THE HOCKEY COACH 14

I had a great day yesterday attending the TeamSnap Hockey Coaches Conference in Toronto. There were some terrific speakers and on-ice...

Former NHL and KHL coach Mike Keenan once said “the most important job we have as coaches is to get the right players on the ice at the...

I have spent the week saying goodbye to my father who passed away suddenly last Sunday morning. It was sudden but not unexpected as he...

I am pretty sure I wouldn’t normally watch the NHL draft on television. Last night was different as the Leafs had the first pick and...

When I was 15 years old, I was asked if I would like to coach one of the PeeWee house league baseball teams in my home organization in...

My family has been spending vacation time in the summers in Southampton, Ontario for the past 20 years. We have an annual family picture...

I have struggled quite a bit through the years as a coach about how to appropriately set goals for my teams. It seemed to me that the...

It’s that time of year that most tryouts have finished and teams have been picked for next season. My guess is that 90% of coaching...

So there was that time I got fired… I was coaching the Brampton Thunder in the CWHL during the 2012-13 season. It was my first year with...

I conducted a survey a few months ago regarding this blog and I asked about readers’ “burning” questions about coaching. The number one...

A number of coaches recently have been reading my book about the Torpedo System and as such, I have had a number of chats about what the...

What can players do over the summer months to score more goals next season? There is one thing in particular. I wrote a blog post exactly...

(As a pre-note to this post, the Torpedo System is one that uses four forwards and one defenceman. The forwards are split in two...

I try to sit down at around 6:00 a.m. every Saturday morning and write a blog post for my website and social media. I have been, for the...

Michigan Youth Hockey’s Twitter account asked me a question this week that has been on my mind. They asked “what (are) your thoughts on...

As a head coach, it is critical for you to surround yourself with good people - both on ice staff and off ice. For many teams, it’s...

My last two blog posts have spurred much conversation and as such, I have had a lot of random thoughts about what to write this week -...

One of the toughest things for coaches to overcome is “the car ride home”. By that I mean the things that are said to a player outside of...

First, thank you to all that responded to my survey over the past month. Your answers have given me some great insight into making my...

I often joke that at the first tryout, if I line all the players up on the goal line and have a race to the other end, I can pick my team...