We had a specialty scrimmage with a minor midget AAA boy's team. Went like this.
-10 min. warm up
-10 min 5-5
-3 min. chalk talk at bench
-10 min 5-5
-3 min team at bench
-5 min pp
-3 min at bench
-5 min. pk
-5 min pp
-5 min. pk
-10 min. 5-5
We lost 3-2 but it was a really good way to work on systems and was our first game vs anyone so I got to watch the players play and a few are better than I thought they would be and 3 of the new players are good enough for this level.
5 new players came and we had 15 skaters and 3 goalies. So our team will continue to exist as a player is flying in from Toronto tomorrow and another good player will be done an evening course and start playing on Wed.
Jeez Tom I had no idea the team was in such dire straights! I hope things work out and you get enough kids to keep it going this year. Long-term though, it will be tough without big-time corporate help.... and the economy certainly isn't favourable for that right now. I sent you an email... let me know where / when you practice (if the team is still a go.)
I will try to get on here and post more frequently. With all my teaching and mentoring (and looking after the kids), I am swamped right now! I hardly have time for beers, dammit!
Take care,
Dean, we are good now and a lot stronger than last season. There are two players coming for a look see tonight. They both went to the same NCAA Div. 1 school and hate hockey now. I had another one that talked to me but she doesn't want to play anymore as she also hates hockey. The coach there must be a dandy to ruin the experience for so many players.
The new D flew here and practiced Monday. She is 6' and 170 lbs and was an All Canadian. She looks strong on the ice.
We play a U18 boys team on Sunday and beat a local college team 5-0 in a controlled scrimmage of 10 min. 5-5, and 5 min. power play each; stop time. We have corporate sponsors so all the money is in place.
The players took ownership in bringing in good players. This was always a franchise that was happy to exist and knew they didn't have a chance vs the Oval Extreme who had half the Olympic team and practiced a few times a day. There is now only one player left from that era and some of the Extreme are now on this team so now we can create a New History and tradition and as my coach in Bemidji used to say "we are here for the apple, not the applesauce."
It is going to be fun developing this group.
Tom,
Good to hear! I will look at my schedule to see if / when I can come out to watch a practice. Thanks for the follow up email this morning too...
It now is a real team. There were 18 skaters and 3 goalies.
We did.
-puck warm up and shots skating around the rink toe dragging around each dot and shooting at the ends.
-2 of your drills, one high one low shots and then the chaos of 3 from each end passing in the nzone then shots.
-2 flow drills with 1-1 one with a shot then 1-1 and the other with a nzone regroup then 1-1.
-forecheck review and then 5-2 each way to practice 4 on the attack and the aggressive 1-3-1 forecheck.which turns into a 3 player overload on each side.
-10 min. 5-5 using the forecheck.
-5 min. game of rebound at each end.
-tournament or 2 x 5' games of half ice 2-2 quick transition kept score losers skated a bit.
-finished with a shootout of 2-0 double drop whites vs purple. winner was the team that scored the most goals. Losers did one push up.
We did a special teams scrimmage with a top AAA minor midget boy's team last night. We were missing 3 regulars who were replaced by 3 practice players. We did stop time.
Format:
-10 min. warm up
-3 min. at bench
- 10 min. 5-5
-3 min. at bench
-5 min. pplay 5-4
-3 min. at bench
-5 min. pk 4-5
- one more pp and pk each for 5 min.
- Zamboni
- 5-4 pp
-4-5 pk
-3 min. at bench
-5-3 pp
-3 min. at bench
-3-5 pk
-10 min. 5-5
-Shootout 6 shooters each
They won 3-1. We led 1-0 first half scoring on a 5-5.
They got a goal on the 5-4 pp when a puck hit a crack in the boards on our defenseman rim and went to their player who had a tap into the empty net. Another 2 on 5-3.
We won the shootout 2-1.
I was pleased with our overall play. the 3 missing regulars would have really helped because they are among our best players.
This kind of situation scrimmage with coaching breaks is great for teaching team play and letting all players play in every situation for evaluation and deciding who is effective on specialty teams. Sometimes players surprise you.
Had another planned vs a college women's team tonight but they just let me know they aren't coming. We did about thirty minutes with them last week and won 6-0. Our league finally starts Oct. 30.
I did a hockey camp in the Czech Republic at the end of July. I have been to Prague before but never stayed anywhere else.
I took these pictures at the GM of the Jihlava, Dukla teams house. It is about a ten min. drive outside of Jihlava. The pictures are of Bedrich Sherban and his wife Anna's place int he country. His son Bedrich jr. "Beda" lives there as well. They were fantastic hosts and I stayed in an upstairs suite. Bedrich played pro hockey around Europe for 24 years and was on many Czechoslovakia and Czech national teams. In 91 he was named the best Czech player in the world.
It is a very beautiful country and is well on the way to rebuilding after the Soviet era.
I accompanied the hockey school kid's on a day trip to a castle and then a boat ride around a big lake. I can't remember the names.
I spiced it up a little with some music sent to me from Africa. I added some pics from a hockey school barbeque my son, I, Gaston, the Heatley boy's did in Winfield BC just outside of Kelowna in 2003.
http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20101025162926350
The theme of the practice was to play with good habits. We warmed up stressing a long stride, then handled the puck and did a skill drill with skating passing, shooting.
Did the 3 man weave regrouping with the other end followed by regrouping with one D.
Skill was angling with the stick on the puck. Did a mirroring stick on the puck drill then an angling drill.
Played 4-4 game of 2 pass at each end with the rule that only forehand passes could be used. This encouraged seeing the ice and using escape moves with the puck.
Goalie time and recovery was a game of rebound at each end.
Finished with a game in one zone with 2 nets on the goal line.
I attached a pdf of the practice with diagrams.
We had sixteen skaters and 3 goalies. 6 D and 10 forwards. This was the last practice before our first league game vs Edmonton on Saturday. I wanted to work on the controlled breakout for the power play. I changed it and now have 4 abreast with the D carrying the puck and the C coming late for a trailer pass if the D stands up at the blue line. We reviewed how to rotate into a diamond and the top three players rotate. We reviewed defensive responsibilities and offensive habits like moving up ice quickly, cycling and screening.
I have attached a pdf with diagrams.
Practice outline
-warmed up zig zagging down the ice doing various tasks such and the puck only on the forechand. A shot at each end.
-flow drill with a 2-0 crossing and then getting a long cross ice pass in the nzone and attacking 2-0.
-2-0 x 2 then regroup with D and turn back and attack 2-1
-Kingston pplay rotation - breakout and 5-0
-full ice 2 on 2 backchecking transiton game.
-3 on 3 Krusel low battles with passes to the point.
On another note Dean has started a good thread concerning how we must take on the role as a teacher in order to be an effective coach.
Tom,
Glad to hear things are working out with the women's team!
And thanks for your words about the Art of Coaching thread. I will do my best to keep it active and to promote discussion on it...
Dean, thanks for starting the thread. I guess I have lost the room, or my audience, or the coaches who come here as I have tried to get discussions going but to no avail. I am glad you are getting some response because that is why I started this site for in the first place.
We had our first game Sat. vs the Edmonton Chimos. A good team with a few really good players who control the puck well and try to make plays. They had a full line up of 4 lines and 3 sets of D. We have 9 F an 6 D. Two forwards were in weddings or something and couldn't come so we were at 7 F and 6 D. I planned to move two D to F. Two hours before I left for the game a D called to say she slipped in the tub and hit her head on the toilet and garbage can and had a concussion. Now 7 F and 5 D on international sized ice.
We went with 3 sets on C and RW, 2 LW and 4 D. The first period we got outshot and out chanced but our goalie was good. We won the second 1-0 and lost the third 1-0 and the last two periods were even. We dominated the 4-4 OT but no goals. In the SO we shot first and our first two shooters scored on good moves but so did theirs. Third shooters both were blanked and our 4th fumbled the puck and they scored; so a SO loss in game one of the season. I was proud of our compete level with our numbers.
I think the energy of playing a full team vs a 2/3 team was the differnece. I had one player who said she was too tired to shoot in the SO; she scored our only goal in the game.. She was ready to be our shooter 5 but they scored and our 8 seconds ride was done. (cowboy talk).
Tom,
I don't think you have lost the audience. I think they just prefer to sit back and read all of your wisdom! Maybe they are intimidated by your knowledge - kind of like, "who wants to go up against Yoda?" I hope not...
Sounds like you over-achieved with a short line up in Deadmonton! Well done! I will try to get out to a practice hopefully before another month goes by...
Got up at 6:30 and went to the rink for my school skills practice and no one was there. Something going on at the school. I should look at my schedule before leaving.
Great post by kai. How do you get the video to start on the screen like that? Erkka really knows his hockey. He brought me to Vierumaki a few times. Great sports centre there.
Dean I will meet you this morning at the Flames practice and hopefully the Red Wings are on right after. I would love to see them in a real practice and not the pre game skate. I'm still mad at Babc--k for beating us in double overtime for the Canada West title and then going on to win the Canadian Championship with U of Lethbridge. He is a great coach.
In our practice last night I wanted to review some of the things I saw in the game. We warmed up doing a figure 8 in each zone on each side of the ice with various puckhandling tasks. 1. Forward quick hands and quick feet. 2. Backward 3. Face the far end then shoot. Other side-4. Puck only on the forehand. 5. Puck only on the backhand. 6. Alternate turning to the inside then the outside and finish with a shot.
Edmonton got their goal because we rimmed the puck wide 3 times but the winger put her back to the boards each time and stopped the puck with the skates even though she could have picked up two of the rims with the stick and chipped it by the pinch. I had the asst. coach rim the puck and players pick it up while moving. I don't have a diagram of it but the coach was behing the net and the players left from the blueline, swung to the boards to pick up the rim and shot at the far end.
Another thing was poor puck support on the breakouts. No one was close to help get the puck out but instead were skating up the ice away from the puck. We always practice on NHL sized ice but play on international size. It is a huge difference and the gaps between players can get really big. On a pressured breakout I want wall support, the centre coming across for a pass or to help the wing get it out and I want the wide wing coming across the top of the circles for a pass or pick up the chip out in the nzone (also in good defensive position in the mid slot if we don't get it out.) It is also critical the D get to the big ice between the dots and not be forced wide outside the dots. We did breakouts one side, then the other side and they went down and took a shot. I dumped the puck in from the red line and they passed back to me after the first breakout.
We did a simple drill where 2 leave from the middle and the 1 pick up a puck and skate to the big ice between the dots while 2 crosses behind to the outside lane. 1 passes wide to 2 who now skates to the big ice while 1 goes behind for a wide pass. One pass in each zone and then shoot. It goes in both directions.
To promote puck support we did a 1/3 ice game of 2 pass at each end. Goals only counted after a give and go. This was to encourage the passer to jump into the opening after passing instead of pass and watch they had to pass and go. It is incredible how few players give and go and it is the most fundamental principle of the game.
We then did a half ice game of Perry Pearn 3-3 (12 skaters) with the emphasis on the attackers giving close support and the defenders the same thing in order to break out of the zone.
We finished with a game in one zone. The nets were back to back and they played 3-3 with 3 jokers. The defenders had to make at least one pass to the jokers before they could score. Shifts about 40 seconds.
General puck support was the problem. Players should be working together to create 2-1's and not leaving the puck carrier without an easy play.
Warmed up skating around the ice with 2 pucks and then one puck and shooting at each end.
- Full ice shooting from 3 lanes. Pass and then go for a pass. One end then the other.
-Full ice weave regrouping with players at the other end then shoot at the original end. 3 pucks, 2 pucks, 1 puck.
-All players in the middle. F pass to the D who pivots and then pass to the F who goes in and shoots. each way.
-Point shots. F1 in corner pass to the D1 who goes D1 to D2 who shoots while F1 screens, then F2 pass to D1 to D2 who shot passes to F2. Then repeat on the other side.
- Tournament: 2 pts for a win and on point for a tie.
1. D200 angling game.
2. D200 gap control game.
3. D2 game with a regroup with joker at own end and a pass to the joker at attacking end.
4. D2 game where one of the jokers must be passed to.
We then did a gambling shootout, where you bet whether the player will score or not by going to one side or the other and the wrong bet = skating across and back. We lost in a shootout and my goalie who is great in the ones we do in practice told my goalie coach she had only been in one other shootout. Goalies have to stay on the goal line until the player touches the puck and we don't do this when we have shootouts. I had my goalies and the shooters do official shootout rules and the shooter had to wait for the whistle and goalies couldn't leave until they touched the puck. I had never thought of this before.
I am attaching a pdf with the games and shootout.
Nov. 8 Practice: 75 Minutes
- Goalie Warm up - Semi circle shots on goalies at each end, 3 pucks each about 2 minutes.
B6 Chaos Pass and Shoot:
-
- 3 x 4 min. games of 2 pass at each end with modified rules.
- Game One: only backward skating allowed – Skill theme.
- Game Two: Maximum 2” with the puck then you must pass or shoot-Support.
- Game Three: All goals must come from plays originating below the goal line-offensive cycling and low defensive coverage.
-
-
D400 Breakout and Forecheck Contest
C3, 2-2 below the goal line.
D200 Cross Ice Game with Various Situations:
Shootout Below the Goal Line: Walk out or wrap around
Losing colour one figure 8 around the circles.
The pdf has diagrams
Nov. 10 practice.
It is our last practice before the ex game vs Edmonton on Sunday. I have 15 skaters and 3 goalies. One goalie had to go to a seminar, one D is in Newfourndland at the 4 Nations Cup, I D has the flu, 1 D slipped in the bathroom and hit her head on the toilet and has a concussion and one forward had a university seminar in her education program. So we had 2G, 3 D and 11 F. My assistant coach jumps in when needed so 12 skaters for drills.
We had a fast paced practice with 10 different activities in 75 minutes.
1. Warm up with puck handling and shots
2. 1-0, 2-0 passing and shots
3. Full ice 2-0 regroup return 2-1
4. pp breakout 5-0 practice
5. pp practice in one zone 5-0 practice overload options and move into a diamond.
6. Full ice pp vs pk
7. Transition backchecking game of full ice 2-2 .
8. Transition game in one zone of 2-2 with a pass to the point to go on offense.
9. Overspeed puck handling with a shot.
10. Shoot out with betting and official shootout rules.
Tom,
Thanks for posting your practices. I always take something away from them!
For the coaches on the site, it is a good learning experience to see how you run practices with limited numbers.
Sometimes you post your numbers broken down by position, sometimes you don't. If you could - that would be great!
Thanks and good luck in Edmonton this weekend!
PS - I might have another player for you! Let's talk!
---------------------------------
Dean, we usually have about 12. Monday 5 D and Wed. 6. Since Bobbi-Jo is with the National team and Alison has a concussion we have 3 or 4 D.
Let me know about that player. A forward is moving here from Ontario and I think that leaves us on forward from being a top team.
We had 9 skaters and 3 goalies on Monday and my asst. jumped in to make it ten. I have to modify practice with small numbers and focus more on skills and habits. With 12 I can go up to 2 on 1' continuous and with 16 2 on 2's and still give enough rest. you need 12 F and 8 D to have a good w/r ratio for a continous 3 on 2.
Tom
I was notified by Hockey Canada last night that my best player a denfenseman has torn her knee up playing in the 4 Nations Cup. Poor girl, she was on the national team the year before the Olympics but had two shoulder operation last year and couldn't play in the games. Another D has put her hip out of joint and another has a concussion. So what was our strongest position with 6 solid D is down to 3 and I have to move our top forward back to D.
I leave in a few hours for the 3.5 hour drive to an ex game vs Edmonton in a small town. So today 4 D and 8 F. I plan to go with 3 sets of wings, 2 centres and 4 D.
We will have 2 pplay units and I will have the wings kill penalties. A left wing can play D if a D gets a penalty.
Tom
How did you do? How did the rotations work out?
Dean we lost 5-3. 1-0 after one 1-2 after two then they had 4 minutes of 5-3. We had 9 F and 3 D so one of the F was playing D. It is a hard thing for a forward to do. We outshot them 42=39 and hit two posts and me and the timekeepers all saw a puck go in but the refs didn't. It will be good to get my 3 injured D back but Bobbi-Jo tore here MCL vs Finland and is gone 6-8 weeks. A new forward from Ontario is coming next week. Lucky it was an exhibition game. We got all three goals on the pp and them 2 on the 5-3's.
We play Manitoba 3 games here the last week of Nov. and have a scrimmage game vs a AAA midget team next Wed.
Tom,
Too bad to hear Manitoba didn't show this weekend. That is a lack of professionalism and they should lose their ability to play in this league. I don't know if teams have to post a performance bond, but perhaps they should - especially teams on probation - to the tune of $3000+(enough to cover lost ice rental / officials, etc.) That way Strathmore Rockies don't get hung out to dry on the expenses.
This really hurts the league as a whole; not to mention the perception of the viability of the women's game - with the Oval gone, with BC quitting mid season two (?) years ago... Saskatchewan folding a year or two before that... Unfortunately, "pro" or "senior" women's hockey looks like it may be facing some big financial struggles - especially here out west where the travel distances are so great. Out east, at least there are several larger centres that can support different teams (financially); plus have their own identity in each of these centres and still offer all the amenities for the girls to work, etc.
I think it is time for the league executive to sit down and make some tough decisions. Can Vancouver / lower mainland support four teams? Can Kamloops, North Okanagon, Kelowna and Penticton support another four team loop? Or can at least four teams in BC be made? Then can Calgary (Strathmore), Edmonton, Red Deer and Lethbridge / Med Hat make another four team loop? \\
Sask / Manitoba need to figure out if they can also make a division on their own. Flying is out of the question. The rule is you need to bus to play within your own division... set up a rule of X number of KM's max travel (and a guaranteed performance bond.) If they can't... they are out!
Minnesota needs to find three more US based teams to make a division. Then pull the division winners from BC, AB, Prairies (if they have a division), Ontario (I think they have one division?) and the US to have a round robin tourney like the M Cup.
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for the input Dean.
It was unfortunate that Manitoba thought it was too dangerous to drive here for the games. We played a men's team to at least get a game in. It ended 6-6 and we won in a SO. Played them again on Sunday and I played for the men's team because they were short.
So it has been a lot of practice and a really good team Christmas party. We added a player who has led the NCAA in scoring last Monday and on Thursday she got a concussion in a car accident. So who knows how serious that will end up.
Lots of practices. I have used the various drills from the Washington and Detroit practices that I have been posting the last few weeks. We do drills and games and contests and have had 3 scrimmages vs minor AAA midget boy's teams. One league game so far and we play Edmonton an ex and a league game this weekend. So there will be more urgency at tonights practice.
Lucky most of our games are in the new year. We should get the two concussions and torn MCL back by then.
I hope it 's ok to post to your Diary of a Season Tom
I'm trying to have a year off from coaching but I'm now helping out a U14 team. I'm with them only two times in week. It has been quite a change from U18 to U14. (i've coached U18 teams last four (4) seasons). I think I'm finally starting to find the level of training they can do that is challenging but not too hard.
Thanks Tom and Dean for the great Pro practice videos. I wanted to test few of them and see how the kids like them. They did quite well and we had a good practice yesterday.
----------------------
No problem about posting here Kai. The more discussion the better. Post to the daily drill as well.
Tom,
Here's hoping Santa brings you some bubble wrap for your players... and I hope they get healthy for January!
Kai, sounds like you are like me... coaching runs in the blood! It's a (good) disease! We just need to infect more people with it! Please keep up posted on your exploits with the U14's!
(PS - trying to translate some of your Finnish on the practice plan. Looks like a good one! I hope you keep posting them - maybe you can start a "Kai's Diary" section?)
--------------------------------
Tonight we did a specialty team scrimmage vs a AAA midget boy's team. A 10 min. 5 on 5, 5 min. 5-4 each, 5 min. 5-3 each,and finished with a 4-4. They beat us 4-2. We had 11 skaters which is a clumsy number vs their 17. It was great to get game situation before our two game series vs Edmonton Fri and Sunday.
We played our second league game last night. Game time was warm up at 8:45 because my players had a 2.5 hr drive to get there after work. 8 F, 4 D and 2 G.
In the first period we were awful. You could tell that we hadn't competed at game intensity for a long time. We lost battles for the puck all over the ice and had no pressure. They outshot us 15-4 and scored on a shot from the point on the pp and a minute later we allowed a player to walk in from the mid slot and score even strength. So 0-2 after one.
We reviewed what we needed to do and came out in the second and had a breakaway the first ten seconds but didn't score. We played a solid period and really outchanced them but neither team score. Outshot them 17-11. It continued in the thrid. I changed the lines a bit and a new line scored on a tipped shot from the hight slot. We could have had a pp the last 2 min. but our player retaliated after getting chopped down so no pp. We generated lots of scoring chances but nothing and lost 1-2.. Outshot them 12-10 with a game total of 33-36. Play again on Sunday.
There is no playoff in the league. The top two western teams play the top 2 eastern div teams in March. Minnesot beat Edmonton 2 of 3 when the Chimos went there. Minn. has a lot of USA national team players.
Another note. My goalies mother introduced herself after the game and we talked a while. Her name is Kirstie McLellan Day and she is an author of lots of sports books and other books. Under the Mat, Playing with Fire (Fleury), Tough Guy (Probert) and is working with Ron MacLean on his autobiography. Interesting lady.
Today I was with the U14 team. I tryed to work their offensive skills again.
here's what i planned for practice:
---------------
Kai, looks like a good practice plan. Skills, transition games and small area games.
Todays practice was inspirated by TGfU and ABC's Hockey. Focus was on roles 1 and 2
Off-ice
5v5 and 4v4 game with American football. With these rules:
- you can run with the ball
- when you are touched by opponent you must stop and pass immediately
- I you fumble the ball you lose possession of the ball
we talked about individual offensive tactics of this game
On-ice
stared with the "piggy in the middle" 2v1 keep away
- puck protection
- and getting open for pass
Full ice continious 3v3
- defend - attack - forecheck -leave
SAG 2v2 goals side by side (see link/attachment for diagram)
- you can score to both goals
- you must pass at least once before you can score
1v1 win the dot.
-score when you touch the dot
- battle 5-10 seconds then skate fast to redline
_______________________
Kai, how are your players responding to the way you are now practicing??
Kai, how are your players responding to the way you are now practicing??
Abc's is a part of FIHA's coaching materials. So this kind of training is not totally strange to the kids. You can still see some coaches doing drills from their (youth) player careers from 80's but I think that generally practices here are combination of technique and games approach.
Skills games are something that I have not used as much as I maybe should have. I mainly used transition and small area games for tactics and then flow drills for skills and some pure technique drills that have nothing to do with any game like situation etc. Now I have tried to increase amount of skill games and use less the technique drills.
Even simple game like "Piggy In The Middle" I very motivating and give more depth to coaching you’re not just teaching how to pass or how get open for the pass but it also some tactical principles too.
So players are having fun and are motivated and hopefully are learning too. Start is looking promising we've worked alot with passing and it has improved.
Tom
Good day to you my friend, it's Craig Campagnolio from the US. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.
I was reading your post here and was curious to see how things work out with your women's team. As you know I did coach women back in the day and they are mostly all graduated from college.
I don't know if this is too late but wanted to see if maybe if I got the word out maybe one or two would be interested.
At your earliest convenience let me know.
I am sorry to hear you missed the opportunity at Bemidji.
Your Friend
Craig
------------------------------------------
Craig great to hear from you. Is your hockey academy still going?
It has been a strange season. We only played 3 league games the first half. The other teams have played 9. This makes it hard to have a reference point in practice and to keep the players interested. I'm sure they are saying to themselves 'what are we practicing for. Almost 4 months and 3 games. Manitoba didn't drive here because of the roads or something like that so we should have had 6.
One good thing is my National team D got hurt vs Finland and should be able to play now, a girl that scored 42 one year in NCAA the second highest total ever got in a car accident and I think she will be able to play and another who faintedin the bathroom and hit her head on the toilet and got a bad concussion may be able to play. They are 3 of our top 4 players. We also added a new player who just finished at Maine and had pretty good stats there. So if they can play we will have a lot more talent in the line up. We start again on Wed. so I will have a better idea then.
Let me know how you are doing and what you have been up to.
Ever since I began this site I have done a Diary of a Season section. Most were lost when someone hacked and destoryed the the older versions of this coachingabcs site. Dwight has had to repair the site about 5 times the last two months because someone is trying to destroy it again.
At this moment we are about 5000 hits short of one million for the last 15 or so months. By Monday we will be at a million if the hacker fails in the destruction. Quite a world some psycho's live in.
I was finished coaching men's university hockey (12 seasons) when I started with the hockeycoach site and was coaching my son's teams. He was ready to quit because the practices were not fun and the coaches yelled at them all the time. I decided to jump in so he would stay in the game. I coached for about 10 years. He went to a sports school after midget and I went back to coaching college; this time college women. I did that for 5 years and then the Red Bull organization in Salzburg, Austria called me and offered a job as a development coach with their 2 pro U17 and U20 organization. I did that for a season but my wife couldn't go because of work. I resigned after one season even though it was a coaches dream getting to work with coaches from every major hockey nation. It isn't very healthy for a marriage when you are home one week in 7 months.
I came back and was approached to coach a women's team in the WWHL and did that last year and am back again. It is the league that females who played collegiate hockey or with the USA and Canadian national teams play in. The western division has teams in Strathmore (just outside of Calgary), Edmonton, Winnipeg and Minnesota. The eastern division has five teams and they are paying the players, so most of the national team players from here went east. I have one player who just made the national team and one who is a former player along with a few potential players. The top two teams from each division will play for the Clarkson Cup in March.
We started practicing a month ago and practice 2 evenings a week. All the player either work or go to university. Tomorrow is our first game and we have a controlled scrimmage vs a AAA minor midget team (15 year old boy's). We have just enough players if everyone comes. 13 skaters and 3 goalies. So there is a challenge designing practices when there aren't enough players to do many of the flow drills or transition games that I would do with a college team that has at least 20 skaters. I know it is a challenge that most minor hockey coaches face as well. It is still possible to have good practices but some of the players don't understand that numbers are needed to do many things they got used to doing in college or university.
As far as this coaching site goes, I am trying to put diagrams and links to all the video I downloaded. I do one each day when I have enough time and put them in this forum in the daily drill sections.
My team is going thru a crisis right now. If we don't get a few more players to gaurantee that we have enough every game; then the team will fold on Monday. So tomorrow will decide our future. If there are at least 15 skaters we will continue and if not we fold.
I am missing a monumental weekend at my old college. Bemidji State is opening their new arena and all hockey alumns were invited for the big event. They played North Dakota last night and tonight There were 2 tickets for me put aside. I cancelled my trip because of the situation with our team. I was flying to Winnipeg and driving to Bemidji.
I have missed the interaction coaches used to have on this site. The intention was to share ideas with coaches from around the world. We haven't had much sharing for quite a while. Feel free to start a new topic. I was trying to keep the daily drill sections on the homepage but coaches can find them in the forum.
I will post updates from our practices as the year goes on. I think the players will rally to keep the team going. If they don't then it is best the team join the defunct status.
I hope everyone has a good season and encourage you to share your ideas, ask questions or discuss topics.
Pic is of Juhani and Leena Wahlsten with my wife Cathy, looking across the river at the city of Prague. Second one on the Charles Bridge.
'Enjoy the Game'