Tuff-N-Lite: Another Look
Here is another look at the Tuff-N-Lite hockey sock. After using it for a few months, Patrick recommends the sock to anyone looking for a comfortable sock that also protects your legs.
Here is another look at the Tuff-N-Lite hockey sock. After using it for a few months, Patrick recommends the sock to anyone looking for a comfortable sock that also protects your legs.
Another one of our short and to the point reviews of the M11 helmet from Cascade. Check it out and … Continue Reading
Here is our review of the Cascade M11 helmet. Currently Andy McDonald, of the St. Louis Blues, is using the helmet. Andy, like many others, has been using the helmet as he recovers from a chain of concussions.
To learn more about the S3 Formula, visit this link.
*** Update 03/14/2011 ***
This program has started back up again. Follow the link above to become involved while sign up is still possible.
Here is our conclusion of the Easton EQ50 Hockey Stick. We highly recommend this stick to all considering purchasing it. … Continue Reading
Here is our conclusion of the Easton EQ50 Hockey Stick. We highly recommend this stick to all considering purchasing it. It’s been a great stick over the past few months and it’s deserved a better look than the usual time we give to a piece of equipment because of the price tag.
Patrick Perrett loves his new Easton S3 hockey stick. It’s great for the price and deserves to be at the … Continue Reading
Patrick got his hands on an Easton S3 stick and is already a big fan.
By Bettina Young Prochnow
Is hockey in your future? If you’re a Bantam- or Midget-aged player, that is the question you should be asking yourself right now. And if you’re a PeeWee, great—you’re that much ahead of the game. If playing hockey after high school is your goal, then you need to look at what the options are, what is possible, and where you fit in. The sooner a player begins this process, the quicker he or she can target in on what suits them best.
The two post-high school hockey options are, of course, either college or Junior levels of play. The bottom line to achieving either one? “Strengthen your grades and strengthen your game,” says Coach Steve Malley, a Maryland high school hockey coach, and Bowie Hockey Club’s Director of Coaching. Malley, who also interviews prospective college entrants for Harvard, suggests that between those two areas, you will help create your very own “Player Profile.” This is essentially a sales brochure about you—the kind of player you are, the kind of person you are, and what you have accomplished. This is what you will then send out to the schools you have targeted.
Scout your schools
But first you have to find out about those schools and their teams. A good reference is the College Hockey Guide published by Athletic Guide Publications. They also have a Junior Guide, both of which list rosters, coaches, and locations. They are not an academic source, but minimum requirements for GPA and SAT scores are listed. Be prepared to maintain at least a 3.20 GPA in high school, and post an SAT score of 1000.
The competition is tough, and a strong GPA will at least open the door. As an example, Malley cites Penn State’s coach, Joe Battista. He looked at 60 aspiring freshman who wanted to play hockey for the school this season. He only took 14.
“Travel, practice, and academics are tough to balance,” says Malley. “Ask yourself which is going to help you achieve your goal; taking your CD player or your books on the bus?”
The other half of the equation is strengthening your game—otherwise known as exposure, exposure, exposure. The best way to pick up your game is to play against serious players and to learn from, and be observed by, coaches whose opinions count. Find out where those coaches work in the summer and go to their camps. For example, Battista runs a summer camp at Penn State. Use the College Guide, contact the schools that you are interested in, and ask. They’ll tell you if they run a camp and/or where the school’s coach does.
Show yourself off
Pursue the showcases—like Chicago or Hockey Night in Boston, to name a couple. Go to their tryout camps. By the time camp is over, you’ve played for coaches who network with even bigger-name coaches. Many times, a college coach will pick a player based on the recommendation and opinion of another coach that he knows.
This is why Prep schools have an edge in placing students in Division I colleges and universities. For example, Phillips Exeter not only prepares their students academically (they’ll have 50 kids get into Harvard each year) but having their own rink also allows them to put kids on the ice every day. In the summer, they play host to a hockey camp run by the 20-year coach at Wesleyan. So you don’t have to go to Prep school all year—just for a few weeks in the summer if you so chose.
Malley further encourages players to narrow their college choices down to six schools.
Meet and greet coaches
“Try to visit the teams and schools you are interested in and try to meet the coaches,” he adds. “Then send each of them a serious letter, telling them that you saw them play, why you’re impressed with their team, and your profile—grades, SATs, hockey strengths.”
Most importantly, he says, if the coach returns the interest, then the player needs to respond promptly. Return the phone call or complete and mail the résumé the next day. Because of NCAA rules, colleges can not pursue players. If you don’t follow up, the interest will stop. “Parents need to help with each step of this process,” Malley says. “And the sooner a family begins, the better. Most kids who get to college had a hockey parent pushing them with a gentle, firm, but never-ending push!”
Bettina Young Prochnow is a hockey player with the NCWHL and has two sons in hockey. She is a columnist for a newspaper in Livermore, CA.
This first appeared in the 02/1995 issue of Hockey Player Magazine®
© Copyright 1991-2011 Hockey Player® and Hockey Player Magazine®
By Bettina Young Prochnow
Oct 22, 2001, 15:46
He seemed like such a mild-mannered, soft-spoken man. He would drive over an hour each way to get his son to hockey tryouts. Then, when his son made the team, he would be the parent of choice at the 10 p.m. to midnight mid-week practice. We would talk every now and then, but mostly we would sit in the stands and watch the kids skate. It was a new team, and few of the kids knew each other.
The parents had minimal contact with one another; just a passing “hello,” and an occasional “Look at that!” They would scatter themselves among the benches, just far enough to be able to hear if anyone spoke, but not in the close, small groups that mark the end of a hockey season. And so things continued until the first game.
It’s alive!
Then the question, “Who was that masked man?” became appropriate. Once the puck was dropped, so was the mild-mannered demeanor. Suddenly, there stood a frenzied, shouting, gesticulating persona of that dreaded creature—The Hockey Parent!
You know the type—there’s at least one on every team. They coach from the stands, they yell from the stands, and they have to lay the blame on someone—be it a player, the coach, or the referee—for every mistake and every loss. Are they having fun yet?
“The worst that I’ve seen,” says Real Turcotte, longtime coach and founder of Turcotte Stickhandling School, “was when a father came over to the bench and hit his kid on the back of the helmet. It went flying, and he continued to yell at his kid in front of the team.”
Getting caught up in the excitement of the game happens to everyone. It’s fast, it’s furious, and we are all only human. But at the same time, let’s not forget why we’re at the rink.
“Give the game back to the kids where it belongs,” says Barbara Issel, sub-registrar for USA Hockey in Michigan and vice-president of the Ann Arbor Hockey Association, and who also runs a Fall hockey conditioning camp. “I’ll tell parents: all you are is a chauffeur and a support for your child. If they make a mistake on the ice, they know it and the coach will tell them.”
“After all, when you make a mistake, nobody has to write you a letter—and you certainly don’t want to hear from your parents!”
Barbara, who has seen all three of her children play through all levels of youth hockey, and on into Junior and College hockey, goes on. “Parents need to understand that their child will develop at his or her own pace—not the coach’s or the parent’s pace.” And, she says, be sure to add healthy doses of “I’m proud of you for just being who and what you are” to encourage and help the process along.
Improvement matters most
“Parents’ concerns and enthusiasm should be directed toward the improvement of their son or daughter,” says Turcotte. “Once you get the focus on improvement, you won’t be as frustrated as a parent.”
In other words, forget whether the game was won or lost. Watch for the way your child played and how they participated. Did they stick-handle with more authority? Did they pass well? Did they better their own game?
Part of the physiological learning curve, according to Turcotte, is to progress uphill, then plateau out. Before heading up again, a player will dip into a valley. That’s why teams in training for a big tournament will start 7-8 weeks prior. The uphill swing occurs in the first 3 weeks, and then the team plateaus out at week 4 and hits bottom during week 5. Then the uphill swing will start again. He suggests that you keep this in mind when assessing your player’s progress, and help them push through those valleys with encouragement.
After a bad game, apply the old adage that “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”
“Or turn it around and go for a milkshake, so your kid knows that you’re on his side,” suggests Turcotte.
Can parents learn, too?
Parents need to keep the big picture in mind. Barbara believes “in letting your kid be a kid. Don’t look at them as a future NHL player—let them swim or play soccer or baseball.”
It’s a parent’s job to balance school, hockey and other activities. See that they get plenty of rest the night before a big game. Travel with plenty of time to adjust to the place and time zone. Relax before a game. Don’t arrive frustrated with your child because she lost a pad or wouldn’t listen to your in-car hockey lecture. In other words, keep the fun in the game.
The game of hockey offers a physical, mental, and emotional growth experience at all levels. Players learn discipline, team play, how to set goals for themselves and how to control their emotions under pressure. Hopefully, parents will learn to do the same! l
Bettina Young Prochnow is a hockey player with the NCWHL and has two sons in hockey. She is a columnist for a newspaper in Livermore, CA.
This first appeared in the 01/1995 issue of Hockey Player Magazine®
© Copyright 1991-2011 Hockey Player® and Hockey Player Magazine®
