Articles
Eliminate fear of failure in the offseason: Scrimmage
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 21 March 2013 16:35
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
John Wooden, who coached UCLA basketball teams to 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, spoke often about developing offensive skills: “If you are afraid to fail, you’ll never accomplish the things you’re capable of doing.”
Offseason hockey should be the most creative experiences of the year, full of scrimmages without scoreboards, championships and adults who care too much about winning. In the winter, the structured environment places too much emphasis on avoiding mistakes, so offensive playmaking is marginalized.
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Playing the body
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 21 March 2013 15:20
By John Russo
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Note: This will be one of the articles (Chapter 7: Systems and Concepts) in John Russo’s soon-to-be published new book “Best of Coaches’ Corner – 26 Years.” Watch for it in 2013.
Some players are a lot more likely than others to play the body. Some players are paid big money in the NHL to play the body. Some players are not at all interested in playing the body or having the body “played” on them. Most of the latter types are not very successful after they progress into about the Bantam level.
Time for quiet contemplation
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 21 March 2013 15:07
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
I continue to remain passionate about leadership. In the past year I have begun to put on leadership clinics for kids and young adults. It has never been more needed. We see occurrences of the lack of leadership almost daily on the news.
This winter we have some seen some of these occurrences within the Minnesota high school sports scene. Recently we have seen play out on the national news scene a more serious occurrence with an Ohio drinking party involving a bunch of young teens, including some of their local high school football team members and an intoxicated young teenage girl leading to a possible rape. There are studies that report that as many as one in four women are being sexually and/or physically assaulted. This should lead us all to asking the question as to why this is happening.
AAU announces 2014 National Mite & Squirt Championships
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- Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 April 2013 17:12
AAU National Hockey Chair Keith Noll and Trevor Hartwig of the AAU National Staff hosted the inaugural AAU Ice Hockey meetings for Mites (7u-8u) and Squirts(9u-10u) at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, Minn., on March 7-8. The AAU meetings coincided with the Let’s Play Hockey Expo and the Minnesota Boys’ State High School Hockey Tournament.
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Stride recovery
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 21 March 2013 15:05
By Diane Ness
Last summer we had the chance to meet up on the ice with one of the nation’s top speedskating coaches, Dave Cruikshank. You may have also seen Dave at the Let’s Play Hockey Expo at the Easton booth just a couple weeks ago. Every year we meet with Dave to discuss some different philosophies and techniques. Whether it’s speedskating or figure skating, there is so much to be learned in the world of skating if you look outside the box. Dave mentioned to us that speedskaters reach top speeds around 40 mph, more than twice as fast as hockey players, so there is a lot to be learned from this sport.
