Israel's national hockey team is undergoing several major changes just after having competed in the second World Jewish Cup from July 5-15, 2009, in Metula, Israel.

Israel's national hockey team is undergoing several major changes just after having competed in the second World Jewish Cup from July 5-15, 2009, in Metula, Israel.

Former Stanley Cup winning coach Jean Perron, Israel's head coach since 2004, has resigned. Perron actually resigned before the tournament started, citing his increasing age and desire to travel less frequently and to spend more time at home in Quebec with his wife and family. Israeli hockey fans will forever be grateful to Mr. Perron, as he led the national team to heights it has never seen before (or since) in 2005 and 2006. Israel won gold at the 2005 IIHF Division II World Championships, competed in the 2005 Spartak Cup with current KHL club Spartak Moscow, as well as the Ukrainian national team, and other pro clubs from Russia, Belarus & Austria, and competed in the 2006 IIHF Division I championships, one level below hockey's elite nations, playing the likes of Germany, France, the UK, Hungary & Japan.

Israel's new head coach is French Canadian Mario Richer, who led the team to a bronze medal earlier this month in the second World Jewish Cup despite seeing seven players go down with injuries in the tournament's early stages. Richer is a former coach of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Gatineau Olympiques.

Israel's long serving team captain, forward Sergei Belo, is now 39 years of age and retired from the national team after the tournament, as did 37 year old forward Eduard Revniaga. Both were key components of the Israeli offense.

In addition, due to a scandal involving several on and off ice incidents at the tournament, Israel's top two offensemen, Oren Eizenman and Alon Eizenman, will likely not return to play for Israel in future competitions.

Also unlikely to return for Israel is long time #1 goalkeeper Evgeni Gussin. Gussin, who long ago played in the Russian & North American minor leagues and has played for years in the Israeli League, is now 41 years old and has obviously seen his skills seriously diminish over the past three years or so.

Add to that the fact that Israeli Max Birbraer is almost never available to play for the team due to professional commitments, dual Israeli-American citizen and defenseman Casey Russell does not yet qualify for official IIHF competition, and dual citizen Israeli-Canadians Ethan Werek & Daniel Erlich decline to play for Israel due to a desire to stay eligible for a chance to one day play for Team Canada, and the Israeli national team faces a tough uphill battle in its rebuilding process, which now must get underway.

It will be a struggle for the Israelis to stay in the IIHF Division II, which they barely managed to do this past year, by virtue of a 2-1 win over North Korea. This year saw a blowout loss to Serbia (a team Israel has defeated in the past), and a loss to Iceland by a 4-3 score (a team Israel traditionally has dominated).

The Israeli Ice Hockey federation should look to use its resources wisely by aggressively pursuing grass roots programs to develop interested youth into ice hockey players, with those showing natural talent being molded into elite players and joining Israeli clubs to strengthen the Israeli League's level of play (and therefore grow the sport in Israel and get the public interested in the game), and with the very best of those also going on to serve as future members of the national team. As with most emerging hockey nations, Israel's hockey fortunes go through cycles, and, since 2007, Israel has been on a downward cycle after the highs of 2004-2006. However, with several thousand youngsters playing inline hockey in Israel, the opportunity is ripe to convert many of them into ice hockey players and rebuild the national team.