and do so at the expense of the real hockey teams that currently play in the winter . To expand , winter-season coaches will now be dealing with about 75 per cent of his / her current roster having been invited to play Spring hockey while the remainder of the team is not invited to play . So all the chemistry that the coaching staff has tried to create within his / her group has now been dynamited to smithereens by these letters sent out by Spring outfits recruiting players . It drives me nuts . Not only has the team now been clearly divided prior to play-offs by the “ you ’ re good enough , but you ’ re not good enough ,” message these letters have brought , but now the staff must try to rebuild their group back to where they felt they had them prior to this powder keg being delivered to the dressing room door . So , now that this has happened , how do the coaches deal with it ? Many coaches have experienced this issue , but some young coaches are going through this for the first time . My suggestion to all of our coaches is to address the issue at the beginning of the year and again in January ( too late for this year ) or February , when the coaches will have a parent meeting to address the issue up front . Coaches will need to state clearly that the expectations of everyone on the team is to be 100 per cent committed to their current winter team in terms of attending all practices and games . Missing winter team practices
or games , in order to begin tryouts for the Spring team is unacceptable , and that players would be suspended if they ’ re found to be behaving this way . Wearing Spring “ AAA ” jackets and equipment to Winter team events , in my opinion , is also something I would eliminate in order to insure commitment . Eliminating Spring team logos from all helmets is a necessity as well . If teams want to have logos on their helmets supporting their own winter team ’ s club logo – fine . But wearing some Spring team ’ s logo during the winter season sends a very selfish message to your winter teammates and their volunteer coaches . I have never been a believer in the value of “ AAA ” tryouts for Spring Hockey and playing an extended season in which teams travel extensively at exorbitant costs and I never will .
I truly believe young players need to do other sports during the spring to enhance the development of their overall athleticism
Coaches will need to state clearly that the expectations of everyone on the team is to be 100 per cent committed to their current winter team in terms of attending all practices and games . Missing winter team practices or games , in order to begin tryouts for the Spring team is unacceptable , and that players would be suspended if they ’ re found to be behaving this way with a high level of commitment to that given sport ( i . e . soccer , baseball , lacrosse etc ). The only exception would be when players are heading into their first year playing 13 year old hockey for the upcoming season . These players will need to have a much heavier cycle of training focused on becoming comfortable and confident as they begin body-checking for the first time . Spring
tournaments for the players 12-turning-13 will have body checking and I feel there is tremendous value to the additional clinical work required to create a term I use as “ contact confidence ,” necessities to begin the Minor Bantam season . Other strategies for this time frame may also include playing in a much more recreationally-focused league that simply provides structured , yet infrequent , playtime with some buddies , people your young player may not play with every day during the winter months ( i . e . relatives , or friends from other areas of the city ). As well , I fell Spring Hockey is valuable for the country kids who live in sparsely populated areas . Those kids benefit tremendously from playing with a more ability-appropriate peer group from April to June . This is the only time I feel that the Spring Hockey has any developmental benefit whatsoever . Getting busy in July and August is important , as you head into the short-term evaluation of try-outs . There is Spring Hockey that lasts until June that is taken very seriously , and that would be at the NHL level – the Stanley Cup playoffs . Meanwhile , our young players take their hockey very seriously during the winter season , which I would like to see go later , right into April . But our young players aren ’ t pros , so don ’ t treat them like pros . Trying to duplicate a pro season year-after-year will result in your young player being sick of hockey by the time some real decisions have to be made . Those decisions arrive in the 13-15-year-old range when a commitment to a longer training cycle will need to be explored . However , until that time comes , stay focused on your winter team and leave the spring stuff to the professionals . n
2017 PLAYOFF EDITION GAME ON 51