Yeshiva entered the Eastern Conference Roller Hockey Association’s regional championship tournament in Feasterville, PA, this weekend as the number-one seed after finishing the regular season 11-0-1. After sweeping their round robin games (1-0, against Rochester Institute of technology, and 7-1 against Shippensburg University) they received a quarterfinals bye. They beat St. Joseph’s University in the semifinals 4-3, with Etan Bardash (Teaneck) scoring with 4 minutes left in the final period to break a 3-3 tie after going down 3-1 entering the 3rd period. Yeshiva played their rival Millersville University (Lancaster, Penn.) in front of a raucous crowd in the championship. Yeshiva won 5-1, with goals from Avi Margulies (West Hempstead, NY), Jesse Gordon (West Hempstead, NY), Ari Drazin (Montreal, Qu), Captain Amir Gavarin and Benjy Shulman (Teaneck, NJ) to claim Yeshiva’s first athletic title.
The Yeshiva team stayed by families nearby in Northern Philadelphia’s small but vibrant Jewish community and had meals as a team in the shul. As with all of their away games which have been as far as Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the community gladly hosted the team.
A few Yeshiva players earned awards from the ECRHA with Daniel Genachowski (Woodmere, NY) winning student athlete of the year, Avi Margulies winning Rookie of the Year and Joseph Robin (Fair Lawn, NJ) winning Goalie of the Year and playoff MVP. The awards ceremony was held on Friday night and the awards were accepted by the league on behalf of the players. The league issued a statement on the national website explaining that the league accepted the awards on their behalf due to “the players’ strict observance of the Sabbath” not allowing them to participate.
Yeshiva was applauded by the league commissioner William Bourque, as being “an absolute pleasure to deal with, and an even greater pleasure to watch play and dominate as they did.” Yeshiva was allowed to wear their yarmulkes during their team photo for the league, deviating from the standard and strict league policy of no headwear during team composite photos.
Although almost all other schools have their programs sponsored and run through their athletic department, Yeshiva managed to succeed with the help of very generous YU benefactors. With their championship status, Yeshiva is now allowed to make the move into a division higher, Division 2 for next year, and will need to raise more money again.
