As far as seeing a change in his game, I doubt it as we only have one more game. Then there is a good break from ice hockey till September. He’s playing a few sports just once a week through the spring: lacrosse (which he loves), t-ball and field hockey. What do you think of a young lefty playing a game with only right-handed sticks? We’re in the field hockey region in Canada from the British and South Asian influences I think and he wants to try it out. I figure the ABCs (agility, balance, coordination, speed) will be developed and the Long Term Athlete Development thinking is a big part of their philosophy (Balyi worked at the University of Victoria for a number of years so he’s left his mark).

Then, you know my need to up-the-ante once a drill gets easy. So, after a week or two of doing the basic drill, have Sam try moving around and dribbling with his eyes up — ultimately going forward and backwards, side to side, etc.

I have a suspicion, too… I sense that you’ll see some new things in Sam’s game after a few weeks at that exercise, even when he’s not attacking the net.

What happened was that, a few years ago I was watching a high school game that was taking place just before my Team NEHI practice. The high school players were of a decent level, the game was a meaningful (playoff) one, and the player in question was supposedly one of the team’s better players.

Ya, that “player in question”… Late in the close game, he was awarded a penalty shot. So, the crowd hushed, and there was a long enough delay (as the refs readied things) so I could get a good spot to view the play from. Actually, I was standing at the opposite end of the rink from where the penalty shot would occur, so I had the opportunity to watch everything from the attacker’s perspective.

Ugh… I could tell at the moment the attacker took-off that he’d decided ahead of time exactly what he would do. I don’t know how or why I knew, but I would have bet that he was stuck with a plan, no matter what the opposing goaltender did. (He also had his head down throughout the rush, which also tells us something.)

And, don’t ya know, the goaltender absolutely stuffed the attacker. I mean, the skater went straight for the net, then tried to stuff the puck between the goaler’s legs — “five hole”. Clunk! The goalie had backed far into his net, he had his pads closed and his stick placed firmly in that area, and that’s about the only spot that WASN’T vulnerable. Geeeeeeeeeze…

So again, I think anyone — at just about any youth though high school level — would benefit from using the above training program. One never knows when he or she will be called upon to apply their breakaway or shootout skills with a huge crowd watching.

Also, because this is such an important subject, I’m going to leave it in the Free to Non-members section, just in case you want to send a link to this to someone who deserves this sort of advice.

Also, I have written a lot about this — both here and in my magazine column, in that I think it’s a societal thing with North Americans (no matter which side of the border we’re talking about).

In a way, parents, rink owners, snack bar owners and pro shop owners like games over practices (the latter three because games draw traffic and because parents tend to spend more for/during games).

In many of the other hockey playing countries, however, the federations have more say, often dictating how things will go.

Of course this emphasis on training over games is consistent with the Long Term Athlete Development that is endorsed by Hockey USA and Hockey Canada. It sounds like in the US this thinking is not getting down to the grassroots in all of the states. This is certainly true up here in Canada. Judging from the number of games that parents and players seem expect for my little guys, the message is not getting out. Next year, I will be sure to make this is clear at the start of the season. There seems to be a lot of education that needs to be done in this regard.

If you look at the quality of hockey players coming out of a country such as Slovakia with something like 37 rinks — and were early proponents of the Long Term Athlete Development concept — our countries really should find a way to get the message out if we hope to continue getting gold and silver metals.

Great game by the way. I loved that Kesler assured the interviewer in the second period intermission that the US would tie the game as the Canadians would eventually tire. Canadians are sure glad that Crosby spent so many hours practicing in his basement in his youth and not sitting in the back of a car travelling all over the Great White North for the few minutes of puck time that even a star like him might get in a typical game. Crosby was also a multi-sport athlete as a child and would spend a lot of time playing mini-games with his pals at a local tennis court.

Or a local Victoria example, Jamie Benn, the rookie forward with the Dallas Stars never played high-level rep or travel hockey in his youth but played hours of ball hockey with his brother (another pro player) and buddies at a tennis court. He also took spring and summers off hockey to play baseball as he was actually hoping to play pro ball for a living. Too bad for him … he has to settle for playing on the Stars’ powerplay instead!

The article is titled, “On Assignment: Nine Eyes on the Prize“, and it’s by Nicholas Loomis. In it, Loomis interviews Getty Images’ Bruce Bennett, a very well known sports photographer who is recording somewhat of a pictorial history of the current Olympic hockey tournament. (Have a read if you get the chance; it’s a pretty interesting article.)

Anyway, partway through the article, Bennett says, “Sports photographers often complain that hockey is difficult to shoot. It’s fast. It’s unpredictable. It’s played with a tiny rubber disc that you have to track through a scuffed-up piece of plexiglass as it zooms over a frictionless surface at speeds topping 100 miles an hour.”

Ya, as I said earlier, hockey IS unpredictable. (Thanks, Kathy!)

I’d tend to agree with you on the outcome of that sprint between a runner and a speed skater. I think a skater would initially be slow off the mark with those long blades. However — and as you say, each of the skater’s subsequent thrusts and glides would likely carry him or her farther than each of the sprinter’s strides.

As for the figure skaters, I agree with you on some points, and I might disagree on some others… I am very familiar with “compulsory figures”. As a matter of fact, I’ve modeled some of my skating drills after those, as a means of teaching edges. However, we hockey types have to be careful about getting too hung-up on the figure skater’s way of doing things. In general, their sport is planned, while the hockey player’s game is basically helter-skelter, requiring quick reactions to whatever might need to be done next. I also eventually abandon those big, pretty figure skating cross-overs once a player has learned to control his or her edges. For, a defensive hockey player can’t react while dangling one leg way up in the air.

As for that visual stuff… Wow! That would be an interesting study, although I’m not sure how one would undertake it. Let me really think on that for awhile, though. Also, we can always pray that someone with an expertise in that area will weigh-in.

Thanks again for that, Dana!

When I was growing up, learning how to skate and attending hockey schools, I was amazed to see the amount of negative attitude towards figure skaters. Our power skating school was run by figure skaters. They were able to extract the best outcome out of each individual stroke. Compulsories are no longer part of the Olympics, but if you were to watch one of these events, you would understand how figure skaters are able to generate so much speed, power and control. The deceiving part is that they make it look so easy on tv.

I’m still convinced that most hockey players are never taught how to generate the greatest result from each stroke. Most players choose to expend more energy to achieve the desired result.

Most hockey players have a stride that moves to the back. A figure skaters stride is to the side. it’s counter intuitive, but I’ve seen it in action. Amazing.

As usual, coach points out the fact that it’s not just about going straight from point a to point b. There are a lot of factors involved in being a great hockey player than going fast.

I’m still looking forward to a discussion on peripheral vision (size of native field of focus), eye travel (how fast the eye is able to move up down or side to side) and eye refocusing (how quickly the eye is able to refocus after it has changed location) as it relates to a players performance.

My apologies for the ramble.

I know that color commentators help to point-out many good things during typical (NHL or NCAA) game broadcasts. However, I think the intensity — or maybe the magnitude of each play in these Olympic contests — brings-out even more great observations.

As an example, I recall an analyst saying the other night something to the effect that, “When you’re protecting a lead, you don’t want to be making any drop passes…” (To learn more about this concept, please see an article I did a long time ago, this entitled “Turning Points in a Hockey Game“.)

Again, there are some really good comments being made before, during and after these games, and I’ll suggest those observations will become even more plentiful as things intensify.

I’ll also suggest that young players can benefit hugely from listening to the comments, and then perhaps having a chance to discuss these with a parent or a coach.

PS: Last night at our weekly Team NEHI skills sessions, I called the kids together for a moment to ask if any of them had noticed a certain attacking move we’d been practicing all year. A number of them had, and they even offered some pretty good observations to the group. So, while lots of learning should have been taking place during our many previous practices, that skill was probably all the more solidified from the kids seeing it used in an elite game, and then it was likely further ingrained because we took the time to discuss it again last night. Oh, and I think I noticed my kids applying themselves a little more in practicing that drill, too, probably because they still had visions in their minds of a star player performing it.

By the way… The move I’m talking about will be featured here shortly. I’m gathering some video right now to show you later, and I also want to delay for a brief time so that everyone has a chance to really absorb “THE Bobby Orr Move“.

“Great thread. You guys are talking about my favorite hockey player of all time. It was a timing thing..I was just coming into my prime as a hockey player/fan in NH and here comes Orr. I feel blessed to have been able to watch his entire professional career.

One thing to note, and I think I saw coach bring it up. Just the idea of Orr raising his stick at the blue line was enough to get everyone’s attention. In other words, his reputation preceded him. Teams had to “respect’ his shot. They needed to “commit” to trying to block his shot. I think, to this day, he had the shortest back swing of any blue liner.The magic of Orr was that he was able to pick that up and was then able to pull off the “Bobby Orr move” that Coach refers to. Oh….and he had to have the talent to pull it off too!!!!!”

I totally believe in this.

By the way, folks… If I ever point you towards a link (like as above), I am not selling or pushing anything. The purpose of everything within CoachChic.com is to share information, and to better educate everyone (including myself).

At some point, however, our CoachChic.com Store WILL be suggesting products to the general hockey popular, and it is likely we will profit from those sales.

Let me know if you guys spot that move on YouTube, huh? I’d like to try using it here somehow.

Speaking of those players having a presence… I once coached a young 14-year old defenseman in an elite sort of league. After just a few weeks of working with him, the league’s directors came to watch a game and to consider moving the boy up to the next level. After the game, they asked me what I thought of the kid, and I just said something to the effect that, “He is one of the coolest young players I’ve ever watched!” He was so calm and collected and under control, and this while he was actually one of the youngest kids at our level. So, don’t you know, they took that kid away from me days later, so I only got to work with Tom Poti for a matter of weeks!

Come to think of it, that league did the same thing to me with a slightly older defenseman about a year later, so that I only had Bryan Berard for a matter of days!

So, is it me, or what?

More seriously, is that Dr Gibson published, Crag? He seems like the kind of guy I’d like to learn more about (and learn from).

Oh, and talk about me inventing crazy challenges… When Tony Chic comes home this spring, I’ve thought of a new puckhandling challenge for him. You see, Route 27 is a fairly busy road that’s only a walk from our house. So, I’m thinking of having Anthony bring a golf ball with him, and then having him weave… Naw, on second thought, I’d better skip that idea. His grandmother would kill me!

I was recently at an ECHL game in Victoria where a young defensemen who was recently sent down after a stint in the AHL showed that kind of presence on the ice which he did not seem to have even a couple of months ago. I asked him about it after the game and he commented that the ECHL now seems slower to him since playing in the “A.” It boggles the mind that a twenty-year-old playing in the pressure-cooker like the Olympics seems to feel the same way on the ice.

I loved the story about “the net was dislodged” and the school anecdote as well. If a child is excited and tuned in to his world on various levels and developing motor/social skills etc., that is exactly what you want to foster on a developmental level. I may have said this elsewhere, but I can remember doing some training with a Dr. Ken Gibson in Colorado who specializes in the new field of neuro-cognitive enhancement saying that he considered hockey perhaps that best team sport in developing processing speed, selective attention, divided attention or multi-tasking. In short, he considered it one of the best mental and physical workouts he could think of. But, he added, a few concussions can erase a lot of the earlier gains. By the way, he would just love the exercise that you do, Coach Chick, where you have the players do math calculations while handling a puck. That is exactly the sort of thing he does in his ‘cognitive enhancement’ programs.

Then… Ya know, eons ago when I decided to coach, I started discovering that little things — or minor details, as you put it — sometimes made huge differences in a player’s ability to grow. In fact, someday I’ll have to tell a few stories of how my delving into the most basic things actually saved a number of players from dropping out of the game. A skate’s radius was the culprit in one instance, while a pair of shin guards almost derailed a future Division I college player. Anyway, now other members might appreciate why I learned everything I could about skate sharpening, measuring gear, and a whole lot more so-called little things.

As for your skate tying method, Ravi, I find that pretty interesting, and I’m going to guess that it’s very effective, too. Actually, you do all the things that I suggest: 1) going easy on the lower eyelets so as to not cut-off circulation, 2) ensuring the laces are pulled snugly in the area where max ankle support can be achieved, and then 3) doing all you can to allow free movement of the ankles.

Finally, after you’ve said such a kind thing, Ravi, let me tell you that I and other members have to appreciate how much you (and a number of others) have added to the conversations here. So, thank you for that, buddy, and please keep the ideas coming!

- A kzillion years ago, one of my “Hockey/USA” readers from New York City asked me to do a series of articles on confidence. Interestingly, the guy started me on my way by relating something a school psychologist had told him, in that confidence in one area of a youngster’s life tends to spill-over into other areas. What she was doing for my friend was sorta validating his son’s deep involvement in hockey. And haven’t we all seen that happen, whereby a kid feels really good about himself or herself in a given sport, and it tends to help him or her walk with a little swagger and deal with things confidently away from the rink.

- I can also recall one time when my grandson was about Sam’s and Chris’ age. We were down in Florida visiting family, and young Anthony was rapt in a televised hockey game while about 20 family members were engaged in their own small group conversations. Suddenly, Anthony got everyone’s attention by yelling at the TV, “No way! The net was dislodged! The net was dislodge!” My dad and I stopped in the middle of our conversation and shook our heads. Ya, a 4-year old was using an adult phrase because he’d heard it so many times on previous broadcasts.

Oh, and one more story that just came to mind, this combining both of the above… About the time I was doing that series on confidence spilling-over, my wife and I had the usual Parents Night visit with Anthony’s second grade teacher. And at some point she (a really stern looking old biddy) said that she didn’t think it healthy that most of the little guy’s projects revolved around sports. Trying to be on my best behavior, I learned ahead and said something like, “Let me get this right, now… Anthony has a special interest that makes him devour books and magazines, and that special interest also has him playing with numbers (stats). Not only that, but he’s constantly asking us to show him on a map where Vancouver and Montreal and Detroit are!” She was supposed to be the teacher, but I think her answer to me was, “Hmmmm… I never looked at it that way before.”

One final thing, though… I really envy both of your guys. You’re going to have a ball over coming years with those two little ones. I just hope you appreciate it while you’re young.

“Why is that Sam?” I replied.

“The Swedes are going to be tough.”

As a former teacher, I always liked using this kind of inductive learning or from the specific to the broad. Mum’s seem to like that part.

Another thing he likes to do is when we go to dinner he asks for my Iphone and wants to watch Phil Kessel or Alex Ovechcan goals on the you tube. The clarity is not the greatest I can barely make out who Kessel is, but I am sure he is processing somthing watching that stuff. Just wanted to show you Coach Chic I too have been listening to your great advise.

As usual, he was pretty sharp in his observations, mentioning that,”Some of the games aren’t even fair!” Oh, he also ended with his belief that, “The best player from Norway probably couldn’t even make an ECHL team over here!” Oh, I’m not sure that is literally so, but I get his point (as I hope others do).

Aaaah, I thought I’d addressed that in my original article, while I believe that topic was totally blown in The Boston Globe piece. So, just to clarify…

I have talked to numerous players over the years, and I find that they — at least usually — control their stick with their dominant hand.

So — and again, this is just what a lot of guys have told me… A lefthanded person would usually:

A) steady the stick with their right hand at mid-shaft, and steer with the left hand at the top; or,

B) steady the stick with the right hand held at the top, and steer with the left hand held at mid-shaft.

STILL… As I said in the very start of my article on this subject, there is seemingly no set rule to any of this.

Really, I’d forgotten about how much changes when NHL players are involved.

What I mean is that few of the teams really get to practice together very much, which suggests to me that many of the match-ups are a lot closer to the NHL’s annual All-star Game than what we saw back in 1980 (for example).

To further clarify… Back then — in 1980 and before, squads like Team USA and the Soviet Union (and most others) prepped together for about a year, each focusing (and later demonstrating) their unique training methods and tactical approaches towards that brief tournament.

(So, does anyone appreciate what I’m saying here, or does anyone disagree?)

Oh, the fact that the current hockey games don’t quite excite me — at least as much as a different format might, there still IS plenty to learn when we are able to catch glimpses of various athletes training behind the scenes.

It’s easy to dismiss skate lacing as a minor detail, but it ultimately affects your ability to transfer energy from your foot to your skate boot, and the ability to manipulate the blade. I’ve yet to find a site other than this one that will cover topics like this in-depth.

I have a rather goofy method of lacing my skates, but it works well for me. I lace the boot up normally most of the way, but I double-lace the 4th and 3rd eyelet. In other words, I thread the lace through the pair of eyelets (left and right), then thread it through again before moving upward. I do the 2nd to last eyelet normally, and leave the top eyelet loose. Those eyelets are the ones that lock my heel into the back of the boot, so it’s important for me to have them as tight as they can comfortably be. The second to last eyelet just offers ankle support.

The only downside is that lacing and unlacing your skates becomes a nightmare… but it’s worth the extra time!

I have been doing a lit of reading about Long Term Athlete Development and especially the work of Istvan Balyi. That helps me to relax on this issue. If at four, he is active and having fun and developing his motor skills that’s what really matters. If he continues to float at ten or twelve, I’m sure his coach will let him know.

Regarding Michael’s comments about scores, Balyi doesn’t even think kids of this age should be playing organized games as it tends to lead a focus on results and not process. Minor three-on-three games is what he suggests at this age. I wholeheartedly agree with him, but it seems I’m pretty much alone on this one, including the players who want full-ice games with referees and time-clocks and all the other trappings. Even though the scores are being kept, I don’t even mention it to the players, but just focus on the things they did well. I also don’t tolerate any negative talk on the bench. I have one little chatterbox who is inclined to pronounce ‘we’re losers’ on the bench and I’ve had to give him a clear message that that kind of talk is not okay. Looking forward to your thoughts on this one.

You know, I have written here that most little ones don’t know how they did in a game UNTIL the grown-ups get involved (and maybe ruin everything). With that, you should be able to tell that I’m not a fan of brow-beating little ones, or making them feel badly about a loss. (On the other hand, I have thrown a few trash cans and kicked some doors with a college team. Oh, well.)

I’ve also written here and elsewhere that kids should never leave the rink without looking forward to their next game or practice. So, that seems to rest on the shoulders of us coaches and parents.

All that said, I think letting “the team” know that there’s a difference between winning and losing is okay. I might not do it with instructional players, but I might start a notch or two up from that level. Hey, perhaps it could be something very simple (and not really all that big a deal) — maybe like, “Okay, we won tonight, so everyone gets to _____ at next Tuesday’s practice!”

Actually, I kinda have something like the latter going with my NEHI Jr HS Team right now… About a month ago I asked the kids if they’d like me to dig-out our red game shirts. They love those things (and they are pretty). So, a couple of weeks ago I made a deal with them. “Win two in a row,” I said, “and I’ll bring the red jerseys!” It’s killing them now — as a team, that they’ve had two really well played 1-goal losses of late.

As for our kids (and yours), it has to be a delicate balance. I don’t like to see dirty or excessively rough play. At the same time, a kid isn’t going to be a hockey player unless he or she is somewhat aggressive and hungry for the puck.

Then, about your boy? I haven’t seen him be rough in any of the games. No matter, I wouldn’t be too concerned with a 4-year old.

Now, I’d like to hear some of those other thoughts or questions you said you had.

Athletic things didn’t come as easily to him as they did to either his dad or me (and he’s had to work harder than most others to achieve what he has). As a matter of fact, in his earliest times on the ice, I really wondered how long he would play hockey (if he ever really got going at all).

He did play around the house with a ball all the time, and he was always dragged to rinks as a toddler — either to his dad’s pro practices or games, or to my clinics and camps in the off-season. And, despite the fact that skating seemed to come hard to him, he didn’t do badly when dribbling a ball, and he could REALLY rocket a shot. In fact, a current NY Islanders assistant coach, Scott Allen, nicknamed Anthony Chic “Smoke” when he was about 4-years old — not for his skating speed, but because he could really fire a puck!

So, putting a few things together — the fact that he was good with the puck but not taking to skating very well, I decided to help him learn to score goals. My thinking was that the fun of scoring — or his getting the taste of blood (pardon me for expressing it that way) would excite him enough to stay at the game.

And how it did… Right from his earliest games, he put pucks in the net. Oh, the jaunt up-ice wasn’t always pretty, but his moves around the net always were.

The funny thing is, as he got a little older, he’d often say to me, “Ya know, grampa, I think I need to work on my skating.” And that he did. (Aaaah, much like your daughter, Mike, giving Anthony something to get excited about in the early going seemingly did the trick, and it kept him in the game long enough so that he could start covering some of the other bases.)

Then, two final things…

At this point, Tony C has led his last three teams in scoring — five years straight, from high school to prep school and into college. And he is currently setting some scoring records where he is now.

Thinking back to his earliest years again, though, and I’m talking about when he was 5- and 6-years old… I remember him having a really odd quirk when his team was doing any sort of attacking drill in practice. For, whether he scored on a given play or not, he’d always go back to make sure the puck was in the net. And I mean, long after a rush was over, he’d be back there tapping at the puck if it was near the side of the net. And, if that tap didn’t put it in, he’d tap it again, and he’d maybe even need to tap it again. No matter what, though, he seemed never satisfied until that puck was inside the goal. I never said anything or asked him about it. But, I’m guessing that the gratification just wasn’t there unless the puck was ultimately buried.

Keep up the good work,
Coach J.

I really got a kick out of your saying that the opposing coaches were actually cheering for the kids on both teams (which sounds an awful lot like my “perfect world” idea).

Then, in your Point One, you hit upon something that I’ve observed often in my Learn-to clinics, that having to do with the kids’ ages. In fact, I’ll usually tell parents of older beginners that their youngsters will likely catch (or pass) the very young ones, purely because they better understand verbal instructions. (Oh, I have some 4-year olds on my current team who are VERY skilled; yet, the slightly older kids — due to their longer legs and mental awareness — probably play the game a little better right now.)

As for your question in Point Two… My way of getting kids to be more aggressive — in both attacking or defending — is to artificially recreate the little battles that take place in a typical game.

- In most instances, this means tossing a puck up for grabs, and encouraging two kids to go get it. (Games of keepaway also help in this area.) And, with very young kids, I think it’s important for us to make a big deal out of the winner. After all, until they derive their own appreciation for such things, our feedback is the only recognition they understand. (If you go to my article and videos for “Our First Mighty Mite Hockey Practice“, you’ll see some of the drills I’ve used for this purpose with my current little guys’ team.) Oh, by the way… I don’t know if Mike Mahony will catch our discussion, but I suggested this same form of drilling for his very young daughter’s soccer team. It seems his little ones were extremely passive at first, but my “hockey drills” evidently changed their playing personalities pretty quickly.

- Finally, I happen to think that those battles for loose pucks and the games of keepaway help to build skills on both sides of the play (and so do simple games of tag). In other words, while one youngster might be winning by controlling the puck, the other is likely learning to angle, steer and poke-check.

We had a busy weekend with two games. The little guys played at 6:50 this morning (ouch!) and again we told the players that obvious penalties would be called. The kids played hard, but clean and there wasn’t so much as a trip as far as I could tell. It was really great. The players benches in this rink were side-by-side with the penalty boxes on the opposite side so the coaches could compare notes while the play was going on. The other coach would tell me about the ages/experience of the players and what approaches that he used to instruct and so on. By the end, we found ourselves cheering and encouraging the other team’s players as much as our own. Two things I noticed were:

1) The other organization has what is called a Novice 1 division which is for first year players who are between 5 and 8 years old. Wow, what a difference a few years make! Their best player apparently couldn’t skate in September, but he is an athletic seven year old that picked it up really fast. Being big for his age, he was like having the equivalent of Zdeno Chara back there! Our kids are all five year olds with two four and two six and all first year players. It was amazing to see how much farther along the older kids were and it’s mainly due to physical and mental development I think (couldn’t be the coaching!). In fact, our two strongest players in the games aren’t necessarily our smoothest skaters or best puckhandlers, but the two six year olds who are more mentally and physically mature. Size, strength and focus count for a lot.

2) We also really need to work on checking, especially with the girls who are about half of our players. They are just so darn polite and don’t want to take the puck! Do you have any suggestions on how best teach stick checking and assertive play to the wee ones? I haven’t found anything on this topic on your site.

Actually, you might get a kick out of a conversation I had with one of our team moms after our junior high school game tonight. You see, I almost wanted to argument when she commented on how rough a few opponents played against us. But then I caught myself… I mean, I had to put myself in her shoes for a moment — trying to view things from a mom’s perspective, rather than seeing them through the eyes of an old, hard-bitten coach. Ya, I can’t blame any mom for being protective, or for hurting a little inside if/when she feels her child is being treated badly. As for me, I’ve become a little numb to that stuff — more because of my coaching experiences, not just because I’ve been around the game for a lot of years. Actually, I know my wife hurt for our son when he was playing, and she still hurts for our grandson at times. So, even though she’s been around the game for nearly as long as I have, her feelings are totally different.

The reason I mentioned all this is to suggest that it might at least partly explain why each of you are seeing those confrontations in Sam’s games a little differently.

My little Mighty Mites are playing a brief exhibition between periods of a Providence Bruins (AHL) game tonight, and I have to somehow get our bulky bag of game shirts in there, plus our bucket of game pucks, my pouch with paperwork, my camcorder and who knows what else. I have no idea how far I’ll have to walk with all that stuff — from a parking garage to the rink. So now I’m suddenly wondering if the powers that be at the arena gate will let me pull my cart through. ??? (Man, would that make things easier or what?)

Also, as an FYI… The answer to your question — about rough play in the beginner level — has been answered. But, it had to be timed/scheduled to appear here this Saturday night. I hope that’s okay.

Lacrosse and baseball are starting soon so he’ll be getting a break from hockey by April. I really want to promote broad abilities in a wide range of sports to reduce burnout and develop a broad ‘vocabulary of movement.’ I just wrote that to show you I’ve been listening to your advice. LOL.

Ya know, I first dissected that Orr spin from some very old video file footage I found at my old college. I had to copy that to VHS, and then run and rerun a short portion of tape — countless times, just to get the sequence of movements right.

Now, as long as a kid can read or spell, and as long as he has an Internet connection, he or she probably has access to nearly every skating style and puck-move ever performed.

Oh, by the way… I would do this for Sammy, and others might also do this… Locate maybe one highlight reel move per week, and see if you can run and rerun it, list the simple steps, and then practice those moves (maybe with a ball) for that week. And, as I noted in my article, some players will find they can put that right into their game, while others are just getting better from working at the small skills involved.

This morning I had to add my two mini-nets to an already loaded cart. Then, to make matters more difficult, the local youth program’s Mite Director was nice enough to deliver to our lockerroom a bag filled with 15 hockey jerseys. Oh, he was a sweetheart to do this for me (and for my Mighty Mite team). But, just envision what that looked like piled on top of all my other stuff. The trek outside was still a breeze, though, even though it was quite a distance from the rink to my car. Yes, thank God for my cart.

I think your on-ice ideas for helping kids through these kinds of troubles are pretty good. Working on any sort of typical movements is a good idea, but I’d especially encourage plenty of coordination type drills. That’s why I previously mentioned drills with balls, gymnastic type exercises, and even rope skipping. Also, a lot of this kind of training doesn’t require valuable ice-time (and it can even be done on the rink’s runway mats or at home). As for goalies, I highly recommend some of the exercises Todd Jacobson and I have posted under the Goalies section.

Oh, by the way… Two of the kids on my current Team NEHI squad — and two of the ones I’ve worried most about during their time of funk — finally scored what I would call “highlight reel goals” last night! I mean, those goals were things of beauty, and I’m suggesting last night signaled the start of their breaking out of their month-plus funk.

Which brings me to the final point… While “two weeks” of special training will surely help, and it MAY help to bring some kids back to normal, I’ve come to sense that most of the so-called funks can last longer than just a few weeks.

The You Tube with the top ten Sedin goals is surely worth a watch. The aren’t the best examples but they were great. I don’t if you guys get to see them much out east, but they’re just magic. If you just watched the third period of Vancouver vs. Toronto game tonight you would see some of the best puck control and passing that you have ever seen in your life. They were really something to watch. NHL.Com highlights would give you a flavour, but some of the best plays are not in the highlight package.

It was Hockey Day in Canada today and the national street hockey championships were held here in balmy Victoria. Talk about fit! I was interested to find out many of the star players are better known for their soccer and field hockey than ice hockey. It’s amazing how many great athletes there are out there. Incidentally, there third guy on the Sedin’s line, Alex Burrows (2 goals and 2 assists tonight including the league-leading fourth shorthanded goal) was on the Canadian champion ball hockey team for several years and he just never seems to tire. And does he ever fit in with the twins. I think taking the skating away for a while can really help develop great hands.

As for the family’s health, you guessed it, that has been the main reason I’ve been MIA for a while.

Oh, one more highlight to watch if you haven’t already: do a You Tube search for Victoria Salmon Kings goal and it will knock your socks off!

FYI… I packed and charged my camcorder tonight, this in preparation for video-taping some of my grandson’s college game this weekend. I should get some good footage of him protecting the puck along the boards.

Best regards, buddy.

As for my guy’s ability to switch hands? If we just flipped that photo over, he’d look pretty much the same as he does here. If there might a slight difference — and this is an awesome tip…

I always suggest to my players that they “choke-up” a bit on their stick, just like a baseball player might move his hands up the barrel in order the better handle a bat. In my grandson’s case, he might not do that when holding the stick in his dominant hand (the right, as shown in the above photos). However, a lot of my guys will slide their hand slightly down the shaft when switching to their non-dominant one, this so the stick is a little easier (or lighter) to control.

Now, since you’ve started something here, Craig, how about if we do each other a favor… I’ll try to get some footage of my grandson controlling and protecting the puck along the boards in a game (he’s usually especially hard to handle in this way on the powerplay). At the same time, I wonder if you might find some good examples of the Sedins (over on YouTube?) doing as you’ve described. If you email me the links, I’ll try to combine our efforts and put something together.

Yawn… It’s getting late over here on the east coach, while I know it’s still early for you out in Western Canada. So, good night, buddy, and I look forward to continuing this discussion. Again, great hearing from you!

As for Mike’s last Comment… Despite the fact you ticked me off by mentioning that figure skating coach (LOL), you’re on the right track, buddy!

And, to all who are following this… I am going to post my answer/s late tonight, about 11:30pm-ish (EST).

But what I (kinda) see that I haven’t seen posted yet is that it looks like he’s leaning so hard that he’s dragging the toe of his right skate. That’ll actually slow him down a bit, and make it easier to knock him off-balance, right?

Actually, I think Tony C’s momentarily looking up or down isn’t critical in this situation. Also, he sent me a link to a bunch of photos from a recent college hockey game, and I was amazed at him having his eyes up in every single one of them.

I’m glad you’re following along though, buddy, and I promise to answer this whole thing a little later tonight.