Hockey Night in Israel

I wish this blog had sound because there is no way to get the true effect of this posting without the immediately recognizable (to Canadians) Hockey Night In Canada music playing in the background. Okay, for those of you who know the tune, just hum it in your head while you read. For those of you who don't know the tune, I am sure you can google it. (As I was looking for the link information on the internet, I noticed that it is referred to as Canada's Second National Anthem.)

Okay, back to the point.

This past week Canada found itself -- once again -- facing off against its greatest hockey enemy: Team USA. (While Canadians can tolerate a lot of things American, hockey competence is not one of them.) Now, you may have noticed that for a minute there I was sounding like the old me. The Canadian me. The one who took hockey seriously -- at least during such historical moments as a confrontation for Olympic gold. However, as I have spent the last year and a few months telling you all, I am no longer that Canadian person. Well, not completely.

And my husband -- yes, the same one who so desperately wanted to move to Israel -- is, in this one particular instance, torn between his Canadian past and his Israeli present. Strangely enough, he isn't the only one. This past week, with a little digging, you could easily have found pockets of Canadian hockey fans sitting around televisions throughout Israel totally oblivious to the fact that hockey is no longer part of their lives. Israel is soccer country. And maybe even basketball. But trust me, the only time hockey rises to the surface in the State of Israel is when someone schleps a bunch of retired NHLers to Metullah for a goodwill, fund raising series at the Canada Center in Metullah. (Metullah, for those of you who don't know, is so far north that its next door neighbours are Lebanese nationals.)

If that isn't clear enough, let me put it this way. There are three rinks in Israel and only one of them has skateable ice. Don't challenge me here -- I have been skating since I was two or three. I know my ice.

But what I apparently didn't know was the strength of the pull of hockey and the lifelong commitment that its fans carry.

I have to admit that I was very happy to hear that Canada, despite its sloppy start, was going to play the Americans for the gold medal. It must be innate; the thought of the Americans winning hockey gold is still enough to give me nightmares. It is simply intolerable. That said, I am no more likely to stay up into the wee hours of the morning to watch a hockey game then I am to mosey over to Kalkilya for a cock fight.

This apparently put me in the minority. And it raises the question of divided loyalties. I know governments raise this feeble argument now and again that all Jews have divided loyalties between their countries of citizenship and Israel. I doubt there is an ounce of truth to that theory (someone out there has totally overestimated most Jews), but I suspect the results would be different if anyone took the time to test Canadian-Israeli Jews' hockey loyalty. That would be a different story.

A little story before I wrap up. A few weeks ago Darryl Sitler and Paul Henderson were in Israel for some hockey reason. (I refuse to explain who these men are because if you don't know, you don't deserve to know.) I desperately wanted to meet Paul Henderson first, because he was the hero/saviour in a very important moment of my childhood (sort of like "where were you when Kennedy was shot"? but happier), second, he was only 25 minutes from my house, and third, because unfortunately he has leukemia and this may have been my last chance to meet him. That said, we couldn't go to Tel Aviv to meet them because we had a previous commitment that really was more important. That said, on nights like the one last week WHEN CANADA CONFIRMED ONCE AGAIN ITS HOCKEY GREATNESS AGAINST THOSE STUPID AMERICAN WANNABEES, I was truly sad that there is no Hockey Night in Israel.