Reply To: Diary of a Season 10-11

[Tom Molloy]

I was just looking at a video of a game we played vs. Vienna. The players are U17 so they are all 15-16 year olds.

https://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/videos/watch/salzburg-u17-vs-vienna/

My goal was to get them to move the puck better and to make easy plays. I am satisfied with the work ethic, the back pressure and both the offensive and defensive individual skills. A little less swooping and closer support were needed but we played well.

In Feb. we started scrimmaging with the rule that there must be at least one pass in each zone and it really improved our offensive team play. (more than anything else I have ever done – the effect was dramatic. We played an ex game vs a Canadian high school team who had 15-18 year olds playing and won 12-3)

I was brought in a month into the season and the team was in last place and in danger of being relegated to the lower division after Christmas. There was a lot of talent there so they shouldn't have been in that position. We ended up finishing second in the league and handed the eventual champs Klagenfurt their only two losses of the season winning 2 of 3 against them.

The team practiced 4 times a week as a team and T-Th morning they had a skills practice with the U20. All the coaches rotated at practice being assistants on the ice with the U17-U20-Div. 1 pro and Elite league pro. So I was head coach of this team and skills coach for the combined group and also rotated on the ice with the pro teams and was eye in the sky for the elite team during home games and reported to their coaches between periods.

The players averaged about 45 practices a month combining team practice, skills practice, off ice training and skate treadmill. A few of my players played games for the first league pro team and about half played U20 games as well.

It was a good hockey coaching experience in an incredibly beautiful place.

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