On most of the teams he played on growing up, Jonny Lazarus found himself the only Jewish player in the locker room.
Lazarus has always had a deep connection to hockey and Judaism. When he got an opportunity to get involved with the Israel Elite Hockey League (IEHL) — Israel’s premier professional hockey league — he saw an opportunity to make Jewish players feel more represented in the game.
That’s the message Lazarus hopes to carry on this Sunday as he’ll suit up for HC Tel Aviv when IEHL’s USA Challenge Cup returns to UBS Arena, home of the New York Islanders.
“I think the more Jewish hockey players younger kids see, the more they feel that they belong, and they can achieve great things within the game,” Lazarus told amNewYork this week.
IEHL’s USA Challenge Cup returns to UBS Arena
The USA Challenge Cup features Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem Capitals, one of Israel’s most prominent hockey rivalries.
The event will bring together fans to support Israel and the local Jewish community through an authentic Israeli ice hockey experience — featuring several Israeli singers as entertainment, meet-and-greet experiences, merchandise, and giveaways.
“Our players don’t have the name recognition of an NHL player, so to actually have fans meet them, take pictures with them, shake hands, get a few words in together, I think that’s critical to grow our brand, our league, and the sport in Israel itself, or the fans here in New York,” Marc Brunengraber, the IEHL’s commissioner, said.
Last year, Jerusalem beat Tel Aviv in overtime in front of more than 8,500 fans.
“There’s 8,000 people screaming, listening to Israeli songs, waving Israeli flags,” Michael Gennello, Tel Aviv’s captain, recalled from last year’s game. “It was truly a very special experience for me, being someone who grew up in the tri-state area, being one of two or the only Jewish kid on a team, it felt really important, and it was really meaningful to be able to play in a game in front of that amount of people … It was a good homage to Jewish people, and a good way to celebrate the Jewish people and Jewish pride.”
“My favorite moment was standing at center ice with [Gennello], and there was an Israeli song, and we’re just looking at the fans and just admiring, everyone’s with Israeli flags and singing and having fun,” said Yuval Halpert, who plays for Jerusalem. “It was the best thing ever.”
What is the IEHL?
The IEHL normally operates over a condensed summer schedule, allowing players from around the world to play in a competitive league during the offseason.
Israel has had a domestic hockey league since 1990, but with only domestic players on rosters, the level of play plateaued. That was when the IEHL concept came to light.
“The idea of the IEHL was: How can we attract players from around the world who might not otherwise be able to come to Israel?” Brunengraber explained. “Because they’re playing in whatever leagues they’re playing in during the year, but get them to come in the summer, when they might otherwise go to training camps or just do drills. Here’s a chance with a short summer league to give them actual game reps in a competitive environment instead of just training.”
The IEHL’s broader mission is to connect Jewish communities worldwide through hockey. Long-term, according to Brunengraber, the IEHL hopes to expand into a full-time winter-season league and grow the sport of ice hockey in Israel by constructing more ice rinks.
Bringing together New York’s Jewish community
The New York City metropolitan area is home to the second-largest Jewish population in the world, with 2,109,300 people, according to a 2021 report by the Berman Jewish DataBank.
“To be able to grow our league outside of Israel and get a worldwide audience,” said Brunengraber. “So to be able to reach out to the community here and both bring awareness to people who may not have known about last year’s game and reinforce that we’re still around for the fans for this year.”
One thing everyone interviewed for this article made clear: this game is in no way meant to be political.
“Seeing guys like Adam Fox, the Hughes brothers, Zeev Buium, seeing some of these kids not only just be in the NHL, but be stars in the NHL, has been so encouraging for the younger generation of Jewish kids,” Lazarus said. “That’s what I want to represent, not any political messaging.
“Playing this game is about a younger kid on Long Island who wants to play in the NHL that is Jewish and maybe is a minority on their youth hockey team, and this game hopefully can make that kid feel comfortable, because for me, it was a little confusing. I lived in a town that had a large Jewish population, and then when I got to the rink, and I was in the locker room, I was the minority. It was different, and I never fully understood it.”
Puck drop on Sunday is at 5 p.m. ET. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster.
For more information on the IEHL and the USA Challenge Cup, head to the IEHL’s website.
