Reply To: 2010-2020 Coach Discussion Forum

[Tom Molloy]

Just took my grandson to a tryout for the 2002 Alberta Cup. I coached the coach running the drills when he was the same age. He was one of the bigger forwards and the two smallest forwards went farther in the game than him. One to the NHL and the other won a Hobey Baker and is playing in Europe now.

One other bigger player from that 85ers team made the NHL and six played pro. The player coaching tonight is the same size as when I coached him and he played NCAA.

Another player was second overall draft by the WHL but quit hockey when he was 17. The moral of this rant is that size doesn't define you when you are 13 or 14 and you never know who is going to rise above the rest.

I also ran into Billy Kim who was the fitness trainer for a Korean pro team I trained one summer. A kid I know asked if he could train with them. He was always calling me to see if he could get extra ice as I usually was coaching one group or other and he never had to pay. They did 2 x 2 hours a day for six days a week x 4 weeks. So 96 hrs on the ice. He skated the afternoon session every day (and did this for the 8 summers I coached various Korean teams). This boy was passed over on the Bantam draft because he could score but was about 5' 7" like his dad and wasn't a great skater.

Koreans can really skate and that helped but he also had a growth spurt and shot up 6 or 7" that summer. His uncles in Germany are 6'5". The next season he was the top scorer in the Canadian AAA championships with 16 points in 4 games. He was second overall in the NHL draft. Scored 50 twice won an Olympic Gold, two World Championships, NHL ROY and was top scorer in the NHL playoffs one season.

So who can tell which 14-15 year old will make it or not. It is really up to them. Just stay out of the way and open doors for them if they ask.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'