The captain of the Israeli hockey team goes to play in the shadow of Auschwitz

Jerusalem (AFP) - The captain of the Israeli ice hockey team Eliezer Sherbatov knew full well that he would attract criticism by signing with the Oswiecim club, a Polish city where the former Nazi camp of Auschwitz is located.

Accused of "treason", he wants instead to show that the Jew has "returned" to "win" on the site of the Nazi genocide during the Second World War.

In Israel, ice hockey is far from a priority ...unless it ties in with history: the Hebrew state is 34th in the men's world rankings and has only 700 players and three indoor rinks to practice this Nordic sport under the blazing Middle Eastern sun.

But when Eliezer Sherbatov, a muscular hockey player from a Russian family who grew up in Canada, the two great powers of hockey, signs a contract with Oswiecim, hockey comes out of the shadows.

The local press takes up the subject.Israelis are taken aback by this choice and others cry "betrayal" on the part of Sherbatov, born in the early 90s in Rehovot, a city outside Tel Aviv , before the family moved to Montreal, the Mecca of ice hockey.

Fan of the Montreal Canadiens, the most successful club in the NHL (North American Championship), his father pushes for him to get on skates.Quick, strong and with an impressive arsenal of fakes, Sherbatov stands out, plays his junior in Montreal with some teammates who have graduated in the NHL.

Sherbatov went into exile in Europe, then in Kazakhstan, to pursue his dream of earning a living playing hockey until a friend told him this summer about the Polish Premier League, and more specifically about the Oswiecim club.

Posted Date: 2020-11-10