Diary of a Season 10-11

We had a specialty scrimmage with a minor midget AAA boy's team. Went like this.
-10 min. warm up
-10 min 5-5
-3 min. chalk talk at bench
-10 min 5-5
-3 min team at bench
-5 min pp
-3 min at bench
-5 min. pk
-5 min pp
-5 min. pk
-10 min. 5-5

We lost 3-2 but it was a really good way to work on systems and was our first game vs anyone so I got to watch the players play and a few are better than I thought they would be and 3 of the new players are good enough for this level.

5 new players came and we had 15 skaters and 3 goalies. So our team will continue to exist as a player is flying in from Toronto tomorrow and another good player will be done an evening course and start playing on Wed.

Dean, we are good now and a lot stronger than last season. There are two players coming for a look see tonight. They both went to the same NCAA Div. 1 school and hate hockey now. I had another one that talked to me but she doesn't want to play anymore as she also hates hockey. The coach there must be a dandy to ruin the experience for so many players.

The new D flew here and practiced Monday. She is 6' and 170 lbs and was an All Canadian. She looks strong on the ice.

We play a U18 boys team on Sunday and beat a local college team 5-0 in a controlled scrimmage of 10 min. 5-5, and 5 min. power play each; stop time. We have corporate sponsors so all the money is in place.

The players took ownership in bringing in good players. This was always a franchise that was happy to exist and knew they didn't have a chance vs the Oval Extreme who had half the Olympic team and practiced a few times a day. There is now only one player left from that era and some of the Extreme are now on this team so now we can create a New History and tradition and as my coach in Bemidji used to say "we are here for the apple, not the applesauce."

It is going to be fun developing this group.

It now is a real team. There were 18 skaters and 3 goalies.

We did.
-puck warm up and shots skating around the rink toe dragging around each dot and shooting at the ends.
-2 of your drills, one high one low shots and then the chaos of 3 from each end passing in the nzone then shots.
-2 flow drills with 1-1 one with a shot then 1-1 and the other with a nzone regroup then 1-1.
-forecheck review and then 5-2 each way to practice 4 on the attack and the aggressive 1-3-1 forecheck.which turns into a 3 player overload on each side.
-10 min. 5-5 using the forecheck.
-5 min. game of rebound at each end.
-tournament or 2 x 5' games of half ice 2-2 quick transition kept score losers skated a bit.
-finished with a shootout of 2-0 double drop whites vs purple. winner was the team that scored the most goals. Losers did one push up.

I did a hockey camp in the Czech Republic at the end of July. I have been to Prague before but never stayed anywhere else.

I took these pictures at the GM of the Jihlava, Dukla teams house. It is about a ten min. drive outside of Jihlava. The pictures are of Bedrich Sherban and his wife Anna's place int he country. His son Bedrich jr. "Beda" lives there as well. They were fantastic hosts and I stayed in an upstairs suite. Bedrich played pro hockey around Europe for 24 years and was on many Czechoslovakia and Czech national teams. In 91 he was named the best Czech player in the world.

It is a very beautiful country and is well on the way to rebuilding after the Soviet era.

I accompanied the hockey school kid's on a day trip to a castle and then a boat ride around a big lake. I can't remember the names.

I spiced it up a little with some music sent to me from Africa. I added some pics from a hockey school barbeque my son, I, Gaston, the Heatley boy's did in Winfield BC just outside of Kelowna in 2003.

https://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/videos/watch/2010-pictures-around-jihlava-czech-republic-and-a-few-from-the-winfield-camp-in-2003/

We had sixteen skaters and 3 goalies. 6 D and 10 forwards. This was the last practice before our first league game vs Edmonton on Saturday. I wanted to work on the controlled breakout for the power play. I changed it and now have 4 abreast with the D carrying the puck and the C coming late for a trailer pass if the D stands up at the blue line. We reviewed how to rotate into a diamond and the top three players rotate. We reviewed defensive responsibilities and offensive habits like moving up ice quickly, cycling and screening.

I have attached a pdf with diagrams.

Practice outline

-warmed up zig zagging down the ice doing various tasks such and the puck only on the forechand. A shot at each end.
-flow drill with a 2-0 crossing and then getting a long cross ice pass in the nzone and attacking 2-0.
-2-0 x 2 then regroup with D and turn back and attack 2-1
-Kingston pplay rotation – breakout and 5-0
-full ice 2 on 2 backchecking transiton game.
-3 on 3 Krusel low battles with passes to the point.

On another note Dean has started a good thread concerning how we must take on the role as a teacher in order to be an effective coach.

Dean, thanks for starting the thread. I guess I have lost the room, or my audience, or the coaches who come here as I have tried to get discussions going but to no avail. I am glad you are getting some response because that is why I started this site for in the first place.

We had our first game Sat. vs the Edmonton Chimos. A good team with a few really good players who control the puck well and try to make plays. They had a full line up of 4 lines and 3 sets of D. We have 9 F an 6 D. Two forwards were in weddings or something and couldn't come so we were at 7 F and 6 D. I planned to move two D to F. Two hours before I left for the game a D called to say she slipped in the tub and hit her head on the toilet and garbage can and had a concussion. Now 7 F and 5 D on international sized ice.

We went with 3 sets on C and RW, 2 LW and 4 D. The first period we got outshot and out chanced but our goalie was good. We won the second 1-0 and lost the third 1-0 and the last two periods were even. We dominated the 4-4 OT but no goals. In the SO we shot first and our first two shooters scored on good moves but so did theirs. Third shooters both were blanked and our 4th fumbled the puck and they scored; so a SO loss in game one of the season. I was proud of our compete level with our numbers.

I think the energy of playing a full team vs a 2/3 team was the differnece. I had one player who said she was too tired to shoot in the SO; she scored our only goal in the game.. She was ready to be our shooter 5 but they scored and our 8 seconds ride was done. (cowboy talk).

Got up at 6:30 and went to the rink for my school skills practice and no one was there. Something going on at the school. I should look at my schedule before leaving.

Great post by kai. How do you get the video to start on the screen like that? Erkka really knows his hockey. He brought me to Vierumaki a few times. Great sports centre there.

Dean I will meet you this morning at the Flames practice and hopefully the Red Wings are on right after. I would love to see them in a real practice and not the pre game skate. I'm still mad at Babc–k for beating us in double overtime for the Canada West title and then going on to win the Canadian Championship with U of Lethbridge. He is a great coach.

In our practice last night I wanted to review some of the things I saw in the game. We warmed up doing a figure 8 in each zone on each side of the ice with various puckhandling tasks. 1. Forward quick hands and quick feet. 2. Backward 3. Face the far end then shoot. Other side-4. Puck only on the forehand. 5. Puck only on the backhand. 6. Alternate turning to the inside then the outside and finish with a shot.

Edmonton got their goal because we rimmed the puck wide 3 times but the winger put her back to the boards each time and stopped the puck with the skates even though she could have picked up two of the rims with the stick and chipped it by the pinch. I had the asst. coach rim the puck and players pick it up while moving. I don't have a diagram of it but the coach was behing the net and the players left from the blueline, swung to the boards to pick up the rim and shot at the far end.

Another thing was poor puck support on the breakouts. No one was close to help get the puck out but instead were skating up the ice away from the puck. We always practice on NHL sized ice but play on international size. It is a huge difference and the gaps between players can get really big. On a pressured breakout I want wall support, the centre coming across for a pass or to help the wing get it out and I want the wide wing coming across the top of the circles for a pass or pick up the chip out in the nzone (also in good defensive position in the mid slot if we don't get it out.) It is also critical the D get to the big ice between the dots and not be forced wide outside the dots. We did breakouts one side, then the other side and they went down and took a shot. I dumped the puck in from the red line and they passed back to me after the first breakout.

We did a simple drill where 2 leave from the middle and the 1 pick up a puck and skate to the big ice between the dots while 2 crosses behind to the outside lane. 1 passes wide to 2 who now skates to the big ice while 1 goes behind for a wide pass. One pass in each zone and then shoot. It goes in both directions.

To promote puck support we did a 1/3 ice game of 2 pass at each end. Goals only counted after a give and go. This was to encourage the passer to jump into the opening after passing instead of pass and watch they had to pass and go. It is incredible how few players give and go and it is the most fundamental principle of the game.

We then did a half ice game of Perry Pearn 3-3 (12 skaters) with the emphasis on the attackers giving close support and the defenders the same thing in order to break out of the zone.

We finished with a game in one zone. The nets were back to back and they played 3-3 with 3 jokers. The defenders had to make at least one pass to the jokers before they could score. Shifts about 40 seconds.

General puck support was the problem. Players should be working together to create 2-1's and not leaving the puck carrier without an easy play.