The season is over for the Chicago Hitmen :hitmen:. It is a time for the players from this NWJHL squad to relax and reflect, to prepare for the upcoming SHL entry draft.

Some players use the time to work harder than ever. Some people go on vacation. Some of the team will likely take the time to just stay and bed and sleep. Some players might even enter the draft in worse condition than that in which they finished off the season. And some, like a certain goalie from the Holy Land, will spend their off-season working on something completely unrelated to hockey.

Just hours after Chicago’s loss to the Montreal Impact :impact:, the loss which ended their season, Yehudah Ben-Lev announced that he and Yam would be returning to Israel for the off-season, where he will ignore all physical endeavors in favor of learning Torah.

David Powers: First of all, congrats on finishing out the season! How do you feel about your performance?
Yehudah Ben-Lev: *laughs* For an eleventh-round draft pick, not too shabby! I definitely feel like I could have done better. But the games in which I played but did not get the decision, I feel like I stopped almost every shot, and then my record in games in which I got the decision was just under .500, I believe. So overall, I think I did okay. I even got a number one star of the game, didn’t I?
DP: Well, it’s tough to argue with the facts you present, that’s for sure. What fueled your decision to spend this off-season learning, as opposed to staying in the States and continuing to train and work towards the draft?
YBL: A whole lot of factors, really. I feel like I didn’t pay enough attention to the religious side of life this season. I want to spend some time with my family. And there may be some other big stuff going on in my life very soon, so I want to spend some more time at home before that happens.



DP: Is this the same ‘big stuff’ that you were being so cagey about last time we talked?
YBL: Yes, yes it is. And before you ask, I’m not telling you until it happens. And you’ll know the second it happens. Trust me on that one.
DP: Fine then. Where are you planning on staying once you get back to Israel?
YBL: I’m not staying at home. My parents decided that they don’t really want me coming home whenever I feel like it, so my old room is now storage. So Yam and I are going to stay in a hotel in the new city of Yerushalaim.



DP: On a completely unrelated note, what sort of music do you listen to before a game?
YBL: A band you’ve never heard of. There’s this Israeli band, they do a little bit of everything, called Hadag Nahash (Literally, The Fish Snake. It’s a play on the Hebrew words for new driver, Nahag Hadash). I prefer certain songs, of course. A song called Ani Ma’amin (I Believe). Also Lo Maspik (Not Enough). And then I absolutely love Will Smith’s Men In Black song.



DP: Well, thank you so much for sitting down with me today. Enjoy your trip, and good luck in the draft.
YBL: Thanks for the milkshake. Have a good one.

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dat ben-lev


good read