Ice Hockey-Sport a balm for 91-yr-old analyst Fischler amid Gaza war

JERUSALEM : Kibbutz resident Stan Fischler fell in love with ice hockey by accident, but for more than 80 years it has been his lifeblood. Now it is helping the nonagenarian cope with life as Israel's war against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas rages.

Fischler, known as "The Maven" for his wealth and breadth of hockey knowledge, no longer is a TV analyst on New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils games, but he still writes almost daily for NHL.com and The Hockey News.

"Hockey motivates me," Fischler, a longtime professional analyst, author and historian of the game, said in an interview with Reuters from his home on a kibbutz in northern Israel as artillery could be heard in the distance at the border with Lebanon where Israeli forces and Hezbollah clash.

"I am 14-year-old disguised as a 91-year-old."

Turning 92 in March, Fischler has not slowed down much since moving to his son Simon's home in Israel from New York in 2018 after his wife Shirley died.

In addition to covering the Islanders, he has just begun also writing about the New York Rangers and Devils - starting his day at 5:30 am, writing his commentary on the night's games before citing morning Jewish prayers and then eating breakfast by 10 am.

"You are never away from your home in your heart. So I'm here but hockey is in my heart," the Brooklyn-born Fischler said of being 7-10 time zones away from National Hockey League (NHL) games.

Since the war began on Oct. 7 after an attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen, Fischler says he has been fortunate that there haven't been many air raid sirens forcing him and his family into their safe room, which doubles as his granddaughter's room.

His foray into hockey began in 1939 when his father took him to a New York Rovers minor