THE HOCKEY COACH 14

I was chatting with a fellow coach the other day. She coaches a pretty good Midget A team with some very motivated players. She does a...

I only played AAA hockey with the Agincourt Canadiens until Atom. It was a time when there were many more teams in AAA in the MTHL (now...

I came across this terrific three part news series on the state of hockey referees in Peterborough, Ontario. It’s a very discouraging...

I had the great fortune to work as an assistant coach with Stan Butler, current coach of the North Bay Battalion. We worked together in...

This week I had a question about using technology in my regular hockey “workflow”. Now, I am not the kind of coach that tries every...

I have always had a hockey fantasy of having an application similar to NHL18 that would allow me to control all 10 players on the ice,...

I am spending the weekend in Halifax doing some scouting of a girl’s peewee and bantam tournament. The top teams from Nova Scotia are...

I had to submit an application this week for a Russian visa to travel to the women’s U18 world championships in January. One of the...

I certainly have an open door policy when it comes to talking to my players. I invite them to come to me any time with issues, concerns,...

Usually, the Sunday after writing my morning post brings me a feeling of dread. I think “what the heck will I write about next week?”...

One of the metaphors (similes? I didn’t do well in English class) I use regularly when talking about defense and pressure is the game...

Now that it’s the middle of October, by my calculations, if you started your hockey season in September and end in March you are about...

I mention this a lot and truly can’t emphasize it enough: if you want to become a better coach, you need to learn from other coaches. I...

A coaching colleague of mine was watching a Midget boy’s game this week while her team was getting ready for their game. She was shocked...

I watched a team yesterday run a great, simple drill in their practice. Two players started in the endzone faceoff circle, battled and...

As coaches, we talk to our players regularly about good habits on the ice. Good habits can be anything from skating hard to the bench on...

When I played at the University of Toronto, we played a tournament in Vancouver one Christmas break. We were in a pool of three teams:...

I reposted one of my blogs from a few years ago about creativity and the Russian national team of the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s this...

Give or take, we are about six weeks from Labour Day (September 4). Traditionally, I have always considered that to be the start of...

For the past two springs I have had an overwhelming response to my “reader survey”. The answers I receive help guide me on where, when...