The Unofficial ABC’s Off TopicTopic

[Kai K]

Every forum needs one? 🙄

So why not this great forum too. I guess there are some coaches who have a life outside the hockey rink 😉

Topic is free as long its not hockey related.

Winter came overnight. Its a first snow so it wont be staying too long.

Kai

Kai, we have been lucky. It is sunny and about 7 C today 40 F. Last year we had an early winter that started Oct. 1 and lasted what seemed to be forever. I have to drive about 300 km for a Sunday game so I am hoping no blizzards because I don't have my snow tires on yet. The picture is from August and two of my grand daughter in the front yard. The other one is a pic of mountain sheep grazing at the side of the road on my way to the hockey camp in Jasper National Park last July.
Tom

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Kai

[DMan]

Thanks Kai & Tom,

Here's one from the other side of the globe, yesterday afternoon…..no snow at sea level yet, but it's creeping down slowly.

Dman, where are you and what Glacier is that?
Tom

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[Kai K]

By the way Tom, you can have Duff here too.

Kai

Kai, I am not suprised the Finns found a way to get Duff beer imported there.
Tom

Kai

[hockeygod]

Kai,

Looks like this will be happening soon in Calgary too.. we have been blessed with a great fall so far – no snow to stick and most temps averaging about 10C during the days… sometimes not even below 0 C at night! Forecast is a heavy snowfall warning Monday night! Eek!

Where is that winter shot taken?

Dave,

Echoing Tom's question – where was your picture taken?

PS Tom you should post an avatar with you drinking from your Duff beer. come to think of it, I think everyone posting on this site should have a beer drinking avatar!

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[DMan]

Thanks Guys,

The glacier is the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska…the photo stolen from the newspaper that day. Maybe I can lure you guys up here for some salmon fishing and coach coaching some day! Woops…not talking hockey here…Here's a little humor to start the day: Why men shouldn't write advice columns (see attached photo)

Dave

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[hockeygod]

Dave,

That is one of the best advice columns ever printed! I have seen it before, and it is so true!

Alsaka, eh? Awesome! I don't do fish, but I am sure I could partake in some local beverages and savour the outdoors, during some coachng conversations!

My dad drove the old Alaska highway (up BC, down through Alberta) in the late 1990's and said it was a great trip. He took 4 weeks – in a camper and tent. He followed the Gold Rush Trail and took some great pictures. My friend Tyler wants to ride up that way on our dual sport motorcycles (KTM 640 for me – BMW 1200 GS for him) up to the Arctic Circle – so it is on my radar. Some day / some way, I want to see Alaska as it looks very beautiful!

I just read Brian Kilrea's book "They call me Killer" last night (couldn't put it down). He was the long-time coach of the Ottawa 67's (32 years or something) and I found a reference to Rollie McLenahan. He was my great-uncle. I double checked the name and googled him and it was indeed my great-uncle… He played a season for Detroit in 1945-46 and had a long career in the AHL and IHL as a player (first-team all star D-Man!) and then coached for a few years. I knew he had been inducted into the New Brunswick HOF as a hockey player and builder, along with all but one of his brothers (the one who was killed in WW2) but I didn't know he played in the NHL and coached in the AHL (among other leagues!) Kind of cool to "find out" this way. I had a good talk with my mom today at lunch and she filled me in. I am amazed I never knew about this before! (Apparently, I met him before he passed away in 1984. Wish I would have asked him some questions then… but I had no idea of his pedigree until after he died.)

My uncle on my dad's side was signed to a professional contract by Detroit in the early 1960's but never broke their lineup. He played senior hockey before getting a law degree. He has his original contracts up on the wall of his house. Some interesting clauses written on 'official letterhead' of the Detroit Red Wings – they would pay half for a new pair of skates, the monthly stipend, playoff bonuses, school fees, etc.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Looking at the home page for hockeycoaching abcs, it appears I have "run the board" – meaning I am the last poster for all 10 topics. OK guys, kick me off the last postings and contribute some more!!! (How can you tell the wife and kids are out of town and I hae some spare time?????!!!!)

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[Tom Molloy]

Sometimes when you coach you get letters or emails of appreciation. It is really uplifting to get some positive comments and today I got two emails and I will share one here. It is what coaching is all about.

One was from a girl I recruited to play college and she worked the hockey school and needs a reference. I didn't coach her but went to Europe instead. The other is from a young man who came to our summer camps at the Pond Arena in Delaware. Court Dunn forwarded it to me. Court, Juuso and I did the camps he is talking about and he sent this to Court.

———————————————————-
Tom and Juuso,
Thought you’d both like to read a message I woke up to this morning. I don’t have Juuso’s e-mail with me at school, or I would have passed it on to him as well. I’ll do that tonight when I get home. Pretty good stuff … This young man gets it! It’s great to have the people with whom we’ve worked, give back … The full circle!
If you remember names, it’s from J R F.. … a little dynamo, who was really a good player … his father was a very good golfer, and made sure J R was, too! Hockey though, was still a love for both of them. They were regular participants at our summer camp.
Court

Coach,

Hey, thanks for the wishes.. I just wanted to thank you for the EHC and all your inspiration along the way.. now that i am an old man i have looked back at my life and realized besides golfing with my dad and pop pop, those long summer days at the pond were some of the best times of my life. the way every kid there was so into the endless games and that enjoyment i saw in myself and every other kid at those camps. This year as a last minute thing i volunteered to coach at Chester County Skating club, they actually gave me a head coaching job something i was not quite sure i was ready for it. I remembered all those times playing games and being out of breath on that foggy summer ice. We have won our last 3 games.. to get to 3-3 and tonight i thought of you and the EHC. We had pictures and after we got together and did a little scrimmage with the little nets. As my assistant and I got involved and made it real competitive. As the trash talking increased and the goals kept flowing in i could really get a sense that every kid was having such a great time. It was like if they could pick one place in the whole world to be it would have been the barn! It was a great feeling to have my players having such a great time and I realized why you set those camps up in the first place.. watching a group of kids get better at hockey together is a special thing.
Thanks, your bud

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

[Kai K]

Greetings from Canary Islands. A small escape from winter (from -3 C to +23 C). hunting for new avatar B)
My daughter (2 years) is so excited, like quicksilver.

—————–
Kai enjoy yourself there. Just got back from Flames game and they finally won. 7-2 over Chicago.

Kai

[Tom Molloy]

I finally figured out how to get the high def video that Dean took of the nhl teams practicing into a wmv file. It is at
http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=2010111916214599 I will break the drills down in the next while and post them separately.

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

[hockeygod]

Kai K wrote:
Greetings from Canyry Islands. A small escape from winter (from -3 C to +23 C). hunting for new avatar B)
My daughter (2 years) is so excited, like quicksilver.

Canary Islands! You lucky %$#@!&*^. It was -23 C in Calgary today… before the wind chill. It's -12 C in Panorama Resort, where I am for the weekend…meeting with local coaches in Invermere BC, then home Sunday.

Looking forward to your new avatar. Perhaps a beach setting… with am ICE COLD BEER sweating a bit?

Enjoy the holiday!

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

TomM wrote:
I finally figured out how to get the high def video that Dean took of the nhl teams practicing into a wmv file. It is at
http://hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=2010111916214599 I will break the drills down in the next while and post them separately.

Thanks Tom,

Please excuse any bad language you hear during the video. I tried to keep quiet – except during the one Flames practice where my old friend, Dr. Dave P showed up… I haven't seen him for years… he is now working for the Flames now as a Sport Psychologist.

I used to play early morning hockey (630-730 am) with Dave and U of C staff "back in the day"…. we are talking 1984 to early 1990's. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, Tom also suited up with us way back then? Tom – did you use to wear a full, clear Itech face mask back then?)

I once drove from Moose Jaw SK on a day off in 1996 (leaving EARLY am) to play noon hockey in Calgary (7 hours one-way) with Dave and the boys at U of C; ate lunch, then drove back to MJ right afterward. I took a couple of sport psych classes from Dave during my undergrad years and we attended Pizza Hut on several occasions when they had their "all you can eat pizza lunches" – we did some serious damage (Dave is 6'5" and I am a shade over 6' … combined we probably tipped the Toledo's back then around 500+ lbs!) OBVIOUSLY we followed the 20-30 pieces of pizza EACH with a few JUGS of beer! BURP!

Tom taught Dr. Dave "back in the day" and they recounted the awesome noon hour floor hockey games they had… pretty cool stuff! (Tom and I went out for lunch that day to a restaurant called "Spolombo's" – the owners played in the CFL for the Stampeders and Tom taught one or two of them. They also played floor hockey with Dave too. Small world, eh?

And finally, RIP to Pat Burns, who passed away today from lung cancer. It was announced about an hour ago. Godspeed Pat.

I wish he would have been inducted into the HHOF two weeks ago while he was still alive. Bob McKenzie, from TSN and formerly of The Hockey News, was a good friend of MANSBREEK. Read the story here… kind of humourous and a nice tribute to Pat – when the media reported (falsely) his demise back in September.

MCKENZIE: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT FOR PAT BURNS

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/bob_mckenzie/?id=334094

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[Tom Molloy]

Dean, I have never had an itech mask. When I played after college I didn't wear a helmet and then had to wear one when I came back home from playing in the USA. I didn't wear a face shield untlil a teammate was shooting the puck in and fired it into my face. It hit beside my nose and my front top front teeth were numb for 10 years and still feel a little numb. So I went to a half shield that I took out of the recycle box when I was coaching the men at U of Calgary in the 90's.

Anyway we play every Sunday morning at 11:15. Room on room. They are about 15 years average younger but we have the hockey savvy and each week the winning team changes based on who comes that day. Today there were 3 lines and 4 d on each team. We play games to 5. The first was about 45 minutes long and we won 5-3 and our line got 4 of the 5 goals. Same next game where we scored 3 of our 5.

In the locker room after the game Phil, who is about 50 said to George Hill (2 time all American and Memorial Cup winner) that he made the best decision when he put a line together with 169 years of experience. George is 70, me 63 and Kyway 63. They played at Michigan Tech and me Bemidji. The other team had Craig Levy who is famous for being the North Stars defenseman that Lemieux beats 1-1 and then scores in about 1000 replays each year. (he is very excited about this fame)

Anyway it is a great game and "the puck can outskate anyone."

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

[hockeygod]

Tom,

I could have sworn you wore a full Itech. Maybe my memory is leaving quicker than I thought?

Ask the Kryway fellow is he has a son named Kam. If so, I coached him in Major Bantam (Stamps) years ago… if it is his dad, I am wondering what he is doing now? I believe he played Junior A and received a scholarship. He was one of my favourite kids from that team. Just a great, hardworking and pretty skilled kid.

——————
Cam is Jim's son, he used to play some Sundays with us when he came home for Christmas from Colorado College. He played some minor pro after college.
Dr. Dave was in my dryland group in 1980 and it was the first hockey dryland ever in Calgary. The only pro was Jim Nill who is now asst. gm of Detroit. We did a lot of things that Lucek Bukac introduced at the internations symposiums that George Kingston had every summer for 9 years at the U of C. I talked with David Poile, who was asst. GM of the Flames at the time about how off ice training could help the Flames. He listened politely and said that someday NHL teams may train in the off season but they weren't ready for it yet. (I think he really thought that I had just landed in a spaceship and had these strange ideas from another planet.)

Of course a couple of years later the NHL started off ice and summer training. I kept an article from the paper about the program.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[Tom Molloy]

Dean how did the trip and meeting with the coaches in Invemere go?

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

[Author]

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