The Interview and Game

On Friday the article about the team came out and it was well received. I have been told that the Superintendent of the county school system saw and read the article. The players thought that seeing they were the Game of the Week they would come to the game dressed in a shirt and tie.
   The game started out with my team scoring in the first minute or so of the game. We successfully killed the six penalties we got and we ended up winning so, all in all it was a good week for the team.

The Media

Yesterday after practice my team captain and I had our first newspaper interview. Our game this week was chosen as the Game of the Week by a local online paper. Being the Game of the Week that means we get an article about us the day of the game, coverage of the game and an article about the game as well as a picture or two. This will be the first news article about the team since I became Head Coach. I look forward to seeing the article.

Its disappointing

This week I received an email from our league discussing how to set up security for our games. The rinks now require security (which are off duty police officers) when fans at a game may become rowdy and destructive, The cost for the two security officers is $300 dollars per game. I looked at our schedule and informed our league that I did not think any of our games would need security. At this point the league as agreed with us. It is a shame that rowdy students from one or two schools has caused this to happen. As I talked with other coaches they said that not always is it the students but rather the parents that get carried away.

Its Been A While

It has been a while so let me catch everyone up. The season started out all right but at the holiday break we are 1-4-1. This season we have had our share of bad breaks. One of our defensemen got a concussion and a second defenseman's bad grades kept him off the ice. Our defense is our weak point with the two defensemen we lost.
   To help us deal with our weakness I decided we would play 1-2-2. I will let you know what happens.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.





 

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.