Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Evaluation of Frist Practice

Well, I have had my first practice and here is what it was like. First, the practice was about 90 minutes long which was a perfect length. As the players warmed up I noticed that since the end of last season a number of the players had grown by several inches. This was the first time I had seen the freshmen skate and they all seemed like good skaters. I had the players run through some drills so I could evaluate them then we scrimmaged for about forty minutes. Next practice I will have the team work on checking, forechecking and powerplay set -up.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

First Practice for 2011-2012

Tuesday will be the first practice for the 2011-2012 season. I will have about eight new players and a new goalie. I should have enough players to have three forward lines and three defense pairs which would be good. I have about a month of practices before we play in the Frederick Cup in November and our regular season starts the week after the Frederick Cup.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Coming 2011-2012 Season

This past Sunday I had my welcome to the new season meeting with players and their parents. As always I explain to everyone my expectations for the parents and the players. Then I split the group up. I let the team manager go over the paperwork with the parents and I take the players into another room where we talked about what will happen at practice and what will happen on game day. I have about 20 players to start the season.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Life Has Changed

On July 24th my house and car were destroyed by fire which was started by an arsonist who has not been caught yet. Now I am getting back to preparing for the upcoming hockey season. Before I work on practice planning I  have to start to look for new coaching equipment which include getting new skates, gloves and a helmet.. I lost all these items in the fire.  More thoughts to come.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Looking for an assistant coach

As I start to think about the upcoming season the first thought is of my staff. Right now I have a team manager and one assistant coach. I am looking for at least one other coach who might have some background working with goalies. I would prefer this coach not be a parent but I can be flexible on this preference. Next preparing for the parent/player meetings.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

What was SI Thinking?

I had been waiting for my Sports Illustrated issue with the Boston Bruins on the cover. I called SI and they said they were offering a championship package but there would be no cover. Hockey takes another slap in the face. The SI issue that should have the Bruins on the cover actually had golf on the cover. An SI cover with the Stanley Cup Champions on it does more to help the sport then a championship package. Not as many people buy a championship package as may buy an issue of SI. This would seem to show  that SI thinks less of hockey then golf. It would be nice to have SI explain their decision but that probably will not happen. If you show the Champions of baseball, football and basketball then hockey should get equal coverage. What do you think?

Monday, July 11, 2011

Another website

As I start to prepare for the upcoming season I have been looking on the internet. I was looking through websites looking for different drills because I like to change up my practices and use new drills every season. One website I found is HockeyShare.com. The site has some drills, a blog and a newsletter all that can be useful for coaches.
   If you have an interesting drill feel free to share.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Advance Warning

The other day my team manager called and let know that at this point it looks like we will have 24 players on the team. While it is nice to have 24 players I can only dress 21 players. If I get 25 or more players I will have to start a JV team. I will use our pre-season tournament to get a better idea how the team will shake out.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Summertime

Summertime is not exactly the time to think of ice hockey but being a Head Coach I do spend a little time thinking of the upcoming season which is three months away. At this point I have decided to have two organizational meeting in September or early October. One meeting will be with all the new players and parents. Right now it looks like I may have as many as 10 new players. The second meeting will be with the whole team. Right now there are no off season/summer practices for my team. Next I will start work on a practice plans for the start of the season and topics for the organizational meetings.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

USA Hockey website

During the off season one place to keep track of what is going on in the hockey world is the USA Hockey web site. The site has something for coaches, parents and players of all ages. USA Hockey also has facebook and twitter sites so, check them out.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Age Specific module for Training

A part of the new USA Hockey coaches training program will be age specific modules for every age group. I think this is a good idea because there are certain skills that need to be taught to each age group. This will help build a better hockey players. This will also help coaches focus their practices and make them better but we have to wait until September to take the modules online.

Monday, June 20, 2011

USA Hockey Store

USA Hockey has opened a store in Lake Placid, New York. The store opened June 1st and will sell apparel as well as other items unique to USA Hockey. If you are in Lake Placid check the store out and let us know what it is like.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Instructional Players

In the our league we have instructional players on some teams. Instructional players are players that just started playing hockey. These are players who may have just started skating , may not shoot well and do not know how to check/ make body contact. The jump from instructional to high school games can be difficult and coaches should be careful about what situation to put instructional players in. You do not want them to get hurt or lose confidence in their abilities. I will have at least three instructional players on my team this fall.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

I support the new rules

After reading the new rules that USA Hockey has approved I support the concept behind the rule. Teaching good checking skills early is important but it must be consistent. I grew up playing hockey in New England. We were taught to keep our hands down and check with our shoulders or hips. Then I moved to Maryland and started coaching at the Bantam level. One of the first things I noticed about bantams in Maryland is that they like to hit but always have their arms up. When I asked the players why they hit/check this way. The players said "how else should I check" so, I spent time teaching checking. Concussions are always a concern when young players play hockey. Teaching how to check correctly is important.
      Next up are instructional players.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

New Rules for Hockey

At the 2011 Annual Congress held by the USA Hockey Board of Directors some rule changes were made that will effect high school hockey as well as hockey in general.
1.  Starting with the 2011-2012 season there will be no checking in games until the Bantam level which is (13-14 years old).
2. Starting with the 2011-2012 season all coaches will be required to take an age specific module.
3. The directors also passed a rule prohibiting checks that make contact with the head or neck.

   More discussion to follow.





 

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Concussions 2

As I mentioned in my previous post "Concussion and Kids" concussions are dangerous and need to be watched for. Another item that can help parents and coaches is a newly developed concussion app for mobile phones. However, nothing takes the place of having a doctor look at your kid/player.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Missed Opportunity

The NHL missed an opportunity to improve the image of hockey during the Stanley Cup finals. When Canucks Alex Burrow bit the finger of Bruins Patrice Bergeron the NHL could of suspended Burrows for one game. I understand that the NHL didn't want to do something that might effect the outcome of the finals but that is exactly what the NHL. Also, what made this situation worse was that the  NHL said there was no conclusive evidence that Burrows bit Bergeron yet anyone who had a computer or television could see otherwise. As a result Games 2 and 3 were affected by the NHL and Game 4 will be affected.
     During Game 3 Canuck's player Aaron Rome international hit Bruins player Nathan Horton in the head giving him a concussion and ending Horton's season. Rome did receive a 4 game suspension from the NHL. There was no question Rome left his feet and hit Horton in the head. I believe that the player that caused the injury should not play again until the injured player is healthy enough to play. Maybe this would help end the cheap hits because the present NHL discipline does not seem to be working.
     Game 4 should be interesting to watch on Wednesday.
   

  

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Concussions and Kids

Concussions in high school sports can be serious even life threatening. As a result coaches as well as parents should take time to learn about concussions. Parents should consider getting baseline testing done before the season starts. There maybe a doctor in your area who is willing to test the whole team. This should reduce the cost of the baseline test. Concussed athletes need cognitive rest, meaning no reading, writing and no Facebook,TV or texting.
     Here are some places to look for information. Of course USA Hockey has a concussion information page. The CDC has a Head's Up online training course about concussions. The National Federation of High Schools has a free course on concussions that coaches as well as parents can take. Finally, at the beginning of the season take time to talk to your coaches or parents and explain your concerns about concussions. Coaches tell the parents how you will deal with a player who gets a concussion.
      Concussions are a real part of high school sports and are here to stay. Educate yourselves.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Coaching

The season is over and there are no meetings until the fall. Now is the time for some thinking and first I have come to realize that coaching is always changing. No one can say they know everything about coaching. I learn every year and I expect to learn more this coming year. I will spend some time this summer looking my practice plans and making some changes.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

I broke down

I have been so interested in the NHL playoffs this year I decided to breakdown and pay for Versus. There have been some good games. I am watching the Bolts/Bruins game now.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Changes for next year

Some changes for next year came from the League and the Conference. The League has decided to get tough on the subject of fighting. Next year if a player gets into a fight the player is suspended for three games and is not allowed to play in the post season. If the player gets into a second fight the player is suspended for the rest of the season. In our Conference I have been told that our Conference for next season will be divided into two brackets and you play every team in your bracket twice. There is a Conference meeting at the end of this month I will see what else may change.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

April for High School Hockey

The month of April for a High School Ice Hockey coach in Maryland is relatively easy. First,your team may or may not have a end of season party. Second, the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League has a Head Coaches meeting to discuss the recently concluded and talk about the next season. This year the MSHL meeting happened yesterday while I was out of town.I will be interested to find out what took place especially how far talks went on the topics of Conference alignment and creating a Maryland Hockey Coaches Association.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

USA Hockey proposed rule change

USA Hockey proposes to change when players are taught to check.The new rule says that players should not be taught how to check until they reach the bantam level. This will allow players at the lower levels to focus on skating, passing, and positioning. This will change the physical aspects of hockey at the high school level and not necessarily for the best.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

The Advantage of a League website

There are advantages to your league having a website. Here are a few of those advantages: You can see how your opponents are doing, you can see who is getting suspended and out of town parents or other relatives can see how their kids are doing. Another advantage of your league having a website is it allows the parents of incoming freshmen to find contact information for the school their child will be attending and contacting the team. In a way it is a recruiting tool and I have just this week received my first email from incoming parents.
   I believe all leagues should have a website.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Looking Forward

While we were selling programs at the Caps game a couple of my players said" Coach I have been recruiting for us at my school".  I told the players that I appreciate what they have done but their work is not done. I told them I would like each of them to send me an email with the players they have recruited include in this email each players name, position, how long they have played hockey and what grade they are in. Now I will wait and see who my players have recruited.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Selling Caps programs

Friday night my players sold programs at the Washington Capitals game. The programs cost $2 each and we get to keep all the money we make minus the $200 that the Capitals stake us with. It was an interesting night. We sold quite a few programs, some people gave us $5 dollars for one program and said keep the rest as a donation and there was one unfortunate instances when one of the coaches from a team we played walked up to buy a program and when he realized who was selling the programs he said " no thanks I do not need one from you guys". I was disappointed that a opposing coach would react that way. This is a fund-raising event that the kids will volunteer for and it is fun too.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Need to raise money

Ice Hockey in Maryland is a sport not directly supported by the school systems like football and basketball is. As a result teams do fundraisers to try and off set the costs. One of our more successful fundraisers is selling programs at a Washington Capitals game. I really do appreciate the support of the Capitals. It usually gives my team enough money to cover our required deposit for ice time for next year. It also gives my players a chance to spend time together off the ice which they do not get to do much of because they attend different schools.
     Does anyone have other fundraisers that do not include baking? I would love to hear about them.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Season in Review

Now that I have taken couple days away from thinking about high school hockey. I spent my morning commute thinking about the just ended season. I realized  couple of things about the season 1) My team did not play well against physical teams 2) To win we need to stay out of the penalty box 3) The value of practice time for the underclassmen. I am not sure how much playing in the pre-season tournament helped my team. I will have to think carefully about playing in the Frederick Cup next fall.
     Next fall I will have a team that will have no seniors but I will have a good core of juniors so it should be interesting.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Last Game

The last game did not go exactly as planned. The team we played came out being very physical something my team does not handle well. We spent most of the second period killing penalties. It seems despite being very physical and hitting my players very high they did not get any penalties. Due to their high hitting I lost one of my players to a possible concussion. I brought the high hitting to the referees attention but they did not seem to care or be concerned. I thought we had scored a goal but the referee waved off the goal and said the puck came out of the net. I said that could happen if the puck hit the back bar and came back out which is what happened. The referee looked at me confused and said no goal coach. We did lose the game and a number of my team's parents said this was the most physical game they had seen.

Monday, February 7, 2011

This Week's challenge

This is the last week of the regular season for my hockey team. Last week we were eliminated from the playoffs but we still have one game left to play on Friday night. My challenge is to keep my team focused and wanting to play on Friday night. I plan to make part of my speech to the players Friday night " they want to end the season with a win." I will say to the seniors it would be good for them to win their last high school hockey game. We will just have to see how the game goes.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Post Season Honors

Yesterday I learned that two of my seniors had been chosen for the All - Conference Team. There are only six players on the team. I had one forward and my goalie chosen. The players were voted onto the team by the Head Coaches of our conference according to their stats.
    There are two other All-Star teams one is the Senior All-Star Team and the MHC All-Star Game. I have already had two defensemen, one forward and one goalie chosen for the MHC All-Star Game. Next I will see how many of my seniors get chosen for the Senior All-Star Team.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

An Interesting Opinion

Last night my team played a very good first period. We were behind only 1-0 at the end of the first period. We were playing a team that was higher in the standings but they were not better just more physical. my team does not respond to overly physical play to well. As the second period unfolded it was obvious the referees were not calling many penalties against our opponent. My team became frustrated with the referees. We ended losing the game but the interesting thing happened after the game.
        After the game was over one of my team captains asked if he could ask the referees why they did not make a lot of calls tonight against the other team. I said sure we can go ask them. My captain politely asked the referees why they did not call a lot of penalties. The referees looked right at my captain and said " He was right they did not call a lot of penalties on the other team and that was because they thought the other team did not deserves the penalties even though they did commit the penalties.
      The adventures in high school hockey continue.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

A Unique Experience

In our game on Friday a unique thing happened..One of my team captains was trying to score on a breakaway, it was broken up and the other team got a penalty. A little later in the period my same player received a pass and was in on another breakaway and was pulled down. The crowd was yelling for a penalty shot and the referees met. The referees then came to me and said "Coach its your choice, you can take the penalty and have the man advantage or take the penalty shot. My players looked at me and I thought for a second I have never seen a penalty shot at the high school level and my player is a senior. I told the referees we will take the penalty shot. My senior player took the penalty shot and scored. After the game his parents came up to me and said he had been practicing that shot for a long time. I learned later that the league has no way to record or account for a penalty shot so, this player's goal is recorded in the stats as an unassisted goal.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Two Wins in a Row

Last night my team won 9-4 making it two wins in a row. The first time this year my team had won two games in a row. After scoring three quick goals my team seemed to forget how to play hockey. When the first period was over I told the team if they wanted to win they had to get their act together because even though we were up by goals I was not sure we could still win the game. The second period we played better but we took several bad penalties because we got  retaliating for the physical play of our opponents. Between the second and third period I told my team they had to stop taking bad penalties and if they wanted to win they had top play better defense. My team scored four goals in the third period and we won the game.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

All - Star Game

The conference my team plays in is having its first ever All-Star game and I have to pick three skaters and a goalie to represent my team. As I thought about who to chose for the all-star team I decided that the players I chose had to contribute more then being a statistic leader. My goalie choice was easy I have only one goalie so I submitted his name. Next I selected the three skaters for the all-star team. I selected two forwards and one defenseman. All skaters contributed more to the team then you would see on the score sheet which I believe is important when choosing the players to represent my team at an all-star game.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Success

On Friday night my team got two points and a win. This was probably the best all around game my team played this season. Three of our goals were scored by freshmen and our goalie got a shut out. Our powerplay still is a weakness that we will work on at practice, The penalty kill unit is very effective. We are starting to come together as a team unfortunately we only have three games left in the season.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

This Week's practice

At this week's practice we worked on skating, shooting and the powerplay (which we still need to work on). During practice I gathered the team at center ice. Once I had everyone's attention I said to them lets review the month of January. Our first game we got a tie and one point. The second game was a moral victory. Now our third game Friday night it is time to get a win and two points. The players agreed and seemed excited so now we will just have to see what happens.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Progress

Since the holiday break my team has been making progress that does not necessary show on the score sheet or the standings. So far in January we have played the second place team in our conference and the first place team in our conference. We were not expected to do well against either team. When we played the second place team we were winning the game until  the second place team tied the game with 28 seconds left. Seeing there is no overtime in our league the ended in a tie. Friday night we played the first place team who had been blowing out the teams they played. At the end of the second period of our we were down 4-1. When the final buzzer sounded the score was 7-1 and we had lost. While we lost on the scoreboard we won as a team. First, we did not let the other team blow us out or score double digits. This showed my team they could skate with the best team in our conference. Next we need to learn how to score more. We have a very good penalty kill unit and we are getting better at the powerplay. The next two games will be a good opportunities for us to get a win or two. Unfortunately for my team they are finally coming together but there is only a month left in the season.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

The Holiday Break is Over.

Starting tomorrow I will start my prep for the second half of the season. I got started by watching the Winter Classic tonight. Having played an outdoor game myself when I was in high school I have enjoyed watching the Winter Classic since it started in 2008.
    We ended the first half of the season by losing a game we should have won. The other team gave us a number of chances to score and win the game we just could seem to score as a result our record now is 1-4. My better players do seem frustrated with the way the season is going but it is nothing a win would not help change.
    The adventure is about to continue.