White Bear Lake Area Hockey Association

The players are the reason the association exists

Practice makes permanent
Repetition develops muscle memory
Games limit skills development

USA Hockey Players Code of Conduct
Play for Fun
Work hard to improve your skills
Be a team player- get along with your teammates
Commitment - be on time for your practices and games
Respect your coach, your teammates, your parents, opponents, and officials

The coach is a teacher, a leader, and a role model

Coaches must be certified
Coaches must be able to relate to children
Coaches must be able to teach skills that create an enjoyable hockey experience

USA Hockey’s Coach’s Code of Conduct
Hockey is Fun
Honest representation and skills should decide the final outcome of games
Both players and opponents are to be respected and complemented
Rules and regulations are to be respected and followed by all participants
Officials are to viewed as honest arbitrators
Winning is a consideration, but not the only one nor the most important one
Hockey is for all to enjoy
Set an example of good behavior

Your commitment and conduct will determine the success of WBLAHA

Parents must help to enforce the guidelines
Parents must act is a positive and healthy way

USA Hockey’s Parents’ Code of Conduct
Players require a good example as opposed to criticism
Help make your child’s participation rewarding for all participants
Be understanding and supportive of the coach and the officials
Support and assist the program in a positive manner.

White Bear Lake Youth Hockey Association
Basic Skills Development and Systems Manual

Before we start it is very important to remember what our roles are as coaches. Our mission statement is about developing boys and girls to become the best men and women and the best hockey players they can be. You take on an enormous role when coaching because you have an opportunity to bring young athletes to new level OR to bring ones ego, confidence, and identity to ruins. White Bear Lake Youth Hockey is about FAIRPLAY and OPPORTUNITY and it is your job to ensure that it happens.

Coaching is all about finding the best way to get the most out of your players, NOT ABOUT HOW WELL YOU THINK YOU KNOW X’s and O’s. Your job is not only to show how to do a drill but more importantly to TEACH WHY it is performed. This allows WBLAHA to create an environment where each hockey player will further develop and enhance both their individual and team hockey skills.

The creation of the White Bear Lake Development Program is a collaboration of the feedback received from the coaches within the association as well as the High School. The foundation is based from USA Hockey. This manual focuses on the key components of developing and implementing the skills necessary to excel in our great sport from the beginning. The following pages are by no means a complete guide to all facets of the game nor is it intended to be.

The intention is to create a “blue-print” that will continually be updated. It is a program that you as coaches within the program can use as a guide throughout the course of the season or seasons.

This blue-print if you will, is actually a plan of progression. The progress your player’s make throughout the course season will depend largely on your ability to identify areas of weakness and develop a plan to continuously improve on those areas until they are ready to move on to the next challenge.

The key here is developing habits. Once these habits are formed, either good or BAD, they are difficult to break. Therefore, it is crucial to expose young hockey players to the repetition of specific skills.

Games are overemphasized at the mite and squirt levels. In fact, the games are a DIGRESSION in youth hockey player development. Too many bad habits are formed in games because the skill levels are unequal.

We need to be continuously dedicated to the development of individual skills. Players must master the basic skills before they can move to the next level.

Here are a few common misconceptions out there:

•  The kids get bored during skills practices, they’d rather scrimmage!
• Skills practices are punishment vs. Fun – No need to revisit basic skills
• Cross-overs and inside edges? Let’s skip that and focus on scoring and systems
• We don’t need to do that basic “stuff”, lets throw down the pucks and get them moving. Hi-tempo practices are the only way to go.
• Kids will learn if you just SHOW them how to do drills
•  Kids need higher level drills to get to the next level

In my opinion here are the facts:

•  Rink-Rat players are the best at almost every level because they spend more time on the ice than their peers as they are playing the equivalent of a small area game for hours. Not as much passing going on so they have the puck on their stick a lot more. How much time on the ice does each kid get during a scrimmage or game? How long do they have the puck on their stick? The answers are: not enough and not long.
• Skills practices are only as boring as the coaches make them or they themselves believe them to be. Practice makes perfect
• Basic Skills versus winning: The player must first be able to get themselves into a position to score?
• Speed and repetition mean nothing if they can’t do it right at half speed.
• You must show players both how to perform the drills and why? Do you know WHY you do certain drills?
• Can they do the basic drills? How about at full speed?

The bottom line is that we need to overcome these misconceptions and create a progressive skill development plan for each of our teams. The following pages will not only list the individuals skills we need to work on but also provide you with some key points of emphasis and correction points.

Teaching the basic skills is a simple process. You do not need to over think this. In fact, this can and will lead to bad habits. Preparation is one of the major keys to the progression of your players. Coming to the rink with an idea of where your team is at is imperative.

You are required to implement several of the “Basic Skills” in every one of your practices as the season progresses. This next section focuses specifically on tailoring your practice plans throughout the course of the season. You do not need to sit down and draw up thirty practice plans. Flexibility and Creativity will be crucial. You might need to keep going back to the same 3-6 skills all year. However, the trick is to make the practices look different with several variations over time.

Practices:

Team Skates: For the mite and U8 level, both teams will skate together for the first 25 to 30 minutes of each practice. Most coaches have a long list of high energy drills where the balance of the coaching staff can add instruction to the drills being performed. Likewise, drills will be posted on the WBLAHA web site for reference purposes.

Basic Skills:

One very important skill in hockey that is often missed in teaching basic skills is BALANCE AND AGILITY. It is a skill that is hard to teach but can be introduced in many fun ways to expose players to awkward positions that hockey players get into and MUST get out of very quickly. To excel in hockey today a player MUST be a great skater. That doesn’t mean up and down the ice. It means both QUICKNESS and SPEED along with BALANCE and AGILITY with or without open ice. The other facet of the game is hockey sense. And by teaching why we do certain drills and how they relate to the game, we can make the players THINK about what they are trying to accomplish.

Ready Position - Legs shoulder width apart, knees bent, stomach flexed

Skating Forwards

• Push one leg back snapping the toe and bring back to ready position
• C cut starting with toe and transferring to the heal
• Increase speed with full leg extension,full recovery to ready position, and toe snap

Skating Backwards

• Chest up, one hand on stick, good knee bend
• Push with toes to create a “C” on the ice
• Increase speed with full knee bend and toe snap

Turning (Backwards-toes, Forwards-middle of foot to heels)
 

• Start with emphasis on the basic READY POSITION ( knees bent, head up )
• Progress from turning on one foot with the weight on one edge, to turning both ways, to alternating feet to feel both inside and outside edges. Stick in READY POSITION
• After practicing both feet and both edges with a one foot turn progress into a two foot power turn. Practice first with large C cut with outside foot.
• Skill is mastered when a player coming out of a power turn with the same amount of speed going into the turn in each direction.

Common mistakes:

Player standing up too straight, leaning back or the wrong way, stopping instead of turning, turning/digging too much on the heels instead of the middle of the skate. Too much weight on one skate, not properly balanced.

Transitions

• Fwd to Backward, from a fwd glide position (knees bent, back straight)
• (Mite) Player should snow plow with one foot only turning the hips and body will follow.
• As a Player gets older and more comfortable they should progress into a 180 degree turn on the balls of their feet without losing the basic hockey position and without losing any speed. ( Mohawk Turn is a 3 Step Turn )
• Emphasis on turning the hips, should master this skill turning both directions.
• Backward to Fwd, from a backward glide (ready position)
• Open up the hips and shoulders one direction and point skate as close to 180 degrees as possible while rotating body and pushing off of the other foot to complete the rotation.
• Progress to turns from forward to backward around a circle.
• Skill is mastered when the player can transition either way without losing position and speed.

Common mistakes:

Player is standing up too straight, or leaning over too much, stopping or power turning into the transition instead of rotating hips and shifting weight. Turning the feet and not the body/hips.

Pivoting/Changing Direction

• Fwd to Backward, from a glide in the hockey position. KNEES BENT
• Pivot with using a two foot stopping motion and throwing the hips and rear into the direction you want to go and accelerate out of the pivot skating backwards (no crossovers).
• Backward to straight ahead Fwd, use the two foot snowplow from the hockey position glide, emphasis on “the chair” then immediately to the “V” start for the fastest transition.
• Backward to complete change of direction Fwd. From the glide, use one foot stopping motion, open up hips and shoulders and change direction, all in one motion. While back foot in stopping position provides power for the first stride.

Common mistakes:
Player does not have enough knee bend, player is stopping instead of pivoting, trying to cross over in place of pivoting.

Cross-Overs Forwards (Players Must Become Comfortable with Extreme Knee Bend to get to Crossover Position)

• Start with C-cuts around the circle outside foot only
• Emphasis on knees bent, both hands on stick, slight lean forward
• Progress into C – cuts with outside foot sliding in front of inside foot ( Weight on the inside foot )
• Important to have proper lean and weight evenly distributed
•  Finish with a full cross-over snapping the inside foot (outside edge)
• Skill is mastered when a player can accelerate doing crossovers both ways

Common Mistakes:
Small cross-overs with no power (COACHES DON”T RUSH THIS, BIG POWERFUL X-OVERS ARE BETTER THAN SHORT FAST ONES). Player standing up too straight, forget to snap inside foot.

Cross-Overs Backwards

• C-cut around circle backwards
• Emphasis on good body position, sitting with KNEES BENT, 1 hand on the stick
• Progress into a C-cut with outside foot, then glide on the inside foot (this part of the progression is important, if the player has trouble balancing on one foot a full cross-over will be difficult).
• Then advance into a full cross-over with emphasis on reaching towards the center of the circle with the inside foot, generate power from a big inside reach and pull the inside skate back into the body with the outside edge of the same skate.
• Skill is mastered when a player can accelerate doing crossovers both ways.

Common Mistakes:
Standing up too straight, short strides ( no power ), no REACH with inside foot.

Stick-handling (Should emphasize off ice with tennis ball or whiffle ball)

• Emphasis on correct hand position (You may have to show each player by holding their hands and stick ).
• Good hockey position, with the goal of head up, eyes looking straight ahead
• Concentrate on not slapping the puck but instead cupping puck (START SLOW to be SOFT)
• Wide dribble – emphasis on weight transfer from one side to the other
• Quick Hands (narrow dribble) – emphasis on soft hands.
• Toe to heel drag- puck has to be cupped properly, roll over the wrists
• Forehand carry, Backhand carry – use one hand and push puck ahead while accelerating forwards and gaining speed.

Common mistakes:
Player is watching the puck not the play, slapping the puck instead of CUPPING the puck. Poor hand and body position. Sticks are often too long for younger players (should be cut off below the chin, at least).

Shooting (Start facing sideways for weight transfer, then to forward facing)

•  All begins with proper hockey position
• Transferring weight is the key in shooting
• POWER is generated from the LEGS
• CONTROL of the stick comes from ARMS
• QUICK RELEASE is all in the WRISTS

*IMPORTANT – MOST SHOOTING IN PRACTICE AND GAME SITUATIONS WILL BE THE SNAP SHOT (facing forward)

Stationary Wrist Shot

• Begin with puck near the heel/middle of the stick, cupping the blade
•  Puck on the stick should be behind or near the back foot of player
• Sweep the puck along the ice from the back foot to the front foot, keeping the blade cupped, while TRANSFERRING WEIGHT from back foot to front foot.
• Wrists should snap over as weight transfers.
• Power is generated from bearing weight on the stick through the weight transfer motion.
• Keep head up and eyes on the target, follow through pointing the blade of the stick towards the target. Follow through low for low shot, higher for high shot.
• For younger players, the wrist shot is the same as the pass but with more emphasis on the weight transfer and follow through.

Snap Shot

• Puck is positioned on the toe of the stick and is dragged towards the body
• More emphasis on snapping the wrists quickly .This shot has the fastest release
• The weight transfer is more from the arms and wrists
•  Follow through is the same as wrist shot.
• Power comes from the legs when moving and the arms and wrists when stationary

Backhand

• Puck is cupped on the heel/middle of blade
• Emphasis on weight transfer, start the back behind in stance, progress into sweeping motion transferring weight from back to front foot. Point the toe of front skate, and blade to towards the target. High follow through for high shot, low for low shot.

Common Mistakes:
NO WEIGHT TRANSFER, all arms no legs, player slapping at the puck instead of sweeping the puck, hands too close or too far apart.

USA Hockey Videos –You must view these to be certified to coach

www.hchockey.org
www.flexcoach.com
www.minnesotahockey.org
www.usahockey.com

Appendix 1- Full Ice Drills
Appendix 2- Half Ice Drills