Books & Movies

These books have been invaluable to me!

Clink the link at the bottom of this page to gain access to these and other Coach Chic recommended hockey manuals.

Teaching Hockey Systems: Philosophies, Diagrams and Drills
By Michael A Smith

If you want an X’s and O’s manual that describes just about every playing system ever used, this is it.  (Actually, I have a signed copy form Mike Smith, and I keep a copy at home on my desk, another in the office, and another in the New England Hockey Institute library.)  This manual covers all the different elements of a playing system — ways to forecheck, backchecking against numerical rushes, defensive zone coverages, breakouts, attack plays, powerplays and penalty-killing systems.  (If you like diagrams, this book is IT.  If you need deeper explanations for the various plays, check within the CoachChic.com site.)

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The  Hockey Handbook:  The Classic Teaching Guide
By Lloyd Percival (both original and updated versions available)

Most real students of our game refer to this as “The Hockey Bible”.  Percival was far ahead of his time, authoring what some might call the most technical hockey manual ever written in the 1950′s.  Interestingly, Percival was criticized by many of the so-called authorities of his day, mainly because his ideas and recommendations contradicted so many of the training methods used during that time.  Just as interestingly, I’ve heard that Gordie Howe actually met and trained secretly with Percival, just to escape criticism.  Some even say the old Soviets used Percival’s book as a guide for their player development program.  My feeling is that a current day hockey parent or coach need only browse some sample pages in this manual to be absolutely awed.

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Hockey Drill Book:  200 Drills for Player and Team Development
By Michael A Smith

Another awesome Michael Smith creation, and a resource every coach ought to have on his or her bookshelf!  As the title suggests, this manual outlines 200 drills — nice chapters in all — covering drills for skating, puckhandling, passing, shooting, conditioning, goaltending, checking, special situations, plus ideas for running an effective practice.  (Having met Mike Smith, I can say — in the most positive way possible — that he’s a brainy guy who attacks every subject in a really cerebral way.)  One thing I like about this manual is that the rink diagrams/sketches are far more easier to understand that a lot of others I’ve thumbed through.

Clink the following link to gain access to these and other Coach Chic recommended hockey manuals…