Hail the Kings – Kfar Saba Takes National Crown in Style

The inaugural season of the Israel National Hockey League (INHL) reached its climax on Friday morning – and what a climax it turned out to be!

When a season-long tournament comes down to a single decisive game you always hope that this will be an occasion to savior for a long time. Life is unpredictable though and sometimes the Grand Finale may disappoint. Fortunately, this was not the case this time as Kfar Saba Kings and Bat Yam Chiefs, two best teams of the regular season, treated spectators to a 13-goal thriller, keeping everyone on the edge of their seats until the dying minutes. This was exactly what the doctor ordered for an encounter that happened to be the first-ever national ice hockey championship game to be televised live by Sport5 channel. Perfect time to bring the fastest team sport on the planet to a nationwide audience!

Both teams, fully aware of the importance of the moment, started at full speed right from the puck drop. The Kings jumped to an early 2-0 lead with just over six minutes of play thanks to goals from Viktor Vorobev and Ilya Spektor. But their bright start seemed to make no impression on the opponents as the Chiefs leveled the score with three minutes left in the first period. Nikita Lokin and Kirill Polozov got the better of Kfar Saba goalie Daniel Eliseev but there was still enough time left for the Kings to come in front once again: Nikita Vovchenko made sure that his team went to the first intermission with a slim 3-2 lead.

The second stanza had a different pattern – it was more about emotions than goalscoring skills. Tensions were high and officials had to take over and calm the players down. As a result, both penalty boxes were visited regularly – we saw five power plays compared to none in the first 20 minutes. The Chiefs’ Itay Vaitz was the busiest of all having been sent to the sin-bin twice. But his contribution to the game was not just being a villain – in between his two penalties he helped Ariel Kapulkin score the only goal of the session; 3-3 and the stage was perfectly set for the final 20 minutes of the season.

The third period started just like the first one – yet again Aviv Milner and Spektor gave the Kings a two-goal cushion, yet again this proved insufficient. With two precise strikes, Polozov made the score level at 5-5 – at the same time placing his bid for the Man of the Match award with 5=3+2 points. But it didn’t take long for the Kings to find a hat-trick hero in their own ranks, and Spektor’s goal at 52:17 proved to be the game-winner. Suddenly, the Chiefs found themselves unable to get back into the game for the third time of asking and in the closing minutes, Yuval Turner and Vorobev put the outcome of this fiercely contested encounter beyond any doubt; 8-5 – Kfar Saba Kings are 2022/23 INHL champions!

Thus, the Kings organization stays in line for a unique sweep of the national titles. Its minor teams have already come victorious in Youth and U13 divisions and on Wednesday, July 19^th, the final game of the Juniors league will be contested between KS Kings and North Stars from Metulla. Can they make it four out of four? The answer will come shortly.