The United States of America defended its title at the second World Jewish Cup in Metula, Israel, from July 5-15, 2009, winning gold over Canada by a 6-0 score in the final game.

 The USA also won gold in 2007 in the inaugural World Jewish Hockey Championship (popularly called the “World Jewish Cup”), defeating Israel by a 2-1 score in the gold medal game after the Israelis had shocked the professional, Major Junior, CIS, NCAA Division I & Junior A stocked Canadian team by an identical 2-1 score in the semi-finals.

The 2009 tournament featured the Israeli national team, plus the Jewish national teams of the USA, Canada, France, and Russia. The USA was looking to defend its title, while the Canadians came into this year’s tournament vowing to win it.

The Americans featured four professionals, starting with tournament MVP and most valuable goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris. Grumet-Morris, 27, was a draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2002, and has played in the American Hockey League, the ECHL, and the Central League before playing this past season with the Graz 99’ers of EBEL, a league featuring the top professional teams of Austria, Slovenia & Hungary. The Americans were led offensively by tournament most valuable offenseman Alec Kirschner. Kirschner, 22, just completed his rookie professional season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the IHL after having played NCAA Division I hockey with the University of Connecticut. The USA also featured pro offenseman Michael Cohen, an ECHL veteran who scored 11 points in 4 round robin games, and defenseman Dylan Reese, a 2003 New York Rangers draft pick who plays professionally in the AHL with the San Antonio Rampage. The remaining Americans were mostly current and former NCAA Division III collegiate players (second tier of American university hockey) and ACHA Division I players (the third tier of American university hockey), though the team did have NCAA Division I defenseman Doug Kublin (UMass-Amherst) on the top pairing with Reese.

The Canadian team was essentially made up of current and former Junior A players (the level right underneath Canadian Major Junior hockey). The Canadians did not have NCAA Division I or current CIS (Canadian university) players this time as they did in 2007, and had only one Major Junior player (Shawn Frank, their leading scorer with 11 points in four round robin games, who plays for the OHL’s Barrie Colts). In addition, Canada had only two pro players – but their two professionals led the way for the team. In goal, Canada featured Josh Tordjman. Tordjman, 24, plays for the American Hockey League’s San Antonio Rampage, and also played two NHL games this past season for the Phoenix Coyotes. Oriel McHugh, 28, was voted the tournament’s most valuable defenseman. McHugh has played in the Central League, ECHL and the Dutch Elite League. He played this past season with the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central League. The Canadian team got several outstanding performances, including from Kevin Willer, Mitch Goldenberg, Eric Satim, Sy Nutkevitch, Aaron Stein & Jordan Hennick.

Maccabi France, the governing organization of Jewish athletes in France, organized the French team as it did in 2007. The French were missing Maurice & Francois Rozenthal, who played in the inaugural event in 2007. The Rozenthals are longtime members of the French national (& Olympic) ice hockey team, and play in Ligue Magnus (The French Elite League). In their absence, the French team was made up mostly of players from Frence’s Division 2, which is the third tier of French ice hockey. It is basically amateur, with a few semi-pro players also competing in the league. The French team did, however, have one Ligue Magnus player in Antoine Cohen (Dijon), who scored 7 points in 4 round robin games. It also featured 19 year old Daniel Koger on offense, who played professionally in EBEL this past season for the Austrian side Red Bulls Salzburg, as well as being bolstered by two Hungarian Jews who play professionally. The first, goaltender Andras Sajevics, plays in the Hungarian League for Ferencvaros (and has previously played for Ujpest), and the second, Gergely Borbas, plays offense in the Hungarian League for Ujpest (and has previously played for Alba Volan & Dunaujvaros / Dunaferr). Koger had 7 points in the four round robin games, and Borbas contributed 4 points in the four round robin games.

The Russian team was put together on short notice, and featured a mix of former semi-professional players who had once played in Russia’s lower minor leagues and some recreational level players. Most of the players were in their mid-forties. As a result, the Russian team did have some players with very good skill levels, but they quickly tired midway through each game against their much younger opposition, and the lopsided losses they suffered reflected this. The Russians managed to stay close in most of their games through the first period, before collapsing midway through the second period or into the third in most of their games. The team did have Nikolai Maslov & Boris Bokov, former Soviet Elite League players with SKA, but Maslov is 49 years old and Bokov is 55(!), and they could do little to reverse the Russians’ fortunes. The team also had Vitaly Shefer, a 20 year old in the Russian Pervaya Liga (Russian third tier) who has played for Avangard-2 and Vityaz-2.

Israel competed with its national team. Most of the roster was present, although Israeli pro Max Birbraer (who has re-signed with the Brtish Elite League’s Cardiff Devils) was missing due to off-season surgery, and Israeli-American defenseman Casey Russell, who plays NCAA Division I hockey, was unavailable. This was likely the last appearance with the national team for longtime #1 goaltender Jevgeny Gussin. Gussin is now 41 years old, and has obviously seen his skills fade over the past three years or so. Gussin has long been an outstanding goaltender who has oftentimes single-handledly stolen games for Israel, but he has slowed considerably. His backup was Avihu Sorotzky, who, in his twenties, will become the new #1 Israeli goaltender, and who started for Israel at the 2009 IIHF Division II World Championships in Gussin’s place. This was also the last time that two key components of Israel’s offense – captain Sergei Belo and Eduard Revniaga – were playing for the national team. Belo is 39, Revniaga 37, and they are retiring from the national team. Israel’s team is in a state of flux, as new, young players are being integrated into the lineup. The newcomers, however, do not have the professional and semi-professional pedigrees of Israel’s aging ex-Soviet and dual Canadian citizen players. The team’s leading scorers were, as usual, Oren & Alon Eizenman. Oren plays professionally in the AHL & ECHL, while Alon has played in France’s Ligue Magnus. However, due to a series of unfortunate on and off-ice incidents, the brothers have likely seen their last action with the Israeli national team. The incidents sapped the Israeli team’s offense and morale, which led to a lopsided loss to Canada in the semi-finals, before the team managed to regroup and, without the brothers, defeat France for the bronze medal.

Round robin scores were as follows:

Canada 4, Israel 0

Canada 13, Russia 1

Canada 7, France 4

Israel 4, Russia 2

Israel 7, France 5

USA 16, Russia 0

USA 4, Israel 3

USA 12, France 3

USA 3, Canada 2 (OT)

France 9, Russia 3

The tournament was well covered by the Israeli & Canadian press, and was shown on Israeli television.

The Israeli ice hockey federation decided to form this tournament for a few reasons:
First, to show that Israel could host a first-class hockey tournament, second, to get the national team some games, as the national team program usually plays only the games in the IIHF championship each year and nothing else (not even other tournaments or other exhibition/friendly matches), and third, to have Jews who are not Israeli citizens come play the sport they love in their spiritual & ancestral homeland, while getting a chance to tour the country during the tournament off days and experience all of the rich cultural and religious sites. Additionally, the tournament gives hockey some exposure in a country where it is not a traditional sport. Hopefully, the increased exposure will lead to the construction of a rink in Tel Aviv, the country's population center, which would give the sport a chance to truly develop in Israel.

Semi-final scores were as follows:

Canada 9, Israel 1

USA 12, France 0

Israel defeated France 6-3 in the bronze medal game (led by an Avishai Geller hat trick), while the USA stunned Canada with a 6-0 rout in the gold medal game.