GearGeek – NHL Equipment Database

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 …

4 Corners – D vs. O

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…

What evaluators look for during try-outs

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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Why You Need to be Your Own Coach

September 8, 2013 Hockey Blogs No Comments

Post image for Why You Need to be Your Own Coach

There’s an old saying in investing “no one cares about your money as much as you”. Something similar could probably be said about most hockey players “no one cares about your development as much as you”. Being your own coach is especially important for older hockey players.

Sure in minor hockey there are a lot of great coaches, parents and instructors, but even a great coach has about 15 hockey players who they are working with at any given time. Most hockey players get a few hours of practice per week on the ice, and the older the players get the more time is spent with systems and flow drills and less time is spent on skill development. So what is a player to do?

Jeremy Weiss from Weisstech Hockey made a good point here that I certainly agree with. Young players won’t be buying skills DVD’s or have the right mindset to become their own teachers, so for coaches and parents of young players it’s important to be a student of the game and also a coach. Stay up to date with new and fun ways to teach skills, continue to watch skills videos and review different coaching resources.

Be Your Own Coachcoach-blowing-whistle

A great coach will teach, challenge, and motivate you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything on your own time! As a player you can’t just wait around for someone else to show you how to shoot, stickhandle and play your position.

What happens if you get a coach that focuses on systems for an entire year? That would be an entire year where you would not get any help with stickhandling, shooting, dekes, skating, or any other skills.

How can you coach yourself?

Teach Yourself

Before you can be a teacher, you first must be a student.

This is the most challenging part of being your own coach. In order to teach yourself you first must learn. There are a lot of great hockey resources out there. If you are trying to learn a skill you can look for instructional videos on Youtube (How To Hockey Channel with other channels in the sidebar) or instructional DVD’s (I learned more about stickhandling as a 14 year old from watching Sean Skinners stickhandling VHS tapes than I ever did from coaches).

If you are trying to learn about positions there are some good positional articles online (winger, Centerman, Another for wingers) and if you want more than just the basics you can study some hockey books. Some I recommend are Hockey plays and strategies and Jeremy Weiss’s playbook PDF for positioning, and Hockey Tough for great advice on mental training for athletes.

hockey-strenghtsYou also need to learn about yourself before you can coach yourself.

  • What are your strengths?
  • What are your weaknesses?
  • What areas of your game need the most improvement?

It pays to pay attention to these things while you practice and play so you have a better understanding of what you need to improve on. Push yourself and try challenging drills so you can better understand where you need to improve, this will help you find new exercises and drills to help with your improvement

For example I remember being run through a number of edgework drills. Because of these drills I realized that I was a bit off balance on my inside edge of my left foot when skating backwards and turning. This seems very specific, but it gave me something to work on and helped me find a deficiency in my game and my skating improved even more ever since I focused on that area.

Be Prepared

This comes along with doing your research. Being prepared means knowing what skills are involved in improving, and how you can improve those skills.

I found a great checklist from Hockey Canada that goes over all the skills that an initiation hockey player should learn (ages 4-7). How old are you, and how well can you perform these skills?

initiation-core-hockey-skills

Make a checklist of your own of skills you want to improve!

Motivate Yourself

Everyone is motivated differently, the great thing about being your own coach is that you know exactly what motivates you. Maybe it’s a cool video game, maybe it’s some type of food (like a juicy Harveys Hamburger), or maybe it’s just the sheer joy of improving and playing better.

Find something that will motivate you and use it to push yourself. If you want to skate faster, do your research, find some skating drills and off-ice workouts that will help you get faster, set a goal, and reward yourself with something that will motivate you to keep on training. Practicing and playing with friends is also a great way to help yourself stay motivated and improve

Set Goals

goal-settingThis is one of the most important steps of being your own coach. Lets say you want to score 30 goals in a season, if you make that your goal that is a great first step, but you still haven’t laid out a path to meet your goal. It’s a dream until you write it down, then it’s a goal, but to make it a reality you need a plan and you need to stick to it! Lets use the example below

Goal: Score 30 goals this season

Steps to achieve goal

  • Shooting practice 30 minutes per day
  • Take 2000 snapshots by end of month
  • Improve backhand power
  • Improve slapshot accuracy
  • Faster backhand to forehand transition and shot
  • Improve skating speed
  • etc, etc, etc

By laying out a DETAILED path to achieving the goal it is much more likely that your goal will actually be reached

Have Funhockey-fun

Learning and improving should always be fun, if you are doing workouts to improve your leg strength, or you’re running through a series of ladder drills to improve your foot speed why not put on your favourite music and rock out! Invite some friends over and challenge them to beat your times, create some competition, do anything to make your training a little more fun. If it’s fun, you will want to continue training and improving.

Make a Schedule

hockey-scheduleA schedule is a great way to stay on track when trying to achieve a goal. It’s too easy to say you are going to do something every day only to forget a few weeks later and go back to your same old routines.

Sit down and write out a reasonable schedule that fits into your current lifestyle and goals. If you are competitive your schedule might include daily training at home and at the gym. If you are a recreational player maybe you will only include two training sessions per week.

The important part of making a schedule is balance. Make sure each area of your game is addressed so you can continue to advance. Don’t be afraid to sit down a few months later and rethink your schedule. That way you can modify your schedule so it will continue to challenge you.

So I don’t need a coach?

Wrong. You do need a coach, but to continually advance your skills and be a complete player you should learn how to be your own coach. Take the advice and suggestions you get from your coaches and then apply it at home. Pavel Datsyuk gave some good advice on his twitter

pavel-datsyuk-twitter

Take advice whenever you can get it, listen to any coach who has something to pass along, and work with others to improve your skills. When you teach yourself it helps to have direction, correction, and feedback from outside sources to help correct and bad habits you may have established.

For younger players this means asking questions from their coaches, attending power skating classes, and going to hockey camps if you can. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, or let the instructor know you want to work on something in particular.

Another fun way for kids to improve is to watch NHL highlights, there are a bunch of them on Youtube. Don’t just watch the moves though, watch the positioning of the players, their habits, and the small things they do that help them get into position to score those pretty goals.

listen-teammatesAllow your teammates to give you advice – Be a good student

Just like Datsyuk said above, “I listen to many coaches, specialists, and teammates”. Your teammates may know you better than your coach. Make it a habit to talk to your line mates about how you are playing, how they are playing, and how you can play better together. This will allow you to improve your game, improve your teammates game, and also improve your chemistry together.

 

hockeyplayerWhat if I’m to old to have a coach?

For older players this means reading hockey books, watching skill videos, talking about skills with other players, and attending adult skating lessons if they are available in your area. You can also watch NHL players and notice their habits and how they play and use that to guide how you play. Pay attention to the subtle things like how they get open, how they battle, when they use their speed, etc.

I like to think of myself as an online hockey coach, so feel free to email me with questions and problems you face and I will do my best to help you.

Resources

I recently published an article called the ultimate resource guide for hockey coaches. This guide can also be used by hockey players who want to further their knowledge of the game. There are links, downloads, books, and videos for everything from skill development to positioning and of course coaching.

Team Canada Passing Drills

September 2, 2013 Drills, Hockey Blogs No Comments

Here are a couple of simple but effective passing drills supplied by the coaches of Team Canada.
When working on passing drills make sure your players stay focused on the fundamentals of a good pass.

  • Head-up
  • Stick on the Ice to receive
  • Tape to Tape
  • Good Pace on the Pass
  • Don’t get lazy and make sloppy passes

Each of these drills are run at full speed with timing involved. Make sure the players accelerate into the receiving zone.

Team Canada 2×0
Team Canada Outlet Pass

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Hockey Shooting Analysis – Have your shot analyzed

August 31, 2013 Hockey Blogs No Comments

Post image for Hockey Shooting Analysis – Have your shot analyzed

I am pleased to announce a new service for a limited time. For the next month or so I will be offering a shooting analysis service for anyone who would like some 1 on 1 advice with their shot. Personally I think this will help a lot of players so I am very excited to help you guys out.

Update

I have got some great feedback so far from those who have taken advantage of the shooting analysis, here are a few comments I have gotten after sending the video

Hey Jeremy,
I tried your slap shot tips. Immediately saw my slapshot get 5x better. Thanks!.

Terri

Jeremy:
I thought your video analysis was excellent. I’m pretty impressed. People in my office were wondering if you do ones for golf and soccer.

Mark

wow, I am super impressed with your expert analysis! (you should be charging more)
I’m headed to the rink right now to work on all the tweaks you’ve highlighted…

Ray

Jeremy,
Can’t thank you enough. Your analysis was spot on. I am going to recommend my entire team send in their videos to you.

Jim

Thanks Jeremy, we got the videos everything was awesome… the kids are still outside practicing! Thanks again the kids (and I) are big fans.

Chev Hockey Dad

Nice that’s awesome.
The extra snap at the end makes a huge difference, I instantly improved my backhand when I started using it.

Lawrence

 

How it works

  • Take a video of yourself shooting (see my video example below so you know what angle to use)
  • Upload the video to Youtube (you can make it unlisted if you don’t want anyone else to see it)
  • Pay for the shooting analysis service with the button below
  • Email me a link to your video to [email protected]
  • I will download your video, review it and analyze your shot
  • I will upload my analysis privately and email you the private link as well as any further advice or recommendations

Only $19.99


Some Guidelines for your video

  • Make sure the video shows your body (as shown in picture below)
  • Please only use one type of shot per submission
  • Let me know what you would like to improve
  • Feel free to include extra information (position, things you want to improve, etc) either in your video or in your email

Let Get Started!

To get started shoot a video of your shot (on or off ice), upload it, pay with the button above, then send me the link

Defenseman Puck Support

August 30, 2013 Defense, Hockey Blogs No Comments

This video does a great job of teaching Puck Support.  The key is the Dman without the puck is not rushing up ice, but providing support to his partner and giving him an outlet pass.

Thanks to IHD Partner Kevin Muller over at  M2Hockey.com & HockeyShare.com for this video.

Defenseman Puck Support

August 30, 2013 Defense, Hockey Blogs No Comments

This video does a great job of teaching Puck Support.  The key is the Dman without the puck is not rushing up ice, but providing support to his partner and giving him an outlet pass.

Thanks to IHD Partner Kevin Muller over at  M2Hockey.com & HockeyShare.com for this video.

Defenseman Puck Support

August 30, 2013 Defense, Hockey Blogs No Comments

This video does a great job of teaching Puck Support.  The key is the Dman without the puck is not rushing up ice, but providing support to his partner and giving him an outlet pass.

Thanks to IHD Partner Kevin Muller over at  M2Hockey.com & HockeyShare.com for this video.

Cornell One Touch Warm-Up

August 29, 2013 Drills, Hockey Blogs No Comments

Here is a simple warm-up drill from Cornell university that works on one-touch passing and moving the puck up the wall for a shot on goal. This drill helps develop better passing skills and also helps to warm-up the goaltenders. Make sure to tell the players where to shoot from.I prefer to keep the shots from the tops of the circles.

Cornell One Touch Warm Up

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Faceoff Tips

August 27, 2013 Hockey Blogs No Comments

Current and Former Pittsburgh Penguins talk about the art of the face-off and give some strategy for your players.  Watch the video then read my comments below.


Note:  This is not my content. I’m sharing what was found publicly displayed on youtube.com

A couple of thoughts on this.

  • In the video Craig talks about if he were on the other side, he would still win it toward his net.  At the youth level I would never recommend that.  I would suggest is to teach your player to read the situation and put a player who would be on the strong side to win the puck back or to the wall on a Defensive face-off
  • If in the Offenseive zone, teach them to put a player on his forehand on the inside of the circle so they would have the best shot possible.

Faceoff Tips

August 27, 2013 Hockey Blogs No Comments

Current and Former Pittsburgh Penguins talk about the art of the face-off and give some strategy for your players.  Watch the video then read my comments below.


Note:  This is not my content. I’m sharing what was found publicly displayed on youtube.com

A couple of thoughts on this.

  • In the video Craig talks about if he were on the other side, he would still win it toward his net.  At the youth level I would never recommend that.  I would suggest is to teach your player to read the situation and put a player who would be on the strong side to win the puck back or to the wall on a Defensive face-off
  • If in the Offenseive zone, teach them to put a player on his forehand on the inside of the circle so they would have the best shot possible.

The Ultimate Resource Guide for Hockey Coaches

August 24, 2013 Hockey Blogs No Comments

resources for hockey coaches

As a hockey coach I am always scouring the internet for new ideas, drills, and resources. I have found a number of great drills and videos that I review when I am looking for new ideas. After years of coaching I have compiled and organized quite a list of links to my favourite hockey coaching resources. I wanted to share this list of links with other coaches so they too would be able to easily find drills, inspiration, and motivation for themselves and their players.

Favourite PDF’s

I like to keep things organized, and there’s nothing better than a nicely packaged PDF document with everything I need. Below are my favourite’s that I always carry on my ipad

Small Area Games

small-area-games-hockey

I think small area games are the best way to provide repeated and specific game like situations. The best part is they are competitive so the players play at full intensity, and they have a lot of fun. I have included some good small area game PDF’s below

  • USA Hockey Small Area Games
    • This is another great PDF with some interesting teaching points. The document has some studies done on puck possession which is an interesting point to bring up with the team. The games are all organized by age group
  • Coaches Guide to Small Area Games
    • This is a very well put together collection of games.
  • Small Area Games – by Malcolm Sutherland
    • There is some great reading / teaching in this PDF as well as a number of good small area games. I like to use the small area games to help reinforce technical skills that we’ve worked on earlier in the practice. I find following instruction with play that incorporates the skills helps the players better understand the skills and better remember how and when to use them

Hockey Systems

hockey-systems-playbookI searched and searched for a free pdf on systems, but nothing was complete enough. The e-book below is well worth the money spent and nice to have handy on my ipad.

  • Hockey Playbook ($27) – Jeremy Weiss
    • While I love learning for free, sometimes it pays to not be cheap. Growing up playing minor hockey I didn’t quite have a grasp on hockey systems and strategies. In my search for some good resources I found Jeremy Weiss’s playbook and got a copy. It’s a great read with a lot of good information and a number of current systems. The playbook covers Offense, Defense, Forechecking, Special Teams, Faceoffs, Transitions, Breakouts, and more.

More PDF Downloads

So you’re looking for more documents to scan through during downtime. I’ve got you covered, below are some great resources that are updated from time to time with new material.

Favourite Hockey Drill Resourceshockey-clipboard

  • HockeyShare.com drills page
    • Hockey share has a great community of coaches sharing, creating, and commenting on drills. They have a great collection of free drills to browse through. They have also created a very cool drill diagrammer for the more serious coaches out there who create and organize their own drills.
  • Coach Nielsen
    • If you’re looking for drills and lots of them, this is the place to go. These aren’t just any drills though, they’ve been tried and tested by Coach Nielsen. Visiting his site is like having access to his brain. For the past 4 years coach Nielsen has been posting drills and tips for any hockey coach to freely access. He’s got a great blog that is worth following as he not only shares drills, but also tips and advice on how he and other coaches use them.
  • Pass the Puck
    • The website looks like it hasn’t been updated since a year after the internet was invented, but it is actually filled with a lot of great drills and updated on a fairly regular basis.

Video Resources

  • TheCoachesSite.com 
    • This is an awesome resource for coaches. Every year there is a coaches conference with many pro NHL coaches giving seminars and presentations. The coaches site uploads the seminars a few months after the conference. There are a handful of great videos to watch!

Great Youtube Channelsyt1

  • Inno Hockey – Some videos are in Swedish, but there are great drills and playlists here
  • M2 Hockey – Great channel with a lot of individual skill videos
  • Jeremy Weiss – A lot of good drill explanations and diagrams
  • Pro Playmakers – Daryl coaches the pros and adds videos the odd time. They are not instructional but it’s nice to see the high tempo drills he uses. 
  • Hockey Canada – There are some great playlists on this channel.

Favourite Hockey Coaching Bookshockey-plays-drills

  • Hockey Plays and Strategies
    • This is a must have if you want pro level advice on running systems. Coaches will benefit from the detailed and simple to understand instruction about controlling every area of the ice, and players will benefit from knowledge of their jobs and responsibilities in each zone. This book is not just a book filled with diagrams, there is a lot of great teaching as well as easy to understand drills and diagrams. (plus it has 11 5 star reviews on Amazon)
  • Hockey Tough
    • No this is not a book about hockey tough guys, it’s about mental toughness and how to train your brain to perform better each and every game. I would recommend this book to coaches and players as mental training is often completely neglected, especially in minor hockey. Coaches will learn A LOT of great tips that they can implement and pass on to their players.
  • Simply the best
    • This is a great book that contains interviews with many of the best NHL coaches that ever lived. The interviews reveal a lot of insightful advice from some of the smartest hockey minds out there. I took notes with my tablet while reading and came up with pages and pages of good quotes and tips for coaching. I definitely recommend this book to coaches.

Please share any books, downloads, or videos that have helped you as a coach and I will add it to this list :)