"The money they offered is good, but that wasn't one of the important
things for me," Israel said.  "It was really a tough decision, the
kind of thing that I went over back and forth in my mind.  At one
point (in April), I told Philadelphia that I was going to stay here."
 
"The timing was just so perfect," he said.  "It's such a great
opportunity - to get to do something like this - and it was just too
much for me to pass up."
 
"It's really tough when you're only playing every other game, when
you sit on the bench once every weekend," Israel said.  "It's going
to help me a lot if I get to play twice as many games."
 
From Flyers GM Russ Farwell:
"We know we're getting a solid stand-up goalie whose style is very
good, his size is good and he doesn't make the first move.  We're
optimistic that he'll become a very good player."
 
Back to Israel's comments:
"My dad was leaning for me to stay at the start.  But now I think he
agrees with me. Of course, seeing as he's a school teacher, I'm
pretty sure that he's going to make me return for my degree."
 
(Israel plans to go to summer school for the next four years and
return to Harvard for his "senior" year when his career is over.)
 
Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni's comments:
"My school of thought is that there are very few guarantees in life,
and one of them is your education.  Neverthless, he's a big boy, and
can make this kind of decision for himself.  I wish him only the
best."
 
Back to Israel comments:
"I kind of looked at it the other way around.  I figure that school
is something that will always be here, but this opening won't,
necessarily."
 
My comments:
Harvard still has Tripp Tracy (junior next season) and Steve
Hermsdorf (senior next season).  Hermsdorf is big and when I have
seen him play, he looks pretty solid.  Loosing AI on top of the
three big senior defenders McCann, Maguire and Body makes it more
interesting for next year.  If Konik makes it back, as he is
suppose to, that should help offset this loss.  It also looks like
the rotating goaltender idea may get bounced.  Hey, maybe we're
play down in the other team's end all year!!!
 
 _____________
/
 good shooting
 rhun
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