I too am looking forward to giving Chris a break at hockey in the next three weeks or so. We will be finishing up until next October. Chris loves the lacrosse, I take him up the local high school field when the high school is playing a game and he and I just toss the ball around on the side, before you know it he is jumping in with other kids.

As for the SMG I use one of those big orange barrels you see on the side of construction job sites. I stick it in the hockey net and tell Chris thats Martin Brodour. He then wants me to add arms. (I told him his papa will make us a better one this spring.) It WORKS and I watch as he always is forced to have his head up before he shoots at the net.

Mike

Craig

I do firmly believe in what you’re doing with Sam, though — as in having him try a number of sports during the off-season. (These will give him a mental break, plus add to his overall athleticism and problem solving capabilities.) At the same time, however, I’d leave some street hockey gadgets handy, and maybe the in-lines.

Just wondering… Have you had a chance to make an SMG for Sam yet? I think he’d have fun with it, and it’s far more realistic than anything on the market.

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.