Israel men's national ice hockey team

Eliezer Sherbatov drew international attention when he first played in the 2005 IIHF World U18 Championship Division III, in Bulgaria, at the age of 13, becoming the youngest player to step on the ice in an under-18 ice hockey world championship.[5][6] He scored 9 points (4 goals + 5 assists) in 5 games, as the team won a bronze medal, Israel's first in hockey in a championship tournament.[6][7][8]

The team was promoted to the IIHF World Championship Division I in 2005 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.[9] The following year the team was relegated again to Division II.[10] In 2010, Israel was relegated to Division III.[11]

However, in 2011 the team finished first in Division III Group B, earning a promotion back to Division II.[12] Israel won all five of its games by a combined score of 57–9, and was promoted to the IIHF Division II WHC to be played in 2012.[6] Sherbatov led the tournament in points, goals, assists, and +/-, earning 26 points (14 goals + 12 assists) in just four games.[13] He was named the best forward of the tournament.[13][14]

At the 2012 IIHF World Championship Division II tournament in Bulgaria, the Israeli team was able to stay in the second division.[14] Beginning in 2015 and still as of 2020, Sherbatov was captain of the national team.[15][13]

In 2019, the team won the gold medal in the 2019 IIHF World Championship Division II Group B tournament in Mexico City, Israel's first gold medal in hockey.[16][8] With the win, the team qualified for the World Championships Division 2A.[17] Sherbatov was named Best Forward, and had the best +/- rating, was the top goal scorer, and was the top scorer with 15 points (7 goals + 8 assists) in 5 games.[14]

Israel has tried to qualify for the Olympics four times. In their first attempt in 1996 for the 1998 Winter Olympics they played Greece in a preliminary match in Metula, which they lost 10-2. However, Greece used ineligible players, so Israel played another preliminary match against Yugoslavia, in Kaunas. Israel lost the game 5-3, but ended up being disqualified anyways due to use of ineligible players from Russia.[19] The scores for both forfeited matches are recorded as 5-0.

Israel's second attempt was in 2012 for the 2014 Winter Olympics, where they were the lowest-ranked country attempting to qualify at 40th place.[20] Israel was placed in a preliminary qualifying group with Croatia, Serbia and Mexico for a round-robin qualifier in Zagreb, in which they lost every game.

In 2015 Israel attempted to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics, and were placed in the first preliminary round. In their group matches held in Tallinn, they were unable to qualify for the second preliminary round, beating Bulgaria but losing to Estonia and Mexico.

Israel's most recent attempt was in 2019 for the 2022 Winter Olympics. For the first time, they were ranked high enough to skip the first round of qualification, and were placed in the second pre-qualification round held in Brașov. In their group they lost to Romania and Iceland, but were able to beat Kyrgyzstan in overtime.

As of 27 April 2024

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