This Game We Coach and Play

March 11, 2013 Coaches, Hockey Blogs, Players No Comments

There is a passion amongst hockey players unlike any other I've ever seen or played. It's different. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't played it or been around it. As much as we want to tell the kids go out and play for fun, it's so much more than that.
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Aging Hockey Player Can’t Eat Like He Used To

February 12, 2013 Coaches, General, Hockey Blogs, Players No Comments

One hour after I made my food choice I realized it was a bad one.

I’m almost 50 and fall under the old-guy category. Bobby Orr and Brad Park were my hereos. I cheered when Team USA beat the Russians in 1980. Many of my teammates weren’t yet born and ESPN was barely five months old.

6 Ways to Make your Hockey Practices More Effective

November 30, 2012 Coaches, Hockey Blogs No Comments

IHD partner Jeremy Weiss over at Weiss Tech Hockey recently wrote a great article on making your practices more effective. I couldn't agree more with his thoughts. Be sure to read the full article but the 6 points are:

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6 Ways to Make your Hockey Practices More Effective

November 30, 2012 Coaches, Hockey Blogs No Comments

IHD partner Jeremy Weiss over at Weiss Tech Hockey recently wrote a great article on making your practices more effective. I couldn't agree more with his thoughts. Be sure to read the full article but the 6 points are:

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Goal Celebrations: Please make it stop

November 13, 2012 Coaches, Hockey Blogs, Players No Comments

I've been coaching and watching a lot of youth hockey lately and it's killing me to watch these kids celebrate. It's a TEAM game. For the love of all things that are right in this world, please celebrate with your team and don't make a spectacle of yourself. It's not cute, it's not cool. Congratulate the guy who sent you the puck and move on. It's not about you. This weekend I watched a kid after scoring his umpteenth goal, try to flip his stick over and and shoot it while on one foot and face plant directly into the ice. My first thought was, well, never mind on that. I was stunned at the amount of people watching that thought it was great.

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Goalie Shot Chart

October 5, 2012 Coaches, Hockey Blogs No Comments

An interesting thread was brought up on LinkedIn about keeping stats during games. The topic of Goalies came up and a great resource was shared for keeping track of stats for Goalies. I've always kept player stats (which I will be a post later on), but never kept anything but SOG for the goalie.

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Even Hockey Coaches Have Hearts

September 4, 2012 Coaches No Comments

“I thought this may interest you,” the email said. In the subject heading was a name, Wayne Marshall, my high school hockey coach. I expected the worst, to see an obituary.
As I read, I was relieved, then thrilled. Coach Marshall was an inductee into the 2012 Colorado High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The son-of-a-gun won top dog.

Team Leadership

June 10, 2012 Coaches, Hockey Blogs, Players No Comments

I've had the pleasure of coaching some really good teams that were pretty talented over the last few years but each has fallen short for various reasons. This year was puzzling to me as I struggled to wrap my head around the team I saw winning games week in and week out. Now you may say, why struggle if they are winning games? Well, I saw a team that lacked leadership. A team without a player who took control. Even at a young level, the coach can't control everything. The team needs a player or two that are in charge on the deck, in the locker room and even at practice.

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