5.  I am happy that Tzvi will have an athletic outlet which will refresh him so that he will be able to learn well in yeshiva.  Better to have him get his energy used up by playing ice hockey rather than, say, taking apart his sister’s bicycle.

6.  I am grateful that he can play his favorite sport in a frum setting, with frum kids.

7.  If Tzvi plays in his own league every Sunday, hopefully he will stop nudging (“hock-y-ing me”) to watch Lavi and the Forshay Flyers.  (This was fine during the summer but now that school started, we can’t allow him to stay up so late).

8.  He looks both cute and grown up at the same time, when he’s all geared up in his pads and helmet and skates.

9.  He has developed more self confidence and more grace since he’s taken up skating.

10.I enjoy seeing my children do things that I can’t do.  After all, as parents, do we really want Miniature Me’s as kids?  Or do we want to stand back and observe our children developing hobbies and talents that we never did!   If your singing shattered windows as a kid, you’re even more in awe of your child’s perfect rendition of Od Yeshama.  I don’t skate very well.  I have enjoyed watching my children, under Lavi’s careful coaching, improve with time.  I am happy in their happiness.  I feel pride in their pride! It is not the ice skating per se, but the fact that there was something that they couldn’t do, and they tackled it with gusto and maturity and perseverance, and now, they can skate.