The inaugural Yeshiva League Alumni Hockey Tournament was held this past Sunday in Teaneck, NJ. Officially the first tournament of any kind for alumni of the Yeshiva Hockey league, teams comprised of former hockey players from 12 different schools competed to benefit Camp HASC.
As a part of the day, each team was asked to help raise funds for Camp HASC. For more than 40 years, Camp HASC has served the Jewish community as the premier summer program for children and adults with special needs, intellectual and physical disabilities. In just a little over a month, through the efforts of the over 180 participants, more than $90,000.00 was raised for this incredible program. Donations can still be made on the tournament website at hockey.camphasc.org. Additionally, sponsoring the event were CareOne at Teaneck, Kosher Guru, Mathnasium and Leeding Builders Group.
The morning session featured all 12 teams in Round-Robin play. The schools were split into four groups of three, two of which played their games in TABC, while the other two went to Maayanot or Yeshivat Noam in Paramus. Each team played two games with the top two teams in each group of three advancing to the Tier I playoffs in the afternoon, while the third place team would move to the Tier II playoffs.
At each site, all players received personalized jerseys based on their school colors, complete with name and number, sweatpants, a water bottle and drawstring bags, courtesy of LNS Enterprises. Out of the morning sessions, Frisch, HAFTR, DRS and SAR won their respective groups, with TABC, Kushner, MTA and Flatbush advancing to Tier I as well. For their efforts, Magen David, Ramaz, HANC and Rambam would be heading to the Tier II bracket.
After the morning games, all teams returned to TABC for lunch catered by EJ’s Place in Teaneck.
In the afternoon, all games were played in Teaneck with the Tier I playoffs taking place in TABC and the Tier II tournament in Maayanot. As that happened, families and kids were able to enjoy a carnival complete with games, a bounce house and slides courtesy of CareOne as well as great food sponsored by Dougie’s.
On the courts, Frisch, TABC, DRS and MTA advanced to semifinals with both games resulting in identical 1-0 victories, setting up a familiar sight over recent years for Yeshiva League hockey fans, a showdown between DRS and TABC. In the last 10 years, the two schools have met three times for the MYHSAL Varsity Hockey Championship. The game was scoreless until late in the 2nd period when DRS defenseman Daniel Litton (DRS ’06) notched the first and only goal. Top Goalie and Tournament MVP Sam Schertz (DRS ’08) shut TABC out the rest of the way, capping off a day where DRS did not yield a single goal in their five games played on their way to the Tier I Championship.
In Tier II, held at Maayanot, Rambam topped HANC 4-0 for the championship behind two goals from Hillel Gross (Rambam ’09) and Jacob Nussbaum (Rambam ’14) and the shutout by Josh Friedman (Rambam ’12).
Additional awards were handed out, courtesy of Crown Trophy of Brooklyn, including Top Defenseman, which went to Litton as well as four All-Tournament team trophies, awarded to Solly Silverman (Frisch ‘09), Gavriel Blum (DRS ‘09), Donny Fuchs (TABC ‘12) and Moshe Jaroslawicz (MTA ‘10).
By Elliot Weiselberg
