US-Israeli brother athletes have warm rivalry on the ice as they race toward the NHL
Zeev and Shai Buium have both been tapped by big-league hockey teams and are putting in their time in the minors. Whoever moves up first will make Israeli sports history
OTTAWA, Canada — When Miriam and Sorin Buium emigrated from Ashdod to San Diego in 1999, they had almost no idea what ice hockey was.
And after Miriam — a former professional basketball player in Israel — witnessed the dangerous speed and physicality of the sport for the first time when she saw a nephew playing, she was not exactly keen for her three boys, born in California in the early 2000s, to participate in it.
But once her eldest Ben got a taste of it, a chain reaction started. Ben loved hockey more than any other sport he had tried, so his parents relented and he threw himself into it. Then, watching Ben play, middle child Shai quickly got hooked as well. And watching both of his brothers play, youngest Zeev was certainly not going to be left out.
Years later, Ben became part of Team USA at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel before hanging up his skates after high school.
But Shai and Zeev would go on to accomplish feats in the sport beyond what anyone in the family — including the boys themselves — could have imagined.
“We stepped on the rink and it felt so amazing and awesome, it just hit us that this is what we wanted to play,” said Zeev Buium, who turned 19 in December, and won a second consecutive gold medal on January 5 as part of Team USA at the World Junior Hockey Championship, which showcases the sport’s best players under the age of 20.
“You try a bunch of sports when you are younger, and you find the one you love. And I guess hockey was just the one that clicked for us… I’m just like every other guy here at this tournament, I just fell in love with hockey,” Zeev told The Times of Israel.
It was Zeev’s exceptional stretch pass to teammate Teddy Stiga that set up the winning goal in a 4-3 overtime victory over Finland in the championship game.
“You should have seen me on my couch here, I was going crazy,” said Shai, who will turn 22 in March. “I was so happy for him. I’m my brother’s biggest fan and supporter.”
Recruited by top college programs across the United States, Shai chose the University of Denver to refine his skills as a defenseman in the hopes of one day playing in the National Hockey League, the world’s top professional league.
After being picked in the second round (36th overall) of the 2021 NHL entry draft by the Detroit Red Wings, Shai went on to win two national titles in Denver, before this season joining the Red Wings’ farm team in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He hopes in the not-too-distant future to be called up to Detroit to make his NHL debut.
“I don’t like to think about it too much because a lot of it is out of your control. You do the best you can and whatever happens, happens. But I want to play in the NHL. That’s my dream, and the faster it happens, the happier I will be,” Shai said.
Things heat up on ice
Zeev, also a defenseman, has taken things up yet another notch for the family with his hockey exploits. He too chose Denver, where he won a national title last year alongside his older brother, and he hopes to win another this spring as well.
Last June, he was selected in the first round of the NHL draft — 12th overall — by the Minnesota Wild.
As one of 10 members of Team USA who won world junior gold in both 2024 and now 2025, Zeev is seen as a blue-chip prospect to make the NHL, with the potential to become one of its biggest stars.
There’s what Zeev describes as an “unspoken competition” between him and his brother — to see who will make history by becoming the first player born to Israeli parents to play in an NHL game.
“Yeah, there’s a little bit of a rivalry there,” laughs Zeev, who said for now, he doesn’t want to get too far ahead of himself by thinking much about the NHL.
“For me, I like to be where my feet are,” said the six-foot 185-pounder, who spent two years in Michigan with USA Hockey’s national development program before moving to Colorado for college. “Right now, it’s at this tournament. And after that, I’m going to go back to Denver to try to win another national championship. And we’ll see what happens from there. I think for me, my saying has always been: ‘Do the right things and play the right way.’ I feel comfortable with where my game is at, so everything should fall into place and happen by itself.”
Proud and loud Jews
The brothers are extremely proud of their Jewish and Israeli heritage. Zeev has even put prominent Hebrew tattooing on his left forearm, commemorating the dates of his collegiate and Team USA championships. He said he has plenty of space on his right forearm for more, including for what he hopes one day will be mark winning an Olympic gold medal and a Stanley Cup championship.
One of his most difficult hockey memories was his debut game for the University of Denver, and the chance to play alongside his brother for the first time since they were kids. The expected joyousness of the occasion didn’t materialize, however, as the game in Alaska was played on October 7, 2023.
“It was obviously not an easy day, waking up and hearing that news,” Zeev said. “But I was lucky to have my brother with me, so we could kind of go through it together. It made the game pretty emotional. We were just glad all our family [in Ashdod] was OK.”
Shai said that “through all that heartbreak, we could still go out there and do what we love. You feel super fortunate and humbled right there in that moment.”
While at the University of Denver, both Zeev and Shai said they were mostly immune to antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments, with unwavering support from teammates and everyone involved in the hockey program.
“All of the kids [at the university], and teammates, our culture is phenomenal,” Zeev said. “They were all unbelievable with how they handled that situation, and I think for me and my brother, we don’t want to talk about it… We just want to go through our days with the team and have fun, and there’s no reason for us to bring it up unless someone’s curious. Then we answer questions, and that’s fine. But everyone was great about it, so that was good.”
Shai said that has continued for him in Grand Rapids. “I’ve only gotten support, especially from the hockey community. No one has ever said anything to me or have I had any backlash for being Jewish with Israeli-born parents. Nothing like that at all,” he said.
Prior to the beginning of the COVID pandemic five years ago, the brothers would travel to Israel to visit extended family at least once a year, but they have not had a chance to go there since then. They hope that soon, they’ll be able to get back to their regular summertime visits. And when they do, they said it would be fun to do it as NHL players, who might be able to raise the profile of the sport a little more in Israel.
Although either Zeev or Shai will become the first with Israeli heritage to play in the NHL, North American Jews have a long history in the league, and there are currently Jewish stars on several teams. That includes Toronto-born-and-raised Zach Hyman of the Edmonton Oilers, whose team was in the Stanley Cup Final last spring.
Zeev said he met Hyman at a game during that championship series.
“He actually shot me a nice DM [direct message] after the game, just wishing my family good luck, and hoping everyone in Israel is OK under the circumstances, so it was really cool to hear that from him and to have someone like that reach out to me,” said Zeev.
