Jack Blatherwick
The first pass: A measuring stick for all defensemen
- Details
- Last Updated on Monday, 05 November 2012 23:33
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
After winning the Stanley Cup for the ninth time as head coach, Scotty Bowman retired in 2002 as the winningest coach in NHL history with 1,467 wins (223 of them in the playoffs).
During a coaches’ seminar at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Bowman was asked what he considered to be the most important reasons for his coaching success. He hesitated a few seconds, then said, “I always had the best goaltender in the league and defensemen who could make the strong first pass.”
Pushed further to clarify his answer, given that his forwards included a long list of Hall of Famers, Bowman made the point that there is never an effective attack without that accurate first pass coming out of the defensive zone. A decade after his retirement, Bowman’s philosophy is still apparent in the Detroit Red Wings personnel and style of play.
Read more: The first pass: A measuring stick for all defensemen
Hockey sense 2.01
- Details
- Last Updated on Monday, 29 October 2012 14:48
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Chris Pryor hit the nail on the head when he wrote in his column (LPH Oct. 18) that hockey sense is one of the most important aspects of a player’s makeup and might be the most valued by scouts.
Anyone who watched Chris play or train and saw the uncommon passion in his eyes would know why he was as smart a player as he was intense and competitive. His desire to learn whenever he was on the ice is the first clue about developing hockey sense: Significant learning only occurs when the student is passionately involved. This is why FUN and PASSION are two critical components of every practice.
Discovering how players develop rink sense is one of the most important jobs of local, state or national youth programs, yet the topic is not discussed as thoroughly as it should be. Somehow we dismiss this project with thoughts that hockey sense is inherited, not learned.
Sled sprints help develop horizontal acceleration
- Details
- Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 September 2012 15:59
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Definition: Acceleration is a change in the direction or magnitude of velocity. In hockey this is Speed, Quickness and Agility. (Note: Speed is included in the definition, because with each stride there is deceleration and acceleration. Note 2: Agility = changing directions while maintaining speed and balance.)
Herb Brooks used the term “hockey-athleticism” for the physical characteristics (other than skills) required for success in hockey: speed, quickness, agility, strength, endurance, etc. When I’ve asked coaches and players to identify the most important elements of athleticism, invariably they placed speed, quickness and agility at the top. In effect they said, “Horizontal acceleration is the highest priority.”
Read more: Sled sprints help develop horizontal acceleration
The way you practice is the way you will play
- Details
- Last Updated on Thursday, 25 October 2012 15:35
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Anatoli Tarasov, John Wooden, Herb Brooks, Vince Lombardi and Ivan Pavlov – five of the greatest names in coaching – yet the most important lessons taught by these geniuses can be lost in the Hollywood glitter created by filmmakers who characterize their coaching careers with two-second sound bites.
There is one coach, however, whose football team keeps popping up near the top of the ratings because of the way they practice. Maybe someone will study his approach, because he gets it. Chip Kelly, head coach of the Oregon Ducks, has installed a practice philosophy straight from the scientific literature that Pavlov started more than 100 years ago. We might recall that Pavlov was the famous coach of rats and dogs, and ‘conditioned’ them to behave in a predictable way with repetitions he planned in advance.
From the Summer Olympics: Some thoughts for hockey development
- Details
- Last Updated on Thursday, 09 August 2012 16:24
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
I promise not to write at length about dancing horses on the front lawn of the Queen’s castle. But I will say the winner of the dressage competition – the horse, that is – deserves a gold medal for putting up with humans who sip tea and evaluate dancing horses.
There are so many valuable lessons for aspiring athletes in the Olympics, the list is endless. Some of the more important factors are passion, work ethic, sportsmanship and poise in the greatest pressure cooker in the world of sports.
But I pick acceleration. What? Acceleration? Yes, I write about acceleration, because I know nothing about poise in the heat of battle. Heck, my nerves jangled over a four-foot putt in a golf match for 50 cents.
Read more: From the Summer Olympics: Some thoughts for hockey development
