Herschel Ostripeller's Hockey Fight
Herschell Ostripeller started skating at two years old. His Dad, Moishe believed that skating in the winter and swimming in the summer were the best exercise that kids could get. Herschell’s Mom, Chaya had been a figure skater when she was young and she loved the freedom skating gave her.
As Herschell grew he became a skater of great skill. When his friends invited him to go skiing, Herschell would decline, find a rink and do hundreds of laps. Sometime his Mom would join him and point out ways he could achieve greater push off from a standing start.
When Chaya asked Herschell if he wanted to try out for a figure skating team, he passed. ‘’Mom, I could do speed skating, I could play hockey, but figure skating, it’s just not for me.’’
Herschell was participating in his school’s winter carnival when he was twelve years old. Ice time was rented at a local rink and different booths were set up around the arena for kids to try their luck. There was one ice race and it was opened to all age categories. Herschell said he wanted to participate and the fourteen year old boys all laughed at him. Herschell was from a Jewish religious background, so a couple of stupid comments were thrown in his direction. ‘’Hey Herschell, in the middle of the race, do you stop so you can pray?’’ Another kid said ‘’Herschell Ostripeller can skate, that’s some kind of Jewish miracle, most Jews can’t even run.’’
Long before the insults, Herschell’s Dad had sat down with his son and had the talk. ‘’Herschell, there are going to be people in this world you’ll encounter who are not so nice. They are in fact ignorant, so it’s very important to remember the words of William Shakespere, ‘’To thine own self be true.’’ ‘’Ignore them Herschell cause if you don’t they’ll pull you down to their level of stupidity and you’re not stupid. Be a good person and set an example and don’t worry about those who are just ignorant or jealous’’
When the race at Winter Carnival started there was a huge number of boys on the starting line. The teacher, Mr. Bently blew his whistle and they were off. It was to be five full laps around the rink.
Due to the number of participants it was hard to maneuver. Herschell bided his time till the third lap and then he made his move. In a matter of seconds he had worked his way to second place, right behind the boy who had directed the nasty comment at him. At the final lap they were neck and neck when Herschell added extra speed and finished ahead by at least six seconds. Everybody at Herschell’s school was stunned. He was the victor.
At the arena there was a guy who spent his time renting out the ice time when he wasn’t Coaching hockey. He had watched the raced and timed it. He was impressed at how fast Herschell had gone considering the number of kids he had to navigate around.
The man approached Herschell’s teacher and told him that he wanted to invite Herschell to play for his hockey team. The man’s name was Frank Trull.
Mr. Bently passed the message on to Moishe Ostripeller who called the Coach. Moishe explained that Herschell couldn’t play or practice on Friday Nights or all day Saturday. If that was okay, he would bring Herschell for a tryout.
When Herschell came to the arena the following Sunday morning, the rest of the team was there. They didn’t know what to make of him till they saw him doing sprints from blueline to blueline. He was amazingly quick.
Coach Trull signed Herschell to the team and in a short few weeks he led them to their division championship.
Herschell had a natural and amazing skill set. He learned from his teammates and when he wasn’t at school or synagogue, he was on the ice. He never got tired of practicing. The Coach and his assistants admired Herschell’s work ethic. He was determined to be the best from a very young age.
Over the next few years, with some extra coaching and encouragement from his parents, Herschell became a force in minor hockey. He won MVP awards at tournaments and his teams rarely lost. Herschell became such a good player that when he was fifteen he was the number one pick for teams in the Ontario Junior Hockey Association. The nicest part was Herschell abided by his no playing or practicing on Friday Nights or Saturdays and it had no negative impact.
Prior to the Junior draft, Moishe, Chaya and Herschell visited with numerous teams of the OHA. The different teams ran all kinds of physical tests with Herschell and conducted interviews about his views on life.
Finally on Draft day he was taken in the number one spot by the Ottawa Capitals. Herschell was thrilled as they were an up and coming team.
Herschell’s parents found him a wonderful family to billet with and a school that had high academic standards.
The Coach for the Capitals, Mike Wamton was a former hockey player in the NHL. He had only been behind the bench for a year and the team had shown incredible improvement.
Once practices and games started, Herschell excelled and all the guys on the team respected and liked him. Wamton tried to foster a family feeling on the team and he did a really great job of it. All the guys became very close. Soon the Ottawa Capitals challenged for Junior hockey supremecy and won.
Herschell was named Captain of the Capitals after his first season and he thrived in the role. His parents visited often and were extremely proud of him.
In his last season, Herschell was scouted heavily by professional teams. He had excellent marks in school, he was one of the leading goal scorers in the league and he was extremely happy.
Coach Wampton always commented on Herschell’s soft hands which meant when the puck was near his stick close to the opponent’s goal, he was able to get it in.
In Herschell’s last game for the Capitals, his team up three games to none against the Scarborough Stallions for the League championship, he looked up at the clock. It was the third period and there was two minutes left. He lined up to take the face off when the guy opposite him dropped his gloves and attacked Herschell.
In all of his years of playing organized hockey, Herschell had never had a fight He couldn’t understand why this big lug had decided he needed to throw punches at him. Herschell was stunned. His linemates tried to jump into the fracas but they were grabbed by their opponents. It was between Herschell and his attacker. Herschell looked at the lineman and referee and they stood watching. They made no motion to intervene.
In the stands the scouts seemed very interested in how Herschell would respond. Moishe and Chaya were in shock.
The first thing Herschell thought about was flight. No fight if there was flight, but his Dad had always taught him to face his adversaries, not run away from them. Next he watched as the guy he was about to fight, spit and throw his helmet to the ice, so Herschell threw off his helmet, the difference was Herschell was wearing a Yarmulke on his head. The crowd roared. The guy put his fists up and circled slowly around Herschell.
Herschell could hear his Coach screaming at the officials to break the fight up, but they ignored the pleas and seemed more interested in finding out how Herschell would react. Was he about to get punched out?
A moment of Zen came over Herschell, as he thought about King David and Goliath, and quickly said the Shema to himself. Everything after that was a blur. The guy who had started the fight for no reason, threw a couple of punches and missed completely. All of a sudden Chaya’s figure skating tips came into play. Herschell shifted his body and started throwing jabs and they connected. His opponent (who was also older) seemed stunned out. Herschell skated in and grabbed his foe’s jersey and pulled it up while hitting him repeatedly in the face area. Somehow the guy he was fighting hit Herschell with a left hook and it hurt. However, Herschell was relaxed. It was the strangest thing that had ever happened on the ice. As he was pulling the guys jersey and going around in a circle he looked up at the crowd, at his teammates and his bench. He also looked at the clock and knew that his Junior hockey career was almost over and it had been a stellar one.
When the guy who had started the fight fell to the ice, Herschell just basically fell on top of him, he didn’t really know what else he was supposed to do. At that point the officials jumped in and said, ‘’It’s over boys, get to the penalty box.’’
As they skated to the sin bin, a place Herschell rarely visited the guy who he had fought looked over at him ‘’Thanks man, I had to fight you, I know you’re being scouted and I wanted the scouts to know that I was in the game, even though my team’s losing. No hard feelings.’’
Nobody in the stands could hear what had just been said, so Herschell yelled over ‘’I understand’’ and went into the penalty box.
Time ran out and the Ottawa Capitals won their third League Championship and Herschell was named MVP. After the game all the pro scouts wanted to talk with him but Herschell just wanted to get home.
His parents walked out of the arena with Herschell through a side entrance and they got into the car and headed for their hotel. They had booked Herschell his own room. As they were getting close to their destination, Herschell told them there was something he wanted to share with them. ‘’You have been the Best parents a person could ever have. I thank Gd everyday that I was born into this family. I l have loved everything I’ve done. Hockey has been a huge part of my life, but I really don’t want to play in the NHL. I mean the money would be absolutely incredible, but if I play in the league I have to be completely dedicated to it and I want more. So, I was thinking the University of Boston has a great school and they’ve offered me a full ride scholarship for four years. I could go there, play less competitive hockey, and get a great education, I’m thinking pre-med and then medical school and I could enjoy a more normal life. What do you think?’’
There was a couple of seconds of silence and Moishe responded ‘’We are so proud of you, I think it’s a great decision. Chaya echoed her husband’s sentiments.
The next day Moishe’s phone blew up with both media and scouts trying to reach him. He never responded as he and Chaya were busy booking flight reservations to Boston. They were proud of the choices their son had made. He had accomplished amazing results at every level of hockey. He had won his one hockey fight and he was in demand by the pros but he knew in his heart what he wanted to do with his life which was a gift.
Someday the world would hear of Herschell Ostripeller again. Not as a fantastic hockey player but as one of the world’s greatest Neurologists.