New York—The Yeshiva University roller hockey team was approved by the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (ECRHA) to play in Division II, beginning in the 2016-17 season. Yeshiva will face teams such as Boston University, Drexel, Villanova, Stony Brook, Penn State, Endicott University and the University of Delaware. In 2015-16, YU won the Division 4 Championship in its first year of competition.

Team captains Amir Gavarin, Avi Margulies and Ari Drazin were approached by a mutual friend who played for the Baruch team and suggested they create a team for Yeshiva University. With the added help of forward Jesse Gordon, they contacted the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association to make Yeshiva an official member of the college roller hockey league. After some negotiating with the league to make sure no games were played on Shabbos, and a round of self funding by the founders, Yeshiva had a team.

After going 11-0-1 in the regular season, YU went into the eastern regional tournament as the top seed. The Maccabees defeated RIT, 1-0, Shippensburg University, 8-1, and earned a victory over St. Joseph’s Long Island, 4-3, thanks to a last-minute goal by Etan Bardash in the semifinal. YU then beat Millersville University, 5-1, to claim the eastern conference title.

Since this was Yeshiva’s first year in the league, the team was unable to compete in the 2015-2016 national tournament, located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Yeshiva players walked away with multiple awards and all-star nominations, including Playoff MVP and Goalie of the Year Joseph Robbin, Student-Athlete of the Year Daniel Genachowski, and Rookie of the Year Avi Margulies.

Yeshiva is looking forward to another strong year and a chance to take home the national title in 2016-17.