NHL should not stay silent on IIHF decision to ban Israel over safety concerns

Bobby Holik is the most forthright professional athlete whom I have covered throughout my career. The two time Cup winning Devil and one time Ranger is a passionate advocate for ideals in which he believes. He believes in Israel after having spent time in the country running hockey schools starting in 2017 before becoming the volunteer head coach of its U 18 and U 20 programs the past few years.

And he is asking the NHL to intercede with the IIHF to ensure that Israel is permitted to participate in tournaments from which it was banned earlier this week by hockey’s international governing body ostensibly over concerns of safety and security. (The IIHF clarified its position Friday, saying the ban currently extends only to a U 20 event in Bulgaria later this month, while meetings will be held to determine the policy of future tournaments, including World Championships.) “This hockey situation presents a great opportunity for the league to make a stand and somehow confront the IIHF,” Holik said by phone on Friday from his home in Wyoming.

“To me, this is an extension of the Boycott Divest Sanction (BDS). It’s like, ‘Hey, we don’t want to be uncomfortable, we’ll just keep the Jews out of it.’ “This is just people finding ways to show their antisemitism. Nobody stands up. Nobody says anything. So they keep doing it. I could ask NHL and people in hockey to make a stand for Israel, but nobody wants to go that way.

The NHL works closely, I believe, with the IIHF on Olympic Games and other things. I think they should somehow put a little heat on the IIHF.” Deputy commissioner Bill Daly told Slap Shots via email that the league had reached out to the IIHF. “We have been in contact with the IIHF to try to get a better understanding of both the scope and the underlying rationale for the decision that was announced earlier this week,” Daly wrote.

“We will have no further comment at this time.” Holik, 53, is a native of Jihlava, Czechia. He became a U.S. citizen in 1996. He says of himself, “I am a lifelong conservative, but I don’t preach it, I live it. “I grew up in central Europe. Thirty five years after the end of World War II, there was sentiment among some of the population that if you could just get rid of the Jews, there would not be any more problems,” Holik said.

“But this did not align with my experience or knowledge. “So when I grew up and moved to the United States, I got to live among Jewish people, got to read and learn from uncensored history books, and my belief was completely confirmed that Israel was doing something right, and it was good for the world.

“Ultimately, to me, it’s about Israelis, and their love for life and their love for peace, the desire to be left alone, and for what [Thomas] Jefferson called, ‘the pursuit of happiness,’ ” he said. “Israel is like the birth of a child. We all know how it happens, but every time it happens, it’s a miracle.

The existence of the state of Israel is a miracle every single day.” Holik, whose involvement in Israeli hockey was facilitated by Stan Fischler, told me about the antisemitism his teenaged players have confronted on the world stage. No. 16’s heart aches. “During these times we encountered antisemitism.

That also went for me as the boss of the team,” said the center of New Jersey’s famed 1994 95 Crash Line. “I don’t want to go into details, but we had a severe antisemitic confrontation. I didn’t like it one bit. “These kids are 16, 17 years old. They don’t need to deal with this. They just want to play hockey.” The IIHF banned Russia and Belarus from international competition in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

The official reason for banning Israel is over safety concerns. “It is a security matter. Just work a little harder. Spend more money,” Holik said. “There is no better thing to do than to invite Israeli teams where you have 16 or 17 year old Israelis playing against others on the world stage to see that they are not genocidal people.

They are people. I think that is the best way. “Let’s give them the opportunity to mix with others in a safe environment. Trust me, if they are invited, the state of Israel would do everything possible to provide security so that the players are safe. I’ve been there. I cannot go into details, but our teams were always surrounded by security.” The NHL is finalizing plans for a four nation best on best tournament next winter that will exclude Russia.

This is obviously political. The league cannot distance itself from the world in which it lives. “It’s hockey. Some of those teams who were scheduled to play at the U 18 or U 20 tournaments are in Canada now, practicing and preparing for these tournaments,” Holik said. “But they are going to come back and not go anywhere because they got boycotted or sanctioned.

“I understand that there’s probably not much the NHL can do, but don’t tell me they don’t have an opinion about this. Everyone is like, ‘I don’t want to rock the boat,’ or whatever. Too many people say nothing. “I am not saying that the NHL should boycott the IIHF, but they have to have an opinion.

The leadership has to have an opinion.” The opinion, at least for the moment, is being withheld. Perhaps it will be expressed when the IIHF makes its next statement. “I try to stand up for what’s right. And I believe that Israel is the best of humanity, not the other way around,” Holik said.

“It’s important for me to show support, make a stand and not just be quiet when this is taking place.” There is no law under which a player must sign with the NHL team by whom he was drafted. So when Cutter Gauthier, the fifth overall selection of the 2022 draft by Philadelphia, t old the Flyers he would not sign with them, he was simply exercising his rights under the CBA the way Adam Fox once promised to do, and the way Jimmy Vesey, Kevin Hayes, Mike Van Ryn and Blake Wheeler (to cite a few) have already done.

Gauthier’s camp informed the Flyers of this decision before the 2023 draft. This was not sprung on the Philadelphia hierarchy at the last minute. If the Flyers then spent the next six months in denial, that’s not on the Boston College sophomore. A trade was made with Anaheim in which the Flyers acquired young defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second rounder early in the week.

Why now? There’s no great answer unless Drysdale was always the club’s primary target. Regardless, Gauthier — a sophomore at B.C. who is expected to sign at the end of the Eagles’ season, handled himself with class in his post trade press briefing. His camp has been silent. No recriminations.

With one exception, everyone acted responsibly in the trade’s aftermath. And that exception would be the juvenile masquerading as the CEO of Comcast Spectacor who goes by the name of Dan Hilferty, a 69 year old who went on a podcast and gleefully whipped up the audience against a 19 year old. “I feel bad for Cutter.

… Well I don’t really feel bad for Cutter when he comes to Philadelphia,” he said as if he were Dan from Cedar Park. “It’s gonna be a rough ride here, and he earned it.” Quite a display from a member of the NHL Board of Governors, who should be held accountable by the league for his words promising a hostile environment for Gauthier when he plays in Philadelphia.

Subtle and classy, Hilferty was not. Childish and reckless, he was..