The 3-Day Camp is designed to be a unique training experience:
* 3 On-Ice Sessions
* 1 Off-Ice Skill Session
* 1 Video Analysis Session
The On-Ice drill work will be entirely skill focused and uptempo, using the model of previous Scoring Concepts clinics and private training. The Off-Ice Skill session will focus on specific drills that your youth hockey player can learn and take home with them (via a handout for each student) to practice their skill work in their driveway, rec room, or basement. The video analysis will feature footage shot from the previous 2 days of training and drill down into the technical aspects of powerskating, so that your player can learn, in a positive setting, the deep details of stride analysis.
The goal for the 3- Day Focus Camp is for kids to get the maximum bang for their hockey camp buck. For a very cost-efficient price kids can get the On-Ice instruction and repetition, using drills that will push them to go "out of their comfort zone", and combine them with 2 other elements that players and parents constantly overlook.
1) Off-Ice Hands work. Your hands, puck control skills and stickhandling can get dramatically better when drill off the ice. This is a fact. It is the central reason why Joe Mullen scored over 500 NHL goals and played primarily roller and street hockey when he was a kid growing up in New York City. The kids who attend this camp will learn the right way and what tools to enhance these skills, and get a handout/ chart to take home with them so they can continue to grow this skill.
2. Video Analysis. Every kid loves to watch themselves play, but do they know what to look for? This camp will record the first two days of training and analyze, using a positive approach, to dig deeper into the most efficient and powerful components of the skating stride. Players will have a mental image of the right way to skate, and be able to take that with them... applying those principles to their own strides.
When picking players for your team or organization there are a lot of different criteria used for evaluating your candidates. I try to use a little different system, and compare it to the level I am evaluating for.
3 Key Components go it in, and these 3 components are graded on a 1-5 or 1-10 scale.
1) Skill Set- This is the most obvious. Skill set is the basic set of hockey abilities an athlete possesses. Skating, shooting, puck handling, passing and natural athleticism.
2) Hockey IQ- This can be the most difficult to identify if you are new to the game, but Hockey IQ is the ability for a player to utilize his intelligence to make the right play. Positioning and the ability to read and react to his linemates and situations are important, but look closely at players during evaluations... Does the Forechecker take away the D to D pass? Does he have good habits and not turn the puck over at his Offensive and Defensive bluelines? Does he take good angles to force decisions? Does he have an understanding of game situations, and know how much time is left on the clock? If the answer is "yes" to all of these, then the player possesses a high Hockey IQ.
3) Compete Level- Compete level is the ability for a player to maximize, through effort, their athletic ability. Players with high compete levels are consistent from the beginning of the evaluation to the end and in all facets of the game (offensive and defensive). Will the player win loose puck battles.... backcheck hard goalline to goalline?
All the categories can be related to the level of the team you are selecting for, as the comparison does not have to be against NHL talent. If you select players who excel (8-10) in all these areas, you will have a team with talented, winning players who are fun to coach.
A 10-type player in all of these Evaluation components is Mark Messier-
Toe- Drags can be a flashy way for players to beat defensemen 1 on 1. Yet, as players advance relying on the toe-drag can be a bad-habit waiting to happen. Young players need to understand the purpose of a toe-drag and then use the different variables available to them to beat both defenders and the goaltender.
Effect of the Toe- Drag
Essentially the toe-drag is a manipulation of the puck by using your stick only (not your arms or body). This manipulation creates different angles for which the puck can be shot from, and different directions from which the puck can be moved to. In addition, upon set- up, the defender of a toe drag will jump the puck or attack the body, giving away a portion of the ice. It is up to a good forward to know which way to maneuver himself to exploit it. Moreover, given that a defender will jump the puck, it creates less visibility for the puck to be tracked by the goaltender.
Puck Tracking & Uses as a Screen Shot
For best use of the toe- drag at higher levels, I try to train players to use the toe-drag shot as an additional arrow in their quiver. By dragging the puck 2-4 inches towards your body it'll set up the perfect defender screen on the goaltender. In addition, given that the puck is closer to your body, torque is maximized which if practiced can create a more powerful shot that is released in a split second of time.
Practice
Work on this skill stationary at first off-ice. Focus on the form, hand positioning, quick release and power... accuracy of the shot at first is not that important.
After you have acquired the basic skills, use an obstacle placed over cones on-ice or a chair/ bench. Begin to practice this skill skating into the zone and from 12-15' out from the net. Remember to practice good habits, and crash the net for rebounds after releasing the shot. Aim low at first for maximum power and to create a rebound. Low will eventually be the best placement for this shot, as it will be the most difficult spot for the goalie to track.
David Clarkson of the NJ Devils is one of the best in the business at this shot. Watch him work, and have fun with this new skill!
I referenced the story of Bob Baun of the Toronto Maple Leafs during of one my end of the year meetings with a player. For those who don't know, this is the story of Bob Baun...
It was 1964. In Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, Leaf defenseman Bob Baun fell to the ice in excruciating pain after blocking a slap shot off his ankle late in the third period. Baun was carried off on a stretcher and was presumed to be out for the remainder of the series. During the intermission, Baun refused to have his ankle X-rayed. Instead, he insisted it be frozen and, miraculously, he skated out for the overtime session. The Maple Leafs, facing a three games to two deficit at the time, were in need of a hero to keep their Stanley Cup dreams alive. At the 1:42 mark of overtime, Baun drilled a shot from the point that beat Detroit netminder Terry Sawchuk, giving the Leafs a Game 6 victory. Inspired by his heroics, the Leafs easily won Game 7, 4-0, giving the team a third consecutive Stanley Cup victory. It was not until after the series that it was discovered Bob Baun had scored that overtime winner on a fractured ankle.
Every coach or parent who runs a practice gives their kids 3-5 minutes before and, sometimes, at the end of practice "Free Time" where the athlete can warm up and get ready for the drills and instruction that will commence. When used effectively over the course of an entire season these 3-5 minutes can become personal skill sessions where players acquire and develop tools that they normally don't work on in a practice. 3-5 minutes twice a week over the course of a season could add up to 60+ minutes of focus. Try these drills-
1. Elevated/ Saucer partner passing- Grab a teammate and spread 10 feet apart. Practice forehand and backhand stationary, at first, saucer passing. Rotate the puck heal to toe off the blade of the stick and aim to get a flat puck to drop on your partners stick. As you get better, try this moving forward and backward.
2. Footwork Drills. Try the Half & Half Drill detailed in this video...
3. Stationary Overspeed Stickhandling- Use other pucks to maneuver around, and puck yourself to develop rapid timing and stickhandling skills that are faster than you think you can stickhandle. Remember to practice all around your body, and out of your comfort zone.
4. One-timers- Grab a partner and a section of boards and work on passing back and forth setting up for one-timer shots. Use good form and mechanics and aim for a place on the boards to target your shot towards.
5. Net chances- Place a row of 5-7 pucks on an arch at the top of the crease and work on "roofing" them in one continuous motion. Remember to have good foot placement.
6. Powerskating maneuvers- Try some of these for 2 minutes at the beginning of a practice, and by the end of a season your edge control, balance and power will be dramatically improved.
7. Edge control + Stickhandling drills- Try the flat stick puck control drill.-
These are just a few ideas, but the important thing is to not WASTE this valuable ice time. It's time you won't get back, and can dramatically improve your skill set.
We've discussed in previous posts the importance of practices over games, and the OMHA study that revealed that players generally only control the puck less than 1 minute over the course of a standard youth hockey game. Moreover, we've discussed how many coaches and parents focus on correcting the mistakes players make when they do have the puck, and neglect the 98% of the game when they do not possess it.
So how can we teach the art of "playing without the puck"? how can we improve our youth players "Hockey IQ"? Here are some suggestions...
1. As a coach or parental observer, focus on re-creating plays in the mind of the youth athlete and express in detail what they could have done when their teammate had the puck. The key to playing away from the puck is anticipation and having good hockey sense. Did non-puck players find the open ice to support the puck carrier by putting themselves in a position to do one of two things: free up ice for the puck carrier to move, or make themselves an attractive target and give their teammate an outlet to pass the puck. Especially at the youth level, you see a lot of kids spending too much time watching the play instead of moving to help create a play. Diagram or draw up in their mind a specific breakout, offensive zone entry play, or regroup when a linemate of theirs made an outstanding play, and explain to them how they could have helped it without ever touching the puck.
2. Use a video and record your son/daughter playing. Watch it with your kids and focus on what they are doing when they are out of the play. You don't have to be Bill Belichick and breakdown every piece of footage, but this can be a fun exercise and extremely helpful.
3. Watch hockey together either live or on TV, and have them watch a specific player for a specific shift. Express to them not to follow the puck with their eyes for the next 30-40 seconds while their favorite player, or the target of this exercise, is on the ice and instead follow that player and watch how he activates into his D-Zone coverage and into plays in the offensive zone. Regroups and breakouts are great for demonstrating body positioning and communication. Some of the best players to do this with are the players who may not be as overwhelmingly skilled, but are consistently productive. Here are my suggestions- Forwards- Patrick Elias (NJ Devils). Defensemen- Nick Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings).
4. Coaches- In practice it is important to work on drills, even at the youth (squirt/ pee wee) level WITHOUT cones, and then demonstrate (Yes, you jumping into the drill and moving your feet) to the players what the support players should have done on a particular drill. A lot of Neutral Zone regroup drills, offensive zone entry, or split D/ F drills are perfect for this, and kids will respond better to watching you do it, than you drawing it up on a dry erase board. Cones are great as imaginary defensemen, but can develop bad habits when used as positional boundaries or lanes, as youth players won't understand why they are there.
5. Footwork Drills. Bad footwork, and poor skating fundamentals are the elephant in the room when it comes to explaining to a parent why their son/ daughter isn't scoring goals or getting beat one on one. Many parents will ask me to work with their son/ daughter on one on one skills, and then be perplexed when I run them through 30-40 minutes of powerskating drills during a training session. The reality is, that the lateral movement work, the transitions, the stops and starts, and power work develop the skating skills to win one on one battles, and to be more active in their play away from the puck. Without good footwork, or skating skills, all the other tools are wasted.
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