Goalers as Part of a Team System

I’ve said it numerous times here before, in that I’m in no way a goaltending specialist.  No, I have to leave that kind of stuff to guys like Todd Jacobson.

At the same time, I’m kind of a “movement specialist”, and I’ve also coached hockey teams for about 40-years.

So, it’s in the latter capacity that I feel the need to share the following.

– Dennis Chighisola

Goalers as Part of a Team System

In the modern day game of hockey, coaches often refer to team play as “Six on the attack, six in defense of our net!”

In other words, all six players — from our goaltender to defensemen to forwards — have to be involved in moving the puck down-ice, and all six players have to band together to defend our goal.

In most instances, that expression is probably used to motivate skaters — for example, to let our forwards know how important they are to coming back and helping the D and their goalie in their own zone.  At the same time, I don’t think it’s used often enough to remind our netminders of just how important they are in numerous aspects of their team’s playing system.

“Six on the attack!”

For sure, today’s game is FAR different from its earliest days when goalers stayed at home and mostly worried about minding their net.  For a good decade or more, advanced netminders have roamed far from the safety of their crease to gather in loose pucks, and to even engage further in their team’s offense.

Really strong skating goalies can act almost like third defensemen on a penalty kill, and I’ve seen many a young youth hockey goalers become good enough with the puck to fire long, breakaway passes to teammates up-ice.

Even if a young goaltender isn’t confident enough to roam far or fire long passes, he or she should be adept at helping the team on breakouts.   What I’m getting at here is that retreating defensemen have lots to worry about as they attempt to pick-up a dumped-in puck.

With enemy forecheckers fast coming, the D can be helped by the goaler communicating things like, “Plenty of time!  Plenty of time!” or “On you!  On you!  On you!”

As importantly, a retreating defenseman can be helped immensely if he or she doesn’t have to dig the puck off the boards or net, or deal with accumulated snow.  So, as shown in my video on “(Teaching and Troubleshooting) Basic Breakouts“, I ask my goalies to “tee-up” the puck about a stick’s length off a post and just a hair behind the goal line.  This not only makes the puck easy for a D to grab, but it also allows him or her to take an exit route of choice.  (Again, this is covered in greater depth in my video on breakouts.)

Then, before leaving this section, I’d like to suggest that there can be more ways a goaler can help his or her team, especially when it comes to communicating with nearby teammates.

“Six in defense of our net!”

It goes without saying, that a goaltender is hugely responsible for defending the net.  What’s not often considered at the lower levels of our game is the goalie’s need to be incorporated into the numerous parts of a team’s defensive game.

Now, I don’t want to turn this particular entry into an X’s and O’s session.  However, as an example, I work frequently on combining my goaltenders and defensemen in the defense of a 2 against 1 attack.   My team’s aim, in the end, is to achieve two 1 on 1′s, with my netminder handling the shooter, and the D taking away the open man.

And there are, quite obviously, other areas of our defensive game where the coordination of goalers and skaters can help quite a lot, this probably depending on a given team’s age and experience level.

In closing, I feel the need to suggest that all the above really needs to become “a mentality” or “mindset” for a goaltender.  In other words, he or she has to look beyond just his or her own netminding responsibilities, and see himself or herself as a part of the team — both offensively and defensively.  And, I’ll further suggest that, the earlier this takes place, the better.

To “Skate Up” or Not

The above question is forever gracing my email inbox, or I’m stopped in a local rink lobby and asked basically the same thing.  It most often comes from the parent of a hockey student I’ve taught for awhile, and on occasion from someone I don’t even know.

The reason I’m commenting at this time — and the reason I’ve placed this in the “Timely Advice” category — is because a lot of players in the program I currently work with are being asked to move-up right now.

To be honest, every situation is slightly different.  However, my answer to most hockey parents is usually pretty much the same, and it’s just about the way I’ll describe to you down below.

– Dennis Chighisola

To “Skate Up” or Not

To begin, here’s (a slightly edited) copy of an email I received not long ago…

“Hey Dennis, i think i already know your answer, but i will run it by you.  (My son) is on the 04 elite team as a complete stud scoring just about everytime he gets the puck im really proud of him.  The mite major 03 elite team are looking for a guy, (and my son’s) name came up.  (The 03 coach) is supposed to talk to me.  Do i play him up a year with unbeleivable talent to make him better for next year or do i keep him on the 04 team and probably be the best kid in the league.  (An assistant coach) invited us to practice tommorrow for the 03 team.”

  As an aside here, isn’t it comical how illiterate texting can make us look?  I assure you my friend is far from that.

The following is my (similarly edited) reply, which I submit to CoachChic.com members as at least some good food for thought…

“Hmmmmmm…

My first thought would be to try it for awhile, without losing your son’s spot on the ’04 team.  I’m sure the 03 coach will go along with that — he may even prefer it.  (Check with others, but I believe there’s also a number of games — like 10? — whereby a kid can skate-up so many times before he can no longer go back down.)

Now, the good part of tearing up at his own level…   Your son will gain more and more confidence, and even dare to try things in games that he wouldn’t be able to do at a higher level.  So, his individual skills are also being greatly enhanced where he is right now.

The good and bad parts about playing up…   Probably the best part is being able to practice at a higher level, mainly because the higher level coach can usually run better practices with a more sophisticated group.   Your son would also probably learn to execute things at a faster pace, although it’s not so good if he suddenly starts playing the game in what I refer to as “panic mode”.   Quite probably, the down side to skating up would be that he wouldn’t get to grow in the way I described in the previous paragraph.

So again, maybe asking to be able to go back and forth for a few weeks would help quite a bit, and it’ll also allow you to get a better sense of which level will be the best over the long run.

Let me know if that makes sense.”

Now, back to talking to you, my good CoachChic.com friends…

For, the one thing I want to emphasize from above is the damage that can be done if we just throw a kid into a level where so-called panic mode takes place more often than not.  And, to describe that better…

My friend stated that his son is really tearing up at his current level.  Having seen the boy training with me and playing some here and there, I can define that as his winding in and out of opponents with the puck, picking corners of the net around over-matched goalies, and sometimes undressing those netminders with wild stickhandling moves.

The exact opposite of that is for a kid to be slightly afraid with the puck — sometimes even throwing it away, after having stronger or faster opponents numerous times stealing the puck or bumping him or her off the play.

Make no mistake about it:  Either one of those regular occurrences will eventually get into a youngster’s head.  And, before you know it, the player either thinks himself or herself invincible, or he or she has hardly any confidence with the puck at all.

And, that brings me to ask:  Which would you prefer for your son or daughter?

Then, I noted above that every situation can be slightly different.  In other words, for some kids the choice to move up might be worthwhile, while under different circumstances it can be very, very damaging.  That in mind, here’s my unscientific view on the choice…

IF a youngster’s promotion places him well into the top third of the stronger roster, I might say, “Go for it!”

IF it’s more likely the move up means a kid is suddenly one of the lesser players, I would suggest that he or she is in for a long season, and one that isn’t going to do an awful lot for his or her skills or confidence.

Of course, a parent’s ego can sometimes come into play during such decisions.  I mean, it might be nice to go to the office on Monday morning and brag about your son or daughter being so highly thought of.  At the same time, I’m one of those delayed gratification kind of guys, and I’d rather do my bragging a few years down the road — having done things right, and seeing my own youngster really make it when it counts.

When Will New Hockey Skills Kick-in?

I don’t doubt that many hockey parents and coaches get frustrated, waiting for certain new skills to kick-in with their players.  (And I don’t doubt some adults wonder the same thing when it comes to their game.)

So, since I’m trying to infuse a bunch of new plays into the games of both my AA Mites and AAA Bantams, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on the subject.

– Dennis Chighisola

When Will New Hockey Skills Kick-in?

I begin here with a story that might just frustrate some members…

Some 30-plus years ago, I happened to be coaching a local Mite A team in what was billed as the Massachusetts Mite State Championship.  We were probably the least known of all the teams there, but we were peaking at just the right time.  Little did I know then that I was also coaching a couple of kids amid those 7- and 8-year olds who would go on to play quite a bit of pro hockey.

Honestly surprising to me, we managed to knock-off each opponent in the preliminary round, we won our semi-final match, and then found ourselves facing an undefeated “big city” team in the tournament finals.  Even more surprising to me was that we flip-flopped the lead with the tourney favorites — either leading or trailing by a goal throughout the 60-minutes of regulation play.

Okay, so here’s the more interesting part…  With only minutes to play in regulation, my top scorer sent the game into over-time with a beautiful “wrap around” goal.  Man, did our fans go nuts.  Shortly after that kid scored, I found him sitting in front of me on the bench, and I kinda thought out loud to him, suggesting, “That was a beautiful goal.  Over the summer, though, you ought to practice faking towards one post on that play, and then quickly coming back and tucking the puck in on the other side.”  My thinking was that the goaltender would go all-out to protect against the initial move, and never have time to react back to the other side.

You know what I’m thinking here…  The summertime was the right time to add something new to a youngster’s game.  I’m even thinking now that I was out of line distracting an 8-year old from the unbelievable pressures at hand.  I mean, we were heading into OT in what was probably the most exciting atmosphere my little group of country kids had ever experienced.

Still, if you haven’t guessed it already…  That youngster found himself with the puck behind the enemy net on his first over-time shift, he makes a mad dash towards one post, the opposition goaler dives to make the stop, and my little guy comes back to tuck the tournament winner into an almost empty net.  Un-be-lieve-able!

Now, I tell that story as an example of the exception, definitely not the norm.  Few mere mortals would have been able to clearly think like that in what I’ve already described as a pressure cooker.   Just imagine.

At the same time, I’ve elsewhere in these pages described Wayne Gretzky and a few others as being so highly skilled that they could think on a different plain than most others.  In other words, while most 8-year olds in the above described game were in varying degrees of panic mode when they touched the puck, my young forward skated and lugged the biscuit with such confidence that he was able to devote more energy to thinking things through out there.  Or, as you’ve probably often read about some top performers in numerous sports, the game probably slowed down around him, and he was actually able to relax and think at a level most other youngsters couldn’t.

Then, having suggested the above story might frustrate many of you, what I meant is that we coaches and parents can’t usually expect the same kind of results with all our kids.  No, for most it’ll take time to bring a new play into their game.

Okay, what got me on this subject is that it’s relatively early in the season for my young Mites and Bantams.  And, back in practice, each group is working on a number of plays that I want to ultimately kick-in to their games.  Actually, a lot of what we’re doing back at practice is planned in this way.  However, knowing you’d like a hint at some of these, well…

A couple of times per week, I’m having a Mite puckcarrier move back and forth behind a net, while a teammate moves similarly out in front — stick down in readiness for a pass.  You can imagine how sloppy my kids looked in our earliest practices, but how much better things are clicking in recent attempts.  Still, no one has come close to trying that play yet in a game.

There are two things that quickly come to mind when I’m thinking about my older Bantams…  I’ve given them several attack plays to use on 3 on 2 rushes, and I also have a special play I like to use with older defensemen on our breakouts.  (I call the latter play the “drop-off”, because one D swings behind the net to draw an enemy forecheck, and then he forcefully drops the puck back to his partner who is swinging in the opposite direction.)

I said earlier that none of my Mites have come close to using their special play yet in a game.  Well, that’s only partly so.  Just yesterday, one of my little guys did carry the puck behind our opponents’ net, but he either ignored or didn’t see his teammate waiting out front for a pass.  So, when he returned to the bench, I asked him if he had a better option in that situation, to which he responded, “Pass to the guy out front?”  Bingo.

And I’ll suggest that the little discussion with that forward is one of the natural steps on the way to all of my kids ultimately getting it.  In other words, that forward just might remember to look for an open teammate the next time he holds the puck in that situation.  Or, it might be another kid I talk to who finally nets us a big goal.  And, when that happens, I’m going to make a really big deal of it.  My hope is that other kids will see it, and likewise make the connection between our practice drill and the live game action.  Of course, they’ll also be looking for me to make a similarly big deal out of their play.

I’ll be attempting to do the same thing for my Bantams.  I mean, we’ll do certain drills countless times in practice, I’ll talk to them as games are played — trying to connect the practices to their games, and I’ll make a big deal out of the earliest times the plays finally kick-in.

And that’s pretty much how things have to work for most players.  For sure, the more individual skills they have on automatic, the better they’ll be able to think during the heat of battle.  However, I see my role as a coach being to teach all of my kids, not just the advanced ones.

Again, the progressions are kinda natural, meaning that I have to just stick with the repetition, keep talking to the kids — before, during and after games, making a big deal out of the times when the plays start working, and then move on to new plays.

Lastly, while I’ve mostly described this process through the eyes of a coach, I’ve also used this method as a hockey parent and grandparent.  Consequently, I’ve never been impatient at all as I watched my own work on something at home in hopes of having it later kick-in during a game.  I know it will come, so long as I just allow the natural process to play out.

How Many Drills Are Needed Over a Long Hockey Season?

If you happen to be on LinkedIn — but you haven’t engaged in some of their hockey related forums, you really should.  Like many other social media sites, there are plenty of great hockey people to be met there.  And, at least for me, there are a ton of great ideas that can be gleaned from other hockey players, parents and coaches.

With that, I came across a great question there just recently, this submitted by Lance P:

“How many different drills do you think need to be implemented during a hockey season?”

Hmmmmm…  Ya, it is a great question, but one that I felt was going to take a whole lot more work than just a few lines in a forum.  So, I’ve decided instead to do the topic justice, by addressing it here.

– Dennis Chighisola

How Many Drills Are Needed Over a Long Hockey Season?

The reason I jumped on that question was that I could just envision the answers that would soon roll in.  I mean, I can see come coaches quoting numbers — like 15, 25, 40, 80, whatever.  And I can tell you that none of us would be right if we got hung-up on a number.

What I’m going to suggest instead, is our need to constantly troubleshoot our players’ needs, or continuously help them solve problems.

Ironically, I had a brief conversation with a few of my assistant coaches after last night’s AAA Bantam practice, not realizing that it actually hints at some of what I’m going to suggest here.

We’d gone through a tough stretch starting the season, so we’ve only begun making progress after also making some roster changes.  So I was telling my assistants last night that we’d just had the best practice ever, and that we’d begin growing from there onward.

We went back and forth about that for awhile, and then I suggested that a time will come when the kids need a break, and I’ll just blow-up my practice plan for a night and do some wild, crazy things instead.

And that brings me back to that statement about the conversation with my coaches providing “hints at some of what I’m going to suggest here.”

Picture along with me, that I had a plan for my kids as we entered the past summer.  Picture again how that plan had to change as we entered the fall.   Then, imagine the changes we’ve gone through once the roster was upgraded.

Moreover, I said that we’d begin growing from last night’s practice onward.  There’s no specific — or even rough — number of drills that can be estimated for completing that task.  I just have to design a given practice plan according to the way I see my kids’ needs on a given night.  And, as I suggested above, there will even be a time when I’ll sense that the kids have had enough, and they need something totally off the wall to renew their love of the game.

As an aside…  Some might think that a blown-off practice is a huge waste of ice-time.  But, I’ll suggest that there’s a far greater danger in not “reading” my players, and not “reacting” to their on-the-spot needs.  And, let me tell you:  I have found that one totally off-the-wall practice, spaced just right in their schedule, can oftentimes make the next couple of months worth of practices all the more productive.  I truly mean that.

Now, I’m going to let CoachChic.com members in on a four-plus step process I use for designing my lessen plans…

1) Here’s a checklist I use before I begin drafting things.  In other words, I have this list of areas of play off to the side as I scratch some rough notes on what I’d like to cover:

Skills: skating, puckhandling, passing/receiving, scoring and body-checking

Team Defense: forecheck, backcheck, numerical situations, D-zone coverage

Team Offense: breakouts, regroups, attack plays, numerical situations

Special: face-offs, powerplay, penalty-kill

Now, not that every single one of those things gets covered in every practice.  Of course, a lot of them get combined on various drills.  My real point for scanning that list:  so that I don’t forget something important.

2) Long-time members know my penchant for note-taking during games.  Among other purposes, I jot brief messages to myself while a game is in progress for things I’ll want to either work on in a practice or discuss with the kids in quieter confines.

For Pre-practice Discussion: As you might realize, some things can’t actually be treated in a drill, but they’re better handled while either shooting the bull or looking at a re-creation on a greaseboard.  So, since my kids are in tune to meeting for 10- to 15-minutes prior to every practice, I’ll jot my planned topics of discussion up in a corner of a given night’s lesson plan.

For On-ice Work: I don’t attempt to fix everything discovered in the last game during a single practice.  However, I usually can identify one concept that can immediately help the kids, and I’ll build a drill around that idea.

3)  At this point, I usually only have a batch of scratches on scrap paper.  I don’t get to actually plan the practice until I take a look at the very last on-ice session.  Repetition and continuity are important to the teaching process, ya know.  So, while every practice may be slightly different, a lot must remain constant.  Said yet another way…  I’ll use the last practice as kind of an outline for the new one, and then begin slightly changing things.

4)  Very much connected to the last point above, I have for years used something I think school teachers refer to as “blocks” of drills.  In other words, I might use a given drill for something like agility for a stretch of 4- or 5-weeks, and then I’ll substitute that with a different drill that still treats the same skill/s.  The idea is to get the most out of a drill, but then stop using it before boredom creeps in.  This same approach — of teaching in blocks — is actually going on in several different parts of my lesson plan, so that both repetition and my concerns for boredom are being dealt with on a nightly basis.

Outside my degree studies in Physical Education & Coaching, I think one of the best lectures I ever attended was by Dave Dryden (I think it was in Montreal, Canada, at the 1980 NHL Coaches Symposium).  There, Dryden suggested not “running around stamping out brushfires.”  The gist of that approach suggests that coaches stick to an overall plan, and not constantly ditch that plan for the latest game problem.   As Dryden hinted, if we spend all our time tonight fixing our powerplay,  our breakouts will probably falter in the next game, and so on and so on and so on.    So, even though I do plan some brief time to deal with a few problems my kids have recently had, I never abandon my overall plan in any given practice.

Finally, I hope CoachChic.com members can now see why I think it’s pretty difficult to name the number of drills we coaches should use over the length of a season.  Added to all the input I’ve shared above is the need to constantly up the progressions — or challenges — included in a single drill (which means that one drill evolves into another, and so forth).  Moreover, I can tell you from experience that players will get some things faster than we think they will, while they’re going to struggle with some drills or concepts we thought they’d get easily.  And this suggests that we have to constantly make further adjustments to our lesson plans, either slowing things a bit or picking up the pace.

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Have any further ideas or differences of opinion?  I love to hear both,
so just use the Comments area and let’s talk.

An Open Letter to All AAA Hockey Teams

I don’t think I’ve ever done this before — pointing our CoachChic.com members to a specific blog post.  At the same time, I think the following is rather special, and it should prove to be hugely helpful to some older players, parents, coaches and hockey administrators.

I went on sort of a tear the other day, that leading to a special “Coach Chic’s Hockey Diary” post which ignited some interesting feedback.  So, not only might you read my original entry, but you ought to keep checking back, because the earliest Comments have been as good as my original.  As a matter of fact, I’d love your feedback too!

Just click on the link below to start.

– Dennis Chighisola

An Open Letter to All AAA Hockey Teams

 

 

 

The 10 Commandments of Hockey

I’ve seen versions of the following numerous times over the years.  And, while each point is valid, I’ll suggest that key “commandments” in hockey probably aren’t limited to just ten (in fact, I’ll someday let you know my rather extensive list).

Anyway, I happened upon the following graphic on Facebook yesterday.  And, although I shared it with my many friends on that site, I thought I’d try something a little bit differently for my CoachChic.com faithful.

With that, I’ll show the original graphic down below, and then I’ll do what I can to better explain each of the ten listed points.

– Dennis Chighisola

The 10 Commandments of Hockey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those 10 Commandments of Hockey — Coach Chic Style

1) Without doubt, face-offs ARE important.  For sure, young players tend to dismiss them as necessary evils — like, “Come on, ref, just drop the puck so we can play!”  Still, I sometimes see that same mentality carrying over to older guys and gals, almost as if a given face-off isn’t important.

Of course, draws become more crucial the closer they’re held to our own net.  However, every face-off quickly determines who is going to control the puck next.  And, since the object of a game is to score more often than our opponents, it makes sense for us to want to control the puck more often than they do.  So, yes, thou SHOULD concentrate on every drop of the puck — from the centerman to every other player on the ice for us.

2) In general, this one is obviously correct.  If I had to question it — just a hair, it would be that a player usually needs to coast at times, then burst all-out, with a typical shift being a series of alternate coasts and bursts.  By all means, though, shifts should be kept short, with players staying intently focused for something like 30-seconds or so.

Personally — when it comes to keeping shifts short, I’ve always had as much concern for players on my bench as I do for those on the ice.  In other words, if players stay out too long, there’s the chance that the guys who are sitting are getting cold, and they’re especially getting out of the flow of the game.  (This is never so evident as when a team takes a series of penalties, forcing some players to sit for a very, very long time.)

3) Ha.  Penalties can just kill a team.  I’ve noted one way this can happen in the previous paragraph, but needless penalties can also be huge momentum killers or shifters.   Of course, some penalties can’t be avoided.  At the same time, I’ve written elsewhere within this site how most penalties can be categorized — as showing a lack of discipline or selfishness, or demonstrating a mismatch in skills between two players (in other words, if a player is slow or out of shape, he or she is very likely to take penalties like tripping, holding or hooking).

4) Obviously, this one relates more to those levels where body-checking — or at least some body contact — is permissible.  And it’s as important a principle as any for a player who finds himself or herself closest to a rival puckcarrier.  In fact, if you want to play right into a fancy puckhandler’s hands, just look down at the puck for a second and see how he or she turns you inside out.  Ya, focus on the man’s body if you’re the closest player to a puckcarrier.

5) I don’t have a lot to add to this thing about forechecking, except to share some points I often talk to my older players about…

If you think about it, our opponents want to do what they want to do as they gather a puck in their own end of the ice.  An enemy defenseman might want to feed a nice pass up to a near winger, and that winger might want to relay that pass to the centerman swinging by.  Yup, all neat and clean, and a nice way for them to begin a rush towards our net.

My guys, on the other hand, want to force the enemy out of their comfort zone — and make ‘em do what we want them to do, until we’re able to gain the puck back.

For sure, there has to be a design and a purpose to our forecheck, and that’s the job of a coach.  From there, all 5-skaters have to know the different roles by heart — or apply them by instinct, knowing each teammate depends on the success of others.  Yes, forechecking is a 5-man job, with its true success depending on each player being able to do his or her own job exceedingly well.

6) Without question, a successful team protects its goaltender, and gives him or her freedom to move in the crease area and a clear view of the puck.  I tend to get really into this aspect of play, adding these pretty important principles…

First, “enemy sticks score goals”.   Consequently, any enemy stick not somehow negated around the goal is very likely to catch a pass, deflect a shot, bang home a rebound, or prevent your goaler from covering up a loose puck.

Secondly, our guys covering in front of the goal must do so according to the location of the puck.  In other words, if an opponent controls the puck in a corner, the main danger is a pass to his mate out front.  On the other hand, when the puck is located out at a point, our defenders must clear the area — to prevent deflections, and to allow our netminder to  see the puck.

7) Ugh (because this one has already happened several times in my Bantam team’s first few games)…   I’m kinda surprised, in a way, that this happens too often in older level games.  I’d have thought the principle of not making cross-ice passes in front of ones own goal would have been taught very early-on.

No matter, I actually take that a step further, by borrowing from the great Anatoli Tarasov, who suggested that straight-ahead and lateral passes are safest in your own zone, while long diagonal passes are rather dangerous.  In other words, that long diagonal pass crosses too many lanes and likely goes by too many enemy stick-blades.

Oh, ya, Number 8…  Thou shalt dawgoned backcheck!  In fact, every player coming back should realize how important he or she is — from the first backchecker to the very last one coming into our zone (I think we’ve all seen a fourth or fifth attacker go to the net and whack home a rebound).  And, going back to an earlier point, let me suggest that any one of our checkers who nears our net should be negating the stick-blade of their man.  Again, enemy sticks score goals.

9) You’d think it would be instinctive for our players to crash the net when they see the puck move that way.  Ya, you’d think.  Yet, I see far too many supposed attackers sit back as observers and miss some great scoring opportunities.  Of course, we coaches wish our players would react in the right way.  However, I accept part of the blame here if my players don’t.  I mean, I’m the coach, and it’s up to me to create drills that instill the proper reactions.

10) Hmmmmm…  Finish thy check…

For the longest time, I’ve blamed television commentators for confusing this issue, mainly because they tend to use that “finishing the check” expression when a big hit occurs, or when the hitee is knocked down.  To my way of thinking, though, the idea of finishing a check is to tie up the former puckcarrier so that some other things may or may not happen.

If the puck is still nearby, the body-checker’s job is to focus on his man’s body, and to keep him momentarily tied up so that a teammate may grab the loose puck.  On the other hand, if your man just dished off the puck to a mate, finishing the check — or staying on your man for an extra few seconds — prevents him or her from jumping back into the play for a return pass.

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Okay, that’s my two cents worth when it comes to these important playing principles.  Do you have any further ideas, or can you expound on what I’ve said?  I won’t be offended in the least if you can add to (or argue with) any of these.

Help for a Discouraged Hockey Goaltender

The following just came in via the CoachChic.com “Ask The Coach” box.  And, although it’s kinda late at night, I felt for the young guy who sent it, and I wanted to offer some thoughts as soon as I could.

With that as an intro, I’ve removed just a few things from the following question, just to protect the young goaltender’s identity…

– Dennis Chighisola

“I need some advice, big time. I played high school hockey as a goalie the past couple of years and did great. this year I tried out for the local junior empire team. Despite playing incredible along with the other top goalies at the tryouts i didn’t make the team, at the the moment I’m at community college part time, thinking i was going to get my big break. but I didn’t. It seems like no one is giving me the chance even though i know i can take my game to the next level. I feel like I’m coming to the end of my career, end of the line and i don’t know what to do, i still want to keep playing competitively but i always feel like the underdog. what should I do?”

Help for a Discouraged Hockey Goaltender

Ironically, I often write or say that, “Others will tell you when your hockey playing days are over.”

That IS usually true.  Yet, I don’t think there’s anyone on the face of the earth who can really tell anyone else his (or her) playing days are over — until the player wants it to be that way.  I mean, even if one is rejected numerous times, there are still usually plenty of other places to play.

I also tend to think that goaltenders can mature later than skaters.  So, there is always the chance that a goalie can get better and better with age, and that he could pass by all the rest a few years down the road.

As an aside…  Obviously, the latter is hardly do-able without a ton of work.   And the kind of work I’d be envisioning would be Rocky Balboa style (if you know what I mean).

As far as future opportunities go, I will suggest that nearly everyone is a “walk-on” at Division II and III college hockey tryouts.  In other words, there are few guarantees at those levels, and it’s more a matter of a player showing what he can do at the tryouts.   Walk-on goalers have been known to make it at Division I schools, although the chances probably aren’t all that great.  Then, minor league professional hockey leagues abound — across North America and abroad, and these provide further opportunities for players to extend their playing days.

All that said, the day comes for all of us when we feel we’ve gone as far as our skills and energies will take us.  And, when that day comes, I always like to see a player leave the competitive game with a good feeling — like he gave it his best, he attained the highest level he could, and he had a hell of a time along the way.  (I’d also like to see him have a college degree in his back pocket.)  For some of us, coming back to coach keeps us close to a game we grew to love, and it at least partially fills a certain void.

*

To be honest, I don’t think I’m any sort of an authority on this subject.  So, I would love for others to jump in here, in hopes you might shed a different light on this subject, and perhaps give this young man some even better advice.

– Dennis Chighisola

 

The Root of Most Hockey Injuries

Okay, I don’t want to come off as if I’m THAT smart that I can totally fulfill what’s suggested in the above title.  At the same time, a lot of what I like to do here is provide my good friends and members some serious food for thought.

You probably also ought to know that I’m a firm believer in The Law of Attraction — partly because it has its roots in the Bible, as well as within the teachings of numerous wise men throughout our planet’s history.  What I’m getting at is that I don’t like to constantly talk about illness until I or those close to me ultimately get sick, and I don’t want to overdo this thing about hockey injuries until readers fulfill that prophesy.

At the same time, I do want to share some observations I’ve made over many years, this in hopes of helping prevent as many lost practices and games as possible.

– Dennis Chigisola

The Root of Most Hockey Injuries

Speaking of The Law, I’ve actually witnessed the children of doctors and nurses being either ill or injured more often than any of my other players.  Honest to God.  This goes back some 30-ish years to when the son of a famous local sports medicine surgeon kept telling me that he thought he just pulled his _________ (fill in the Latin term for some oft injured ligament or muscle).   It wasn’t until I’d seen the same thing happen to other doctors’ kids that I began making the connection.  Ya, quite likely the topic of discussion at dinner often had to do with the latest injury the dad had seen, or the latest operation he’d just performed.  And it wasn’t until years later that I noticed the same thing happening to the children of nurses.  Don’t you know I ultimately got up the nerve to ask those parents if my theory was true, and most of them sheepishly laughed and shook their heads and nodded to the affirmative.  So, going back more than a quarter century, I believe I was seeing the old Law of Attraction in action.

What really got me going on this subject, however, is that we’ve already had several injuries occur with members of my AAA Bantam Minor team — this only a few games into our fall schedule.   Not that there has to be some big connection between these injuries and what I’ll add here.  But…

The Bantam age level is one in which growth spurts happen rather unexpectedly, or they almost creep up on parents until they notice their youngster is 4″ taller today than he or she was a few months ago.  What I’m getting at here is the likelihood that players in this age group can quickly find their gear no longer protecting them very well.  So, just as examples, the slightest leg growth likely leaves gaps between shin guards and pants, and longer arms can leave a lot of open space between the elbow pads and gloves.

So can just the move up from one level to another render certain gear less protective.  In other words, pads that were okay in a non-body-checking level might be totally useless as the heavy hitting starts, or the pads that once were able to protect a kid against easy shots might not be so helpful against absolute rockets.

Thinking about my Bantams again, I know that all of the kids are at different stages of development.   I mean, some are still sort of babes, while a few others are almost the size of an average man.  And those two types of kids have to play against each other over a long season.   Please don’t take this one lightly, either, because some kids in this level are skinny as rails, while some can be pretty hefty.  So, when a collision happens, I’m betting it’s the frail wrist, arm or leg bone that is most apt to snap.

Next, let me tell you that certain players are sitting ducks.  I mean, they’re slow in reacting, so they’re easily lined up to be nailed by a better skilled or craftier opponent.   What I’m also getting at here is a player’s ability to see what’s coming, and then to have the skills to negotiate away from trouble.  A great example of staying out of danger was Wayne Gretzky.  I mean, few opponents ever got a full piece of him — first, because The Great One probably had world class awareness out on the ice, secondly, because he could handle a puck with his eyes up, and thirdly, because he had the great skating and puckhandling skills to maneuver his way quickly out of danger.  (I remember joking back and forth with my late dad years ago…  He’d say, “Why don’t they just hit Bobby Orr?”  And I’d tease back, “Because they can’t catch him!”)

With all this, I’m not implying that any of my current players’ injuries HAVE to fall under any of these headings.   As I said in the start, I don’t want to come off as being so wise as to be able to predict such things.  And, hey, all of us are at one time or another going to take a spill, whatever.

On the other hand, I have mentioned a number of things that might save a lot of kids (or even adult players).