New England Sports Network Broadcaster for the Boston Bruins

When Billy Jaffe was four years old, the place you would most likely find him was sitting in front of the television watching hockey. “I was mesmerized by hockey, I just absolutely loved it,” says Jaffe, the 52-year-old correspondent for the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins on NESN, the New England Sports Network.

Surprisingly, the first time he played hockey he “hated it, and cried because I couldn’t skate.” But thankfully his father forced Jaffe back on the ice, where he became good enough to end up a player, captain and coach for the USA ice hockey team at three Maccabiah Games.

Jaffe’s first experience at the Maccabiah was in 1997, the first time ice hockey was included in the games. He served as captain for the USA’s ice hockey team, which lost to Canada, and finished with a silver medal.

Jaffe’s fondest memory from the ‘97 Maccabiah Games was the comradery of the team, built during their travels around Israel for a week before they started their two weeks of hockey competitions against Canadian, Israeli and the European teams.

After one year, ice hockey was removed from the Maccabiah because at the time, Israel had only one ice hockey rink in Metula, in northern Israel, which was too far from where the rest of the games were being played. Ice hockey was brought back in 2013 when Jaffe acted as coach for USA’s hockey team, which again finished with a silver medal.

The third time Jaffe participated in the Maccabiah was in 2017, when he served as both a player and a coach for USA’s hockey master’s team, finishing with a bronze medal.

That year, Jaffe experienced playing hockey at the newly built ice rink at Jerusalem’s Pias Arena. “Playing in Jerusalem, in a packed stadium, made a big difference as a part of the Maccabiah Games,” he said. Jaffe introduced Dan Craig, known as the NHL’s “ice guru,” to Israel’s ice hockey officials, which led to the partnership that built the Jerusalem rink.

When he isn’t on the ice, Jaffe is a hockey analyst and commentator for the Boston Bruins on NESN. He never envisioned himself as a commentator, having only covered one hockey game in college, but that was enough. Twenty years ago he took a chance when offered the opportunity to join the radio broadcast for the Chicago Blackhawks, and the rest is history.

Throughout his broadcasting career, for which he has won three local Emmy awards, Jaffe has served as a correspondent, color commentator and reporter for the Chicago Wolves, college hockey on Fox Sports, the Atlanta Thrashers, which later became the Winnipeg Jets, and the New York Islanders on the Madison Square Garden Network.

Jaffe began working for NESN in 2012 following the Bruins’ Stanley Cup victory, working both as an analyst live in the booth during games, as well as in the studio. Jaffe loves that while in the booth, despite all his preparation, he still has no idea what is going to happen. But that won’t prevent him from “pointing out something that fans didn’t see, analyze it and bring a different opinion or point of view, all while entertaining.”

While in the studio, he finds something that most fans might have missed during the game and explains it in a way that helps them say, “I get it and now I can look for that the next game.”

What Jaffe loved most about his three Maccabiah experiences was “representing your country, your family, your culture, and doing it all through hockey and in Israel.” Jaffe is not sure if he will play or coach in another hockey game at the Maccabiah, but, he said, “it would be nice to win gold.”

Danielle grew up in Teaneck, and made aliyah to Jerusalem following her graduation from Rutgers University. Danielle teaches English at colleges in Jerusalem and has been involved in both formal and informal education for a variety of organizations. Danielle believes that important life skills and lessons are often not ones learned in the classroom, but can be learned from team sports.