Subject: Transition Games Videos

Tom,

I just noticed all of the additions to the video section under "transition games." Thanks very much for the time and effort to do this. It's really helpful to get the visual demonstration and see the dynamics in action.

Thanks again,
DMan

Re: Transition Games Videos

Dman, I uploaded about 6 at once and will do the diagram and description over the next week. It takes about an hour to do each one.

They are from the camp I did in the Czech Republic. There was a cameraman filming all the practices and they have promised to send the video to me once it is edited. The U20 team just started practicing at the end of the week. If I stayed longer the coach wanted to learn a lot of new transition games and skill games but the camp ended and I went to Salzburg for a few days before flying home. He had 4 goalies like the hockey school. Reports are his team is doing really well so far.

new transition game

Dman, the one I posted today doesn't have a video of the 2-1 situation but there is a 1-1 that I will find. The benefit of this game is that all players play offense and defense in the 3 zones and must know where to go by reading the play. New players don't join the play until the puck crosses the blue line. If there is a nzone turnover the players on the ice keep playing back the other way; just like in a game.

Pops I didn't comment yesterday because I would like the diagram pages to just be that and comments made in separate postings like here.
That makes it easier for coaches to find the drills and games.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Just want to make sure that I have this right. The Daily Drill section if for diagrams and videos. Comments and thoughts on them are made separately. If that is correct then I only need to learn how to start a new thread. I'm pretty sure that all I've ever done is 'post reply'. Sorry for the error.

comments

Pops, I think it is easier for coaches to look at drills etc. if there aren't a lot of comments in between. We could use this thread for comments for a while. Beside the post reply box is a new box which starts a new thread. If anyone wants to comment on the transition games I am posting then this thread is good. Anything new could have a new posting and then it will be easier to find.

I have been trying to keep the drills and games in one place so they are easy to find. Any coaches who send a donation or buy a book I send pdf's of all the drills and games and it makes it even easier. I have had about 4 donations and sold books to about 6 coaches in the last year.

No big deal. The old board had a tree that gave the title of the post, who was posting it and you could click on that only but the new bulletin boards follow this format and you have to scroll thru everything to find things.

Something that is great about this site is the search function which can find anything that you have the correct search string for.

The transition game I posted today is a great one to promote the D to join the rush and the attacking forward to get on his horse and back check. Just tell the forwards they join the play and support, then attack, then backcheck and when the puck is cleared they rest. D support from the point, defend, join the rush then rest.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Here's one transition game for half ice to teach transition from defense to offense in DZ:

1) O1 starts with breakout from the goalie and passes give-and-go with the coach (see 1-1 6a-1)
2) D1 start when O1 receives the pass from goalie and pivots to close the center ice
3) O1 plays 1-1 with D1 below the ringette line and/or starts back-checking
4) D1 tries to win the puck and to give breakout pass to O2 above ringette line (see 1-1 6a-2)
- after save or goal, goalie has to pass to the D1 to start a breakout to O2

Targets/Keypoints:
1) O1 target is to score a goal AND back-check D1
2) D1 target is to win the 1-1 AND to give breakout pass to O2
3) D1 to close the gap as soon as possible
4) O2 has to read-and-react and time his movement to support D1

I have few of these diagrams (unfortunately in finnish but I try to translate them), so is it Ok to share these in this thread (Tom/DMan)?

Re: Transition Games Videos

Quote by: Koutsi97

Here's one transition game for half ice to teach transition from defense to offense in DZ:

One variation to the previous.

Transition

Koutsi97, thanks for the transition games. Any contributions to the site are more than welcome. To keep things together it would be good if you post diagrams in the Daily Drill section and comments in discussion threads. I think I will add you games to the Daily Drill.

Video of ex game vs U of Alberta

I posted a video in the files section of an exhibition game vs the U of Alberta that we played 3 years ago. #10 in white, Sash played in the game and it is the only file I can find of her playing. She died tragically last January in a car crash when she lost control during a blizzard. It was one of her first games with us after transferring from Vermont. It is for her friends.

Austrian manuals of the ABC's

I was looking at the Austrian Associations home page and there are pdf's of the ABC program in German. They brought Juhani and I to Vienna for one week at a time for 3 years. to teach the club coaches the method and we produced a German version of the program. It is the sanctioned program for Austria.

Unfortunately there is no follow up to re educate the new coaches.
there are 3 downloadable pdf files.

http://www.eishockey.at/931.html

Transition

good transiton Koutsi97. Pops I hope you are still with us. I appreciate and enjoy your comments.

I just finsihed doing the diagram to the backchecking game x 2.

Re: Transition Games Videos

This is going to be a little bit off topic, but....I watched a High School team practice last night and it was difficult to sit through. Meaningless cookie-cutter drills, no flow , no sequence, and absolutely no game like conditions. There is a lot of work to be done out in the rinks, guys. We need to figure out a way of bringing the ABC's into the mainstream. Too many young players are missing out on a better way, and a more enjoyable way. I do believe that a sufficient number of coaches would be receptive to the ideas that one finds in videos like this one. When that happens, they are better off, the players are better off, and no one loses anything. At the same time there are going to be those who remain committed to the huge hockey organizations ie USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, etc. Court Dunn and I had a conversation about the body's of hockey not too long ago. I told him that USA Hockey will help you memorize the lyrics. The ABC's will help you to write the music. All of us should meet somewhere next summer and figure out a way to bring the ABC's into the process, or at least to as many organizations as possible. We can do this, you know. It is within our capabilities.

New ways to do old things

Pops I don't know if the problem is with the national associations. At the youth conference in Heidelberg there were a few USA Hockey coaches speaking on how to use games in practice and there was a presentor from the German association talking about incoporating games.
I think it is more to do with the coaches who volunteer for a year or two but use the drills etc. that they were taught when they played and search for new drills.

Hockey Canada doesn't want youth teams to be playing games the first month or so of the season but to practice instead. My grandson's coach took this to mean that they weren't allowed to play games in practice so he spent the first 6 weeks doing drill circuits. Most coaches don't understand the importance of putting the skills into game situations during a practice. They still thing of games as a fun diversion for the players to be used as a reward if they do the REAL practice of drills.

So in my estimation the problem is "how do we educate the coaches to incoporate game situations as an integral (and most important) part of practice."

I know I have been trying to do this with this site and the original site for the last ten or so years. I do see cross ice games quite often now; so maybe it is working a little.

At the HS in the Czech Republic the coaches thought it was crazy that in NA we have little kid's under 9 play full ice. They play cross ice at that age. At the conference they cited research that showed players get 6x more touches in a cross ice game than full ice.

On another point there is an international hockey summit going on in Toronto now and yesterdays topic was when to introduce hitting. My opinion is that U11 they should play similar rules to women's hockey with angling and incidental contact battling for the puck with the right to stay on the dside. Next up to U15 there should be ONE STEP hitting strictly enforced which is basically bumping but not the maniacle charging around and smoking guys like I see in youth hockey. After that it should be 2 step hitting like the rule book says.

With my women's teams I always work on angling and rubbing out and blocking which is allowed and gives the fundamentals to full contact.

We have 80% of the players quitting our game by 14 in Canada. When they are adults many make their own leagues like my son in laws play in and have various rules. Some leagues allow hitting and slap shots. Most leagues under 40 have no hitting but allow slap shots and when you get to be ancient like me it is no hitting, no slapshots. Many also have a team limit on penalties. If the team goes over the limit they are out of the league, or a player he is out.

I play in a tournament Labour Day weekend with age groups 35 and over and the rule is no slap shots, no hitting and if you fight you are out of the tournament. One in a thousand makes the NHL and we can't blame the NHL on the violence because in that league players don't fly around hitting everything and everyone. It is a youth hockey problem.

rcmat posting of breakout practice

rcmat, it soundslike your players learned to do the breakout under game pressure. I am sure they enjoyed it and got a good skate in as well.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Tom
I agree that educating the coaches on the upside of SAG's is an issue that needs to be addressed. That they allow the game to be the teacher is also sorely needed. In my experience with USA Hockey, there was never a mention of either. Let me say that I do not consider myself to be a great coach. Nor am I a marketing guru. But somehow, someway, the 'training' of coaches has to change...otherwise the dropout rate of 80% will go unchallenged. In my simplistic way of thinking there are two options. The first is that the governing bodies make The ABC's of International Hockey required reading at the coaching entry level. If not, then the other choice is that we figure out a way to become large, vocal, and influential. I truly wish that there were ABC seminars just as there are USA Hockey Coaching Clinics. One of my goals is to be able to conduct such a seminar one day.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Pops, I agree with you. Whenever I give a clinic I ask the coaches to come on the ice and do the drills and games to experience how they mesh together and how physically and mentally demanding they are. Every time when we meet after they say they loved it and don't know why that way to practice isn't promoted from on high.

I live in Calgary where the CHA is and they know who I am but I am never invited to do anything with them. There is a huge conference on the state of the game in Canada and internationally going on in Toronto and you tell me who else has coached youth hockey and actually stayed with coaches from Finland, Norway, Czech Republic, Canada, USA, Austria, Mexico and Korea. That being said all I can say is "at least they are trying and in another ten years they will figure out what soccer did a long time ago. "The Game is the Greatest Coach." It is just too bad that thousands of kid's who would otherwise love practice and stay in the game will quit because they can have more fun in front of the screen at home.

Mother Theresa said something like "you can't make everyone happy but you can love one person at a time." I guess this site is here to show a better way to practice to "one coach at a time" and hope they spread the work to coaches they know. Maybe your idea will work.

Last year about this time some hacker destroyed this site and Dwight redid it and made it harder for some ???xxx___::<< to destroy. I spent a zillion hours uploading the videos etc. again and today I realized that there was no diagram for the most fundamenttal of all transition games which is a Continuous 1-1 to continuous 3-2. There are a couple of videos that had no explanation or diagram. Today I did the diagram for the continuous 1-1 from the U20 team in Jihlava and will diagram the 2-1 and 3-2 in the next few days. There are also videos from some of my womens team and the 85 born team when they were 12. (2 NHL, 1 Hobey Baker winner and 2 European pro's of the 13 skaters)

I can't believe I overlooked that.

1-2, 2-1 and 3-2 with passive support-Koutsi97

Thanks for the diagrams Koutsi97. These are good transitions using half ice. They especially focus and getting the puck to the Big Ice on transition.

I found it difficult when Hockey Canada started using the International symbols in the early nineties but instead of using triangles for defensive players they use them for defensemen. This method is easy to understand on drills but it makes it makes it difficult with continuous games that flow one end to the other. My old drills from coaches like Buka, Verner Persson all had triangles as defensive players.

I try to use the circles for the team that starts on offense and triangles for the defending team and label inside if it is important for understanding. The diagrams you posted are easy to understand. Neither is right or wrong; just different ways to try and accomplish the same thing.

Re: Transition Games Videos

My pleasure, I haven't used all of these (yet) on ice. The half-ice 1-2 worked better than I expected, we stressed that the D1 gives pressure to the F1 from in-to-out and the D2 closes the defensive blue line and "finishes" F1 by checking him "away" from the puck. The full-ice 2-1 and 3-2 we have using with these 97's for years already ;-).

The symbols on the diagrams are at least used here in Finland, these games are from Finnish Ice Hockey Association, so the symbols are what they are. The circle is used as an offensive player and triangle as a defensive player (not forward nor d-man). I think that is the difference and this should be used when teaching the roles (1/2/3/4).

Re: Transition Games Videos

Hey,

You never draw your team as circle or "zero".

Seriously speaking. Koutsi97, the transition drills are from the Erkka Westerlund's drill book he made when he was FIHA's Head Of Coaching. It's great book full of excellent transition drills.

Kai

transition games

The key is that the drills and games Koutsi97 is sending are understandable and they are.

Transition is something we don't do very much in North America. Erkka was in Calgary for 6 months in 94 and did a booklet for HC on transition. He also did a video using the then Men's National Team, which doesn't exist anymore. This booklet was never promoted and I don't think the other people in HC really understood transition games. The year before Slavamir Lener was here and did another booklet and video that has also been forgotten. Everyone seems to only want to teach drills and not hockey. Both these booklets are far more advanced than anything that has come out of the skills programs they have been making the last few years. (they are good but are only drills with many unrelated games)

I met Erkka in 93 while doing a clinic Finland with Juhani and Jursinov, who was then coaching TPS. I helped him a little with the english by re-reading the material and making comments when he was here. Erkka and Jursi were how I got introduced to transition games . I watched TPS practice in 93 and Jursi had me as a guest coach a few times when I was there just before Christmas. I did some practices on checking for him.

So I thank Koutsi97 for sharing these lost ideas.

I have taken the concept of transition games and tried to create game like situations but I allow them to go on naturally instead of blowing the whistle. My teams always have reversable jerseys and I post who is white and who is dark before practice and divide the D and F's. We keep score in the games to practice competing.

Again, I may be right or I may be wrong but it is what I do and I have found it very effective the last 16 years. Much better than my drills practices used to be.

So in my experience since meeting Juhani Whalsten in 1985 where I learned how to use space more efficiently and how to use games for individual skill development and team play concepts and then meeting Erkka and Jursinov in 93 and hearing and seeing transition games for the first time it was only logical to me that games and transition games are essential to effective practice. I also incorporated them in my PE teaching in the schools and I don't know how I would have been able to run effective classes because in my last 13 years in the gym I always had double classes with groups of 48-60 students.

Instead of coaches going from one drill to the other with an explanation in between that results in 7-12 minutes of activity each hour the coaches should be using games;
a. for warm up,
b. after skill drills the skill should be done in game situations,
c. if team play is taught the team play worked on should be in game situation,
d. any time you do a smaller situation like a 1-1 or 2-1 then after the instruction drill the same situation should be worked on using a transiton game. e. most practices should end with a shootout or contest.

Also sometimes practices should just be tournaments using modified games and transition games.

So coaches don't have to throw out their drills, they just have to include game situations within practice.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Yes it's great that Koutsi97 is posting them because i've lost my copy of the drills. And as said they are quality drills.

I'll really like the Themed practice idea. and you can start the theme from your off-ice warm up. e.g. defensive zone break out.
1. off-ice, you train break out with handball, player can jog through it. first line jog through the break out pattern and then does some dynamic warm up and then returns to do another round. (here you get 15 min aerobic work out too)

2. on-ice
a) 5-0 break out, concentrate on quality passing,low speed
b) skill drill, passing timing recieving
c) transition / game situation continious
d) game, competition, scoring/goalie drill
e) themed game passing timing recieving
f) full ice themed game or srimmage

I really like use continious one puck drills and all so let the player to finish the play(to break out or to score)

Kai

Re: Transition Games Videos

Thanks to all for the drills and info. A few thoughts from south of the (Canadian) border.....

I just got back from a USA Hockey Coaches clinic, and their "new" LTADM program is indeed emphasizing small area and cross-ice games. I know Hockey Canada has a similar program, and that it was developed by looking at why countries like Finland are producing so many more skilled players. On the whole it looks like a great step forward.

Some of the coaches in the bigger metropolitan areas have already started implementing the program at the lowest levels, and they said there was some resistance (to not playing full-ice) on the part of the players parents. Some coaches mentioned switching back and forth between cross-ice and full-ice games on weekends, and in the end the kids really liked the cross-ice format better.

I do think there will be some resistance to this program as it unfolds,mainly with parents of players. I also really got the sense that the coaches higher up in the ranks have bought into it full force and are committed to making it work. It should be interesting to see how it all pans out.

DMan

ps. I got some new cross-ice game ideas from the clinic....will post them when I can figure out how to make diagrams.

Thanks again.

USA Hockey and Cross Ice and SAG's

Dman, that is great to hear. I met Kevin McGloughin and other USA hockey people and know they want to implement an approach that uses far more games but they have a lot of trouble getting the coaches to buy into what they are saying. On the other hand without the support of the national organizations coaches will never adopt this approach. So it is great that they are focusing on using games in the clinics.

As I said before it is slowly changing but it is sad that for 25 years this has been promoted but met nothing but resistence and so many kid's had bad experiences at practice. But that was then and this is now and hopefully the idea gets legs and they can go from cross ice and small area games to using the ice many ways for games and using transition games to teach players how to play.

Today I did a first for me. I was playing at noon and didn't pay attention that the game got to 5 and we switched ends. We changed on the go and out D had the puck so I broke for a pass and he gave it to me. I broke in alone and scored and couldn't figure out why the goalie didn't move. The consolation is that we won that game 5-1 and I got their only goal.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Tom - I don't know why the other team had such a hard time scoring against your goalie....apparently you didn't have any problem doing so. ( Hope you laughed )

Kia - Is there a way for anyone to get their hands on the Westerlund book or the manual that he made years ago while in Canada? By the way, I appreciate the diagrams that you have been contributing to the web site recently. They make sense and I think the guys are going to like them.

DMan - it is good to know that the sleeping giant (USA Hockey) is becoming receptive to ideas other than their own. Naturally there is going to be resistance to change at the local rinks; coaches are going from what they think they know over to what they definitely don't know. As for parents....what can we say? The kids that I coach are anywhere from 19 to 21 years old and most of the parents still have believe that their sons are much better than they actually are. To me, the best part of coaching is the emotional sort of team-building that goes on along with the bonding that happens amongst all individuals in the locker room. The bonding is a big goal of mine...but, while it is a nice thing when it happens, pleasing all the parents is not at the top of the list.

Erkka's booklet

Pops I have the booklet beside me now. I think Hockey Canada still markets it. Title Transtion: From Game to Practice by Erkka Westerlund. The video is the best one I have seen them produce. I have it but can't post it because it is HC property. It was on VHS and I don't know if they have it on dvd. Let me know if you can order it from their website or not. USA hockey usually sells the HC material as well and it may also be there.

I don't know if I get a plus or minus.

Osmo from Finland just came online with Skype and he got a contract for a pro player I was working with 1 on 1; so I will see what he has to say. Hope it all worked out. He wants to know about another player I mentioned.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Quote by: Kai K

Hey,

You never draw your team as circle or "zero".

Seriously speaking. Koutsi97, the transition drills are from the Erkka Westerlund's drill book he made when he was FIHA's Head Of Coaching. It's great book full of excellent transition drills.

Kai

That's true Kai, I usually use X's on drills and then first letter of colors (B-black, W-white, ...) on games/game situations. When d-man and forward need to be used in drill or in game situation then P and H are used (D and F in english?). We also use equal number of black and white jerseys in every practice, and usually done before we hit the ice, and within those colors there are also equal number of D's anf F's.

And true, these are from that book, we have used those directly or modified them but those descriptions are in finnish, so it's no use to send them all directly to here? I'll try to translate and put still few of those here, my english is not the best, please Tom modify those Key Points and Descriptions if needed. I have just put there that coach CAN stop these games after 20 or 30s if needed but I also prefer not to stop by blowing the whistle. We have also taken the practice to play games / do game situations straight after warm-up and left the skating type of drills to the end of the practice.

Re: Transition Games Videos

I'didn' know that you can find it in finnish. I have the english version.

Kai

Re: Transition Games Videos

Hockey Canada does have "Transition from Practice to Game' by Erkka Westerlund. It is a video along with the book and it lists for $20.. Even with the shipping and handling charges that sounds like a really good deal. However, iIt takes 2-3 weeks before you actually receive anything; so if anyone feels like posting a little bit of Westerlund's work I would very much appreciate it.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Hi All,

Here is a link to the USA Hockey new SAG book that was given out at the coaches clinic.
http://usahockey.cachefly.net/Coaching/Manuals/SmallAreaGamesBook.pdf
I'm glad they're offering it for free.

Pops-I agree that pleasing parents is not job #1, but our organization is pretty much run by active parents....without a lot of hockey experience. I think they'll be resistant to what looks to be radical change unless they are informed and educated on the reson behind the change. Hopefully USAH can help here. One thing I like about the new ADM model is placing your more experienced coaches at the younger levels rather than at the HS / Midget, so that they can focus on skill development. I hate to see parents following their kid up through the ranks just to make sure he gets ice time. Enough of the parent rant though....they do make our program work and they do volunteer boat loads of time. The vast majority want their kids to have fun and stay in the sport to stay out of trouble, and I think your focus on team building is spot on.

Here's another link if anyone cares to read more on USAH ADM.
http://www.admkids.com/
It looks like they are populating the site with new materials all the time.

DMan

Re: Transition Games Videos

DMan -

First of all, thank you for the ebook. There are a few concepts in here that are very appealing...one in particular is the Mid Ice Breakout on page 44. With only minor tinkering, like sliding one of the nets back to its normal location, it can become a forecheck focused game as well. After a few minutes of that, slide the other net back and ...presto...a 5 v 5 that evolved from a breakout focus into a forecheck focus into a breakout against pressure vs forecheck with pressure focus. If that 5 v 5 states that you must attack wide & you must dump it in ( to keep the forecheck vs breakout mode ) then I think that we may have 20 minutes of practice time well spent. There were a couple of Goalie things that looked good as well. The one that has a goaltender directing his rebounds into a targeted area (another net) probably works well at a number of age groups.

Secondly, it is good to know that the Mothership (USA Hockey) has such publications. The coaches only need to figure out what precedes some of these SAG's so that it all transitions well and then we need to give some thought as to what would come next. Take as an example, the Mid Zone 3 on 3 on page 41. If that started with a 1 v 1 using 4 Jokers, evolved into the 3 v 3 with dedicated support players as shown in the book, and then became a "Two Touch Maximum" 3 v 3 while rotating support players, we could keep everyone in 'read & react' mode for a pretty good chunk of time. Thanks again, DMan. I enjoyed reading your submittal.

USA Hockey Book on SAG

Dman, thanks for posting the link to the ebook by USA hockey. There are a lot of good ideas there.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Thanks Tom & Co.,

Glad I could contribute.

Here's another SAG called "Picket Fence" that a coach mentioned at the clinic.....It's essentially a 2 v 2in tight quarters. I like it because it uses very little space and the players in line need to be alert to keep the puck in play. It also has all 4 player roles in use.

Hope the diagram works....

Re: Transition Games Videos

Woops....looks like the description was truncated. On the whistle players 3 & 4 from each team round the net and play begins again. I haven't used this yet but will this season for sure.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Sorry, guys. I posted comments on today's video in the wrong place. it should have been in this thread. Maybe Tom or Dwight can just delete it. Anyway, this is what I said:

Nice drill. Simple, yet effective. I would be tempted to have D-Men use this at practice with some degree of frequency. First you have a shot from the top followed by a skating/receive pass/ pass maneuver that could mimic a Regroup or even a Break Out. All shots after that could be one-timers. You could easily add going D to D on the pass up top, followed by a one-timer or even have D-1 walk the puck down to the 1/2 wall and then set up D2 for a clean one. I need to invite this Dukla group over to my house for about a year or so, until I can finish picking their brains.

HC Dukla Jihlava

Pops on this drill the coach just had the D on the ice. There were lots of players there. Some play in North America and some in the KHL, so he divided them into D and F's for the skill sessions. Now I am sure he is down to his team. They usually start the season after the first week of Sept.and finish by the end of March.

This used to be the top team in the former Czechoslovakia and was like the Red Army team in the Soviet Union. The would win the championship almost every season. The clubs associated with the army are called Dukla in honour of a battle where thousands of soldiers died. I got told the story but can't remember which war.

I like to take some video when I am in Europe and share it because most coaches don't get the opportunity to see how teams on the other side of the pond practice. I have been fortunate to get the chance and everywhere I go the people have been fantastic.

Probably not the place for it but tonight is one of those tough nights for parents. Tomorrow morning my son flies to Toronto and I won't have my buddy to go to the Flames games with or play hockey with. We played our last game together on Friday at noon. We just had all the family over in the back yard and had a fire and everyone wished him well. I take him to the airport early tomorrow morning. I was blessed all these years.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Tom
Thinking of something hockey related to say is just not working. I can't come up with a thing - I can only think of your son. In my life I have been involved in a lot of hockey games. None can match the first time that I took a draw with my twin sons flanking me on the wings. So I know exactly what you are talking about. One of my boys went to Australia for his Junior year of college. That ride to the airport was plenty tough. Trust me, Tom, you are in my prayers tonight.
PS - Is he moving there permanently? Hope not. The Leafs don't even have a Johnny Cash song when they score a goal.

Son's

Pops, thanks for the good thoughts. He is going to go to university there but hasn't been accepted yet. His girlfriend goes there and they have an apartment downtown rented for 12 months. He was on the Deans list last year so hopefully if he shows up they will let him replace someone who doesn't come. Otherwise he has to work and try to transfer in the winter semester.

Australia is far away. My son was in Japan teaching english while I was in Austria. Toronto is a lot easier to get to than Japan or Australia.

He doesn't know anyone involved in hockey in Toronto but would like to play some men's league and he also wants to coach. He was my assistant at college and is great with kid's.

Re: Transition Games Videos

In the video just shown the only thing different that I might try to make it a little more challenging (for the big kids) is putting a tip-in/screen/rebound guy down near the goalie. When we do this type of scoring drill I have the guys receive the pass as they hit the blue line and have them release their shot at the top of the circle. I say that it is more 'game-like' and then I tell them that I need to be a little bit of a head case to make myself feel 'creative'..

Tom - I wish your son all the best in Toronto and hope that he is selected by the university. With a 12 month lease, he will be in Toronto a bit longer than Tomas Kaberle and maybe a lot longer than Ron Wilson. Speaking of coaches who just aren't clicking, how's Brent Sutter these days?

shooting drill

Pops, in this drill as in most you can add screen and tip,passes or situations but once you get to the 2-0 things really pick up, especially with the age you are coaching and they get back to the line and have to go again. The 3-0 can be two quick passes and a one timer shot.
On 1-0 shooting I like the shooter to look for the next shooters rebound.

Jim and Georgia are now in their apartment and got a bed and some furniture delivered today. He is going to Ryerson tomorrow to find out about his status. Hopefully he gets in.

Flames pre season session

Dean Holden, who contributes to this board once in a while just ran a practice for the Flames and their prospects who are doing some pre season conditioning getting ready for camp. I think it was the best run practice I have ever seen the Flames do. They wanted lots of puck touches and passing and he did a great job getting that accomplished. He did the drills for 45 minutes and then John ran a few battling games.
Dean and I met after for a few hours and I went over transition games with him and he is going to do some transiton with them in future practices..

Re: Transition Games Videos

Tom,

Thanks for your kind words. One of the Flames coaching staff called me tonight to share his insights after watching practice today. He too liked the content and tempo of practice as we got lots of reps for many players. We will sit down after the rookie camp in Penticton to go over my drills and games as the staff wants to incorporate some of them into their yearly practice plans.

We had more NHL players today (a total of 25 skaters and 3 goalies - some of these are AHL'ers and a few NHL'ers from other teams), so the pace and skill level was even better. I had to adjust on the fly as they wanted more drills (less games?) and we had more bodies to deal with. I focused on puck control while transition skating - we ran a sequence from the four bluelines as warmup / skill drills, then went to some more full-ice 2 on 0's, 2 on 1's, 3 on 3's which all incorporated transition skating. John Castrillon (a National Level soccer coach who I work with) ran some of our competitive Smart Transitional Games at the end for about 15 minutes; then we ran a 4 on 4 full-ice scrimmage with 45 second shifts. The pace was the highest it has been since we started two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the players want more "old-school drills" as opposed to the stuff you and I went over after practice yesterday... but I am ready to unleash it on them if I sense an opportunity (realistically at next years Summer Development Camp. I forgot how structured the pro's minds are after not working with them since 2003!) I am hoping to also run our off-ice games for the players to teach them (and the coaching staff) the 'right way' to coach...!!!!

Regards,

Dean

Re: Transition Games Videos

Dean
The guys that you describe have survived years of drill oriented coaches and still made in to the top. Maybe they do not see anything wrong with the methodologies that got them there. As we all know, however, these players represent a small minority of the hockey playing population. If we were to poll the 80% of youth players who drop out of the game before reaching High School, those boys may offer a different story. My honest hope, Dean, is that the Flames organization publicly endorses your work; not only because you and Tom deserve the recognition but also because you can now say "Look, the Calgary Flames do SAG's. Look, the NHL and AHL players use the ABC's."
Tonight there was a midget team who came on the ice after us. In a 60 minute skate they had 19 minutes of down time. They ran a grand total of two drills - neither of which have anything to do with an actual hockey game. You and Tom need to be successful so that coaches everywhere can become aware of better options. You need to be successful so that practices like this one become obsolete. I wish you the very best, Dean. Please let us know how things progress.

practice

Pops in the practice I watched the drills Dean had the pro's doing kept them very active. Time at the board was minimal because he was able to explain about 3 drills at once and they just moved from one to another. Not many coaches can run and effective drills practice but Dean did a great job of it. It isn't a team but guys who want to skate a lot and get many touches. It is different than when you coach a team and are trying to teach skills or implement systems because these players just want a high tempo practice.

When they had the games part of practice with John they competed hard in the one on one and two on two battles. About half the players stayed out at the end to play a 3 on 3 with transition from offense to defense by passing to a player at the point. The players organized that game.
Most drill practices are much slower paced than this and waste a lot of time at the board.

The players want drills so that is what he has to give them.

I totally agree with you that it isn't the best way to practice but pro's like what they are used to and want whoever is coaching them at the time to run good fast paced drills.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Thanks Pops, I appreciate your sentiments. Our pictures have been in the paper a few times but nobody has spoken to us... and we all know the players speak in cliches when discussing practice! Besides, I have already had my kick at the cat in major junior, university, National team, Europe, etc. Now it is time to raise my family (I actually enjoy the anonymity and lack of pressure!) and focus on my skill academies. I don't coach for recognition by the public; I am motivated by trying to provide a positive sporting experience for everybody I come in contact with... players, coaches, parents, officials and sport administrators. I consider myself a student of the game and learn everyday.

I do wish more people in positions of influence would remain open-minded about "how" to teach as I know it is an area that is overlooked in Hockey Canada's coaching certifications. (Please see the book "Mindset" by Carol S. Dweck.) Tom shared a letter from Mike Hartman with me a year or two ago (in fact it might be somewhere on this site). Mike, a colleague of Tom's, wrote a concise 1-page letter concerning that we (hockey governing bodies) do not do near enough justice to the job of 'teaching coaches how to coach.' I have been on several committees for Hockey Alberta and Hockey Canada since the mid 1990's (and continue to do so), constantly revamping the coaching curriculum at various levels and certification standards based on the requirements put forward from the Coaching Association of Canada, and while I know we do a good job in some hockey-specific areas (skills and tactics, etc.), we do not show people how to teach this stuff (the 'art' of coaching... let alone my personal belief that we should be following the ABC curriculum of Tom and Jussi - not all this system specific stuff at far too young a level!)

Unless I am in a power position at the top of an organization, I cannot make the sweeping changes I would like... With the Flames, I am only one person of influence... and those I influence have to be 'ready' to accept what I espouse. (As Tom points out, this isn't a 'team'; rather a bunch of pros who want to get ready for training camp.)

Much of life is a series of opportunities being presented to people at various times... if one of these factors isn't present (opportunity, right person, right time), it results in a missed or unrecognized opportunity. "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink!" Anyways, my personal philosophical rant is over as I realize this isn't anywhere near the topic posted, so sorry for the thread hijack... and again Pops, thank you for your kind words. Keep being a person of influence in your locale.

Tom if I need an agent, I know who I should hire

If anything of note occurs with the Flames, I will add a note in the future. Until then, best wishes!

Dean

Pops??

Pops, wondering where you have gone. Have you started practicing yet. I start tomorrow night.

State of the site addrss.

Seems like the discussions aren't going on anymore. It is nice to share some ideas.

Anyway I am trying to go through the videos that I uploaded last year after someone destroyed the site and wiped out years of work. I had the videos and it took many, many hours and days to put them on the site. I didn't do the diagrams or descriptions and I added over 100 from my time coaching in Europe. So I am working on doing one a day to have the diagram and description with the video. I have made pdf's of all of them and send them to coaches who donate to help pay for the site and the site name or buy a book. So a grand total of about 10 coaches have been sent the pdf's. No one asked me to do this so I really can't expect any help. It does help me to keep my things organized.

Anyway it is nice to see that by the end of this month the site will have over 1 000 000 hits in about 13 months. Dwight is the computer guy who keeps the site up despite attacks from hackers. (why ruining things floats their boat I don't understand).

A new season is starting and I hope the ideas about running efficient drills and incorporating games and transition games throughout practice keeps gaining momentum.

Personally my teams started on Monday and my hockey class on Tuesday, so after a 5 week lull I am busy again coaching kid's and adults.
I lost some players on my WWHL team but some very good new ones came to the first ice session. My only problem is that there are 5 goalies trying out and they are all good. They have all played university hockey except one who came all the way from Australia where she was on their National Team. One is a returning goalie and the other 4 are new. The hard part is I have to cut two of them and there are no other leagues for women that practice. They are all good enough to play.

My hockey class has 22 skaters and 2 goalies. It is about one half returning players and one half new players. Tony who is the Vice Principal hired me and is on the ice with me. I coached him in university, so there is no poblem having 2 groups because he is very good and has coached midget AAA and Jr. A. So it should work out.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Tom,
And to all others who are starting their season - Good luck. I pop in once or twice a week to see what people are discussing but enough of the non-essentials. Have any of you guys worked on puck recovery (the opposite of puck protection) I have been working on some individual skill drills to get players to utilize and strengthen their bottom hand. It gets a little sketchy because playing the body is so important but strong sticks win pucks. Just trolling for ideas and thoughts - over and out Steve

Re: Transition Games Videos

Steve,

Nice to hear from you. When you say "puck recovery" I think of a player approaching a loose puck to gain possession; then make a play. Not sure what age / level of player you are working with; or if you are specifying "puck recovery" in a certain area (OZ, NZ, DZ) of the ice ie: on a dump-in (for either a breakout or off a forecheck?)

Regardless of your meaning, this is what I do to allow reps on puck recovery:

I will spot the puck into different areas of the ice during my drills and games. Sometimes I like to spot it right along the wall - even flipping it up on end - tight against the wall. Sometimes I jam it right against the side or back of the net. Sometimes I spot it close to the player; sometimes far; sometimes I lift it into the air so it bounces; sometimes I rim it hard. It is up the to player to have their head on a swivel and read the checking pressure / time and space available prior to getting to the puck. Sometimes I pass the puck to the unsuspecting player - hard on the tape - when they are expecting a loose puck... just to keep them on their toes!

If I am training kids to take the puck off the wall (on a rim or on a breakout pass into the skates or on the stick), I demonstrate how I want them to do it and let them practice. Two ways to do this - bum on the wall with the stick facing the middle of the ice, or turn and skate up the wall, timing the approach with the puck / with the situation. Then I try to incorporate a game-like drill or a game itself that lends itself to puck recovery along the wall (or wherever I want to work on it.)

Hopefully, this helps answer your question.

Dean

Re: Transition Games Videos

The Rejo 1 v 1 is a nice drill and it can easily be expanded into a 2 v 1 or 2 v 2. If any of you guys use a Forward up top on the PP, it may be worth it to have him play the role of the D-Man here and get used to the inevitable defensive responsibility that he will face even when up a man.
As for puck recovery, one thing that the players have gotten a kick out of is when they line up back to back down in the corner with a puck in between the 4 skates. On the whistle it is pretty much 'the best man wins'. Throw a goalie down there with the net angled to face the corner and you have a few minutes of practice that sharpens a sometimes neglected game related skill. Puck Recovery was a good suggestion. I am attempting to come up with ways to use that concept in Backchecking Drills and am open to any thoughts.

Re: Transition Games Videos

Lucky me..Tom has been showing 1 v 1 videos for the last couple of days and .tomorrow night we are spending 15 minutes working on just that. Now I have 2 new drills to show the boys and can pretend that I am actually creative.
To me, gap is the key to all man on man coverage. If you are not within a stick length of their puck carrier then he can pass easily to his team mates. While the videos focus on preventing high percentage shots and moves into the scoring area, tight gap on their puck is always a good thing.
Hey, Tom...on Wednesday night we are working on breakouts....have any good videos ??

Re: Transition Games Videos

Pops, I just used the one where the D passes then defends vs the forward coming from the other end at my practice tonight. I then progressed to a continuous 1-1 with active support.

On Wed. I will be doing work with breakouts and use my hockey friend Bob Murdoch's sequence. He liked to use it at the start of practice instead of aimless skating around.

Various breakout sequences by Bob Murdoch
http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?s=20080720200745971 breakouts with one defenseman.

Two defense working together http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?s=20080720200746400

Breakout drills and other thoughts by Mud.
http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/filemgmt/index.php?id=5

Breakout routines
http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=274&topic=274#274
http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=275&topic=275#275
http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=278&topic=278#278

Re: Transition Games Videos

I posted this to a Daily Drill section two:

http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=906#906

You can do all kinds of variations with this drill. You can run it as 2 on 1, where the other D plays against the two Fs from the other end.
You can set one player to take away one of the passing lanes from the D (so he has to read and react where he can play the puck). etc. etc.
here's some more break out drills ( in istd.pdf drills 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6):
http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=551#551

Kai

Re: Transition Games Videos

After my skill academy, I went downtown to watch the Flames pre-game skate vs. Phoenix (they play tonight.) Seeing as how it is training camp time, the skate was uncharacteristically long for game day; it was almost 1 hour long. Not much tactical stuff, more skill work today. Flames play 4 games in 5 or 6 nights and still have over 30 players in camp. They only skated the 20 guys playing tonight.

While there were some 'new to me' DRILLS, there were no GAMES or competitive drills. Since I embrace the ABC Philosophy, and the teachings of Horst Wein, I find 'normal' practice drills short-circuit my mind... and make me a 'dumber, patterned' coach! Although I understand that the accepted hockey culture is very ingrained, especially at the pro level, it never ceases to amaze me that the pros still feel that these sort of practices (no scoreboard; no accountability so far as winners or losers; little or no pressure; no randomness - mainly patterns) prepare them for the pressure-filled, unpredictable chaos that is an actual game!

Even though Dave King was there (Phoenix A/C) - he is an old friend and his son married into the family, I had to leave... I didn't want to 'de-train' my mind any more... I would rather eat lunch at Spolumbo's and visit a used bookstore (where I found a used copy of Tom's Book 1 for sale!)

The more I see the pros, the more I love coaching kids!!!!!

Backward skating

Last night Gaston worked with my team on backward skating trying to correct the old way of C cuts (which work against you) and a smooth transition turn that works much better than the Mohawk most of us taught.
The players really worked at it and I could see a big improvement. Bkwd skating may the the weakest part of player development.

Hockey Coaching ABCs - Forum
https://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=800