Portlander joins team, skates for Israel

By Toshio Suzuki

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A women's hockey team representing Israel didn't win medals at a recent Canadian tournament, but for a local participant, the thrill of competition was more than satisfactory.
"It was wonderful, it was awesome, it was so cool," said Jodi Berris in rapid-fire succession of the Women's Canadian Multicultural Hockey Championships in Toronto, Canada. The tournament is in its second year, its first for women, and is rooted in an effort to bring Canada's diverse ethnic communities together in the spirit of competition.
"It would have been really cool to bring home the gold medal, although it didn't really matter we win all the games because it was such a great, awesome, amazing bonding experience that I shared with these women," she said.
Team Israel featured players ages 17 to 54, including one mother-daughter combo. With hardly any ice time together as a squad, and with two of their best players not able to attend the first two matches, Israel managed to tie the Chinese team but dropped the following two games to the eventual gold and silver teams, the Ojibwa Northern Storm and the European Sirens, respectively.
Although the Championships were not a national team event, any time there is a hockey tournament in Canada it is likely to garner top tier talent.

Team Israel didn't have a former Olympic Gold Medalist like the Japanese team, but Berris said they did have some young talent, including one 17-year-old with several scholarship offers from Canadian and American universities. Berris herself, prior to five knee surgeries and years of rehab, played club hockey for the University of Michigan and only recently got back on the ice as a referee and then a player.
"I just skated and forgot that I had been hurt," said Berris, who credits her sister in Israel for alerting her to the existence of the women's team. Prior to leaving for Toronto, Berris called the tournament a gift for all her hard work during rehabilitation.
In between games, Team Israel bonded by singing the national anthem, complete with guitar accompaniment, and with a kosher barbecue at one player's home.
Berris also had the opportunity to explore Toronto's Jewish neighborhoods with her parents, reveling in the fact that there were 50 kosher restaurants there.
"Every house in these neighborhoods had a mezuzah," she said, adding that it was quite different from Portland to see so many Jews on the streets.
Whether it was the kosher cooking or the exclusively made Nike team gear, Israel won their final match in the consolation bracket, defeating China 3-1.
"It was a great experience," she said. "It's a lifetime memory that won't be replaced."