QuickStickz Review

QuickStickz is a Fun and Effective way to Develop Stickhandling Ability

I’ve been really excited to get this post out, and let you know about a cool product called QuickStickz. QuickStickz is an innovative new way to work on your stickhandling abilities off the ice, and it’s a lot of fun too!

A few months ago I was invited to take a look at QuickStickz, which is a video-game-based, hockey stickhandling development system. I had seen the product before, but I’d never had the chance to get my hands on one. The idea seemed really cool, so I was excited to see what it was all about.

How it Works:
QuickStickz uses a special infrared camera that connects up to your PC via USB jack. The camera combos up with a customized SmartHockey stickhandling ball, that has been machined out with a whole bunch of tiny reflectors all over its surface. As you stickhandle, the camera picks up the movements of the ball, and sends the signal into the computer, which allows you to see your stickhandling movements on the screen.

Set-up is pretty simple, just plug in the camera, go to the QuickStickz member’s area, and install the plug-in when prompted.

Drills and Games:
Once you’re up and running, just select a drill or a game from the member’s area, and have at it! The drills are designed to help you work on various skills such as tight puck movement, wide puck movement, dekes, toe drags, etc. The games apply these skills in a more dynamic environment.

Member’s Area:
The member’s area is a great way to track your progress. You can check your own stats and progress, or see how your top score compares to other top scores from around the world. The member’s area also tracks how much time you’re spending on QuickStickz. This makes it easy for parents or coaches to check in on the player’s efforts and progress.

Conclusion:
QuickStickz is a great tool to help any player develop his or her stickhandling abilities. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s a product that I think connects with kids on their level. The one weakness of QuickSticks is that it’s fairly sensitive to the ambient lighting in the room you’re using it in. Sunlight badly interferes with the infrared signal put out by the camera, and makes the ball just jump around on the screen. So make sure you close the blinds, and rely on your “artificial lighting” (regular lightbulbs), and you should be just fine!

Technorati Tags: Buddies, Coach, Computer Set, Conclusion, Creativity, Design Feature, Dynamic Environment, Exercise Instructions, Exercises, Fun, Games, High Quality, Hockey Coaches, Hockey Player, Infrared Camera, Innovative Hockey, Interesting Design, Parents, Powerslide Slide Board, Ramps, Reflectors, Score, Skating Drills, Video Game

Tournament feedback for Alaska peewee team wanting to travel next season

Views: 677 | Replies: 2

4-Shot Backhand Drill

Drill:
1. Setup 4 pucks out in front of the net in the slot

2. Players must approach and shoot on Backhand
3. Goalie must make save and recover quickly

Focus:
1. Backhand shots – approaching the puck and shooting comfortably instead of trying to roll it over to the forehand
2. Getting the shot off quickly with no stickhandling
3. Goalie movement and recovery

Notes:
This is a great small area drill and can be done with a few players while others are focusing on something else.

Getting off Quick Shots: Video

I’m posting up a great video that Kevin HockeyShare.com has put together. This goes right along with what I teach my players. I’ve got a drill I run where the players crash the front of the net looking for a pass from behind the net. The idea is that they make a quick shot. No stick-handling or getting pretty with the puck. Just a quick push shot from a low position.

Update: I ran this drill in practice with the players coming at a coach. At the younger age, I decided to have them make their move well before the stick (as opposed to approaching the player and trying to go thru him). This gave them the opportunity to make their move and get off the quick shot.

Quick Shots Video

At Forward with Ulf Dahlen

At forward with Ulf Dahlen
By Rob Keast

When Ulf Dahlen goes into the corner for a loose puck, he always seems to come out with it. Considered one of the top puck-protection men in the league, Dahlen says the main reason for his success is that he is comfortable playing the puck with his skates.

“If a guy’s grabbing my stick,” he explains, “I use my feet.”

Dahlen says when he is in the corner protecting or retrieving a puck, a defenseman will often come in and try to take his stick out of the play.

“They want to work on my stick,” he says. “But if they go work on your feet, you’re going to go down and they might get a penalty.”

Dahlen says it’s hard for a defenseman to legally check a skate, whereas a stick is fairly simple for a defenseman to neutralize.

Also, going to the corner often means taking a hit, which is something else Dahlen feels he can use to his advantage. After a player throws a hit, it takes him a moment to regroup. Dahlen uses that split second to get better control of the puck or make a pass.

If you know a hit is coming, Dahlen advises, don’t leave the boards.

“You try to be close to the boards,” he says. “That makes it easier to be hit.”

Why? Because you are much more likely to stay on your feet if the boards are right there, propping you up.

At 6’3” and 200 pounds, Dahlen is no small guy in the corner. But even he knows you can’t prepare yourself for every bone-cruncher.

“Well, there is no good way to take a hit,” he says with a laugh.

Once he’s taken the hit and won the puck with his feet, Dahlen’s next task is either to make a pass or drive to the net.

“Don’t throw the puck blindly,” he instructs, sounding like a coach in the making, because nine times out of 10 a blind pass will be intercepted. But driving to the net often opens up another player.

“If no one else comes to you (after winning the puck along the boards), take it to the net. Then, if someone else comes to you (as you are driving), he is leaving your teammate open.”

So Dahlen says he always has his head up when driving to the net, looking to draw a defenseman and pass off the puck. If no one takes him, Dahlen is left to shoot it himself.

“Don’t be afraid to shoot if no one comes to you,” he says. “And, sometimes you take the good shot, but you know you’re going to get hit after.”

He said it’s to his advantage to take that hit, because it usually means his teammate is now open for the rebound. Remember the old cliché about “taking one for the team?” Well, Dahlen says it really works.

A hot commodity

It’s this kind of heady, selfless play that has made Dahlen, a right wing who has played all three forward positions during his career, a hot commodity since being drafted in the first round, seventh overall, by the New York Rangers in 1985. Dahlen has played for three different teams during his eight-year career, but not because his teams didn’t want him. On the contrary, he’s the type of player every GM wants—a gifted offensive player with a good head for defense. In short, Dahlen is the complete package.

After New York traded him to Minnesota (for Mike Gartner) late in the 1990 season, Dahlen was a key element in the then-North Stars 1991 run to the Stanley Cup Finals. And when he arrived in San Jose a late-season deal in 1994, he keyed the Sharks unlikely upset of the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings. It should also be noted that the Stars never seem to have recovered from his departure.

Dahlen says defensemen often give up their position to attack the puck along the boards. While going for the puck that is often in Dahlen’s skates, defenders sometimes don’t stay between the puck and the net. For those situations, Dahlen tries to be ready to drive straight to the net if he can get away with the puck.

Dahlen urges forwards not to rely on their sticks too much. Because sticks are so easy to tie up, he feels you have to be able to work the puck, and protect it, with your body and skates.

San Jose counts on Dahlen for board work and puck protection not only during even strength, but also on the power play—where he has scored 19 goals over the past two seasons. He says the nice thing about the man advantage is that once he wins the puck, he already knows a teammate is open. It’s just a matter of finding him.

The open man could be anywhere in the offensive zone, he adds, so don’t just look in one place—like in front of the net—for him. Of course, the more familiar you are with your power-play unit, the more likely you are to know instinctively where your teammates are stationed.

Dahlen says one of the things he always does in the corner is buy time, letting the rest of his team gain the zone and set up. This delaying is even more important on the power play, so he urges players not to feel rushed in the corner.

And again, if a defenseman wants to put the body on you during the power play, it’s to your advantage. A four-on-three is better than a five on four, and if someone leaves the penalty-killing formation to hit you, that’s what you’re left with.

“The perfect thing is to get someone to hit you,” says Dahlen.

— Rob Keast

This first appeared in the 01/1996 issue of Hockey Player Magazine®
© Copyright 1991-2001 Hockey Player® and Hockey Player Magazine®

Duck Soup: Anaheim’s Recipe for Success (1996)

Duck soup: Anaheim’s recipe for success (1996)
By Alex Carswell
Nov 6, 2001, 20:54

What would the coach of an NHL expansion team hope to see if he could look into the future? Probably a team where first-round draft choices are playing and contributing on a regular basis. Probably a team that had shaken the label “easy game” for opponents scanning their schedules. And probably a team that now expects not just to compete, but to win.

Well, as he looked around the locker room earlier this season, Mighty Ducks coach Ron Wilson must have thought he’d gone through the looking glass. The “expansion” Ducks had just reeled off four straight wins, five in a row at home, and taken down the past two Stanley Cup champions by a combined score of 13-6 in the process. The veterans were playing solid hockey, and the kids were starting to show signs of living up to management’s high expectations—some way ahead of schedule.

Paul Kariya, the first-ever Ducks draft pick (who sat out the team’s inaugural season before contending for Calder Trophy honors last year), was among the league leaders in goals scored. Oleg Tverdovsky was showing flashes of the brilliance that earned him the label “the Russian Bobby Orr” when he was drafted second overall in 1994. And Chad Kilger, an 18-year-old behemoth projected by management to be Kariya’s center of the future, had earned himself a spot on the roster and potted his first few NHL goals.

Special K’s

Kilger, in fact, had become something of a sensation in the preseason, playing bet-ween Kariya and Todd Krygier on a unit dubbed the “Special K” line. And while he provided the high fiber content you’d expect from a 6’5” power-forward prototype, he also displayed a sugar coated scoring touch, racking up four goals and 10 points in eight games. Those totals were good enough to tie him with Krygier for second, behind only Kariya, in Anaheim’s preseason scoring race.

How does an 18-year-old draft pick at his first NHL training camp end up centering the team’s top line?

“In talking with our scouts,” said Wilson, “Dave McNab in particular, he thought Chad was ready to play right away, so I thought, well, let’s get him out there. What we had planned for the future was that Chad would be the guy playing with Paul Kariya, so we might as well see right off the bat.”

And early on, things looked great. But Kilger pressed a bit as the regular season opened, and the Special K’s found themselves united only sporadically. But Wilson hasn’t lost any of the faith that Kilger earned himself over the exhibition schedule.

“I think Chad is just a little overwhelmed with the National Hockey League,” says Wilson, who scratched Kilger for an early-season match in Pittsburgh, and was pleased with how he bounced back. “But he’s been getting better and better, and that’s what you look for in young players. Sometimes players start fast and then fade in a hurry. You’re much better off building a guy; start with a solid base and go from there. And that’s what we’re trying to do with Chad.”

And when the team was struggling at the start of the season (dropping five of their first six games), Wilson didn’t see Kilger, or his other youngsters, as being the problem.

“You hate to rely on 18, 19, 20-year-old guys to show the 27, 28-year-old guys how to play,” he said after a loss to Philadelphia at the Arrowhead Pond. “It’s supposed to be the other way around.”

As for Kilger, Wilson is satisfied with his rate of progress.

“He’s played solid defensively, he’s created some chances. That’s all you can ask him to do.”

Wilson might also ask him to be dominant physically, the way Kilger was against Winnipeg the night he scored his first NHL goal. On his first shift he leveled Jets winger Dallas Drake, knocking him into the corner boards and out of the game with a fierce, clean check. And Kilger himself acknowledges the need to play tough.

“That’s part of my game,” he said after the 6-2 contest in which his tally proved to be the winner. “I’ve got to get into the game physically right from the start. If I don’t do that, I’m going to be ineffective out there.”

Already a star

Kariya, already a legitimate NHL star at the tender young age of 21, sees great things for his on-again, off-again center.

“In the past 10 years, not too many 18-year-olds can say they’ve played in the NHL—he’s made a great accomplishment just in that,” says Kariya. “He’s got a great attitude, he’s very humble and he takes things in stride, and I think that’s going to bode well for him. I’m sure that in coming years Chad and I will be playing a lot together.”

And that’s something that would bode well for any player—just ask winger Todd Krygier.

“He’s got great speed, great moves, and he can make plays and score goals. It’s been a good experience playing with him,” says Krygier, “and it’s given me more confidence in my play, too. Trying to feed him and make him the best player he can be, it’s helped me.”

Actually, Krygier helped himself quite a bit last season, when there was no Special K line. After being acquired from Washington for a fourth round draft pick in February, Krygier finished fourth on the Ducks in scoring, on pace for what would have been a career-best 52 points over a non-Lockout shortened schedule. That performance, coupled with the defensive savvy coveted by coach Wilson, was what earned Krygier, a new three-year contract and a chance to become part of Anaheim’s alliterative unit.

“I don’t think we’ll be together all year,” says Krygier, 29, of the Special K corps. “It’ll be on and off, just because Chad’s so young. Some games, like against Pittsburgh, they (wanted) him to just watch and learn. Other games he might play with different lines until he really develops his style of play. But I know that we’ll probably end up together somewhere along the line.”

Which is the way Wilson sees things shaping up as well. He likes the chemistry he saw in the preseason, and feels that once Kilger settles into his game, the trio will be reunited.

“They’re all the three parts of a line that any coach is looking for: a big power center, a playmaking, scorer-type winger, and somebody who’s going to play with them who can skate as well and is defensively conscious,” says Wilson. “And maybe another 10, 15 games into the season they’ll be able to come together and gel.”

Walking a tightrope

But this year’s Mighty Ducks team has more than just the Special K’s. Even before the surprising emergence of Kilger as an important member of the team, Wilson proclaimed his squad capable of making the playoffs in just their third season. And he bristled good-naturedly when asked by syndicated radio personality Jim Rome whether Anaheim would finish ahead of the cross-town rival LA Kings.

“What kind of a question is that?” replied Wilson. “Of course we will.”

And it’s that kind of confidence that had the Ducks flying high when the New Jersey Devils came to town.

“I said it early on and I’ll say it again: we’re a playoff team,” declared the coach after his charges dispatched the Stanley Cup champions, 6-2. “If we stay disciplined and use our speed when the opportunities are there, we can beat anybody. I think we’ve proven that.

“But I’m not a fool,” added Wilson. “I don’t expect to go into every building and win, and win by five goals at home every night.”

That tightrope between optimism and realism is one that Wilson fights to stay on, both because of the makeup of his team and the fact that there is a long-term plan in place.

“It gets to be frustrating for me sometimes,” says Wilson, “because I have so many young guys. But that’s part of my job; to be patient and understand you have to learn to walk before you can run.”

Yet the pressure to succeed can be a dangerous thing. The fans want to win. Management wants to win. In fact, the cover of the current Mighty Ducks media guide displays the motto “The Future is Now.” Pressure? Of course Wilson wants to win, too. But at what cost?

“It’s so hard from a coach’s perspective not to lose the focus on where you’re going,” says Wilson. “The idea is that everybody sticks together, and you can’t skip steps. When you try to skip steps to get there a little faster, usually you stumble and fall back down the staircase—and that’s what we have to avoid doing.

“You’ve seen it happen everywhere. (A team) will go on their plan for two or three years and it’s looking okay, and then somebody’s expectations change. Maybe you do a little better one year than perhaps you should have done. Then you say we should jump off from this (higher) point, when you’re really at this (lower) point. And when you jump, you miss—and, boom, you fall right back down the stairs again.”

Ducklings must grow

So Wilson hopes to win his share of games and make the playoffs while not sacrificing the development of his many “ducklings,” as he tagged the core of youngsters who are not rookies, but not seasoned veterans either. Guys like Oleg Tverdovsky, Milos Holan—whose battle with leukemia is something everyone wants to win right now—Mike Sillinger and Steve Rucchin.

For his part, Rucchin has developed into one of the team’s best players. A supplemental draft pick in 1994, the 24-year-old center was playing Canadian college hockey—the hockey equivalent of Siberian exile—at the University of Western Ontario when the Ducks discovered him. Since coming to Anaheim last year, he has demonstrated exactly the kid of two-way proficiency that Wilson appreciates.

“Paul Kariya’s clearly our best player, but from a coach’s point of view Steve Rucchin’s the kind of guy who, when the game is on the line—when you’re a goal up or a goal down—you’re looking down (the bench) to say ‘Rucchin, get out there.’ And he just does his job.”

Rucchin, who had long ago given up on a pro hockey career and was pursuing a career in medicine, is now considered a vital part of Anaheim’s future. And Wilson is thrilled with his development, both on and off the ice.

“Last year, he was very wishy-washy about being an NHLer. He didn’t know how to handle it. But now he’s seen the dressing room and he’s starting to take a leadership role. And he’s starting to demand more of himself—he’s not just happy with being in the lineup. Now he wants to score a couple of goals and a couple of assists, and make sure he’s not on the ice for any goals against.

“He’s 24 years old,” notes Wilson. “He’s got another 10 years ahead of him—if he doesn’t bail out on us and become a doctor.”

Sillinger is another 24-year-old who has found new life on Anaheim’s Pond. The high-scoring Junior player was relegated mostly to fourth-line duty over four years with a very deep Detroit squad. But since coming to Anaheim he has seen time centering for Kariya, and more recently on the left side of Kilger—where he seems to have helped the youngster regain his confidence and his touch.

The other team

That Anaheim has acquired and drafted players who are making an impact right on schedule is no surprise given the past successes of their management team. General Manager Jack Ferreira had an excellent draft history while with the New York Rangers, Minnesota North Stars and San Jose Sharks. He chose his team wisely in the 1993 Expansion Draft, making goaltender Guy Hebert the very first Mighty Duck. And he hired a coach with the patience to see his mix of kids and expansion-draft veterans through a long-term plan.

“Realistically, to win the Stanley Cup,” Wilson muses, “I’d say you can do it in seven years the way things are right now. When you’re drafting all these 18, 19-year-old kids, then they’re all mature at 24, 25. Then you’re looking at a situation like the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders when they came into the league. It took them seven, eight years to win the Stanley Cup. And if you build through the draft, that’s what it’s going to take you.”

One other thing those two dynasties had in common, however, is something that’s not so common in hockey today: stability, both in the front office and behind the bench. Does the man who was just given a one year contract extension see a stable coaching presence as part of the long term Stanley Cup strategy?

“That’s very important,” notes Wilson. “But it’s easy for me to say—I don’t control that. But when you analyze any successful franchise in any sport, the formula for success is the same. And stability is part of that.”

In other words, with enough patience—from management, from the coach and from the fans—what started as an ugly bunch of ducklings might just blossom into a Stanley Cup swan.

This first appeared in the 01/1996 issue of Hockey Player Magazine®
© Copyright 1991-2001 Hockey Player® and Hockey Player Magazine®

Larry Murphy: To the Hall of Fame Quietly

Larry Murphy: To the hall of fame quietly
By Sam Laskaris

This first appeared in the 01/1996 issue of Hockey Player Magazine®

©BBS

Murphy’s Law—you know, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”—certainly doesn’t apply to Toronto Maple Leafs blueliner Larry Murphy. Since breaking into the National Hockey League with the Los Angeles Kings in 1980, Murphy, who was born in Scarborough, a city just east of Toronto, has been one of the most competent and dependable defensemen around. … Continue Reading

More Youth Coaching with Pat Burns

More youth coaching with Pat Burns
By Alex Carswell

This first appeared in the 01/1996 issue of Hockey Player Magazine®

©BBS

A coach plays a big part in how much any youngster enjoys his formative hockey experiences. That’s why parents and youth hockey organizers would be well advised to consider what kind of coach they want in charge of their kids.

At the professional level, as well as the upper echelon of Junior hockey, team success is always foremost on a coach’s mind. But what about when working with kids? Should a coach think solely about doing what he must in order to win games, or should he emphasize things that help kids develop their individual skills?

“Well, I think its a mix of both when you’re in minor hockey,” says Pat Burns, now in his fourth season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, “because you’re going to have some kids who do things better than others. Just like in the NHL, some players do things better than others. It’s the same thing in minor hockey. Some kids are going to be better skaters, and others may not be as good skaters but they’ll be good penalty killers or checkers, so you have to kind of draw out the talent that he has the best that you can.”

In other words, by using a particular child to his own best advantage, you can also help the team to victory. And likewise, by playing to the strengths of your individual players, you don’t force a kid into an uncomfortable position of being expected to do something he or she may not be able to do.

“You can’t take a kid who can’t skate well and make him a perfect skater,” says Burns, who coached his way up through the ranks from peewees to become a two-time winner of the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top bench boss. “It’s difficult. A lot of these things are God-given gifts.”

But the lesson of using players with specific gifts to their own, and the team’s, best advantage holds true all the way to the NHL.

“I’ve got a guy (on Toronto), Bill Berg, who’ll go through a wall for you but he’ll never be a great skater. But he works hard and tries hard, and yet he’s reached a level in his skating where he’s not going to get any better. As a coach you have to accept that, and as a player he has to accept that. And his peers have to accept that around him. But, also, he has a role to play.”

And playing that role earns him the respect of those peers.

“Another player won’t want to lay that role,” notes Burns, “you know, the disturber, or the instigator who’ll bother the best player on the other team. Other players don’t want to do that; they just want to go out and play. Bill Berg can’t do what Doug Gilmour does.

“And I think in minor hockey you have to try to find each point where it’s appropriate to explain each team-oriented situation. You’ll say, Listen guys, little Johnny here is our best scorer and he’s going to play on the power play. But little Peter here is a good penalty killer and he’s going to (do that).”

They should do it all

Which is not to say that you should let a coach pigeon-hole any kid right from the start.

“You have to let them try it all. At the peewee and bantam (level) everybody’s got to do everything, but when you get to the midget age, just before Junior, then you have to start specializing.

“I think the main thing,” says Burns, “the most important thing for a coach to do is let the kids play, and not overcoach them. Because there’s a danger in overcoaching them. I’ve seen (minor) coaches take systems they see from us in the NHL and put them on the ice and the minor hockey level, and that’s dangerous, because the kids aren’t mature enough to handle stuff like that, and they’re not playing at that level.

“(In the) systems that we play, everything is structured. And in minor hockey, you can’t structure (that much). You have to let the kids see what kind of talent, and what kind of things are going to develop for them as they get older and older.

“That’s why I think it’s dangerous when I see coaches overcoach and try and put a system into a peewee team, say 11- and 12-year-olds. That’s not right. You have to let them play.”

But, obviously, winning is a big part of what sports is all about. It’s in the psyche of everyone who plays or coaches. That’s why it’s important to be clear about what you expect from a youth coach, and what he or she should expect from you.

“If you’re hired to coach a hockey team, to develop a young hockey team, I think it’s important to know that the people who hired you know what your role is, and know what they expect of you. Now if they hire you and say ‘You’ve got to win every game,’ then as a coach you have to stand back and say now wait a minute, do I want to do that? So (how you approach the job) depends on what’s asked of you—or what’s told to you—and that’s very important. And that should be specified up front. If you’re going into coaching minor hockey you should ask (the team organizers), What do you expect? What do you want?

“In the National Hockey League, of course, they want the Stanley Cup.”

F-U-N

But when it comes to identifying the single most important thing any youth coach can do while directing his charges in practice, says Burns, there is no question. It’s getting them to have fun.

“That’s the main thing—a very, very important thing that people forget. Skating is always important, but you have to have things that are fun to do while skating. And every kid when he gets on the ice wants to have the puck. He wants to have the puck. That’s the game of hockey. So when you do skating drills—and I even do it on the pro level—give them each a puck. Let them play around with it, shoot it on the boards. That’s what kids like.

“You can have a five- or 10-minute session of skating which is called conditioning, but when it comes to skating the kid wants to have a puck. And you can see it.

“For example, you take some kids and skate them around the ice, it’s nothing but mayhem. But the minute you throw that little black thing on the ice, the attention span completely changes for every kid. Their faces light up, be-cause that’s the game of hockey.

“So that’s the most important thing; to give the kids drills where they’ll be able to play with the puck. Plus, that’s where you find out what a kid can do. Maybe he can really rifle the puck. Maybe he can really pass the puck, or stickhandle. But if he doesn’t get to use the puck he won’t develop those skills.

“In short, the kids aren’t athletes—they’re kids. And kids need to have fun.”

And if you can find—or be—a coach who understands that, then your child’s youth hockey career should be a happy one. And maybe even their pro careers.

“We’re with guys in the NHL,” Burns points out, “and they still like to have fun!”

— Alex Carswell

This first appeared in the 01/1996 issue of Hockey Player Magazine®
© Copyright 1991-2001 Hockey Player® and Hockey Player Magazine®

How to Build a Backyard Hockey Rink

The Quick Explanation of building a rink

The best way to build a backyard rink that will give you the most skating time, and require the least amount of maintenance is to basically build a temporary above ground pool. The basic components you need are brackets, boards, and a liner.

Brackets and boards can be purchased from a backyard rink company (more expensive, but easier in the long run), or improvised from your local hardware store. The liner should be purchased from a backyard rink company as quality does matter here. Of course you can forgo the liner, however this will cause a lot of headaches in climates that don’t see consistent below 0 temperatures until January.

Where to buy Backyard Rink Supplies

Some of the most common supplies for a rink are brackets, boards, a liner and a handheld “Zamboni” to flood the ice. I have included two good resources below

• YardRink – A new entry to the backyard rink market and they are coming in with some smart changes. The liner goes OUTSIDE the boards to protect it from tears, give better board play, and reduce waste (the liner can be re-used every season). This also means more savings (you don’t need to buy a new liner every year) and much less plastic waste. Check them out here and if you’re looking for a discount code use Yardrink coupon code JEREMYTEN for 10% off (can be combined with other coupons!)
• EZ ICE RINKS – By far the easiest rink kit, a single person can build the rink with no tools in under an hour. If you use the EZ ICE RINKS promo code HOWTOHOCKEY you can save 10% and get free shipping
• Iron Sleek – They’re a 1 stop shop whether you want to build your own rink and order their brackets and liner, or get a full kit. They just released their drop-in rink kit that is easy to assemble. Use the iron sleek coupon code COACHJ for 5% off and a free shovel!
• HockeyShot.com Backyard rink kit – You get the brackets and liner for a 20ft x 40ft rink, you will need to purchase boards (plywood can be used). The rink can be expanded later with more brackets and boards and a bigger liner. Use our coupon code  HOWHCKY001  for $10 off
• Nicerink.com – You can buy everything you need
• The article below – Joe provides very good instructions on how to build your own rink, and has a lot of good knowledge to pass on. He also has links to his store where you can purchase supplies

Thanks to Joe from backyard-hockey.com for writing this guest post

Building your own backyard hockey rink

For a quick explanation we have shot two videos below. You can also read the article below for more details

As any hockey player knows, having an open sheet of clean ice is a rare and beautiful thing. I can remember back in high school, our team practiced right after school ended each day. As seniors, we’d set up our class schedule to have the last period free, meaning we could get to the rink with a full hour to go before practice officially started. To be the first one on that perfect afternoon ice was to have heaven all to yourself — to breathe in that beautiful rink smell, to feel the cold air sweep by your face, to be the first to carve ice with steel. In those solitary minutes, everything was right in the world. Before long, the ice was crowded with teammates and coaches, the structure of another practice in full swing, the perfect open ice gone for another day.

I didn’t build my first rink until I was 28. I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing, and I was a bit nervous, but when the boards were up and the liner was in and the water truck was parked in front of my house, I knew it would be incredible. And it was. A few days after we filled, the ice hard and my two-year-old son asleep, I turned on the floodlights and snuck out back, Bauers slung over Sher-Wood. I tied the cold laces and stood up. For the first time in a decade I felt the rush of clean, smooth, untarnished ice, the same feeling that had me sprinting for my car each afternoon as a teenager. The ice was mine and mine alone, just as it was then.

Building and maintaining a backyard rink is hard work, and nobody who has done it will tell you otherwise. But I’ll stop short of saying it’s difficult — and there is a difference. Chopping firewood and shoveling snow is hard work. Calculus and brain surgery are difficult. That’s to say that with proper planning and good instruction, everyone reading this can build a rink in their backyard. You just need to do a bit of homework first.

For all intents and purposes, a backyard rink is nothing more than an above-ground swimming pool, albeit one with only a few inches of water. When it comes to how to build it and what to use, there are literally thousands of variations, each rink as different as the person who builds it. But each one shares three common (and mandatory) components: boards, bracing, and a liner. Some folks in very cold climates will pack down snow and flood it, using snowbanks as boards. I don’t live in a climate that supports that, so I won’t be talking about that here. But what I will give you below is a rough idea of how most people I know build their rinks – me and my customers included.

Before we get into the materials, you’ll need to determine if your yard is suitable for a rink. I wrote a post on this process recently, but I’ll summarize it for you. The way to do this is by using wooden stakes, string, a line level, and a tape measure to determine your yard’s slope. Start by staking out the four corners of your would-be rink, visually determining which of these four corners is the high point. This will be the corner of your rink with the least ice thickness — we shoot for 4″ at a minimum. With your string tied to this stake 4″ off the ground, run the string to a different corner, attaching your line level to the middle of the string. When the string is level, measure how far off the ground the string is at the second stake. If your high corner is 4″ and the string is at 10″, then you know you have a 6″ slope and that your ice will be 10″ thick at this corner. Repeat these steps for the other two corners, making sure to write your numbers down. Once you know your water depth around the entire rink, you can move on to the rest of your build. (Note: many new rinkbuilders opt to skip this step, often saying “my yard looks level”. I hear this every year, and many of these people are surprised when the water is running over their deep end boards while the shallow end has exposed liner. Don’t be one of those people — they tend to have angry and disappointed kids.) Need more detail? Here’s a blog post on the process.

The Boards

For the most part, you’re looking at using one of three options: plywood, two-by lumber, or backyard rink specific boards like the thermoplastic pieces made by Nicerink. Which option you choose depends on things like budget, availability, and the aforementioned water height. For example, if your water height is 25″ in your deep end, then you won’t be able to use the Nicerink boards (which are 18″ tall) or 2x lumber. But if you’re lucky, and your yard cooperates, you have a choice to make. The Nicerink boards, part of a collection of Nicerink products made specifically for backyard rinks, are the best money can buy, and will last decades. But they’re not cheap, and so many rookie rinkbuilders opt for plywood or 2×12 lumber. The 2×12 (or 2×8, or 2×15, or…) lumber is thick and sturdy, but is heavy and not easily stored in the offseason. The plywood is inexpensive and easy to cut into strips, but tends to flex more and won’t last as long. So while all three kinds are viable and used throughout the backyard rink community, one may suit your yard, budget, and needs more than the others.

The Bracing

A rink is only as good as the bracing used to support it. In general, water HATES being confined inside a backyard rink, and so when you fill your rink, that water works hard to push your boards outwards. It’s the bracing you use on the perimeter of your rink that keeps the water in and allows it to freeze. What you use to brace your boards is a function of the board material you chose, your slope, and your budget. Nicerink makes a triangular bracket with 6″ spikes along the bottom which are great because they accept Nicerink boards and 3/4″ plywood. Others have used wooden stakes, rebar, homemade triangular brackets, 2×4’s pressed up against the boards at a 45-degree angle, or even fence poles. A search online will yield dozens of designs, and it’s impossible to rank one over the other. For the most part, we advise that you put your bracing every four feet around the perimeter of the rink unless your water is more than a foot deep. If it’s deeper, make it every two feet. But there’s a rule I subscribe to, and that’s that there is no such thing as too much bracing. There IS such thing as too little. So err on the side of caution, particularly in your first year, and brace the ever-living crap out of your rink. It beats the alternative.

The Liner

The third component of your rink is the liner. I sell Nicerink liners (and use them on my own rink), but I’ve found that most communities will have a handful of places that sell tarps or sheeting suitable for rinks. The important things to note are thickness (thicker is better) and color. Ideally you want white or clear, because anything dark (like those blue tarps) will attract the sun and impact your ice quality.

Everything Else

As I said earlier, the boards, bracing, and liner are the three most important things you’ll need to build your own rink. But there are dozens of accessories available to enhance your experience. Most of my customers opt for yellow foam bumper caps, which help keep the liner in place while you fill and provide a soft, safe surface atop your boards. Lighting is another thing to think about, and it doesn’t have to be fancy. I have three work lights (the same kind you get at a home improvement store) attached to 2×4’s. You may not think you’ll skate at night, but the lights certainly help when it comes time for resurfacing. And that’s another thing you’ll want to think about getting: a resurfacer. Nicerink sells one (of course), and it’s a beauty, but there are instructions for building your own on my blog for a fraction of the cost. Regardless of which one you choose, using a resurfacer is the best way to get indoor-quality ice.

The Build

When I build rinks for my customers, I break my services into three visits, and they mimic the work you’ll need to do each season. The first is the frame build, which you’ll want to do before the ground freezes. This is because you’ll want to make sure you can pound your bracket of choice into the ground. Many people do this step between late November and early December.

The next step is the liner placement. You can’t really schedule this step, as it’s entirely weather dependent. You’ll need to look at the long-range forecast for your area, and target a cold snap that is 20 degrees(F) or colder at night and 32 degrees (F) during the day. Then, and only then, will you unroll your liner, carefully position it within your rink, and start to fill. Some tricks for this step:

-When you unroll your liner, make sure it’s flush against both your boards and the ground all around the perimeter. If it’s not, the water pressure could tear the liner as you fill. Order a liner large enough to drape over the outside of your boards, allowing for plenty of slack as you fill.
-Don’t EVER staple your liner to your boards before you’re completely full. Uuse the bumper caps, or inexpensive spring clamps, to hold the liner in place on fill day.
-Have some extra board material and bracing on hand the first time you fill. In subsequent years you’ll know what to expect, but whenever I build a new rink, I keep extra brackets or wooden stakes on hand in case I notice any board flexion as the water level rises.

The last step is rink teardown, which you’ll want to do as soon as the last bit of ice thaws. This is a sad but necessary job, particularly if you have grass underneath that you want to grow. Some people will roll up their liner and reuse it the next year. I’m partial to buying a brand new one so I don’t have to worry about holes when I go to fill the second season. It gives me peace of mind.

So while it would take me 10,000 words to tell you all I know about backyard rinks, this is a good summary that will work for just about every yard and budget. I have also summarized the tips below

Ten Tips for Having the Perfect Backyard Hockey Rink

DIY backyard rink vs Backyard rink kit

If you don’t have a lot of time, tools or handyman experience you can always pick up a backyard rink kit. These kits come with boards, brackets, and a liner, so all you need to do is assemble and add water.

The easiest rink to build that I’ve tried is the EZ ICE RINK, you don’t need any tools so it doesn’t take much effort, and you don’t need to hammer every steak in the ground so set up is very fast (under an hour). You can use promo code HOWTOHOCKEY to save 10% on your order

Some other options are NiceRink and IronSleek (Use the iron sleek coupon code COACHJ for 5% off and a free shovel!). NiceRink has been in the business for years, their bracket anchors into the ground giving a lot of support to the boards. Ironsleek has a bracket system that can be used with plywood which is more cost effective and just released the drop-in rink system.

How to build a backyard rink (2020 edition)

Looking for a way to keep your kids busy playing hockey on your new backyard rink? Check out The Pond. The Pond is our all in one hockey training platform designed to continually challenge players and keep them busy. We provide members with the most efficient path to improve the skills they will use the most in actual games. Use coupon code TRYOUTS to get your first month 100% free!

Bustin’ Out: Adding Options to Your Breakout

Bustin’ out: adding options to your breakout
By Greg Siller

This first appeared in the 12/1995 issue of Hockey Player Magazine®

Figure 1

Breakout plays are used by a team to move the puck out of their defensive zone and into an offensive attack. The ability to effectively move the puck out of your own end is important both defensively and offensively. Defensively, it means that you have eliminated the offensive threat from your opponent. Offensively, it means that you have possession of the puck and now have an opportune to score. … Continue Reading