U8, AAU full ice games vs USA hockey cross ice
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GearGeek is the world’s first online NHL equipment database.See what every active NHL player is using on the ice right now – sticks, gloves, pants, skates and helmets. You can sort by brands, teams, positions, stat leaders and more.GearGeek is free to …
Drill:1. Place O in each corner with a puck2. D starts in front of net and skates toward one of the O3. When he stops and transitions, the O drives the net and they play 1 on 1 until a score, puck freeze or D clears the puck4. D then picks another O an…
I’ve been asked a lot over the years what I look for in a player during evaluations. After watching my son during various AA & AAA Ice try-outs, I’ve been thinking more about this topic and wanted to share a bit of what I look for and some ot…
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Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the NHLCA symposium in Philadelphia. The NHLCA was created to help NHL coaches get union like representation years ago, and for the past ten years they have been holding these symposiums. The place was packed with NHL head and assistant coaches. When I first walked into the meeting hall I saw Mike Babcock just standing there so I went over to say hello and introduce myself. He grabbed my hand and said “Hi, I’m Mike Babcock”. I responded, “of course you’re Mike Babcock, everyone knows you’re Mike Babcock”! It just shows how humble most of these guys are, that they still remember their manners and introduce themselves by name.
The session started with a fifteen minute opening from Scotty Bowman. He told a few great stories and got the proceedings going. Dave Maloney of the Rangers was the master of ceremonies and he introduced the first speakers from the USA olympic team. Coaches, Bylsma, Laviolette and Richards. Their presentation was about how they picked their team and once the team was selected how they put together a plan to make them a team. Coach Bylsma spoke about how he took the time to meet with each player on an individual basis and learn more about their game. Coach Laviolette spoke about how the team would work their forechecking system and Coach Richards covered the defensive zone stuff. All in all it was very interesting how they went about getting the team ready to play in Sochi. One thing they spent a good deal of time on was how they gave so much thought to the larger ice surface, and how to use it to their advantage if possible. When their time was up Bylsma made a few jokes about being out of work and did any of the other coaches in the room need an assistant.
The next group up was the gold medal winning Canadian olympic team coaches, Mike Babcock, Ken Hitchcock, Claude Julien and Lindy Ruff. The Canadian coaches concentrated on how they prepared their team for the gold medal game against Sweden. We watched a lot of game film and they each described how they broke down the film for their respective group of players. Again, a good deal of time was spent on how the larger ice surface would impact the way they played. Obviously they were confident with the talent they had, that they would be able to compete at a high level of success. Mike Babcock gave a lot of praise to Ken Hitchcock for his scouting and pre-tournament preparation skills. Babcock spoke about how each player on the team had to change something about their game to fit in better with the team concept. He pointed out the sacrifice that Rick Nash made by becoming more of a defensive player and not being so much a part of the offensive side of things. Babcock speaking about Nash was part of his closing comments and led to a very funny retort from Dave Maloney of the Rangers when he came to the podium. As Babcock was walking away, Maloney leaned into the mic and said, “thanks for making Nash such a good defensive player, maybe you could teach him how to score again”! An obvious reference to Nash’s lack of scoring during the Rangers Stanley Cup run.
At this point they split the group into different areas. The pro coaches went to participate in sessions about contract negotiations and time of possession discussions. The amateur coaches went to sessions about penalty killing, goaltending and coaching. I had the opportunity to go to either side and I chose to stay with the amateur guys because that seemed so much more interesting.
First up was Lane Lambert of the Nashville Predators. Lane runs the penalty kill and he did 45 minutes of non-stop video analysis and explanation of the Predator PK. I have to say, I think of myself as a guy who knows how to teach the PK, but this guy was from another planet good. He had a breakdown of every different situation you could face on the PK and how his team was trained to react to it. He spoke about how he watches video of all his opponents PP from the most recent five or six games and then goes to meetings with his PK units and goes over that video. I have to admit I am very jealous of the NHL coaches and all that video they have access to. He even had the Predators video coach with him. This presentation was one of the very best I have had the opportunity to sit in on through all my years of attending coaching symposiums. I suspect Coach Lambert will be the head guy someplace in the near future.
We took a break for a quick boxed lunch and I sat in a spot by myself. As I’m eating Barry Trotz walks up and sits across from me, followed by Ken Hitchcock, Mike Babcock, Todd McClellen and another guy I didn’t know. I’m sitting there thinking I hit the coaching jackpot. All of them said hello and included me in some minor conversation while we ate lunch. I told Trotz that my sons think that he and I look very similar and after looking at me for a few seconds he agreed. A few times people walked past the table and looked at the group of coaches and I’m sure some of them thought “who’s that guy with them”?
After lunch Ken Hitchcock gave a presentation that had nothing to do with X’s and O’s. Instead he spoke about how to be a coach. The difference between a coach and an instructor. He said a lot of us are good coaches, but not good instructors, and many are good instructors but not good coaches. He stressed how important it was for youth coaches to have coaches on their staff that are good instructors. By that he means, guys who can teach proper skating technique, or stick handling, or other skills that youth players need to concentrate on. He spoke about how he was a coach for a Midget 16 team for years and told some funny stories about issues with parents while he was coaching that level. He spoke about the importance of letting the players play hockey during practice. He said that he uses small area games plus full ice 4 on 4, and 5 on 5 games to give the players a chance to learn in real game type situations. Spoke a lot about keeping all the players busy and not running drills that have one player with the puck shooting on one goaltender. I have the very same philosophy and try to do those very same things at our team practices. He finished up with a few funny stories and a question and answer session. After his session I had the opportunity to just speak with him for a few minutes and he was a real gentleman.
Next up was Jeff Reese who is the goaltending coach for the Philadelphia Flyers. He showed a load of video with Steve Mason and how he works on all the minor pieces of the game in practice. He had a bunch of practice drills he uses with Mason and also spent a good deal of time showing goals against Mason and why he gave up the goal. Coach Reese was very detailed on how he prepares for practice and how he has a plan to get certain things out of his goalies at practice. One part I found very interesting was how he feels goalies don’t catch the puck enough anymore. He feels too many goaltenders let pucks hit them in the chest and then drop on top of them, causing potential needless rebounds. He showed many examples of this and I think he is correct. A very long time ago when I played competitive ice hockey I was a goaltender and I always tried to catch pucks whenever possible. Some very interesting stuff from a guy who specializes in working with the goaltenders.
The final part of the day was what I thought was by far the best part. They broke us up into small groups. My group had six other coaches. Three from the Pittsburgh area, one from Canada, another guy I know well from the Comcast organization, Pat Ferrill, who is a very good coach in our area, and one other from the Philadelphia area. In the small group sessions we sat in a circle and two NHL coaches would join us for twenty or thirty minutes and you could ask them anything you wanted to. So many guys passed through our group that they are too many to name, but I especially enjoyed speaking with Craig Berube of the Flyers, Mike Nolan of the Sabres, Mike Yeo of the Wild and Gerard Gallant of the Panthers. Each of them had an assistant coach with them and we talked about every subject we could think of. Not too often you get to pick the brain of a guy at the NHL level. Two seasons ago during the lockout I had the opportunity to coach against Peter Laviolette a few times and spent a good deal of time in the locker room hallway with him before and after games discussing hockey. This was just as good.
If you have the opportunity to attend this symposium next year, I highly recommend that you do. I’m sure you will learn something from attending. As part of our attendance they gave us each of the presentations from the coaches in PowerPoint format. I’ve added links here in case you would like to see them. Honestly, without the coach to speak over them they are less interesting, but maybe you will find something of interest.
Lane Lambert Nashville PK Presentation NHLCA 14
Jeff Reese Goaltending NHLCA14
I didn’t get a copy of the team Canada or Ken Hitcock’s presentation, but if I get them I will update this post.
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Every hockey player loves to score! For newer players getting that first goal can be a real challenge, and for some experienced players they can get in slumps. Other players might find the back of the net the odd time, but then wonder why they can’t score more goals. In this video I am going to share a secret with you (as well as a few fun drills).
So how can you score more goals in hockey?
I have been playing hockey for a long time, and I have a knack for scoring goals. Last season after a hatrick I was reflecting on my goals on the ride home. I soon realized none of the goals were because of any sort of skill. I didn’t have any bar-down snipes, or sweet dangles. Every single goal was a tap-in, or me shoveling the puck past the line. I got each goal because I went to the net! I realized that I still could have the hatrick that night without even knowing how to shoot the puck or stickhandle.
Thanks for reading! If you like this article and video please share with the tools below. You can also subscribe to our blog to get updates and improve your game and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Every hockey player loves to score! For newer players getting that first goal can be a real challenge, and for some experienced players they can get in slumps. Other players might find the back of the net the odd time, but then wonder why they can’t score more goals. In this video I am going to share a secret with you (as well as a few fun drills).
So how can you score more goals in hockey?
I have been playing hockey for a long time, and I have a knack for scoring goals. Last season after a hatrick I was reflecting on my goals on the ride home. I soon realized none of the goals were because of any sort of skill. I didn’t have any bar-down snipes, or sweet dangles. Every single goal was a tap-in, or me shoveling the puck past the line. I got each goal because I went to the net! I realized that I still could have the hatrick that night without even knowing how to shoot the puck or stickhandle.
Thanks for reading! If you like this article and video please share with the tools below. You can also subscribe to our blog to get updates and improve your game and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Yes I know, this entire website and Youtube channel is dedicated to helping you improve your hockey skills, so what kind of lunatic would tell you to play different sports? This one (and many others). Don’t get me wrong, playing hockey and training for hockey is the single best way to improve your skills, however something I strongly encourage for all athletes is something called BALANCE.
If you are a newer hockey player, chances are you are completely obsessed with playing, that is great, play and practice as much as you can, however don’t discount the benefits and advantages of playing other sports. Other sports CAN aid in your hockey development!
From reading the above points it’s easy to see that playing other sports can actually help you become a BETTER hockey player. In fact some of the best hockey players were multi-sport athletes.
Wayne Gretzky
Gretzky did not play summer hockey, he played baseball and lacrosse in the summer. According to Gretzky’s biography he was a very skilled baseball and Lacrosse player and spring was one of his favourite times of the year!
“If a sport has a high point of the year, it must be the first week of spring. When I was growing up, I used to love this time of year. It was when I put my hockey equipment away and I was absolutely ecstatic to see the end of the hockey season. One of the worst things to happen to the game, in my opinion, has been year-round hockey and, in particular, summer hockey. All it does for kids, as far as I can tell, is keep them out sports they should be doing in the warmer weather. I could hardly wait to get my lacrosse stick out and start throwing the ball against the walls and working on our moves as we played the lacrosse equivalent to road hockey. All the good hockey players seemed to play lacrosse in those days and everyone of them learned something from the game to carry over to the other – things athletes can only learn by mixing up the games they play when they are young.”
– Wayne Gretzky, National Post, March 2000
Bobby Orr
“Kids play far too much [hockey]. I mean, kids are playing 12 months a year-little ones. They don´t need it. Play other sports. Have other coaches. Hang around other kids, other parents. I think that´s all healthy. I never went to a hockey school until I turned pro and I went as an instructor. Kids don´t need to play all year, they can have a program of light exercise and play other sports. If you look at the best players in all sports, they´re athletes- they play other sports.” Source: Bobby Orr: How we’re killing hockey
John Tavares
“People always talk about my hand-eye coordination and how that translates from lacrosse to hockey and from hockey to lacrosse, which is true,” said Tavares, who played lacrosse for 13 years before switching focus solely to hockey. “But the biggest thing that translated for me was using my body to protect the ball, spinning off checks and moving through traffic.
“All those things translated into skills on the ice that have helped me excel in many areas in hockey, such as puck protection, moving through traffic and gaining time and space from tight checking.” Source: NHL Star honed hockey skills in box lacrosse
Coach Brent Sutter
“It is so noticeable on a hockey team that the kids who have played other sports and experienced different things are always the smarter players on your team, and they are able to handle adversity better,” Sutter said. “They deal with adversity better because they are thrown into different environments and they trust their skills that they may have learned elsewhere to get them through certain things.”
“I´ve really noticed it since leaving (to the NHL) and coming back to the WHL how it has changed,” he said. “We are lacking in areas that we never used to lack in. I want our scouts to look at athletes not just strictly hockey players.” Source: Wanted for NHL: True Athletes
NY Times
“Some young athletes now face surgeries befitting their grandparents. Young hockey goaltenders repeatedly practice butterfly style – which stresses the developing hip joint when the legs are splayed to block the bottom of the goal. The sports surgeon Marc Philippon, based in Vail, Colo., saw a 25-year-old goalie who already needed a hip replacement.”
“In the Loyola study, sport diversification had a protective effect” Source: Sports should be childs play
Active for Life
“How could specialization reduce your success?
It´s connected to physical literacy and the need to develop a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional skills within sport. When researchers look at top athletes across a range of sports, the majority of them are distinguished by broad athletic ability from playing a variety of sports as children. This kind of broad athleticism doesn´t happen when kids specialize in one sport from an early age.
(Please note: We haven´t even mentioned the problem of overuse injuries to tendons, ligaments, and bone growth plates due to premature specialization. There´s enough research on that subject to write a book. Premature specialization is also linked to kids dropping out of sports early.)” – Source: Active for Life: Why early specialization is a bad idea
It depends on what type of shape you are in and if you have played other sports in the past. The quickest way to improve is to play and practice as much as you can (within reason)
For adult players who are new to the game, I still recommend balance. In this case we want to help aid development, but also reduce the chance of injury. Being in better shape, and a better overall athlete will certainly help reduce your risk of injuries. When you are injured you can’t play, and when you can’t play you can’t improve. Consider a sport like soccer, basketball, ultimate frisbee or some racquet sports to keep you in shape and developing a number of skills and abilities that you can carry over into your hockey development. You can also practice hockey at home over the summer to fine tune some skills while also enjoying some other sports.
Playing other sports is also great for your social life, and mental well being (healthy body, healthy mind)
Yes there are some specific hockey skills that you can only learn on the ice (or practicing at home), however many skills you will learn in other sports will lend themselves to learning your hockey skills
Whether you are a young hockey player, or an older hockey player, playing other sports will help improve your health, mental well being, and of course, HOCKEY SKILLS!
Yes I know, this entire website and Youtube channel is dedicated to helping you improve your hockey skills, so what kind of lunatic would tell you to play different sports? This one (and many others). Don’t get me wrong, playing hockey and training for hockey is the single best way to improve your skills, however something I strongly encourage for all athletes is something called BALANCE.
If you are a newer hockey player, chances are you are completely obsessed with playing, that is great, play and practice as much as you can, however don’t discount the benefits and advantages of playing other sports. Other sports CAN aid in your hockey development!
From reading the above points it’s easy to see that playing other sports can actually help you become a BETTER hockey player. In fact some of the best hockey players were multi-sport athletes.
Wayne Gretzky
Gretzky did not play summer hockey, he played baseball and lacrosse in the summer. According to Gretzky’s biography he was a very skilled baseball and Lacrosse player and spring was one of his favourite times of the year!
“If a sport has a high point of the year, it must be the first week of spring. When I was growing up, I used to love this time of year. It was when I put my hockey equipment away and I was absolutely ecstatic to see the end of the hockey season. One of the worst things to happen to the game, in my opinion, has been year-round hockey and, in particular, summer hockey. All it does for kids, as far as I can tell, is keep them out sports they should be doing in the warmer weather. I could hardly wait to get my lacrosse stick out and start throwing the ball against the walls and working on our moves as we played the lacrosse equivalent to road hockey. All the good hockey players seemed to play lacrosse in those days and everyone of them learned something from the game to carry over to the other – things athletes can only learn by mixing up the games they play when they are young.”
— Wayne Gretzky, National Post, March 2000
Bobby Orr
“Kids play far too much [hockey]. I mean, kids are playing 12 months a year—little ones. They don’t need it. Play other sports. Have other coaches. Hang around other kids, other parents. I think that’s all healthy. I never went to a hockey school until I turned pro and I went as an instructor. Kids don’t need to play all year, they can have a program of light exercise and play other sports. If you look at the best players in all sports, they’re athletes— they play other sports.” Source: Bobby Orr: How we’re killing hockey
John Tavares
“People always talk about my hand-eye coordination and how that translates from lacrosse to hockey and from hockey to lacrosse, which is true,” said Tavares, who played lacrosse for 13 years before switching focus solely to hockey. “But the biggest thing that translated for me was using my body to protect the ball, spinning off checks and moving through traffic.
“All those things translated into skills on the ice that have helped me excel in many areas in hockey, such as puck protection, moving through traffic and gaining time and space from tight checking.” Source: NHL Star honed hockey skills in box lacrosse
Coach Brent Sutter
“It is so noticeable on a hockey team that the kids who have played other sports and experienced different things are always the smarter players on your team, and they are able to handle adversity better,” Sutter said. “They deal with adversity better because they are thrown into different environments and they trust their skills that they may have learned elsewhere to get them through certain things.”
“I’ve really noticed it since leaving (to the NHL) and coming back to the WHL how it has changed,” he said. “We are lacking in areas that we never used to lack in. I want our scouts to look at athletes not just strictly hockey players.” Source: Wanted for NHL: True Athletes
NY Times
“Some young athletes now face surgeries befitting their grandparents. Young hockey goaltenders repeatedly practice butterfly style — which stresses the developing hip joint when the legs are splayed to block the bottom of the goal. The sports surgeon Marc Philippon, based in Vail, Colo., saw a 25-year-old goalie who already needed a hip replacement.”
“In the Loyola study, sport diversification had a protective effect” Source: Sports should be childs play
Active for Life
“How could specialization reduce your success?
It’s connected to physical literacy and the need to develop a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional skills within sport. When researchers look at top athletes across a range of sports, the majority of them are distinguished by broad athletic ability from playing a variety of sports as children. This kind of broad athleticism doesn’t happen when kids specialize in one sport from an early age.
(Please note: We haven’t even mentioned the problem of overuse injuries to tendons, ligaments, and bone growth plates due to premature specialization. There’s enough research on that subject to write a book. Premature specialization is also linked to kids dropping out of sports early.)” – Source: Active for Life: Why early specialization is a bad idea
It depends on what type of shape you are in and if you have played other sports in the past. The quickest way to improve is to play and practice as much as you can (within reason)
For adult players who are new to the game, I still recommend balance. In this case we want to help aid development, but also reduce the chance of injury. Being in better shape, and a better overall athlete will certainly help reduce your risk of injuries. When you are injured you can’t play, and when you can’t play you can’t improve. Consider a sport like soccer, basketball, ultimate frisbee or some racquet sports to keep you in shape and developing a number of skills and abilities that you can carry over into your hockey development. You can also practice hockey at home over the summer to fine tune some skills while also enjoying some other sports.
Playing other sports is also great for your social life, and mental well being (healthy body, healthy mind)
Yes there are some specific hockey skills that you can only learn on the ice (or practicing at home), however many skills you will learn in other sports will lend themselves to learning your hockey skills
Whether you are a young hockey player, or an older hockey player, playing other sports will help improve your health, mental well being, and of course, HOCKEY SKILLS!
Every now and then I like to share a motivational or inspirational story to help show what hockey is all about. I recently shared a story of how one player did not start playing hockey until he was 12 years old, and in 2 years went from House League to AAA
Today I want to share a personal story that I happened upon at the OMHA parade of champions. While working at the expo I noticed some ridiculously awesome jerseys…
I asked one player to grab his teammates to pose for a picture and I would toss it up on the How To Hockey Instagram page. The team was great, and I got them to all tag themselves in the picture before I posted it.
The team in the picture above are OMHA champions. That means they went through the Ontario Minor Hockey Association playoffs and defeated every other team in their division. Sometimes this can lead to bitter rivals, fights, cheap shots, and boasting, however in this case it was the exact opposite (how hockey should always be!). After posting this picture I was tagged in another picture….
I love this picture because the teams are celebrating together. Instead of one team boasting at a win, and the other team being bitter because of a loss, the two teams come together and are both proud of their accomplishments. It’s great to see the captain of one team smiling and posing with the assistant from another team. This truly shows respect for the game, your team, and the other team.
Yes, this is the assistant captain of the team who came in 2nd place commending the captain of the other team for his character and level of skill.
This is what hockey should always be like. As a coach I am always trying to encourage respect for the game, the players, the officials and the other team. Isn’t it great to see a hard fought battle for the OMHA finals end with players from both teams coming together and encouraging each other. Every hockey player can learn from the positive attitude and sportsmanship that is displayed here.
Too often (on the internet) I see players knocking others down (especially in Youtube comments) I would love for the trend of sportsmanship to spill over to the internet and see players encourage and lift up others. This is just one example I was very happy to come across. Much respect for the Ridgetown rebels and the Centre Hastings Grizzlies for your sportsmanship and respect in Hockey! Pass it on!
Every now and then I like to share a motivational or inspirational story to help show what hockey is all about. I recently shared a story of how one player did not start playing hockey until he was 12 years old, and in 2 years went from House League to AAA
Today I want to share a personal story that I happened upon at the OMHA parade of champions. While working at the expo I noticed some ridiculously awesome jerseys…
I asked one player to grab his teammates to pose for a picture and I would toss it up on the How To Hockey Instagram page. The team was great, and I got them to all tag themselves in the picture before I posted it.
The team in the picture above are OMHA champions. That means they went through the Ontario Minor Hockey Association playoffs and defeated every other team in their division. Sometimes this can lead to bitter rivals, fights, cheap shots, and boasting, however in this case it was the exact opposite (how hockey should always be!). After posting this picture I was tagged in another picture….
I love this picture because the teams are celebrating together. Instead of one team boasting at a win, and the other team being bitter because of a loss, the two teams come together and are both proud of their accomplishments. It’s great to see the captain of one team smiling and posing with the assistant from another team. This truly shows respect for the game, your team, and the other team.
Yes, this is the assistant captain of the team who came in 2nd place commending the captain of the other team for his character and level of skill.
This is what hockey should always be like. As a coach I am always trying to encourage respect for the game, the players, the officials and the other team. Isn’t it great to see a hard fought battle for the OMHA finals end with players from both teams coming together and encouraging each other. Every hockey player can learn from the positive attitude and sportsmanship that is displayed here.
Too often (on the internet) I see players knocking others down (especially in Youtube comments) I would love for the trend of sportsmanship to spill over to the internet and see players encourage and lift up others. This is just one example I was very happy to come across. Much respect for the Ridgetown rebels and the Centre Hastings Grizzlies for your sportsmanship and respect in Hockey! Pass it on!
I’ve stumbled upon a new site that will probably benefit a lot of you hockey fans. The season is all but over, but this lead should help everyone out as we look forward to the new season in the distance.
I have a 7 year-old son and a 3 year-old girl. I love to take them to as many events as I can. It gets us out of the house and creates memories that last for a while. If your child is into hockey, taking them to any sort of professional game, be it NHL, ECHL, AHL, NCAA, etc, is a great way to help them find something to work on.
Going to these games can be expensive at face value. I usually find some tickets from season ticket holders that I personally know and or StubHub.com. However, I got an e-mail from ScoreBig.com this week asking me to try out their service. So far it looks very promising. I can’t wait to check it out. I’ll keep you posted. If you have any questions about the service, check out the website and post a comment!
