New Haven area hockey player member of Israel National Team
November 30, 2005 by Howard Blas
Hockey is alive and well in Israel. The Israel National Team played in the highly competitive Spartak Tournament in Moscow this past August, and they will play in the 2006 World Championships in France (against Germany, Hungary, Japan and France) this April.
And Jeff Russell of Orange is proud that his 21-year-old son, Casey Russell, plays on the Israeli National team. Caseys road to the Israeli team is quite unusual. While Casey, his father and his grandfather, the famous entertainer, Joey Russell, have been lifelong hockey players, fans and supporters, Casey does not live in Israel. In fact, Casey has never even been to Israel.
Caseys grandfather was once a part owner of the New Haven Blades hockey
team-and he has been a
long-time supporter of Israel. Joey Russell was recently honored by the Golan Chapter of the American Red Magen David for Israel. He has been responsible for the purchase of 20 ambulances and mobile intensive care vehicles for the State of Israel through New Haven’s Golan Chapter.
Growing up in a hockey house, Caseys father played hockey at Amity High School and at (then) Quinnipiac College. And Casey started playing hockey at age 2.
Casey played in many leagues growing up, and he played for two years at Amity-Woodbridge. At age 15, Casey chose to play for the Connecticut Clippers Junior B Hockey team. That team won the national junior B title in 2001.
Casey then spent his junior year at Avon Old Farms. He then moved to Iowa where he played a full season for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League. He was then traded to the Youngstown Phantoms of the North American Hockey League. Casey completed his senior year at Valley High School in Des Moines, Iowa.
Casey spent 2004 in Boston playing for the Junior Bruins of the Eastern Hockey League. Then, Casey got an unusual break.
Joey Russell, Caseys grandfather, is the host of a cable TV show in New Haven.
Last January or February, my father was interviewing Marc Jacobson. the president of the organization contracted to do the design for the jerseys of Israels National Hockey team, recounts Jeff Russell. My father mentioned that he has a grandson who plays hockey and just happens to have dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship since his mother was born in Israel.
Jacobson told Joey Russell that the team would be holding tryouts in Toronto, Canada. Jeff Russell continues, Casey was given the name of a person at the design company, who gave him a number of a person in Montreal, who told him the details of the tryouts. He made the team!
The proud father notes that Casey, at 61 and 210 pounds is a high end player who will play Division I Hockey at Bentley College this December.
Casey has a brother who is adopted, Matt Burto, who is also a hockey player. While he plays for the University of
Massachusetts-Amherst and has made the U.S.
Under-18 Nationals, he is not eligible to play on the Israel National Team (since he is adopted, he does not have dual U.S.-Israel citizenship).
Casey reports that it has been awesome playing for the Israel National Team.
It is a great group of guys and weve really gelled as a team, observes Casey. Casey reports that one team member was born in Israel and five or six immigrated from the Former Soviet Union.
There are a bunch of Canadians, and Im the only American on the team, reports Casey.
The team members met for the first time only three days before their first game, and they only skated together twice.
Our coach, Jean Perron, coached the Montreal Canadiens (to the Stanley Cup in 1986) - it is awesome playing for him. The teams general manager is Shlomi Levy.
For now, the team members continue to work out on their own, wherever they are. Russell skates roughly two hours a day at the Yale University hockey rink, and he rides the exercise bike at home and works out at the JCC of Greater New Haven.