Drafted in the third round by the Devils, he was assigned at the start of the 2000-01 season to their top minor league team, the River Rats of the American Hockey League. On a roster with other young prospects and some NHL veterans, Birbraer is finding that the natural skills that made him a star on the Israeli national and Canadian junior teams need team savvy at the professional level. Cunniff has concentrated on Birbraer s conditioning and defensive play. Going into the Rochester game, Birbraer has recorded only four goals and three assists. Here I m playing against adults.
People are bigger, faster, smarter.
So Birbraer sits, watching the River Rats from the stands, working out on the stationery bike and weights. He s not bitter about the lack of playing time. I had harder things in the past I had to adjust to. Like leaving his homeland as a teenager to escape anti-Semitism. Like learning at 14 that he was Jewish, a fact kept from him by his parents.