Ashar Wins Division Title !!!

In the teams pre-game meeting I made it very clear that in order to win against a larger, stronger and talented team like Har Torah I would need big games from (and I began to point at) Selter, Fuchs, Berger, Levy. Then pointing to Silvermintz, Elkobi, Cohen and Katz. Then at Klein, Cooper, Teichman, Chesir, Muschel, Winfield and Katznelson. In order to win I needed them all.

Sure Eilan Selter put 3 in the net. Of course Donny Fuchs and Ari Cohen were able to find the back of the net. It was no surprise Berger, Levy, Teichman and Katz were stellar.

What the people in the stands did not noticed was the big game I got from the guys on the bench. Not tonight, but all season long.

See a game is only 36 minutes of playing time. Most players seeing only 8 or 10 minutes of court time. You think our best player became the best player over night? Think again.

It was the total dedication and desire of players like Joey Chesir and Eli Rozenberg who help get this team where it is today. They may not get a lot of game time because of speed and size concerns, but they practice hard and give our playing lines a workout in the dozens and dozens of hours of drills and scrimmages. They are sharp in position and reading a play.

Our backup goalie Yoni Winfeild comes to every practice and game knowing ZAk Rimberg is the best goalie in the league and chances are he will rarely get game time. Yet every week Yoni dawns his goalie equipment and takes thousands of shots to help sharpen the team skills.

Lastly our youngest players Mike Katznelson And Shaolie Naumberg. Not as much game time as they desired, but no two on the Ashar team have improved their games more then these guys. In our practice scrimmage games these two are the play makers, and the bright future of the Ashar Hockey Program.

Coaches sometimes have to make hard decisions. A floor hockey game can change in less than a minute from winning to losing. Up 5 to 3 with three minutes left to play to win the division title, it became my call to play it safe and keep our best lines on the court.

As a testimate to the five players I just mentioned, the rest of the team pressured me on the bench for those full 3 minutes to put those players in. Thats the confidence and respect you have earned this season from your teammates.

Forget the record season, division championship or where we go from here. David and I just want to tell you what a pleasure it was to coach such a fine group of young men this season. And, how proud we and the entire school are of all you have accomplished this season.

We did not get this far alone....... it took 22 of us.....
The 2006 Division Champion Ashar Hockey Team.

Who Are We?

There have been previous Ashar hockey teams that had some great individual hockey talents on them. Some of those players going on to become some of the best Yeshiva high school hockey athletes of the tri state area. Many of them had greater hockey skills than any member of our current Ashar Hockey team. Yet with all that talent, previous Ashar teams never seem to come away with the winning season we enjoy today.

This season is different though from past Ashar Hockey seasons. This season Ashar Hockey has no single superstar. There is not that one player opposing teams know they must cover. This year the biggest threat to the opposition is not from any single individual or standout. The strength of todays Ashar Hockey program is that everything we do, we do as a team. Unity and balance our biggest strength. We practices as a team, scrimmage as a team, travel as a team, eat as a team, play as a team.

On February 12, 2006 Ashar was a team with a different goal. As a team though once again we set out to accomplish the goal we set out to achieve. On this day people whom we never played hockey against got a chance to see who we are.

We set a team goal of raising $10,000.00 this season for a charity. Not even the worst snow storm of the decade was going to stop us. Once again as a team we overcame a challenge and come away proud of our achievement.

As a team we wish to thank all those who support our efforts both on and off the court.

At the start of the season there were many who did not even know our school existed. They know us now.

Who are we? ............ The Ashar Hockey Team.

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There is no place like home.

With each win that Ashar Hockey gets on the road the team has gotten into the habit of celebrating the victories together with a team meal on the road paid for out of the sponsors entertainment budget. Let me tell you, 20 kids get mighty hungry after a hard played game.

This past week not only was the Ashar Hockey team fortunate enough to compile another two "W"s in the wins column, but we also lucked out that last nights game vs. North Shore was our last scheduled away game of the regular season. One more away win on the road and the team would need to be washing dishes in the back of the restaurant in order to pay the bill. Next year we might consider having Ashar Hockey sponsored by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Speaking of reserves, in any normal game there is one player on our team who never seems to have reserves left by the third period. See Donny Fuchs, while known for his stick handling skills is definitely not known for his endurance. Last night however, in the North Shore gym, (the smallest in the league) Donny shined. Well, it was more than a shine actually; it was more like a radioactive glow.

Five. You heard me right! Five goals scored by Donny [lets play in a classroom rather than a gym]Fuchs. It was a stellar showing in this 8 to 3 - sixth win in a row for Ashar.

The confined space in the gym combined with pillars ever 12 feet along the wall made for some serious defensive adjustments. The defense assessed the situation after the first period and adapted. A fine showing for Matthew Chaimowitz, Elli Muschel, Joey Chesir and Michael Katznelson on defense.

Special mentions for Shoalie Naumberg one of our star fifth grade prospects, Eli Rozenberg and goalie Yoni Winfield who stepped into the net to relieve Zak Rimberg in the 3rd period. Yoni stopping everything shot his way.

With our First Place lead expanding, it is now back to the spacious Ashar gym for our next practice on Friday and our last 3 regular season games.

There is no place like home.