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player tips

08

March

Rails

Watching Jaromir Jagr pass Gordie Howe for third on the all-time points list is nothing short of a historic moment in the NHL. 743 goals and 1,107 assists. That is simply amazing. When you watch Jagr’s highlight reel goals it becomes evident very quickly that he has great hands, incredible vision on the ice and can shoot and pass the puck with awesome accuracy.

So what can youth hockey players learn from a player like Jagr? There is plenty in his bag of tricks to borrow from, and here are a few of the best.

A Great Teammate. Jagr has played with 8 different teams during his NHL career. Along the way he has played with literally hundreds of players and when you ask them about Jagr, they all say the same thing; incredible talent and great teammate who makes everyone around him better. It’s one thing to have the skill and the will, it’s another thing to want to share it with everyone around you. Great players truly do make everyone around them better.

A Nose for the Net. An old coach used to preach all the time that it doesn’t matter how it goes in, only that it goes in. While Jagr has had plenty of highlight reel goals, he has also scored a lot by simply being in the right place at the right time to bang home a rebound or to redirect a shot. Get to the net and good things will happen!

Outstanding Anticipation.  Parents at hockey school ask me all the time about how to teach players to anticipate the game. The reality is that you can’t teach anticipation, but the best players know where to be on the ice to make things happen. The really good players don’t go to where the puck is, they go to where the puck will end up.

I know we said top 3, but this one is a bonus.

Stickhandling. Again, Jagr has had plenty of highlight reel goals during his career and it just never gets old watching the dangles and dekes. If there is one thing players can do this summer to really take their game to the next level it is stickhandling. Whether it’s a puck on the ice or a ball in the driveway, the hand-eye coordination that it takes to master the skill of stickhandling is a lifetime worth of work. As I tell my own son, you can never shoot enough pucks or stickhandle long enough if you really want to be the best.

Perhaps what is most amazing in all of this is that even with over 1,850 points, Jagr is still more than 1,000 points from catching Wayne Gretzky who is number one on the list with 2,857 career points. More on that in a future article!

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you at one of our camps this summer!

19

January

Succeed In Scoring More Goals

Posted by Greg Carter

Rails

As the season turns the corner and the standings start to tighten up, players and coaches know that the ticket to the tournament lies in scoring goals. Great defense is important, but you have to score to win the big prize. Here are a few tips to help you find the back of the net in your next game.

Pick a plate. If you ever watch skills competitions there are plates or bulls eyes in each corner that serve as targets for the all-stars to hit. When the pucks hits the plate they either fall off or break. It’s a fun way to show the impact and importance of picking a corner when shooting to score. Next time you are coming down the ice and have a chance to score, rather than firing right at the logo on the goaltenders sweater, think about picking a corner, and blowing up that plate!

Lateral movement. This is important at all levels of the game, but especially at the youth levels where if you can learn it young, you are bound to score a ton of goals. We see this a lot, especially on rebounds, where the puck will bounce from the goaltender right onto the stick of an attacking forward, but rather than moving right or left, the player shoots it right back into the goaltender. Practice moving the puck across your body to both the left and right and before too long it will become second nature to move laterally. And to score more goals!

Pass the puck. Great goal scorers know that they can’t do it alone. Passing the puck to teammates and then moving to open space for the return pass is one of the most effective ways to score goals. If the goalie only has one player to focus on they have a better chance of stopping the puck. Once you start involving other players and the goalie starts moving in their crease, space opens up and you will find more net to shoot at. Pass the puck and skate hard for the return pass or rebound.

Get to the net. This one seems obvious and easy, but the more youth hockey games I watch the more I realize that you can’t instruct players enough when it comes to getting to the net. Whether you are looking for a pass or a rebound, you need to be near the net…not on your way there or skating passed it below the goal line. In any given game there are going to be a lot of puck scrambles, rebounds and passes that happen in and around the crease, and the only way you are going to capitalize is if you skate hard and get there.

Good luck incorporating these tips into your game and have fun scoring your next big goal!

15

May

Secrets to Game 7 Success

Posted by Greg Carter

Rails

There have been some awesome games in the NHL Playoffs. And nothing is bigger than a Game 7, when everything is on the line. One team goes home to get the golf clubs out of the basement, and the other advances one step closer to hockey’s biggest prize.

So what does it really take to win that decisive Game 7? What separates the winners? Sometimes it takes a combination of puck luck, momentum and of course hard work, but in all my years around the game both as a player and training hockey players, I’ve come to see some similarities among players who more times than not find themselves on the winning side of the scoreboard.

It’s important to understand that these are not just player traits that appear on the eve of a Game 7, instead they are engrained in a player from the time they learn to love the game and compete. Thinking back to the great players that I’ve played with and coached, they always seemed to bump up their game and take it to another level when the stakes got higher. The good players got great, and their ability to keep bringing the magic that it takes to win was even more evident in the biggest games.

These are the players, and I see them today at the youth level, that get off the ice after a shift and are so ‘wired’ that they can’t sit still on the bench to rest, they have to lean against the boards and watch every minute, every second of the game. They can’t wait to get back onto the ice for their chance to score the deciding goal.

Not all players are like this. Some players don’t have that killer instinct as they fear giving up the big goal more than they do putting it all on the line to be the hero.

So what are some secrets, both as a player and a team, to winning a Game 7?

  • Ability to play with a ‘win at all cost’ mentality. This means doing everything possible, every shift to make sure you are always in the best position to have an impact.
  • High Risk / High Reward. Great players are not afraid to take chances to score the big goal. They have the confidence in themselves that given the chance, they will beat the odds and score the goal.
  • Confidence. It may sounds simple, but confidence goes a long way in winning. When a team hits the ice with confidence, you notice. And when you execute on your confidence and get the job done, oftentimes you win the game!
  • Hard work. Nothing compares to hard work. So often one team may look flat, while the other is buzzing around like gnat. Is one team really flat, or is the other just out working and out skating them?
  • Rely on what got you there. And this is the key, that to win the Game 7 you have to recognize that all the long hours of dedication, practice and persistence all plays out in dramatic fashion. Sure, all the players have put in the time, but the best of the best are the ones who do just that little bit more.

Enjoy the rest of the NHL Playoffs and good luck scoring the big one in your next big game!

 

Rails

The excitement for the NHL Playoffs may be greater than ever. Regardless of whether your favorite team is in the hunt for the Stanley Cup, watching the best hockey players in the world compete at the highest level for the top prize in the game really is must watch TV.

From the intensity and speed to the awesome goals, amazing passes and phenomenal dekes, if you are a fan of hockey you are probably glued to the TV. For youth players it is a time when they can really sit and learn from the best of the best.  Cheering for your favorite team is always exciting, but for true students of the game who want to learn a new move, how to back check hard and pick up the weak side wing and everything in between, the NHL Playoffs are a great learning opportunity.

Not only can players watch intently on the individual and team play, but the NHL Playoffs should also serve as inspiration to take your own game to the next level. Watching a great wrist shot beat a goalie top shelf should inspire you to shoot more pucks. Watching a player dance around a defenseman into the open ice should provide the motivation to practice stickhandling even more. Watching the ‘give it all’ attitude of every  player on the ice should encourage you to train throughout the summer, stay in shape and hit the ice in the fall ready to go.

Most great players have that ‘ah-hah’ moment where they realize that to get to the top of the game they need to train hard to get there. Watching the best players in the world and picking out a few moves from a favorite player and then trying over and over to master the skill is a great opportunity to help your overall hockey skills.

Great players have all grown up watching their idols inspire them, and then headed out to the driveway or down to the basement to reenact the big play.

During the next NHL game keep an eye out for what you can learn and apply to your own game. Not only is watching NHL Playoffs awesome from a fan perspective, but it can really be the inspiration to help take your game to the next level.

 

08

April

The Season of Champions

Posted by Greg Carter

Rails

April is one of the great hockey months. In the NHL we have the push to the playoffs, which means a few things: the intensity ratchets up several notches, the speed of the game shifts up a gear or two and of course the facial hair is grown out. During April we also have college hockey’s Frozen Four. This is another great tournament as unpaid players are putting it all on the line not for a huge paycheck, but rather for the simple right to win a championship.

You can’t help but watch the incredible hockey this time of year and wonder, ‘what does it really take to get to that level of play’ . . . not just playing at the highest level, but to advance through the regular season and the playoffs and ultimately hit the ice and play on the biggest stage, under the brightest lights for the right to hoist the biggest trophy.

For most of players, and you’ll hear this in post-game interviews, the ‘what it really takes’ is determination. Not just team determination, but individual determination.  And that determination didn’t just start at the end of the regular season or the weeks leading into the playoffs as the team fought to make the post season. For the most successful players, that determination started a long time ago in a basement, garage, backyard rink or local park.

Determination goes hand and hand with hard work. The great Vince Lombardi once said “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”

Every hockey player wants to win, wants to make the playoffs, wants to play for the championship and wants to hoist the trophy. The reality is that the players who do end up in these games are the ones who have realized at a young age what it really takes to get there. First and foremost it requires a love of the game. After that, it takes commitment, determination and hard work.

The best players that I’ve played with have all possessed these traits. They were the guys at the rink first and off the ice last. They loved shooting pucks. They loved practicing and trying to get better every day. And I mean every day. They loved being at the rink, and when they weren’t they were making mom and dad upset by staying at the local rink two hours too long. They were quintessential rink rats, who also had skill, determination and weren’t afraid of hard work.

So when you see players on TV hoisting a trophy, some doing so in tears, it’s important to understand that the journey for these players didn’t start at the beginning of the season. It started at the beginning of their recognition that with determination and hard work, there can be no limits to your success.

When does your journey begin?

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