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How to Watch a Professional Game
I think if most coaches went around their locker room and asked how many player watch NHL games, a good number of kids (generally speaking) would raise their hands. I would venture to guess if you asked who watches a game without texting their friends, updating Facebook, or Tweeting – the number of hands raised would be drastically decreased. Players (and coaches) who watch professional hockey have tons of opportunities to learn from the best in the game every time a game is televised.
Taking a Lesson from the Capitals
If you’re a Washington Capitals fan, the last couple days have probably been pretty tough to handle after their first-round exit from the playoffs after being up three games to one in the series. While surfing through the latest hockey headlines online, I came across a question from Dave Hodge on TSN.ca titled Does the Caps’ Loss Make Mockery of Regular Season. The question is an interesting one – one which I’m sure will stir up some debate and emotional responses (especially from the Caps’ fans).
Tryout Overview [Part 2]
Skill Drills: In order to properly run skill drills, you need a good comprehension of the talent level you’re working with. At the younger and/or lower caliber levels, your skills should focus on the basics: forward skating, backward skating, cross overs, stopping, basic puck handling, basic shooting, and basic passing. The older and/or higher caliber the group, the more you should implement drills to force the performance of skills at a higher pace. Evaluators should watch for notable aspects (both good and bad) of each player’s ability in the following categories: skating, shooting, passing, puck handling. Each of these skills should be broken down into the appropriate drills for the level. For example, to work on cross-overs (skating), you could break it down as follows: Beginner Groups: Basic cross-overs around the circles – watch for basic technique and balance Intermediate Groups: Cross-overs around the tops & bottoms of the circles only (not all the way around) – watch for basic technique, balance, speed, and ability to transition between cross-over directions. Advanced Groups: Have players skate down the ice performing one cross-over to the right, then one cross-over to the left (repeat the length of the ice) – watch for technique, speed, transition between directions, ability to maintain balance/strong body position, and generation of power with each push. The most important skill to watch for during these drills is skating. If a player can skate well, the rest of the game gets a lot easier. Skating affects every aspect of the game – from a foot race to a loose puck, to maintaining balance in front of an opposing team’s net. Players who skate efficiently are often times easier to work with when it comes time for positioning. While evaluating skating abilities, be sure to include drills that force players to change directions and move laterally. It doesn’t do any good to be the fastest skater from end-to-end if you aren’t able to turn or change directions while maintaining your momentum. Competitive Drills: During competitive drills is where you look for your work-horses. Small area games and in-tight competitive drills often expose strengths and weaknesses quicker than any other types of drills since the players have no place to hide or blend in. One of my favorite drills to run during tryouts is the Corner Battles drill. This simple one-on-one drill shows me right away who is willing to mix it up in the corners. I also recommend running 1 on 1 drills to allow you to isolate both forwards and defensemen. The 1 on 1 Full Ice drill is one of the oldest, most basic 1 on 1 drills there is – but it works great. You get to see how the defensemen handle the puck, shoot, set their gap, and handle the rush. You also get to see if your forwards are willing to get in front of the net, have the necessary speed, have creativity, and the desire to fight through a check. Coaches shouldn’t be afraid to adjust the lines to get a desired matchup on rushes or battle drills. It’s a tryout, and you’re looking to see the level each player can compete at. Scrimmage Time: This is an evaluator’s time to see if the notes on a player thus far transfer into game-scenarios. It’s also the time to find out which players have the much-coveted “hockey sense.” Hockey sense is (simply put) the ability to see the ice, properly anticipate plays, and react accordingly. This portion of the tryouts often makes decisions for coaches even more difficult. Many times, you can run into a player who has a great core set of skills, but isn’t able to translate them into game scenarios. You may also run into the opposite – a player with a weak core set of skills, but seems to get the job done consistently. Which player you give preference to when choosing your team is your own personal decision. In my opinion, I would rather take a player who can perform during a game with a weaker core set of skills than one who has good skills but no game-time performance – with one HUGE caveat: the player MUST have a strong skating ability. A couple final thoughts on the tryout process… If you have multiple people evaluating, don’t be surprised if you have differing opinions on players. Different people look for different things while they’re evaluating. I always recommend having neutral hockey-knowledgable evaluators assist in picking your team. By neutral, I simply mean they do not have a child on the ice being evaluated, and have not coached the majority of the players in the past. Ideally, you get someone who has no connection with any of the players on the ice. This removes a level of emotion from decisions. Finally, accept the fact that you most likely will not please everybody. Don’t give in to threats of “if my kid doesn’t make the top team, we’re taking him/her somewhere else.” To those situations, my typical response is “do what you have to do.” While it may come off as terse, I firmly believe coaches need to evaluate as fairly and impartially as possible. Coaches will often be put in tough personal and political situations during tryouts. Personally, I’ve had to cut board member’s players, cut friend’s players, and have had people stop talking to me because of my decisions. Make your decisions with integrity and stick to your guns. Good luck to all the players and coaches going through the tryout process!
How to Approach Off-Season Training
Often when the season wraps up, I’ll get asked the question: “Coach, what do I need to work on in the off-season?” I usually respond to this by reversing the question and asking them what they think they need to work on. When they look at me with a blank stare, I usually try to guide them through a series of questions to help evaluate their play and identify “holes” in their game – and of course share my feedback with them after they’ve started to identify things for themselves. The off-season provides a great opportunity for committed players to develop and improve their fundamental skills. I believe players need to approach off-season training in the following sequence: 1) Players must identify the areas of their game they want to improve. This needs to be done with honest self-evaluation. Most older players know the areas they struggle with – younger players will need to be given more guidance. A list of two or three skills to improve is typically more than enough. Identifying too many areas is a recipe for disaster and disappointment. 2) Once players have their weaknesses, they should work with their coaching staff to come up with a training regiment. This doesn’t necessarily mean the coach should be giving out complete summer training programs for each player (although, this would be great), but most coaches will be more than happy to share ideas on ways to train. 3) Players need to follow through consistently on the plan. If a player improves just a little bit every day, the results/success will compound. Repetition is the mother of skill – get out there and consistently take action! It is OK to take days off – in fact, depending on the training, it may be better for the body to take time off. 4) Players should seek educated instruction/direction during their training for both safety and habit reasons. If someone takes 10,000 shots with terrible technique, they’re not doing a lot other than re-enforcing bad habits. However, if he or she take 10,000 shots with some guidance, instruction, and correction – they stand a much better chance of developing their skills. 5) Identify on-ice training opportunities to evaluate how the training is working. Many areas of the game can be worked on off-ice: stickhandling, shooting, foot speed, balance, hand-eye coordination, acceleration, power, reaction time, etc. However, it is a good thing to get players on the ice from time-to-time to see how their training is working. This can be something as simple as open hockey or a public skate. 6) Work hard and smart. One thing a lot of players get wrong is mistaking hard work for smart work. Players must understand – working hard on the wrong things won’t help once the season rolls around! Players who come in bragging about how much they improved their bench press or bicep curl have indeed wasted a lot of time and energy. The depth players should take these guidelines depends on age and competition level. An eight year-old obviously should not be doing an intense weight program – but instead occasionally stickhandling or shooting pucks in the driveway will go a long way. Midget players with aspirations of continuing their career, on the other hand, should be looking to be hitting a weight room and getting on the ice more frequently to hone their skills. Not sure what to work on? You can never go wrong with working on skating technique! Looking for training programs? Check out M2’s off-season programs: Pre-Season Workout | M2-12 (for Peewee-aged players) | Footwork Program
Fellow Hockey Friends
Coach Nielsen I had the pleasure of catching up with fellow hockey coach and blogger, Coach Nielsen this past week at the USA Hockey U18 Tier I National Tournament down in Woodridge, IL. If you haven’t seen his site yet, it’s definitely worth checking out. Here’s the link to his blog: http://coachnielsen.wordpress.com/ HowToHockey.com I’ve also been talking lately with Jeremy from HowToHockey.com, and wanted to take a minute to share a challenge he’s putting together this summer called the Slapshot Challenge. It’s a contest designed to improve your slapshot over the summer. This will coincide nicely with the 10,000 Pucks Contest which starts in June. Anyway, here’s a quick video from Jeremy:
To learn more about the Slapshot Challenge, please visit: http://howtohockey.com/slapshot-challenge
Hal Tearse Concerns
I was sent an interesting video of Minnesota Hockey’s Coach in Chief, Hal Tearse. In the video, Hal expresses his growing concerns regarding game counts vs. skill development. Here’s the video -- I think it’s definitely worth a watch:
Why Goal Scorers Bury the Puck
Dan Rosen – staff writer for NHL.com – posted an awesome article on 4/7/10 about the NHL scoring race between Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and Steven Stamkos titled Chasing Rocket: Why Ovie, Sid and Stamkos Score. While the article goes into specifics about each player’s style of play, what interested me was where they were scoring their goals from on the ice. In my previous post about the Box Plus One Defensive Zone Coverage, I touched on the importance of defending your “home base” first. As a reminder, here’s the area I’m referring to:
Now take a look at that area compared to where each player is scoring the majority of their goals from: (Note – since these files are property of NHL.com, I can’t post them directly to the blog, so I have to link them) Alex Ovechkin: http://cdn.nhl.com/images/upload/2010/04/ovi-chart-LG.jpg Sidney Crosby: http://cdn.nhl.com/images/upload/2010/04/crosby-chart-LG-mod.jpg Steven Stamkos: http://cdn.nhl.com/images/upload/2010/04/stam-chart-LG.jpg So what can we learn from these great goal scorers? To me, it’s one simple thing: don’t pass up opportunities to shoot the puck in the prime scoring areas of the ice. Now, that’s not to say there aren’t times when it’s right to make a pass here – but too often I see players try to chase that elusive “perfect scoring opportunity” – 99% of the time, it won’t happen. Goal scorers score by shooting the puck and shooting it with a purpose! ….oh, and it doesn’t hurt to get in the habit of driving to the net and stopping in front for a rebound!
Tryout Overview [Part 1]
Step 1 – Planning Your Session(s) The first step to running a successful tryout is the ability to effectively plan the usage of the available ice time. Knowing whether you’ve got one day, or five days to choose your team will make a huge difference in how you approach your plans. For argument sake, let’s assume you have three-90 minute sessions at your disposal for tryouts. Try to find out well ahead of time what your schedule is so you can plan accordingly. One of the worst things a coach can do is enter the tryout portion of the season unprepared. This often sets the tone for the rest of the season – plus, you only get one chance to make a first impression! Step 2 – Include Skill Drills Before going any further into your plans, you’ve got to understand what age and level you’re coaching and have a solid grasp of just how talented the group you’re working with is. If you’re looking to select a low-level Mite (Novice in Canada) team, you plan much differently than if you’re working with a Midget AAA team. A solid rule of thumb is: the younger the groups, the more basic fundamental skill drills you should run during tryouts. Remember, tryout sessions are not the time to be spending a lot of time explaining new drills. With any group/level, you need to have a solid grasp of what the players are capable of. For example, if you’re working with a Mite/Novice team, it may be worthwhile to run a simple backwards skating drill. Often times at the younger ages, players aren’t yet proficient in that particular skill – so it’s best to see that up front. If you’re working with an older, more advanced team, you should look at performing a high-tempo edgework drill to see which players are able to skate efficiently at top-speeds. Many times, skill portions of tryouts are overlooked. Lots of coaches would rather just have the players scrimmage and sit back and watch. Including skill drills provides two distinct benefits: 1) being able to recognize technical proficiencies and deficiencies in players 2) getting some insight as to how they interact with coaches and approach drills. If I’m picking a team, I want to know where players are strong and weak, so I can gage the group and have specifics to focus on once the season starts. I also want to know if a player is going to give me attitude every time I run a skating drill. Step 3 – Include Competitive Drills 1 on 1 and Small Area Games are great drills to include in tryouts, as you get some insight as to who really wants to work to earn his/her position. Forcing players to compete against each other in situations other than direct scrimmages allows coaches to isolate players and match-ups much easier. These drills often times allow coaches to step back more than when running skill drills, and have time to pair particular players against each other. Keep these drill repetitions short so players can give a high level of energy the entire time. One great drill for this portion is the Corner Battle drill – it forces players to mix it up in the corners, and can show you a player’s ability to to keep his/her emotions in check. Step 4 – Include Scrimmage Time Finally, I do recommend including scrimmage time in each tryout session. At the end of the day, players have to play the structured game once the season rolls around. Once you’ve got some insight on their talents and competitive nature, it’s time to see how they fare in game situations. As with the competitive drills, coaches should mix and match groups to see specific players compete against each other. For example, if you’ve narrowed your list down to two defensemen you’re watching, and you notice both those players are going out against forward lines that will not make your team, it doesn’t make any sense to keep the status quo. Get those players out against other players who you’ve already selected and see if they rise to the challenge. I believe the scrimmage portions of tryouts should be “stepped” – meaning the scrimmage portions increase in length as the tryout process goes on. If you have three sessions, perhaps the first session has 60 minutes of skills/competitive drills and 30 minutes of scrimmage – then the second session has 45 minutes of skills/competitive drills and 45 minutes of scrimmage – finally, the third session could have 30 minutes of competitive drills and 60 minutes of scrimmage. Below I’ve included the tryout practice plans I used for the 2009-10 season. This is not by any means a definitive guide as to what you should run, but I wanted to include it as a reference. We had three-90 minute tryout sessions and followed the “stepped” format outlined above. Download 2009-10 Tryout Example Stay tuned next week for Tryout Overview [Part 2] – which will focus on what to look for in each of the portions of your tryout sessions.
Expanding Our Game – Everyone’s Responsibility
So how can we make our game bigger and better? The first step is easy – become a game ambassador. When the opportunity arises, let people know how much hockey means to you, and share how much it has touched your life. Invite family and friends to hockey games. If you have a son or daughter playing, and their friends get to see them play, you’ve got an instant connection and a much greater chance of getting another child interested in the game. Another great tool is to encourage your local youth hockey association and rink to host a “Try Hockey Free” clinic. USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have made it increasingly easy to get the necessary equipment for these sessions with their OneGoal program. Organizations can order sets of gear for an extremely affordable price. Associations and rinks need to realize the investment they make in gear is an investment in their future. If your association or rink is unable to purchase the gear, contact families within the club and ask for donations. Many hockey families have old gear just sitting around and would be happy to put it to a good use. Once you have your gear, work together with the rink to make it a memorable experience. Many rinks will gladly donate an hour of ice time for the event – and why not, it’s helping secure their future customer base as well. Celebrating and partaking in the festivities when national governing bodies organize events is a simple way to celebrate and promote the game. USA Hockey has Hockey Weekend Across America, where there are different themes for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This year, the Friday theme was “Wear Your Favorite Hockey Jersey”, Saturday was “Bring a Friend to the Rink”, and Sunday was “Celebrate Local Hockey Heroes”. These are three great themes to help grow awareness. Finally, if you’re able to help out with your local club, reach out and lend a hand. So many organizations need volunteers to keep the kids on the ice. Even if it’s just being there for your club’s beginner/development hockey program, no contribution is too small. When you’re dealing with the younger and beginner levels, it’s difficult to have too many knowledgeable people on the ice. Anyone who’s worked with the beginning groups know just how demanding it can be – individual attention is the key. Talk to your organization about adopting a policy to make sure the program isn’t understaffed. Have a board member present at every practice/game to field questions parents may have. It’s easy to forget many times both the player and parents are new to the game and don’t “know the ropes” yet. Have every coach in your club come out for one week of practices – it’s a small commitment that can make a huge difference. Not only does it give more qualified coaching on the ice, but also begins to introduce coaches from other levels to the players and parents. We would love to hear other ideas on how you or your local association (or rink) help hockey grow. Please leave some comments below to help contribute to the growth of our great game. Older Posts » |
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So, now you have taken the time to 
Spring time marks the end of a long-cold (but exciting) hockey season – and for many, brings with it a set of tryouts. Older players begin trying out for junior teams, younger players try out for select spring teams, and many Tier I teams hold their tryouts for next season. Over the past several weeks, I’ve received many emails asking my thoughts on tryouts – how to handle them, what to look for, how to structure the ice times, etc. Since this topic can get quite lengthy, I decided to break this down into two separate posts (the follow-up coming next week Monday/Tuesday). In this post, I’ll cover my opinion of how to structure the ice times and choose the right types of drills. Please keep in mind, this post is geared toward youth players. I know we have readers who are coaching high-level teams (Junior/College/Professional), but my hunch is they’ve already got a pretty good grasp of how to run their tryouts!
It’s probably safe to say everyone reading this article has a passion for hockey – if not, why would you be spending time reading hockey articles when the regular season is over? The game of hockey is arguably the best sport on the face of the earth and teaches many life lessons which prove to be invaluable to children as they get older. In order for our sport to continue to grow and take strides in a positive direction, each of us must take some responsibility and “step up” to help expand our game. We’re all busy, but if we, as active, current participants in the hockey community do not, who will? If you’re a parent with a child in the game, wouldn’t you want to see your children’s children have the opportunity to play this great sport? If you’re a coach who doesn’t have any children involved in the game, wouldn’t you want to make sure you’re going to have players to coach in the future?
Pins & Needles
Tags: commentary, juniors, tryouts
Some may have been wondering where I’ve been for the past few weeks, and why the post consistency has decreased. I’ve been heavily involved in taking the ice down and re-installing it at our local rink. This weekend I’m actually up in Minnesota watching an NAHL tryout. As I sit in the lobby observing about a hundred kids coming in (some I’ve coached, some I’ve coached against), one thing is very apparent….everyone is on pins & needles. This is the final tryout camp for one of the teams in the North American Hockey League. Players enter with the hopes of making a high-level US-based junior team. Parents wait nervously in the stands and lobby, sometimes pacing back and forth, chain smoking, or just sitting there fidgeting. It’s fun hockey to watch because every player on the ice is competing. There are some obvious cuts and some obvious returning players, but the rest remains very close in talent. Many perceptions of junior hockey tryouts are they serve primarily as a fundraiser for the organization. I suppose if you broke it down, it’s easy to see how that would be an easy conclusion to jump to. Just for fun, here are the numbers of the camp I’m watching:
100 players (approximately) x $250 each player = $25,000
Ice expense of approximately 25 hours at $150/hr = $5,250
Total approximate profit: $19,750 – not bad for a weekend’s work! No matter what the dollar amount equals out to, my main hope is the players attending are being treated honestly and fairly. Let me make it clear by saying I am NOT saying they aren’t being treated fairly/honestly. I hope that when players attend ANY junior tryout (or any other level tryout for that matter), the coaching staff is having a completely honest conversation with the players as opposed to stringing them along to get more money out of them. Good luck to all the skaters on the ice this weekend!
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