The Grand Finale pitted a resilient defending champion (Irish Shamrocks) against a former one (Israeli Stars of David); puck handlers who liked to control the play vs. pass interceptors whose defensive abilities, speed and shooting accuracy proved their efficiency in converting forced miscues and capitalizing during power plays. The result: a 3-0 victory by the skillful and well-coached Israeli squad.
The opening 20 minutes saw the Stars of David disrupt the Shamrocks’ advances past the red centre line and even out of their zone with forechecking that in the centre ice area. After repeatedly being foiled on stickhandling rushes and cross-ice passes, the Shamrocks resorted to longer, straight ahead ones which resulted in some decent scoring chances.
Nonetheless, the Stars of David scored 2 quick, late goals: one on a power play, the other due to a forced error. With a Shamrock in the (penalty) box, standout defenseman Jordan Weinberg glided in from the right point about 10 feet, considered his options, then blasted a 40ft rocket which hit home just under the crossbar. Less than 20 seconds later, some deep forechecking near the left faceoff cirlce in the Irish zone turned into a snapshot marker which surprised everyone in the building.
Could the Irish adapt? During the middle period, the defending champions pinned the Israelis in their own zone for bunches of minutes. But single shots were all they got due to the Stars’ defensive box strategy which challenged the shooter, then collapsed to limit visibility and rebounds. The efforts that did make it through were handled by the Stars' netminder, who made some timely saves.
This defensive system, carried out with well-disciplined thoroughness, allowed the fewest number of goals throughout the four-day tournament.
The Shamrocks caught a break that could have changed their fortunes with a minute left when two of their opponents were penalized at the same time. They had a 5-on-3 man advantage for a full 2 minutes, exerted continuous pressure, but nothing came of it.
The final period saw a splendid pass interception in the neutral zone by Israeli defenseman Brendan Schwartz who skated in alone to make it 3-0. It also saw some unfortunate behavior from the Irish whose demonstration of frustration detracted from their overall quality of play.
However, that incident failed to mar the exhibition of well-played hockey that the Israeli Stars of David gave to all in attendance. The victory was well-deserved and their championship-calibre play a joy to watch. Notable performers included Alon Eizenman, Stacey Britstone and Jordan Weinberg.
