America’s Showcase Day #2

Played the team from New England and lost 5-1. Score was 2-1 until middle of the third and then two goals in the last minute when we were jumping every play to try and get a goal. The NE team was strong and fast and our boys just didn’t have the same drive and intensity that NE had. A number of very talented players on NE, but that is expected with players from that area of the country.

The scouts are all over some of our players and that’s nice to see. Tomorrow we play Pittsburgh and not sure what to think. Watched them play yesterday and  beat NE 2-1 and then today they lost to the Mid-West team we beat yesterday 7-1. I guess that’s why you play the games. Game will determine our place in the playoffs on Saturday. A win will certainly get us in and a loss will likely send us home. We’ll have to have the boys ready to play.

I want to thank Greg Riddle (hope I got your name right) for stopping by and saying hello to me. He is one of the followers on this site and is coaching one of the teams in the tournament. Was pretty cool to have someone come up and say how much they like the site. Every once in a while I will meet someone at a rink that follows the site and they are always really nice to me, so thanks to Greg and all of you.

Wish us luck, I’d really like to make the playoffs on Saturday.

America’s Showcase High School All-Star Tournament

I am in Pittsburgh as one of the coaches for the America’s Showcase event with team Philadelphia. Our team consists of many of the top high  school junior and senior players from the eastern Pennsylvania area. Lots of college scouts in attendance.

We arrived yesterday and played a team from the Mid-West area and won 7-1. Today we take on the team from New England and tomorrow the host Pittsburgh team. Some have suggested that our team is one of the favorites along with Pittsburgh, New Your and New England. I guess we will see if we are a true contender over the next two days.

Spending time with a number of very good coaches and really enjoying seeing different ways to approach old ideas and really enjoying the conversations with some very smart coaches.

Getting ready to head to the rink and take on a tough New England team. I’ll post results throughout the week.

Butterfly Passing Drill

Butterfly Passing is a Simple but Effective Hockey Passing Drill

Butterfly Passing is a great drill to work on passing fundamentals with youngsters, and to iron out technical “wrinkles” in more experienced players. Although the drill itself is simple, players should use this drill as an opportunity to work on passing accuracy in stride, and should focus on precise execution at full speed. Here’s the diagram:

Butterfly Passing Drill:

1. Two lines at one end, the width of the goal posts
2. Players skate in pairings all the way down the ice, passing back and forth while maintaining stride
3. At far end, players peel off, around the bottom of each’s respective circle, then skate back making cross-ice passes back into the zone they started from

Variation: have d-men skate backward

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Accuracy, Butterfly, Full Speed, Hockey Drill, hockey passing drills, Opportunity, Precise Execution, Variation, Wrinkles, Youngsters

6 Ways to Improve your Hockey Skills over the summer

How great would it be to step onto the ice next season and be BETTER than the last time you skated? Well it is quite possible and the summer time is a great time to sharpen some of your skills. The only thing that is coming in between you improving over the summer is yourself, below I have made a list of 6 ways you can improve.

• Off ice Shooting

• You don’t need ice-time to work on your shot, in fact last summer I improved my slapshot by 20 MPH (yeah it sucked before) by simply training with a radar gun and making note of what improved my power and what didn’t. What was the trick? There was no trick, I just got a radar gun and made a commitment to shoot 100 pucks a day (taking some days off of course). While shooting my muscles naturally became better, stronger and more effecient at performing the slapshot. I was training them while shooting over and over, and the radar gun helped me notice my improvements and motivated me to keep shooting.
  
• For this skill I recommend a shooting pad and a radar gun  (use our coupon code to save $10)
• Here is a Review I did a while back of the radar gun I use

• Off ice stickhandling

• Stickhandling is easy to practice at home as long as you have something smooth to stickhandle on. If you need some drills to practice you can check out my complete guide to stickhandling (if you don’t learn anything you can have it for free). I also have a few articles and videos that should help you, how to stickhandle, and how to toe drag. All of the above links show you ways to improve your stickhandling at home
• Quick stickhandling tips (for the lazy)
• Practice “quick hands”or dribling, moving the puck from forehand to backhand as quickly as possible. This keeps the puck moving and the other players thinking
• Practice moving the puck around your entire body
• Practice moving the puck quickly from one area of your body to the next (front to back, side to side, front to side, etc)
• For off-ice stickhandling I recommend a few hockey pucks, the Green Biscuit  and a shooting pad. Stickhandling balls are also a lot of fun
  

• Leg Training

• It is not too easy to improve your skating technique during the summer (unless you can get ice time) however it is easy to improve your leg power and acceleration. This is a great way to come back next year as a faster hockey player, I think acceleration is a very important skill to have if you want to get more scoring chances so this is a big one to work on. If you want to improve your hockey speed, you have to train your muscles to work in the same way they work on the ice. Short bursts of speed and explosive movements will help improve your leg strength and speed. Wind sprints are a good way to improve your explosive speed and you I also recommend checking out our article from Jarod Palmer of the Minnesota Wild – How to gain speed in hockey with off ice training

• Get some Ice Time

• I know that for some people this might be very hard, but if you live in a city it is worth your while to check the nearest rinks. In most bigger cities you will be able to find a rink with the ice still in, ask if there are any adult hockey leagues, or open ice time for hockey players. One of the most important skills in hockey is skating so take a few seconds to check if there is a rink near you with ice. You can use Hockey Community to find rinks, games, and pick-up games near you

• Play Other Sports

• Playing sports that keep your muscles working will help you maintain fast reflexes and good overall strength and speed. Some sports like lacrosse and ball hockey or roller hockey have skills that carry over to hockey. Even something simple like tennis, squash, or soccer can help because they require fast movements, rapid change in direction and hand eye co-ordination. Unfortunately I don’t think golf will help much

• Go to a hockey Camp!

• Hockey camp is a great way for kids and adults to learn a few new skills and work on sharpening the skills they already have. If you are an adult there are lots of great hockey camps out there, one fan of How To Hockey recommended Heartland Hockey Camp in Minnesot
• If you have kids or are under the age of 17 check out the Summer hockey camp that I will be working at over the summer

Thanks a lot for reading the article, you can share it with the tools below, and don’t forget to join us on facebook!

Canadian AAA association in least populated location

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The Hockey Sweater Goes To The Symphony

From the Winnipeg Free Press:

The beloved kids tale “The Hockey Sweater” is going to the symphony.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra says it’s offering up a musical take on the classic Canuck story on May 12. The world premiere of “The Hockey Sweater” will be hosted by famed Montreal 

Canadiens goaltender Ken Dryden and narrated by the original author himself, Roch Carrier.

Here’s the full story.

Hockey Shooting Targets: Sniper’s Edge

The Sniper’s Edge is an Awesome Hockey Targeting System that Offers Plenty of Versatility

A few months ago, I got my hands on the Sniper’s Edge from HockeyShot. I had seen this Hockey Targeting System in the past, but hadn’t ever used one before. So, I was excited at the chance to give it a whirl, and was impressed with the experience.

Product Overview
The Sniper’s Edge fits over any standard two-car garage door opening, and comes in 2 sizes, 7′ x 16′ or 8′ x 16′ (so make sure you measure the height of your garage door before ordering).

The unit comes tightly wrapped in a box – make sure you follow the labeling and DON’T USE A KNIFE TO OPEN THE BOX, as you will risk slicing a hole in your tarp before you even get it open.

Installation
The Sniper’s Edge doesn’t come with any of the necessary hard-ware to install it. So you’ll need to pick up the following items from Home Depot or Lowe’s:

• Screws
• Washers
• 16′ wooden dowel

Once you have the proper hardware, assembly is pretty easy… Just follow the directions included in the box. I put it up myself in about 22 minutes, and it would have been a lot quicker if I had had a partner.

My Experience
Once your Sniper’s Edge is all set up, just grab a Shooting Pad, some Pucks, and have at it! This set-up works really well in neighborhood or indoor settings, where you don’t want errant pucks damaging houses, windows, or other valuable items. The Sniper’s Edge is a tarp, so everything hits with a dead bounce and drops straight down.

Another cool feature on the Sniper’s Edge is the pocketing system. Anytime you snipe a corner, the puck is caught in the back pocket, and drops down to the bottom of the unit, making clean-up easy (as long as you’re hitting the corners!).

All in all, this is a great product, and one I highly recommend!

Technorati Tags: Bounce, Car Garage, Garage Door, Hardware Assembly, hockey shooting aids, hockey shooting targets, Home Depot, Indoor Settings, Lowe S, Neighborhood, Product Overview, Proper Hardware, Puck, Pucks, Screws, Shooting Targets, Sniper, Targeting System, Tarp, Versatility, Whirl, Wooden Dowel

Bargain Hockey Books At Chapters

Chapters has a great selection of hockey books currently available for as much as 86% off the cover price. The books include:

Gretzky’s Tears by Stephen Brunt: $4.99 – 86% off!
The Golden Jet by Bobby Hull: $5.00 – 86% off!
Gretzky to Lemieux: 87 Canada Cup: $6.99 80% off!
Honoured Canadiens: Hockey Hall of Fame: 12.99 – 71% off!
Saving Face: The Art and History of the Goalie Mask: $12.99 – 69% off!
Canucks Legends: Vancouver’s Hockey Heroes: $9.99 – 80% off!
Maple Leafs Top 100: The Greatest Players in Toronto Maple Leafs History: $9.99 – 80% off!
My Greatest Day by Hockey Night in Canada – $6.99 – 79% off!
The Love of Hockey: $10 – 23% off
The Rookie: A Season with Sidney Crosby: $5.99 – 80% off!

Be sure to check out the Chapters bargain book section for these and more deals!

How to ask people to step down …

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Back In The Bigs: How Winnipeg Won, Lost & Regained Its Place in the NHL

The Winnipeg Free Press is pairing with Penguin Books to publish a commemorative book that will mark Winnipeg’s historic re-entry into the National Hockey League.

Back in the Bigs: How Winnipeg Won, Lost and Regained Its Place in the NHL, will be written by award-winning sports writer Randy Turner, and is due out in September.

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca – Chapters

“We want to tell the story by bringing the past to life… not just archives, but dozens of interviews with major players, on and off the ice,” Turner said. “There is a direct link to the Jets’ early years, which explains why NHL hockey left, but the passion never did — even for all those 20-somethings celebrating in the streets who barely saw the team play.”

The book will track the history of pro hockey in Winnipeg, from the wild days of the World Hockey Association to the Winnipeg Jets’s entry into the NHL in 1979; and from the heartbreaking loss of the franchise in 1996 to its triumphant return in 2011.

I had my first chance to view the book while in Toronto at The World’s Biggest Bookstore. The presentation quality is high, with some great photos from throughout the years gone by. I could only sample the text, but it seemed deep and interesting.

Because of the beautiful lay out I am sure this book will be a winner with all Jets fans, not only in Winnipeg but throughout Canada and beyond. I will offer a full review when I receive my copy.

In the meantime, The Winnipeg Free Press is offering a free excerpt about John Ferguson’s impact on hockey in Winnipeg. Also, check out this video presentation on the book.