Esther Silver, a former hockey player herself, now manages the newly founded Israeli National Women’s hockey team. She learned to skate as an adult in Canada and quickly learned the game. She played goalie for B’nai Brith and other traveling teams in Canada. Silver said, however, “I had lived in Israel previously and I had every intention of returning.” So when Silver moved back, “it became my dream to set up women’s hockey in Israel.” Fifteen years ago Silver began to pursue her dream by starting a hockey camp in Metula. However, the camp she created was quickly shut down. Silver explained saying, “I brought over a coach, and top notch American college-level players, and booked a camp in Metula for the girls, and it was great, everyone showed up, however due to unforeseen circumstances I had to cancel the entire camp at the last minute, and everyone went home.”

This time around, however, a women’s team came to fruition. A man named Levav Weinburg, co-founder of the hockey school in Metulla, “took over hockey in Israel, and saved Israeli hockey.” Silver said that he had a similar vision for a national women’s hockey team and called her last July asking if she would be the manager. Silver’s immediate response was, “Oh my god, of course! Wow this is a reality!” Silver credits the creation of the team to Weinburg. She is the team manager and team doctor, but, “he was the guy who put it all together.”

Silver says that being a former player helps her in managing the team, since she has a great understanding of the game. Since she played goalie herself, she is in charge of coaching the team’s goaltenders when they have practices. She says that although she does not interfere with the two coaches during the games, she can quietly and confidently say to one of the girls, “you should do this, or you should do that” and they can trust what she is saying. Silver added that, “my experience helps because I played at a pretty high level for a woman, so it is really exciting actually to see the girls improve.”

The team itself is made up of a very diverse group of women. The women vary in age, religion, and are also dispersed all around Israel. “Half the girls come from the area of Metula and Nazareth, and the other half come from the central part of Israel, so that is a logistical nightmare. The girls have to pay for transportation, and so that’s a problem but we don’t have a choice, it is what it is.” Silver also noted that the team has players that are “Druze, Muslim, Christian, and obviously Jewish too, and they get along really well. I am impressed. They are very motivated now. They are the nucleus of quite a strong team I believe.”

Being the only women’s team in Israel means that any domestic games played are against men’s teams. That dynamic can sometimes make the games more interesting. Silver relayed moments from last week’s game saying that, “we played against a men’s team, and there were a couple of American guys there who thought they were hot-shots, and our girls I mean you should see it, they were hitting them and using their bodies, I mean the guys were two feet taller and weigh three times as much. The guys were laughing because the girls were good and they couldn’t react as they would in a men’s game when they would just hit the guy. Playing against women, you can’t just hit a woman. They took it pretty well but we were very irritating- like little mosquitos not giving them a chance and taking the puck away from them. I was really impressed. The men sometimes just get pissed off because they do not look good. It is all in good fun for the most part. Silver concluded simply that, “the girls are not intimidated by the guys.”

With the team’s first season already underway, and a big tournament in Serbia coming up in two weeks, Silver thinks that everything is going really well so far. However, she was quick to note their main issue. “Our problem is that we just don’t have enough ice time. It is one game a month. I pushed for a training camp a couple of weeks ago – we don’t have the money for ice. We are getting some sponsors but it’s tough, we are not fully known, but with more awareness hopefully we will be able to get more sponsors.” She added that the Canadian embassy and consulate have been incredibly helpful and generous in providing caps, bags, jackets, and even ice time. She hopes that they can get some Israeli endorsements, and additional ice time: “that’s the only way we can improve.” Ideally, Silver would like to have the resources to practice twice a month and play at least one game per month. In addition she advocates for multiple training camps throughout the year, especially before big international competitions.

The team is traveling to Serbia in a few weeks to play in a tournament against similarly- matched teams. In addition to Israel’s team, women’s teams from Estonia, Bosnia, and Serbia will participate in the tournament. All of the teams are new to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and, therefore, every team will be on similar levels. Silver said that their goal for the tournament is to take advantage of the similar competition, “see where we are at, and to get the experience. I think it will be really good for us.” The competition in Serbia will be very different from the Maccabiah games that will happen later this summer, where the team will be going up against team Canada and team USA. But the most important thing, Esther says, is for “the girls to experience games against other women of the same or better caliber.” The upcoming tournament in Serbia and the Maccabiah games later this year should give the newly founded women’s team the experience they crave and the attention they deserve.