METULA, Israel—The finger of territory where the farmland here juts between Lebanon and Syria’s Golan Heights is as close as this Mediterranean spot comes to Arctic climes. And, thanks to millions of dollars from Jews in Canada, this is home, too, to Israel’s only regulation hockey rink.

That makes Metula a hot destination for many of the million-plus Russian immigrants to Israel, especially hockey players. Teams now draw a crew of international hockey fanatics to Metula’s ice on weekends. With yarmulkes tucked under helmets, and the occasional payot, or side curls, swinging free, religious skaters shoot and check fiercely, yet seldom keep score as their shots sail into nets.

“Pass, pass!” says Mike Mazeika, a Canadian who came here to teach the game to Israelis. “Take him to the corner, to the corner!,” says his rival at rink-side, Andrei Shtefuzza, once a professional player in the Soviet Union, now coaching Rishon Le’tsyon’s Ice Devils, Israel’s toughest club team.

“It’s a problem, but there’s no real rink to play on in central Israel,” says Coach Shtefuzza, who most nights teaches a contact-free game on inline skating “rinks” in Tel Aviv’s suburbs.

He has 250 protégés now, many of whom skate on ice only once or twice a year, and then only after traveling three or more hours to Metula. The tiny village of less than 2,000 residents doubles in size during big hockey tournaments, when players from across Israel fill Metula’s hotels and guest houses. more…

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