Here is a quick overview of the modules and new requirements:

• Video-based sections
• Quizzes after most sections
• Users must re-watch videos if the quiz is not passed with a 60% or greater score
• Takes approximately 8 hours to complete
• Once you begin a module, you have 30 days to complete it (although it must be complete prior to Jan 1 of the current season)
• Coaches coaching multiple age levels must take the age-specific module for each level he/she is coaching
• This is a one-time requirement per age-group
• Modules cost approximately $10 per age-group

These new requirements have triggered a variety of responses – our question to you is:

What do you think of these new requirements?  Good? Bad? Changes need to be made?  Let us know what you think!

Leave a comment below to chime in to the conversation…

1. Early Season Tournament/Road Trip – ideally, pick a tournament where you’re out of your home town and parents/players must stay in a hotel.  This lets players get to know each other away from the rink setting, and gives parents time to socialize in the evenings.   If you’re in a hotel and have time between games, try planning a team “pot-luck” lunch/dinner where players are required to attend as opposed to everyone heading their own direction for meals.
2. Ropes Courses – a ropes course will force players to work together as a team to achieve a common goal – just like in the season.  It will also force some players to address their fears (especially if you’re doing a high ropes course) and get support from their teammates.
3. Team Building Activities – choose a day and location away from the rink and plan group challenges (mental as well as physical).  Activities that force players to communicate and interact are excellent in establishing trust among teammates.  For some ideas on activities, check out our blog post on Team Building Resources.
4. Team Cook Out – this can be done at the rink, or if a parent is kind enough to open their home, at a family’s house.  Ideally there would be an activity the players can do (pool, ping pong, swimming, etc.) which will focus them to one area.  Avoid allowing video games to be the central focus, as the amount of communication and group interaction is severely lessened.
5. Change Locker Room Seats – players love to get into a routine and sit next to their buddies in the locker room.  This can be okay as the season progresses, but if you’ve got a team with a lot of new skaters, forcing players to sit in different locations will cause them to talk with and get to know people outside their small clique.
6. Paint Balling - not every team will have access to this, but teams that do will find that their players will enjoy the competition and have a great time being together away from the rink.  You could also plan for a team cookout after the paint balling event!
7. Team Workout – you see this in the NHL quite a bit – players and coaches will do team runs, bike rides, canoeing, etc.  Although it may not be quite as much fun as some of the other activities listed above, you’ll be getting the group together and also helping their overall conditioning.
8. Mix Lines / D Partners – early in the season, forcing players to play with skaters other than the one or two players they’re used to will not only get players to work together and communicate, but will prepare older players for future tryout camps where they’ll be playing with skaters they’ve never played with before.
9. Team Video – have some fun with this one – especially early in the season. Instead of doing game tape review or something expected, have some fun and watch an entertaining video or movie.  Maybe even get some pizzas for the players (without telling them).  For older groups, The Tournament is a great choice.  For younger groups, Miracle may be a better idea.
10. Personal Information – before or after a practice, hold a team gathering in the locker room and have players get up and introduce themselves one-by-one.  It is also helpful to have 3 or 4 questions they need to answer while it is their turn.  Simple questions like the following tend to work well: favorite hockey team, one thing we didn’t know about you, home town, etc.

1. Coachability – can the player take direction, or does the player think he/she “knows it all”? This is arguably the most important quality of a player – even above talent.
2. Work Ethic – is the player inherently lazy, or do they give you full effort every time they’re on the ice? Lazy players make coaching more difficult and decreases the efficiency of the coach – he/she will need to focus more on getting an honest effort, rather than teaching.
3. Accountability – does the player have a good track record to showing up to all the practices, games, and team functions…or is there always a reason they can’t make it? When players miss practices, coaches are forced to revisit old topics instead of being able to build off them.
4. Club History – has the player been in the association for an extended period of time, or are they known for jumping from club to club every season? Coaches concerned about player development want players who will likely be with them for multiple years.
5. Team Fit – does the player’s style of play fit in with what the team needs? Teams don’t need 20 players who have amazing hands but will never go into a corner or finish a check.  Good teams have players that fit different roles within the team. This is often where players with more talent can be passed by in favor of a player who possesses the skills needed to round out a team.
6. Other Coaches Recommendations – hockey is a small world. Coaches often look to previous coaches for advice.  If a player was nothing but a pain for another coach, there’s a good chance the next coach down the road will know about it as well.
7. Parents – believe it or not, this can factor in to decisions. Are the player’s parents known for being a bit “crazy”? Did they openly bash the club, team, or coaching staff when things were not going well? Coaches are humans – like it or not, most coaches will take a player with a bit less talent, but a family who is supportive over a player with more talent, but has crazy parents.

1. Time away from the rink is a good thing – without time to get away and recharge the batteries, players often become burned out.  After the season (or tryouts for the following year) wraps up, give your skater a couple weeks away from the rink.  Players who are playing for the right reasons will hit the ice again after the break with a renewed passion and energy.

2. Train appropriately – knowing how to train in the off season is a critical piece to player development. Young players should be allowed to have fun in their training without it becoming over-bearing.  The older the player gets, the more intense the training becomes.  Starting at the Midget (or High School) age, players need to be willing to put time in at the gym.  The game is too fast and physical to enter the season out of shape – it’s flat-out dangerous.  If you’re playing competitive travel, and aren’t willing to hit the gym Monday-Friday, you’ll be behind.

3. Refine your skills – be a rink rat, look for open ice time.  Most rinks have an abundance of open ice this time of year.  Look for times where you can work on specific parts of your game instead of getting in to bad habits by only doing “open hockey” sessions.  The off-season is a great time to evaluate your own weaknesses as a player, and take steps to improve those weaknesses.

4. Hydrate – summer is an easy time for athletes to overlook the amount of water (notice I didn’t say soda, energy drinks, sugary juices, or sports drinks).  With the heat, your body will perspire to attempt to keep the body temperature down.  Athletes who train can quickly become dehydrated if proper water intake is not monitored.  A good rule of thumb here if you’re training hard is to drink one-half your body weight in ounces of water each day.  So if you weight 200 lbs, you should consume at least 100 oz of water per day.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be focusing on item #3 (refine your skills) and will be posting videos giving you some ideas on different drills you can do with a little bit of extra ice to polish your skills.  Until then – train hard, train smart!

Before going into a discussion of whether the rule change best serves the players, let’s take a look at the primary reasons USA Hockey is citing for considering the change.

Reason #1: According to sports science research, 9-12 years old is the optimal window for skill acquisition.  The claim is the removal of checking would allow two more years of hockey, cognitive, and physical development.

Reason #2: Research indicates there is a 3-fold increased risk of game-related injury (concussions and severe injuries included) when playing in a checking league versus a non-checking league.

Reason #3: The 11-year old brain is more susceptible to suffering a concussion, and is more susceptible to long-term damage if it is concussed.   (Information taken from a Mayo Clinic Concussion Symposium)

Here is USA Hockey’s video outlining these reasons as well as demonstrating some examples of what will and will not be allowed:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uao224AWuvM

The proposal also includes progressively increasing the amount of body contact in Mite, Squirt, and Peewee age groups.  Mite contact will be increased by introducing more cross-ice games, which creates less space and more collisions. Increasing the amount of small area competitive games and stations, as well as allowing more contact in games will increase contact at the Squirt level.  Peewee contact should be progressed by teaching full-body checking in practice and dryland training – although I’m not sure how they see this as increasing the amount of contact at this age level.

The Debate

This proposed change has stirred up a lot of emotion and controversy among players, parents, and coaches alike.  If you break down the first two primary reasons USA Hockey has presented for the change, there appears to be arguments on both sides of the fence.

Reason #1: If players 9-12-years are in a window for optimal skill acquisition, wouldn’t checking be a skill which should be developed and mastered through the players career?  I whole-heartedly agree the primary focus of this age group should be skill development, but I do see checking as a skill.

Reason #2: While this reason really can’t be argued, the question becomes – does this also apply to Bantams…or Midgets…or Juniors…etc? Does this mean we should take checking out of the game completely to make it safer? I struggle with this argument because I believe there always going to be an inherent risk of injury with a contact sport.  Hockey is a contact sport.

Reason #3: I cannot debate this particular reason – I am not a medical expert.  The argument certainly makes sense to me in terms of the physical development of kids.  In my opinion, this item should have been used as their primary reasoning behind the proposal.

Benefits / Detriments

I believe the proposal does positively serve some groups, while doing a disservice to other groups.  In house-league (recreational) hockey, I believe this rule change could help increase participation and will have an overall positive impact. Many of the players playing at the house level lack the fundamental skills necessary to safely and effectively body check in game scenarios.

While the proposal may serve recreation level hockey well, I don’t believe it will serve competitive hockey players nearly as well.  Players who have a solid foundation in the skills necessary (skating, edgework, etc.) to safely execute a body check will now be losing two seasons of developing this skill.  There are two main points where I believe this change does a disservice:

Point #1: Checking will be moving to an age category where players are bigger, faster, and stronger.  According to USA Hockey’s “Window of Trainability” chart (http://www.admkids.com/images/content/WindowsofTrainability.jpg), players between 12-14 are in an optimal training window for speed and strength.  It has been my experience that there is a large disparity in the strength between first year Bantams and second year Bantams – in part due to kids beginning to grow and starting to mature.  I believe this physical disparity will cause more issues than we currently see at the U12 (Peewee) level where checking is currently introduced.

Point #2: The structure of many States push youth players into a high school or midget programs.  These programs typically have a 4-year age spread (Freshmen – Senior).  Especially in the case of high school programs (think JV & Varsity teams), it is often the case where players will only play a single year of Bantam hockey before joining a high school team.  Now there will be players being introduced to an environment with a huge age/maturity span with only a single year of checking experience under their belts. In my opinion, this scenario is not conducive to the safety of the players involved.

A Big Challenge

Any coach who has been coaching through the last significant rule changes in USA Hockey -- immediate off sides and the new standard of enforcement for stick penalties – know the frustration that came along with the changes.  In my opinion, the single biggest challenge the checking proposal faces is the ability for officials to consistently call the new standards.  The new standard will introduce a lot of gray-area and put the burden on the officials to differentiate between incidental contact and intentional body checking.  Hopefully parents, coaches and players will have some patience with officials as they work through the kinks, but there will remain the potential of some very heated/emotional situations.

The Core of it All / My Recommendations

I believe the core of this issue really lies in education and development of the skill of checking.  I’m not a fan of putting rules in place instead of addressing a core deficiency.  Here are my thoughts/recommendations for USA Hockey instead of implementing the current checking proposal:

Increase/Update the Materials Available -- USA Hockey does give coaches some good resources to learn how to teach checking (http://www.usahockey.com//Template_Usahockey.aspx?NAV=CO_07_04&ID=270654) -- however, I believe something sorely lacking is an updated video for coaches discussing how to teach checking on-ice.  There is a descent (albeit a little old-looking) USA Hockey “Heads Up” Hockey video –but to find it, I had to search YouTube and find it uploaded by a user (not by USA Hockey): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMV9Q97k3sk

In case you haven’t yet seen our videos I’ve included them here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrDWtvJvt4g

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgkxNLxLR0s

Start a Checking Safety Initiative – Much like rolling out cross-ice 8U programs, in my opinion, USA Hockey should put similar efforts into checking training.  This could include USA Hockey sanctioned checking clinics (organized at a State level), traveling reps to work with coaches, and dedicated checking clinics for coaches to learn how to teach the skills properly.  There could also be a requirement for all Peewee players to go through checking training (or a checking clinic) prior to being allowed to play.

Make a Minor Change – Instead of introducing such a drastic measure, along with increased training for coaches, I believe if there were to be one change, it should be to eliminate open ice checking at the U12 (Peewee) level.  Often times, these are some of the most dangerous because you have kids who are lacking skill (in checking) attempting to make a big hit.  I believe this small change would help (at least a bit) to reduce the number of injuries occurring.

Conclusion

While I do believe the proposal will make the game safer in some instances, I believe it will actually make it more dangerous in others.  I believe the focus needs to be on education of those involved in teaching the skill of checking.  I don’t ever want to see a kid hurt, but at the same time, I recognize this is a contact sport.  Contact sports carry an inherent risk of injury – no matter what age level you begin the contact.  Assuming this proposal passes, my hope is we’re not taking an issue that currently plagues our sport at the U12 level and simply transplanting it to the U14 level.

As always, I’d love to hear your comments and opinions on this topic.  Please feel free to leave a comment below:

To get the ball rolling, here are my top 3 Hockey New Year Resolutions:

1. Always give my all whenever I’m on the ice with the kids – this one can be quite tiring and can occasionally require a bit of a caffeine boost, but it’s worth it!
2. Keep myself in great physical shape to maximize my effectiveness on the ice – this helps tremendously with demonstrations and also shows the players I practice what I preach about fitness.
3. Keep the game of hockey fun for the players – this doesn’t mean going soft in rule enforcement or not expecting top-performance from players, but rather looking for opportunities to think outside the box and keep things fresh and exciting for the players every time they hit the ice.  Example:  Jordan Staal loses a shootout, has to run to the top of the stadium in his gear:  Watch Video

So…what are your resolutions?  Leave them below in the comments section.

Happy New Year!

In the interview, John discusses two important principles: the law of addition (servanthood) and the law of the picture (people do what they see).  Both these concepts have a direct importance to the roll of youth hockey coach.  If you’re not coaching to serve the youth you have the opportunity to work with, you’re doing everyone a disservice.  If you don’t have a genuine interest to serve at heart, coaching is a tough road.

The law of the picture is crucial -- people do what people see.  This is especially true when you’re working with kids.  They’re extremely impressionable, be sure you’re setting the right example.  It will not only help you mold the youth, it will also help you gain credibility as a coach.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuP8tpLotvc

If the book is of interest to you, here’s a link to purchase it.  The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

Note: This is an affiliate link, so if you do purchase the book from this link, I will get a small percentage back.  As always, it is not the primary reason I posted this resource.  I am an avid fan of John C. Maxwell’s work and have read, watched, and listened to several of his programs (see the screenshot from my iTunes library below).  I simply hope this is a valuable resource for you!

When you look at the areas in North America producing the most professional (NHL) hockey players, you’ll find they all have one thing in common.  At the top of the list: Canada, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Illinois, Wisconsin.  So what’s the common element?  All of these areas have climates which support outdoor rinks.  So what does that have to do with the number of professional skaters produced?  I believe the ability to find unstructured ice time plays an essential role in player development.  When players can lace up the skates and not have to worry about a coach yelling at them for mistakes, they get the freedom to try new things.  Instead of being in the pressure-filled game setting where everyone is coached to understand games “matter”, they’re allowed to make mistakes without any repercussions.  What’s the worst that happens if a move doesn’t work on the outdoor rink?  You grab the puck out of your net and try again.  Trial and error – what a great learning tool!

Outdoor rinks also give players the opportunity to work in small areas.  With the rise in popularity/awareness of the benefits of small area games, it’s no wonder these outdoor sheets provide such a great learning platform.  Very rarely will you see someone shovel off a 200′ x 85′ area to play some pond hockey.  More often than not, the area is no more than 100′ x 40′ – which is approximately 1/4 the square footage of a regular rink (4,000 sq. ft vs. 17,000 sq. ft).  This forces players to make quicker decisions and learn to handle the puck in tight quarters.  Think of the direct correlations here – the prime areas of the ice don’t allow players much time and/or space: slot area, corners, at the blue lines.  If you can constantly put yourself in situations which resemble those of a game, you will improve come game time.

Finally, I believe it’s the unstructured ice time which allows players to truly cultivate a love for the game.  If you’re reading this article, I assume you’ve already found a passion for the sport.  Put yourself in the skates of a young player – you get to go out and play with your friends, have nobody telling you what to do, have nobody yelling at you for making a mistake or not getting the puck deep, and enjoy the best sport in the world.  Life is good!

Kids will learn so much on their own when given the opportunity – everything from puck control and passing to conflict resolution skills when there’s a disagreement.  Be sure to give players an opportunity to have unstructured ice time – even at the expense of part of your $300/hr practice time – believe me, it will be well worth it.

Note: I do NOT get any percentage or kickbacks by referring you to NiceRink – they’re simply a company I trust and recommend from personal experience.  This is NOT a referral in order to simply make an affiliate profit!!!

“We must all hang together, else we shall all hang separately” – Ben Franklin

“In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity.  Every player must put the team first, ahead of personal glory.” – “Bear” Bryant

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.  The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organized objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results….Simply put, it is less me and more we.” – John C. Maxwell

“I can do what you can’t do and you can do what I can’t do. Together we can do great things.” – Mother Teresa

“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” – John F. Kennedy

“Coming together is a beginning.  Keeping together is progress.  Working together is success.” – Henry Ford

“A championship team is a team of champions.” – Unknown

“None of us is as smart as all of us.” – Ken Blanchard

“Teamwork divides the task and doubles the success.” – Unknown

“The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare” – Thane Yost

“Teamwork is not a performance, it’s a requirement.” – John Wooden

Got a favorite quote?  Share it with the community by leaving it in the comment section below!

Whenever you plan a practice, you need to keep in mind a few things about the group you’re working with.

1. Age – if you’re working with younger skaters, you need to realize their attention span is a lot shorter.  If you make young skaters stand around, they’re much more likely mess around in line and start shooting pucks.  Once they start goofing around, their focus will be lacking as their turn comes to run the actual drill.  Keep drills for younger skaters short and simple.  The less time you spend explaining a drill, the less time they’ll be standing around.  Develop skills, not the ability to run complicated drills.
2. Tempo – when running a drill, analyze how many skaters can be moving at one time without causing a problem.  If you’re running a circle skating drill, instead of having skaters go one at a time, have them go in groups of three or four.  If they’re beginners, you may be able to increase the number of skaters, as the tempo will be much slower.
3. Groupings – by keeping your players in groups based on talent, you’ll be able to cater teaching points specifically to the group instead of having to touch on items too basic or too advanced for individuals in the group.  Keeping them in similar-talent groups also allows the drills to be executed consistently – ie: no players lagging behind, more likely to complete passes, etc.
4. Work-to-rest ratio – Older players can stay focused a bit longer, but you still need to have a good work-to-rest ratio.  If you are running drills to focus on short-bursts and high-intensity, be sure to give enough rest so the skaters are able to execute at top speed.  Overspeed drills should have a minimum work-to-rest ratio of at least 1:5 (ex: 10 seconds on, 50 seconds rest)

Keep ‘em moving!!