It is half six in the morning and 23 kids in red tracksuits are sizing one another cautiously, all wondering what the next five days will be like. Parents and siblings have gathered around hockey bags in small groups drinking coffee looking calm but bursting with pride and excitement inside. This was the team and the supporters that were about to jump on a plane and travel to Bratislava for a hockey tournament. Here’s what happened next. The selection The journey to get to that plane had been long and hard. These players represented some of the brightest U11s talent that UK has to offer and they had been selected after having played in four conference level tournaments and two specific selection camps throughout the season. They had gone head to head with other players on and off the ice and convinced the coaches that they have what it takes to not just participate but to compete and excel at the highest level.  The day when the final team was announced was eagerly await...

We all know hockey is an expensive hobby for our kids but how much money exactly are we talking about? If you’d rather not know how many of your hard earned pounds and pennies leave your bank account each month then you may want to choose to read another one of my posts instead. I am going to open up the true cost of U11s first team player who regularly plays up to U13s and also takes part in conference. We are essentially talking about a ten year old child's hobby. I’ve worked out the costs for the whole season trying to incorporate everything from monthly fees and equipment costs to travel, hotels and accessories. I have not included hockey camps during the summer or other costs that are true additional extras (like skating lessons). The amounts allocated to new equipment vary year on year. I've used our actual spend from this year. I have also assumed 100% attendance at conference events. The total over a 10 month season comes to eye-watering £6,750. The ...

I watched U11s hockey tournament in Finland last week as the local sides battled it out over three days. The standard was high but what struck me more was the coaching and how different the approach was to what I often see in the UK. In this post, I call out some of those observations. Coaching during the game Most teams and most coaches were very quiet during the games. There was little shouting of instructions to players either when they were on the ice or on the bench. I helped to run a couple of games and witnessed this first hand. Team talk before the game hardly focused on technical or tactical instructions but rather on encouraging the players to try their hardest and to apply the skills that they have learned at training. When a player made a “mistake” (e.g. didn’t pass the puck to the headman), nothing negative was said to that player. The same applied to talking to the referees. Over the 50 or so games played during the tournament, I didn’t see any coaches s...

Last week’s post talked about scoring in general, exploring NHL statistics and essentially concluding that the more you shoot the more you score. This post looks at the skills and quality of shooting and scoring focusing on what players can do in the offensive zone with and without the puck. Everything starts with recognising a scoring opportunity. Not all the areas in the offensive zone are the same from scoring perspective and depending on where you are should guide decision making. The offensive zone can be divided into different scoring areas as shown below: Area 1: In front of the goal When in possession of puck, indicating to the goalie that you are going to shoot forces the goalie to move out for better coverage. This leaves space on the other side and opens up an opportunity for making pass across the goal. The receiving player should always have their blade ready on the ice and aim to shoot high (one-timers). When playing a rebound in area 1, try to go for ...

“If you don’t shoot, you don't score”, we have all heard our coaches tell us this old hockey truth time and time again. And guess what? It’s true. I have looked at some of the statistics available for the 2016/17 NHL hockey season and pulled together evidence that proves just that. The following infograph summarises where the 6,704 goals of the 2016/17 NHL regular season were scored and how. A whopping 57% of goals are scored within 20 feet of the net. Add the goals that were scored within 30 feet and that figure increases to more than 75%. Most of those goals were scored by wrist shots or snap shots. The proportion of goals scored decreases moving further out from the goal as does the type of shot that is most effective. It is hardly surprising that a heavier slap shot tends to work better from the blue line but it is also worth noting that slap shots account for only 11% of all the goals scored. Looking at all players with ten or more goals and plotting their ...

Scoring a goal is probably the best feeling that you can get from playing hockey. That moment when you realise that goalie is too late with his glove or his leg pad and that the puck is going to hit the back of the net is simply awesome. For a fleeting moment you feel at par with Gretzky, Crosby and Ovechkin. Next up are those deserved celebrations with your team mates, fist pumping, high fives all around, you know the drill. But the best thing about scoring is that you can take that feeling home with you and play the memory again and again in your head in the days and weeks that follow. And that memory is like a wine, it just gets better and better as time goes by.   This is why we love and play the game.       Source:    From: https://www.boston.com/sports/untagged/2013/05/14/by_chad_finn_bostoncom_columni_7 Unfortunately scoring is not that easy and if you are anything like me, you may have to put up with cherishing those few scoring ...