Product Review: Green Biscuit

As an Inline coach, I’ve noticed working out outside the rink can be difficult to do at times.  Most notably, working with an inline puck on the driveway, street or asphalt court can be hard because the puck doesn’t want to stay flat.  While it can be said, handling that bouncing puck will improve your game, it’s can also be frustrating to new player in trying to practice their stick-handling and passing skills.

Over the weekend, I picked up a Green-Biscuit at the newly opened TotalHockey store in my hometown.  I was looking for a puck that would be more responsive for passing outside.  I have to say, it did not disappoint.  On the driveway, it rolled smooth and fast.  Much more responsive that an inline puck.  We were able to make hard passes and it was pretty realistic to a puck on the tile floor. In fact, it was much faster and felt more like passing a puck on ice. Stick-handling also was really easy and smooth.  The only thing I noticed is it’s loud.  Because of the two-piece construction and the connectors between the two halves, it rattles a bit when working with it.  Not a complaint, actually kind of cool in its own way. 

One thing I would recommend is that you do not shoot it into hard surfaces (wall, goal posts, etc) as its not made for a hard impact from what I researched.  As you’ll see from the pictures, it’s a little beat up after an hour or so of work outs but I expect that on the hard pavement.

So if you are looking for a puck that will make your off-rink workouts more effective, then I highly recommend spending a few bucks for this puck.  You won’t be disappointed.

Hockey Book Shortage in New York City

From Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun:

Walked in to a giant Barnes and Noble book store in Manhattan Saturday, where there were 12 large shelves just for sports books. Looked hard but couldn’t find a single hockey book in the bunch

Take a Hockey Vacation to Sweden / Denmark

Have you ever dreamed of playing hockey overseas? Most kids who grew up with hockey have, I know I did so when I saw an opportunity to play hockey in Iceland I took it. In May 2012 I traveled to Iceland with the Canadian Moose and I had the time of my life! I had so much fun that I started saving right away for the next hockey tour and it was just announced. The Moose have planned a tour to Sweden / Denmark for 5 days with a minimum of three friendly games to be played against the locals. This is your chance to visit another country and also get to experience the hockey culture as well. Let me tell you, with the hockey, the people, the locals and the sightseeing you will have a blast that you will talk about for years.

Quick Questions and Answers

• Do I have to be Canadian?
• No you do not, our goalie in Iceland was from New Jersey
• Do I have to be really good at hockey?
• No, we had a nice mix of players on our last tour and they all had a blast
• Is it o.k if I’m 100 years old?
• 100 might be pushing it but on the last trip we had guys from 19-65. We had a young team and an old-timer team and also a women’s team.
• How much?
• The Sweden / Denmark tour is $1795 plus airline taxes and team apparel, Probably around $2300 total
• When Is the Tour?
• February 2013
• What do I do to join?
• Visit the Canadian Moose website and get in touch with via email or phone
• How can I stay updated?
• You can sign up for the mailing list on the Moose website, and you can also like the Canadian Moose on Facebook.

Design a Team / Coaches Room

I’ve been asked to help design a room at the rink where I coach that will be used by the coaches to view game video and provide an area where we can do “chalk talk” sessions with our teams. I thought I would put this out to the group who follow this site and see if they can help me with design ideas.

My first item would be a touch screen coaches board if possible. I’ve seen video of D1 universities that have these and was wondering if anyone knows of a company that sells them.

We have a 50″ flat screen monitor already for the room so I can go with standard PC connections and use something like DrillDraw.

I am looking for a piece of software that helps us break down film. I’ve seen a product called Steva that looks pretty cool. Has anyone used this software or something similar that you would recommend?

If I can’t find a touch screen board or they are too expensive, does anyone know of a company that makes the really large boards that hang on a wall? I found one called Focus Products online, anyone hear or ever use their boards?

If you have any input for me please hit me with some feedback, I would really appreciate the help. Thanks.

See To Play: The Eyes Of Elite Athletes

Discover Your Elite Athlete Eyes

As kids, many of us dreamed of being a pro athlete. We played out those dreams in backyards, school yards and outdoor skating rinks. The problem becomes, we don’t have the elite skill set to make these dreams come true. See to Play: The Eyes of Elite Athletes gives average Joes that chance.

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca – Chapters – Amazon.com

The athletes that make it to the top of their sport do so because of superior visual traits. Written by Michael Peters, O.D., eye doctor for the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, See To Play examines through an expert’s eyes the vital role vision plays in the development of athletes and breaks down the visual system into its basic components. Readers will learn why elite athletes are able to perform at that high level and they’ll be given exercises to help them reach their genetic potential.

“See to Play is a must-read for athletes and athletic trainers worldwide; Peters has helped many minor league players reach the big leagues with these techniques . . . A home run!” —Sandy Krum, Trainer, The Biggest Loser

“Dr. Mike Peters has been one of the best eye doctors that I’ve worked with and probably the best in the business. When I had my concussion in Carolina, he had to adjust my contact lens prescription several times while my vision was changing. He also helped me by giving me eye exercises which even included him coming to the arena for some of the drills.” — Matt Cullen, Minnesota Wild

Dr. Michael Peters has been the Team Optometrist for the Carolina Hurricanes since 1997. Currently, he also assists in optometrics for the Tampa Rays, Durham Bulls, and Carolina Rail Hawks.

Review – Okay, so this is not a hockey book per se, and maybe I found it easy to invest myself in. Maybe that’s because I have my own degenerative eye disease. I can definitely see how aspiring athletes with vision problems would want to consider reading this book though. The book reads really easily. Dr. Peters establishes himself early as open and trustworthy and comes across as really likeable guy who truly understands a) vision issues and b) athletes of every level, from amateur to elite to professional.. That is because he was once a promising football player himself.

Peters is able to help the reader better understand his or her challenges and recommend exercises and courses of action to improve their vision specifically for the athlete (though I think I might try incorporating a couple into my own sedentary life).

If you are an athlete who is affected from anything as simple as near-sightedness or serious as injury or disease, this book is definitely worth a look. It might just give you the edge you need to enjoy your sport that much more.

Paul Henderson: The Goal Of My Life

Canadian hockey hero Paul Henderson is releasing his memoir. Written with Roger Lajoie, Henderson’s book is cleverly titled Paul Henderson: The Goal of My Life.

Buy The Book – Amazon.ca – Chapters – Amazon.com

Plenty has been written about and even by Paul Henderson over the years. His heroic goal in the 1972 Summit Series immortalized him in hockey and even Canadian history. Yet this book has the potential to be by far the best piece ever written on Henderson’s life. That’s because he has gone through a lot since that famous night in September 1972 – from alcoholism to finding god to reinventing himself to battling Leukemia. He has become a hero beyond the hockey rink, and his insights on life promise to captivate.

Here is more from the publisher, Fenn/McLelland and Stewart:

Paul Henderson will forever be recognized and remembered for his goal with 34 seconds remaining in the 8th game of the 1972 Summit Series. This goal gave Canada the lead and won them the series and with that the team became known as “the Team of the Century.” And Paul’s goal as, “the Goal of the Century.”

But there is more to Paul Henderson than just that one goal and in The Goal of My Life, Henderson opens up about scoring both on and off the ice. A family man and man with deep faith, Henderson lives each day with tremendous appreciation for the gifts life has rewarded him and has not allowed his recent diagnosis with cancer to alter his positive demeanor.

Henderson takes fans back to the moment 1972 when Canada won the Summit Series, though additionally shares memories from his entire life and his early days playing hockey through to his retirement from the game and his personal challenges with Leukemia. Henderson is a hero and his book is one that all fans of hockey and life will enjoy.

Tales From The Locker Room: Leafs, Habs, Hawks

Sports Publishing LLC always put out new releases in their series Tales From The Locker Room.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the series, but if you are a fan of a particular team the books are worth taking a look at.

 New for hockey fans in 2012 are:

• Toronto Maple Leafs
• Montreal Canadiens
• Chicago Blackhawks

Previous releases included the Boston Bruins, the New Jersey Devils, and the New York Rangers

They also offer plenty of other sports, too, including Major League Baseball, National Football League, National Basketball Association and college sports teams.

This Sweater Is For You

One of the most beloved stories of all time—The Hockey Sweater—is celebrated in this heartfelt recollection. Reflecting on the original short story and mortifying real-life moment that started it all, This Sweater Is for You!relates how the resulting film is as much about childhood emotions and the desire to fit in as it is about hockey, the clash of cultures, and a harkening to bygone times. Canada’s tireless devotion to the film is illustrated, emphasizing how it is also loved by many more around the world. Delving into the artist’s notebooks, photographs, and memories, this record recreates the movie’s entire development, journeying back to the people and places that inspired its original imagery. The director’s additional films and illustrations are also explored, chronicling a 40-year career and providing rich insights into the creative process.

Sheldon Cohen is an award-winning animator and film director, an illustrator, and a painter. His films include I Want a Dog, Pies, The Snow Cat, The Sweater, and The Three Wishes. He is the author of The Basketball Player, The Boxing Champion, The Flying Canoe, and The Longest Home Run. He has lectured at Harvard University and Concordia University. He lives in Montreal, Quebec. Roch Carrier was Canada’s National Librarian and the author of several Canadian classics for both adults and children. He has been awarded the Stephen Leacock Award for Humor, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Officer of the Order of Canada, and several honorary doctorates. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca – Chapters – Amazon.com

Hockey Smut

Apparently there is a whole new genre of hockey books for 2012: Hockey Smut.

Yes, the rushed world of romance/smut novels is crossing over to the hockey world, hoping to score (pun intended) with titles like Taking a Shot by Jaci Burton, One Man Rush and Her Man Advantage by Joanne Rush.

It turns out this is not entirely new. Deirdre Martin has put out (no pun intended) several hockey themed romance novels in the past, including Body Check, The Penalty Box, Power Play and Icebreaker.

And smut world leader Harlequin’s mass produced titles include Body Check (that’s so original) and Face-Off.

Refereeing Identity: The Cultural Work of Canadian Hockey Novels

Michael Buma offers us the academic release: Refereeing Identity: The Cultural Work of Canadian Hockey Novels

Hockey novels in Canada have emerged and thrived as a popular fiction genre, building on the mythology of Canadian hockey as a rough, testosterone-fuelled bastion of masculinity. However, recent decades have also been a period of uncertainty and change for the game, where players and teams have been exported to the US and traditional gender assumptions in hockey have increasingly been questioned.

In Refereeing Identity, Michael Buma examines the ways in which the hockey novel genre attempts to reassure readers that “threatened” traditional Canadian and masculine identities still thrive on the ice. In a period of perceived crisis and flux, hockey novels offer readers the comforting familiarity of earlier times when the game was synonymous with Canada and men were defined by their physical strength.

This comprehensive study of Canadian hockey novels draws on history, sport sociology, and literary criticism to challenge assumptions and stereotypes about identity. With the return of the Winnipeg Jets refuelling hockey nationalism and the public debate over hockey violence intensifying,

Refereeing Identity is a timely and incisive account of how the game is represented – and misrepresented – in Canadian society.

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca – Chapters – Amazon.com