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Shelby Calof remembers walking with her teammates through the kids portion of Yad Vashem, the official Holocaust Memorial in Israel, unable to hold back her tears. Surrounded by candles and mirrors, Calof listened to the voice on the loudspeakers as it listed names and ages of children who passed away during the Holocaust. Each one felt like a knife to the heart, Calof said.

“That was a very important part of the trip,” Calof said. “That was the one part that kind of broke all of us and really stuck with us. It was emotionally draining.”

Calof is Jewish on her dad’s side of the family, but she never had time to travel to Israel because she was always too busy with hockey. In 2022, Calof went to the country to help bring women’s ice hockey to the Maccabiah Games — widely referred to as the “Jewish Olympics — for the first time.

“I never had the thought of being a part of adding women’s hockey into the games,” Calof said. “It seemed like something to dream of.”

Calof, from Canada, learned of the opportunity from family friend Mitch Miller, whose daughter competed in gymnastics at the 2017 games. Calof became involved in the proposal after the pandemic when Miller put Calof in contact with Melissa Wronzberg.

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Wronzberg wrote articles for Maccabi Canada and had been turned away when she inquired about sending a women’s ice hockey team. Five years later, she saw a post on Instagram from Chelsey Goldberg, who played professional hockey with Wronzberg and was trying to create an American team.

Goldberg’s brother, Chad, played in the 2013 games and she asked to play with the men, but was turned down. Afterwards, she made it her mission to implement women’s ice hockey to the games and was told there would need to be three teams by Hockey Maccabi.

In March of 2021, Wronzberg got to work. She sent an email to Maccabi Canada saying there was interest in the US, Canada and Israel. Goldberg had created a spreadsheet of 50 Americans and 20 Canadians. Maccabi Canada said it would be difficult logistically, but Wronzberg persisted.

The U.S. and Israel put a team together with ease, while Canada struggled. Wronzberg was “hitting a wall.” But then she got a call from Miller, who said Calof was getting names together for the games as well.

“I remember actually started laughing on the phone and said to him, where have you been?” Wronzberg said. “I started to give up hope because I had nothing and couldn’t find enough people.”

Calof searched by going through collegiate rosters, looking for traditional Jewish last names. Calof messaged people who she didn’t know with little success. She received some interest, but many couldn’t commit.

Courtesy of Mitch Miller

On July 4, there was a Zoom meeting for people interested. It was hard to get people to take two weeks off work and pay 8,500 Canadian dollars. With COVID-19, it was hard to have fundraisers to help lower the cost. But, eventually, they finally found enough players.

Miller sent out an email saying “We’re Going to Israel” on July 29. The roster was a makeshift one, with only 16 players. But for the first time in history, there would be women’s ice hockey at the Maccabiah games, which was a “big relief,” Calof said.

“I remember sitting there reading it, like, I couldn’t really believe it was true,” Wronzberg said. “Knowing that it was going to be a chance to not only represent our country, but our heritage as well.

On Canada’s team, some players had been to Israel, while others, like Calof, had never gotten the chance. Calof always considered going on “birthright,” an educational trip that’s free for young Jewish people, but never got to it.

Growing up, Calof celebrated Passover and Hanukkah with her cousins, while going to Synagogue during the high holidays. Her cousins all had Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, but her brother and her never did. She had Jewish friends in high school, but she spent most of her weekends in Toronto playing hockey. The time commitment meant Calof never felt “super connected” to her religion.

Going to Israel changed that.

The Canadian team spent five hours at Yad Vashem. Some players had family that were holocaust survivors or knew people that had family who escaped Nazi Germany. Calof said the team experienced the museum front to back.

Calof described the trip as something bigger than sports. Walking into the Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem with 40,000 people in the crowd was eye-opening for her. Knowing the struggles of Jewish people throughout history and seeing everyone come together in that moment was overwhelming, but made her feel honored.

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Hockey isn’t very popular in Israel, with only a few rinks in the entire country. For the games, NHL owners donated a rink that was put into a basketball stadium. Playing in a round-robin format, the top two teams would play in the gold-medal game.

Canada breezed through the first games of the tournament, having defeated the U.S twice in the round-robin stage. But the teams met again in the final. With a thin roster, the Canadians dressed just 15 players, but Calof stepped up in the final, helping Canada to a 6-2 victory.

Calof was named MVP of the tournament, “controlling the pace” from the defensive end, Miller said. She garnered local recognition. Kids started to ask her for autographs. Calof said it was the only “life-changing” trip she’d ever been on, with the combination of religion and hockey giving her life-long memories and knowledge.

“Maccabi Canada emphasizes that they’ll bring athletes who are Jewish to Israel,” Miller said “But they’ll bring home Jewish athletes, and that’s what I think happened with Shelby.”

Published on February 2, 2023 at 12:22 am

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22