Reply To: Diary of a Season 2011-12

I played hockey at noon and got back home to an email that one of my goalies is sick and won't be there. So now I had to redo my practice plan for a one goalie practice.

1. Skating balance and edges with a puck. Asst. coach warm up the goalie during the backward skating segment.

2. A2 Overspeed with a give and go pass to the next shooters. Whistle every 7". Go hard in the nzone for 7" the first player go in and the second player sping with the puck first. Pass to the player at the goal line who just shot, rebound then give and go with the next shooters. Stress to shoot quickly while skating without 'dusting off the puck first' (recieve pass and shoot without stick handling)

3. Perry Pearn rules for the 4 on 4 DT400 game. Keep score, call offsides. Stress covering one each.

4. Everyone gather in front of the net with a partner. Coaches demonstrate boxing out and sealing the stick to the outside. I took a puck to the blueline and move around while the whole team is in the slot and one is the defender and one attacker in the slot. After about 10" of moving around I shot and they switched roles. Then we moved to a game with the point man as jokers and defenders are responsible to box out and seal sticks and attackers to screen, tip, one time etc.

4. Art Krusel D400 game of 3-3 low battles. Pass to your point man on transition.

5. Gambling shootout. If you guess score go to one side and no goal go to the other side. Skate across and back if wrong. One shot each and officila shootout rules, i.e. leave on the whistle and goalie start from the goal line when the puck is touched by the shooter.

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Yesterday I got to experience how effective the small area games are. A friend got a 75 min. ice time but only 4 skaters and one goalie showed up. We warmed up a bit skating around and passing etc. then we played games in one zone.

First game was 2 on 2 Two Pass where you have to keep the puck in the zone and make at least two passes before you can score. We play games where the first team to score 5 wins. This game took about 20 minutes.

We then played 2 on 2 half ice where you have to take the puck over the blueline to go onto offense and stay onside. We played 2 games to 5 goals with a shootout of 5 shots each between each of the three games. We went to the fresh ice for the last game.

We used 70 of the 75 minutes and one of the guys basically seezed (is that a word) up and went to the bench and stretched.

What a great workout, lots of fun, exercise and touches. Also constant switching between A-offense, B-defense and 1-carrying the puck, 2-getting open, 3-checking the puck carrier, 4-covering away from the puck.

It is good to also play when you are coaching. Things aren't as easy as they seem to be from the bench and you realize that the better players have good habits and make the play right away when it is there.

I have been playing Sunday morning hockey at 11:15 for twenty years at least and the league I am coaching in plays early every Sunday but Oct. 30. Today I will play 30 min. and then shower and leave to coach. Usually I can't even do that. This team is fun to coach because they want to get better, so it is ok. Next year If I still coach this team I will request they play Sat. (we have a lot of Saturdays off) instead of Sunday on the one game weekends, or later Sunday.

We had 4 good practices this week and play the top team again. It is a great test to see if the players improve away from the puck.
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Oct. 1, 2010 I started a workout program where I decided to have a workout every day. I got 366 workouts done in 365 days. Two days I was travelling and had to double up and one day I simply forgot and realized it the next day so I doubled up with two. The hockey starts in Oct where I play M-W-F and used to Sunday. So that makes it easier. I do light weights, bike or treadmill on the off hockey days. So now I will try another year of every day.