Chad Goldberg, a hockey player at Tufts University, was headed to Israel in 2013 for the Maccabiah Games, known as the “Jewish Olympics.” The event, held in the year after the Summer Olympic Games, brings together the best Jewish athletes from around the world.
His twin sister, Chelsey Goldberg, a hockey player at Northeastern, wanted to compete in Israel too. Her request to play on the U.S. men’s team alongside her brother was rejected. There was no other path for her because women’s hockey was not part of the competition.
She decided to do something about that.
Nine years later, Goldberg is in Israel for the upcoming 21st Maccabiah as a player on the inaugural U.S. women’s ice hockey squad—a team she helped put together.
“It lit a fire within me to make this happen on the women’s side,” says Goldberg, a 5-foot-6-inch forward who has played professionally since her Northeastern career ended in 2015. “I didn’t know how long it would take. I didn’t know what it would entail. But I was determined to get women’s hockey over to Israel.”
Goldberg began her mission by contacting Devra Schorr, co-chair of ice hockey for Maccabi USA, which is committed to building Jewish pride through sports. Schorr had helped restore men’s ice hockey as an event at the Maccabiah Games in 2013. She began searching for potential sponsors and players while building support from the Maccabi World Union, which oversees the Maccabiah…
