Hey kids, Jack Quinn didn’t play AAA til he was 15 years old. He just got drafted 8th overall to the NHL... Please take your time and don’t rush your development. If you’re meant to get there, you’ll get there.
For kids who freak out when they don’t get drafted to the OHL or make a Tier 2 Junior team at 16 or 17, Cale Makar played U18 AAA in his 16yo year. Then played 2 years Tier 2 before D1 College. DONT RUSH. Put in the work one day at a time. Everyone develops at their own pace.
I hope minor hockey leagues are looking at contingency plans for extending the season. It’s worth altering set dates and pushing playoff weekends so the kids can play. We can’t afford to have them lose another season. It’s destroying their love of the game. Let’s make it work.
Vancouver is one of the best teams in the league at using the length of the OZ at 5v5. They are constantly possessing pucks low and using the back of the net to shrink coverages, then releasing it high and timing their arrivals at the net. They also love the rim release.
Coaching AA hockey, the goal is to graduate kids to the next level. That is how you should be measuring yourself as a coach. If you develop properly, wins will follow. But I don’t get coaches who get angry when kids leave or hold them back so they can feed their ego and win games
Minor hockey in Ontario is often AAA or bust, but in Stouffville we have pushed our U18 team to play at a higher level than most expect to see at AA. No dump-outs/dump-ins, we challenge them to play our way - with the puck. Very proud of how they've stepped up to the challenge.
I love Jr. hockey teams that call their spring camps “Development” Camp. What kind of development is going on when the player gets no practices, no video sessions and just shows up to play 3 games. If that staff can “develop” players in 3 days then get them to the National League
One quick addition: if you’re weighing teams/levels, pick the better coach. Pick the coach who values the person over the player. Listen carefully to their pitch and if it’s all about winning/exposure or about building character/life lessons. The latter is way more important
I will also not be returning to my Associate Coach position with the Cobourg Cougars. Thank you to
@weswolfe91
for teaching me how to coach the right way and with incredible attention to detail. I’m looking forward to continuing my pursuit of being a Head Coach in junior hockey!
Tampa Bay had championship line changes and shift lengths as they closed out the win in the last 5:00 of Game 2 before the empty-netter.
Approx shift lengths for forwards:
0:30
0:26
0:28
0:34
0:43 (extended from icing)
0:36 (extended from icing)
0:24 (ended with ENG)
“Teams don’t win because of tactical superiority; they win because their players can execute whichever tactics they choose at a faster pace - with consistency and greater intensity - for longer.” -
@codyroyle
in The Tough Stuff.
Another step in the journey.. Incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to learn from a genuinely special Head Coach in
@weswolfe91
and a very strong and passionate management team. The work starts now 👊
🚨 BREAKING | Cougars add Cadaret as Assistant Coach
Cadaret joins the Cougars having served as Ast. Coach with the Stouffville Spirt, and as a Head Coach with Whitchurch-Stouffville Minor Hockey.
Welcome to Cobourg, Connor 👊
🔗 Details:
#CougarCounty
So far, 4 AA players I’ve been coaching have earned spots on AAA teams for the 21-22 season. Why would any coach be angry at that? That’s the goal. Development process successful. Now we get the chance to develop some new players and form a new culture/team. Sounds like fun to me
Excited and grateful to finally be able to work with Andrew Campoli, Mike Tarantino and the championship staff of the Blues. Happy to be closer to home as well. The journey continues!
Thrilled to welcome Connor Cadaret as our new Associate Coach for the 2023-24 season! His reputation for player development will be a great asset to the Blues. Full story 👉
#CollingwoodBlues
#HockeyNews
#Nutrafarms
So proud to be a part of this team. So much character and trust. Goes a long way.
Personally, I finally got over the hump in Jr.A.
2021-22 - lost in Conference Finals with Cobourg OJHL
2022-23 - lost in Conference Finals with Bonnyville AJHL
2023-24 - 🏆
@CwoodBluesJrA
Unreal quote from
@connorcarrick
on his pod with
@ZachHyman
that can apply to all areas of life not just hockey. “If you work hard enough for long enough, and try to do the right things, you can maximize the surface area of your luck.”
Italian soccer legend Gennaro Gattuso stepped down as manager of AC Milan this week. Which gives all of us an opportunity to re-live one of the greatest postgame comments in the history of sports.
Last week was a very emotional one for me. Sending off the 2004 Clippers - the players who helped reignite my love of the game and find my passion for coaching. I was lucky enough to meet them in 2016 and it’s been a helluva ride ever since. One more 🏆 to win next week!
Speechless. Incredibly lucky to have met these young men and their families. A moment I won’t soon forget. Cheers to my staff that has battled by my side
@Chimz48
, Denver Gray, Todd Barclay, Chris Cadaret and our amazing manager Ellen Peterman.
#StouffvilleHockey
at its finest!
.
@odognine2
Re: parents handling their kid’s business in hockey, at 14 yrs old we didn’t allow parents to call meetings with the coach. Player had to ask & handle their own business. If they were going to miss practice, THEY had to tell me. Prepares them for the future. No issues
Looks very similar to our work with Jr.A players last season. Usually when I explained these routes the players would ask, “oh, like powerplay practice?”. No, we want this at 5v5 too. Maybe the biggest area I saw immediate practice to game transfer.
D shooting practice.
Exactly where I want Ds to shoot from. One timers on cross slot passes (and some cross slot passing for one timers).
Fed up with mindless drills of D2D passing and slap shots from the blue line (yesterday’s solution for yesterday’s problems).
Both TOR and EDM winning goals last night came off "whips" to the net. With all the OZ movement these days, the whip is still a very good play at the right time. Hides the release of the puck, shooting into traffic and bodies arriving at the net. Hockey remains a simple game.
Reaffirming to see what happens when you give your players the proper roles and they accept and perform to the best of their ability. Lehkonen-Danault-Gallagher have been the best shutdown line all playoffs. Not a ton of offence but no complaining. Fitting they score the winner
📢 Listen to Wes Wolfe, assistant coach of the Erie Otters, as he explains the importance of communication while scanning the ice.
He will be speaking again at this year’s High Performance Hockey Seminar on June 8th at Brock!
Duncan has taken incredible strides in his development on and off the ice since joining the
@CougarsHockey
in August. Worked hard with a good attitude and it has paid off. Good luck and have fun!
#moveyourfeet
🚨 FRONTS NEWS 🚨
The Kingston Frontenacs are pleased to announce the signing of Duncan Schneider to a Standard Player Agreement.
📃
Schneider will join the Frontenacs immediately and he will make his debut today in Mississauga.
#FrontsHockey
Yes sirrrrr. Huge accomplishment for the
@SpiritJrA
. Down 2-0 and 3-2 in the series, battled back both times. Resilient group led by great coaches and management
@AndrewCampoli
@Kearnan03
@JohnFlude
@Thallyburton
. Keep it rolling. The whole town is along for the ride.
I don’t want to get incredibly introspective because then I’ll be gone in my mind for hours, but as shitty as it was, 2020 was instrumental for me. Pandemic forced me to realize what is important to me, and that’s coaching hockey. So I decided to make it work full time.
🗣️🚨 I have decided to start a newsletter/blog so I have a place to share my thoughts on all things hockey and coaching. Hope I can provide some worthwhile content while we work our way back to normal hockey. Please subscribe and share!
First time running a hockey school was a success. 15 hours of on-ice sessions over 5 days, all without using a white board 😮. Girls and boys, aged 9-12, Houseleague to AAA. Hopefully be able to run more than just one week next summer!
Chicago Steel hockey is next level creative. Their off-puck movement is magic and developed through modern habits. Constant movement, support above puck, small area 2v1’s and weak side always ready to spread ice.
Cut from Midget AA as a forward. Switches to D to make the team. 4 years Tier 2 (
@TheAJHL
) ➡️ 5 years CIS/USports ➡️ AHL ➡️ ECHL ➡️ Denmark ➡️ Norway ➡️ Sweden (SHL) ➡️ NHL next season with Anaheim at 31 years old. Kodie Curran has a new fan in me.
The rinks can’t open back up soon enough! Incredibly grateful for the opportunity to coach at the next level.
@AndrewCampoli
has a great thing going and I’m very happy to join the team. Get excited for a big year, Stouffville.
#StouffvilleHockey
I get messages from minor hockey coaches saying they can’t work on some fundamental skills because parents get mad and say “my kids way to advanced for that”
Here’s two NHL 1st rounders , working on and getting better at…receiving passes.
#detailsmatter
#mindset
One of the biggest moments of his life and he goes out of his way to thank his old teammates and coaches in LA. The fact that thought even entered his mind shows why his teammates all battle so hard for him. Jack Campbell epitomizes the true power of the game.
The “we’re all in this together” aspect of the pandemic has kind of worn off, as we see hockey of all levels being played in the States & only hockey at the highest levels being played in Canada. Who would’ve ever thought we’d have a Hockey Day in Canada while rinks are shuttered
U9 AA Update: Got to reward the players with some early Christmas gifts before we enter lockdown. So much has been taken away from them but today I got to give a little back and bring a smile to their face. Here’s hoping they get to play in the new year!
Unbelievable. At the start of all this, the kids were at the forefront. It was understood that adults would make sacrifices so kids could continue schooling and sports. Those would be the last to close as any major disruption would have severe impacts. Now, we’ve lost the plot..
Boston has a lot of success having McAvoy dive off of right side OZ faceoff wins. When teams adjust, it also opens up more room in the middle of the ice for the top line's plays to Pastrnak.
Reading between the lines of 31 Thoughts, it seems as though Ryan Hardy, Chicago Steel GM, is next in line for the Leafs' Director of Player Development role. If so, I'm looking forward to him bringing his progressive ideas to the top level of hockey. More of the this please.
Thank you to the almost 200 players and families that registered for our Open House tonight, and to all those that attended! 🙌
It was our pleasure to show you everything that Cobourg and the Cougars have to offer! 👊
#CougarCounty
l
#Northumberland
A collective sigh from every young hockey player because if the best player in the world can finish his checks and create turnovers on the forecheck, no one else has any excuse.
Pretty cool accomplishment for these 3 and our entire organization, but I’d like to focus quickly on defenceman Quinton Gove. He joined our team mid-season as a 20 year old from the NCDC. All he has done since arriving is try to get better every single day…
Hey Coaches: if Auston Matthews is allowed to do this in an NHL practice then you can let your players try new things too. Enough with the 5 push-ups every single time they miss the net. Only good if you want to condition them to shoot at the goalie’s chest.
We ask for transparency and full accountability from players, coaches, GMs but refs get to sneak by without answering any questions whatsoever on their performance.
Unreal. Who is the D and who is the F? Doesn’t matter. Transition game is where the game of hockey is going and where the game is won. Take ice to outnumber and trust your teammates to fill behind.
@tjmanastersky
does an amazing job preparing his players for the next level.
U12AE ➡️ U13-U16AA ➡️ U18AAA ➡️ Jr.B. That’s called development. Scored 40 in 45 games in U16 but was more worried about making better wall plays on breakouts. Be the best at getting better. Keep going Tommy 👊
🚨 The Welland Jr. Canadians are excited to announce the signing of Thomas Hutton! 🚨
Catch Thomas and all of our new signings during this weekend’s Pelham Tournament. First game goes tonight at 9 p.m. against Caledonia!
#GOJHL
Want to see how much impact you can have as a coach? After that team picture watch how fast Wright/Othmann found Dennis Williams to give him the trophy. He proved this tournament that you can let your players play and still win. Trust them to live up to the big moments.
Excited is an understatement. Back with my 2004 group for one last run. Looking forward to finishing what we started in building a team of courageous, creative and disciplined hockey players. We’ve got some unfinished business to take care of 👊.
#ETR
2021 - 2022 REP Coaches - The WSMHA has completed the 2021/2022 coach selection process and are very pleased to announce the Rep Head Coaches for the upcoming season. We consider ourselves
Really excited to work with someone as talented as Jack. High character and trust in the process has led him to maximize his development under the mentorship of
@corbs_1990
. Looking forward to taking over in that process and helping him reach his goals!
The Latin root of the word “passion” is pati, which means “to suffer”. To be truly passionate about something is to be willing to suffer for it. The suffering isn’t meaningless. It is endured to further a cause.
Incredibly creative pass off the pads by Babbage. That was 1000% intentional to get the puck to Fantilli and is probably something that’s been practiced by the Steel. They are so far ahead of teams in terms of style of play - it’s like they are playing a different game at times.
Claude Julien should almost take more pride in how his team performed without him than how they performed with him. Shows he prepared his team and staff to do their jobs even without his presence, which really is the essence of success as a head coach.
jason spezza keeping up a running commentary for more than five minutes to help john tavares stay calm and awake - john later told him that despite being in and out of consciousness he recognised jason’s voice and knew he’d been talking to him
Under a week away from my summer hockey school! Happy and proud that some of my former players will be making their coaching debuts as instructors for the week.
Great advice from
@TopherScott_
on the Hockey Think Tank Podcast. Paraphrasing: surround yourself with the right people. Quality over quantity. Tough in the day and age of likes and followers. But 5 best friends who will always have your back > hundreds of fake followers.
🚨🗣️COACHES: We need to challenge ourselves in our drill design and dig deep into making sure we replicate game situations.
Inspired by Adam Oates discussion on today's 31 Thoughts Podcast. Thanks
@JeffMarek
for geeking out on youth hockey practices 🙏
Consummate professional on and off the ice and the most responsible 200ft player in the
@OJHLOfficial
. Lozzy is always looking to get better whether in extra skills or video sessions. Bright future ahead!
The Collingwood Blues are thrilled to announce that Marcus Lougheed has signed a Division 1 commitment with Lake Superior State University Lakers! 🔵⚪
#CollingwoodSteam
#PoweredByNutrafarms
📸 OJHL Images ^cbmb
🚨COMMITMENT ALERT🚨
Cougars defenceman Devon Thibodeau has committed to NCAA Div.3 Norwich Cadets beginning in the 2022-23 season. Devon is the ultimate team player and is one of the toughest players to play against in the league. We wish Devon all the best!
If you want to break into a new lineup or earn more ice time, you must make yourself valuable to the team. Alex Galchenyuk has shown how this can be done and taken advantage of his chance so far with the Leafs.
On the ice with pro players today and used the same drills I used to develop hockey sense with 9 year olds 🤔 Almost like things don’t have to be overly complicated. Provide the options and let the game be the teacher!
Ideally, I think you can use both. Against teams with offensive defencemen I would go Hybrid. Against teams with stronger, heavier forwards that work pucks low and find soft ice, Zone may be better. Would throw off teams if you can alternate during a playoff series, too.
And as
@jtbourne
said last week, it looks like
#LeafsForever
are actually switching to the "Hybrid" D-Zone that Tampa used to win two cups!
Now when the puck goes low to high, players attach to closest player and get into "man on man" coverage, Focus on D1 & F1 Difference.
Buffalo owes Don Granato so much. Proper development of Tage Thompson. Resurgence and rebuilt confidence of Rasmus Dahlin. Regardless of their record, he has stayed true to himself and done an amazing job.