Skating on thick ice in Jerusalem

April 5, 2011 - 9:07 PM by

You wouldn’t expect Israel to hatch a gaggle of good ice skaters and hockey players, but for the second straight year, a team of 12- and 13-year-old ice hockey players from Israel has captured the Class B trophy in the Bernières-Saint-Rédempteur (BSR) International Pee-Wee Tournament in Quebec.

It’s especially remarkable considering they practice most of the time on roller skates since there’s a dearth of ice rinks in the country.

In Jerusalem, the lack of skating rinks has been temporarily solved, with the opening for a month of a beautiful skating facility in a temporary pavilion in Safra Square in front of City Hall.

The rink was packed when I went with my son last week – it felt like a return to the roller skating and ice skating rinks of my youth with rock & roll oldies blasting out of a soundsystem, teenagers whizzing back and forth trying to impress each other and lots of falling down and laughter.

It may seem commonplace in middle America, but such unfettered fun in the middle of Jerusalem, within sight of the Old City, isn’t a common occurrence – especially the appearance of ice in the normally above freezing temperatures.

Ice skating was the perfect antidote to the heaviness that usually permeates the town, and afterwards, walking along the pristine light rail tracks in the middle of suddenly picturesque post-roadwork Jaffa Road on the way to buy – what else – an ice coffee at Aroma, I really did have the feeling of being in small town USA heading to Arnold’s Drive In.

Maybe they should make the skating rink a permanent city attraction.

Tags: • Category: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Sports 

Comments

One Comment on Skating on thick ice in Jerusalem

  1. Mike 71 on Wed, Apr 6th 2011 8:05 PM

    2. It would be impressive to see Israel someday field a competitive NHL franchise team to challenge Canada and the U.S. for the Stanley Cup! Introducing Israeli kids to ice hockey is only the first step and with enough training and good rinks, it will someday happen!

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