Recent Books and Videos

Recent books and videos
By HP Staff
Nov 5, 2001, 20:18

Devoured any good books lately? Stared down any good videos? Hungry for new drills? For new information? For a good read? If so, don’t worry, there are plenty of new hockey books and videos available to satisfy the specific needs of all you starved players, coaches, parents and fans. To whet your appetite, consider the following selections from three major hockey groups:

Roller Hockey

Some of the most exciting new material available this fall is for inline coaches and players. Roller Hockey: Skills and Strategies for Winning on Wheels by Greg Siller and Inline Skater’s Start-up: A Beginner’s Guide to In-line Skating and Roller Hockey by Doug Werner are as different as two books can be, and yet both offer great information for inliners.

The Skills and Strategies book is the most complete coaching manual I’ve ever seen for inline hockey. Its 324 pages include everything a coach would need to run an effective, organized hockey program. Each chapter covers a different skill or strategy and is laid out to include the fundamentals, advanced techniques, a checklist, drills, advanced drills and a recap. The “Coach’s Toolbox” contains 13 worksheets for the coach to perform player evaluations and to maintain team and individual statistics. This softcover, spiral bound 8 1/2” X 11” book retails for $17.99.

Doug Werner’s InLine Skater’s Start-up is a good-natured, humorous look at inline skating and hockey for the beginner. Werner considers himself to be a professional beginner; he decides to learn a new sport and then write about what it’s like to be a “bumbling idiot” while learning. His book will not turn you into an Olympic athlete, but at $9.95 it’s a fun read and contains lots of helpful information for novices of all ages and for parents.

Inline skaters and coaches also have a new goaltending video available to them. Secrets of Inline Goaltending, co-produced by Huron Roller Hockey Schools and Hockey Player Magazine, features two-time national champion Don Thomson of the Koho Hosers. Along with detailed instruction on playing the position, there are loads of drills, game strategies and common goalie mistakes. There is also a special appearance and instructional segment with USA Hockey and RHI goalie Erin Whitten. This video sells for $19.95 and has a 40-minute running time.

Players and Coaches

Want to be a better, more powerful skater? Is your stickhandling more of a problem for you than for the defense? If so, your dilemma is over! Two new videos have just been produced that will help you improve your skating and your stickhandling. If you are a coach, there is a new manual and video aimed at helping you develop a more cohesive team.

With Robby Glantz’s Secrets of Hockey Speed you have access to methods for learning the foundations for speed that can be used by players at all levels, from youth hockey to the pros. Glantz conducts clinics throughout North America and Europe and is the skating coach for the Los Angeles Kings, the German National team and the Swedish champions Malmö. Co-produced by Hockey Player Magazine, this video features demonstrations from NHL stars Steve Duchesne and Tony Granato along with easy-to-grasp terminology, and creative camera angles. Priced at $24.95, this video runs for 45 minutes.

Stickhandling On and Off Ice is a new 26-minute video by Terry Cullen, head hockey coach of Moorhead High School in Minnesota. Cullen’s innovative program teaches dryland techniques and drills that can then be taken onto the ice. Endorsed by Herb Brooks, Head Coach of the 1980 Olympic team, and Bob O’Connor, National Coach in Chief of USA Hockey, this $29.95 video is an essential tool for the serious coach or player.

For coaches, Transition: From Game to Practice is a new booklet and video by the head of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, Erkka Westerlund. Based upon a need to install more “game-like thinking” into hockey practices, these drills were developed to teach players how to think both offensively and defensively at the same time. The manual and video present a progression of teaching on-ice thinking through cross-ice games for ages 7-to-12 and transition drills for ages 12-and-older. The 62-page manual sells for $10.00, and the 22-minute video sells for $24.95. Each is available separately.

Hockey Fans

Hockey fans always look forward to the current editions of NHL-related books that are updated for each new season. Once again the Hockey Scouting Re-port, The NHL Official Guide and Record Book and The Sporting News Complete Hockey Book are back with all of the vital information on our favorite teams and players.

In addition, there are some new titles that should also bring hours of reading enjoyment. For example, Stan Fischler has completed Bad Boys 3, the third volume in his popular series about the tough guys of the NHL. Douglas Hunter has written A Breed Apart: An Illustrated History of Goaltending which, through a pictorial timeline, traces the important events in goaltending history, from the very beginnings to modern day times. This 208-page coffee table book sells for $28.95. The Complete Historical and Statistical Reference to the World Hockey Association 1972-1979 by Scott Surgent is a 438-page softcover book which is the most complete and accurate reference ever written about the WHA. Included are complete player statistics for the regular season and playoffs, complete game results for every team each year, complete player and coaching registers with career records, and much more. Although there are no pictures, there is a history of each team in the league, and scattered throughout are anecdotes of interest to hard-core WHA fans. This book sells for $28.95.

Still hungry for more? Okay, for desert how about a taste of the NHL in action? Heaven: The Official 1995 Stanley Cup Championship Video is an emotion-filled recap of the Devils historic first Stanley Cup Championship run. Along with exciting game highlights are behind the scenes footage and player interviews. This 55-minute video sells for $19.95. l

This first appeared in the 11/1995 issue of Hockey Player Magazine®
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