Friday, December 18, 2015

Just a Reminder

Just to reinforce what we discussed last clinic...

Be sure to teach your D to be players, not just defenders. Check out the link for a great article and podcast on creating players who play all over the ice, not just in their own end!

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Big Thanks!

Big thanks to Coach Martin for hosting our NGHA Coach Clinic number 2 last night... Awesome turn out from our amazing community of coaches!

Thursday, November 26, 2015

NGHA Coach Development Session #2 - Defence Matters

Hello NGHA Coaches,

Our Coach Development Team is very excited to be offering you our second Coach Development Clinic of the season, hosted by Pier Martin who coaches our BCAA team.

This clinic will be held on December 7th, from 8:15 - 10:30 in the evening @ Nepean Sportsplex rink #3.

We will be starting the evening with a "Hot Stove" discussion session in the dressing room, followed by a 90 minute on ice session. An outline of the specialized Defense clinic is listed below. Also, Pier is completing his High Performance Coaching Stream, so not only is this an opportunity for great learning and sharing of coaching knowledge, but your attendance and participation also helps support one of our high level NGHA coaches.

We look forward to seeing you all, and hope that you will make arrangements for assistant coaches to run practice, or the bench if you have conflicts. This is a great opportunity for them to get an opportunity to "run the show"!


To sign up, please send an email to coachdev@ngha.ca


  • Sessions will be limited to the first 40 coaches that sign up  
  • Send your full name, team level, and age group (Novice/Atom/Peewee/Bantam/ Midget)
  • Bring your gear for the on ice session (helmet, gloves, skates, and stick)
  • We will have a draw for "coaching" door prizes at the end of the evening so please remember to sign in when you arrive!

Also, click on the link below and then  bookmark our NGHA Coach Development Database for coaching resources, tips, articles, shared knowledge, and upcoming events and clinic dates!

NGHA Coach Development Database

Also follow us on Twitter @NGHAcoachdev
Clinic Title:
"Playing Defense isn't just about backing up"

Description:
This sessions will explore the art of teaching defensemen in today's game. We will explore traditional drills that can be catered to defensemen and discuss tips and tricks to continually develop your D's without them knowing. Additionally, we will discuss and cover through drills, some concepts that will help your defensemen be more than an object on the path to the net. An engaged and active defense will lead to increasing scoring opportunities for your team!

Hot Stove Topic:
Goalies are key to the success of your team but we don't include them in the conversation. How can we better involve our goalies in practices outside of just "stopping the puck"?

 presentation will also focus on these 4 key topics
  1. Gap Control
    • What is Gap Control?
    • What is "bad" control vs "good" gap control
    • Show some videos of both examples and success
  2. Stick Positioning
    • Why is the stick important?
    • What is good stick vs bad stick?
    • Show some videos of both examples
  3. Pinning
    • Why do we want them to pin?
    • How do we teach pinning? What are the concepts?
    • What's the difference between Pinning and Body Contact?
  4. Pivoting and Protecting Middle
    • Discuss pivoting to the middle
    • Removing cross-overs from the game
    • Open hip pivots vs crossover pivots
    • Using stick to help pivot and at what stage

Monday, November 16, 2015

Great New Hockey Resource For Your Players

BCBB Coach Jay Greco has created a great resource for you to use with your players. 
He has put together comprehensive guidebook that you can use as a resource or distribute to your team!

Click on the link below to get to the PDF for this resource.

The NGHA Player's Handbook link can also be found in the Hockey Docs section!

NGHA Player's Handbook

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Silky Mitts Session - Stationary/Underspeed Puckhandling #1

Excellent, comprehensive video that explains how to teach the puckhandling techniques we worked on at the beginning of our Silky Mitts Session.

Silky Mitts Seesion - Underspeed Training #2

Then you can try these...

Silky Mitts Session- Stationary/Underspeed Puckhandling #3

When you really want a challenge try these!

Landmine Puckhandling

Silky Mitts Session - Half-Wall Net Drive Puckhandle Station

Silky Mitts Session - Defence Skills Station

Silky Mitts - Defence Skating Escapes Station

Silky Mitts Session - Mike's Simple Stations

Simple equipment and a simple pylon course can be transformed into great development tools for puckhandling...

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Big Thanks!

Big thanks to the more than 30 coaches that attended last night's clinic. Awesome community of coaches!

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Stick on Puck

I see lots of young D spending the entire game with two hands on their stick. This becomes extremely limiting when defending ice and even arriving at a puck battles. The link below will take you to a great article showing the importance for young D to defend with one hand on their stick, extending their reach, increasing mobility, and improving overall defensive positioning.

Monday, November 2, 2015

HOT STOVE TOPIC

Is it our responsibility as coaches to try and build the winningest team possible OR Should our main focus be developing the individual skills of our players? Can it be both. If so where is the balance found?

Sunday, November 1, 2015

NGHA COACH DEV CLINIC #1....SILKY MITTS!

Hello NGHA Coaches,

Our Coach Development Team is very excited to be offering the first session in this year's series of Coach Development Clinics on 


November 9th, from 8:15 - 10:30 in the evening @ Nepean Sportsplex Rink #3.

Consistent with the last couple of years, we will be starting the evening with a "Hot Stove" discussion session in the dressing room, followed by a 90 minute on ice session where we will be focusing on puck handling.  Drills will be designed to help your players develop the individual skills needed to improve as puck handlers in all areas of the ice, and will be applicable to all ages and levels from House to high level competitive players.

To sign up, please send an email to coachdev@ngha.ca

  • Sessions will be limited to the first 40 coaches that sign up  
  • Send your full name, team level (House/competitive), and age group (Novice/Atom/Peewee/Bantam/ Midget)
  • Bring your gear for the on ice session (helmet, gloves, skates, and stick)
  • We will have a draw for "coaching" door prizes at the end of the evening so please remember to sign in when you arrive!

For coaches that attended October's DEV 1 Clinic, we will have manuals on site for you to pick up. If you cannot attend please try to make arrangements for someone to pick up your manual and cert# for you.


Also follow us on Twitter @NGHAcoachdev
 

We look forward to seeing you at the rinks,
NGHA Coach Development Team

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

2-1....Another Blow Out in Girl's Hockey

This will be a topic we will be discussing throughout the season and a question coaches will be looking to answer before their next game! 

How do we increase the number of goals scored in Girl's Minor Hockey? 

To get us started, here is a link to 5 habits for scoring more goals....

Good luck!
 

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

WELCOME BACK!



Hey coaches, welcome to the 2015/2016 season of Wildcats hockey! With the season a month or so in, we thought it was time to get back to posting on the Coach Database.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @NGHAcoachdev


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

A Huge Thank You....

A Huge "Thank You" goes out to all of the wonderful NGHA coaches that participated in our coaching clinics throughout the course of this season. 

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

FINAL NGHA COACH DEVELOPMENT CLINIC

FINAL NGHA COACH DEVELOPMENT CLINIC - Monday February 23, 2015 @ Sportsplex2 from 9:30 -10:30 PM

Please sign up now for our final coaching clinic of the season! There is a slight change to the schedule as this session will be at Sportsplex 2 and our on-ice session will be from 9:30-10:30PM. We would like to hold another "Hot Stove" session before our on-ice session so please arrive no later than 8:45PM.

This last clinic will focus on small area games and how you can use them to enhance and develop both individual and team tactics. 


***Again, we will be capping the number of coaches at the first 50 to sign up. 

To be included please be sure to:
  1. Let us know you will be coming by emailing coachdev@ngha.ca ASAP
  2. Arrive at the Sportsplex by 8:45
  3. Bring your gear because you will be going on the ice
  4. Don't forget to include what team you are working with!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Why Small Area Skill Development Works

NHL Analytics Tracking of 8U Hockey Players

This great video was forwarded to me by Jason Corrigan via Gord Milligan from MCAA. Thanks Fellas.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Drills of the Week

Partners in Speed

These are the partner drills that we did as a group during our "Battle Tested" clinic. They are excellent for foot speed and really target the techniques used in all battle situations that players might find themselves engaged in during games and practices.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Great Hockey Canada Resource

Hockey Canada Drill Hub

Fantastic and comprehensive drill site that is now on the Hockey Canada site. Includes drills, in pdf as well as accompanying videos. Awesome skill development drills, as well as complete practices. If you join (for free) you get access to more drills and the ability to put practices together from their drill database. Excellent resource to bookmark, and I will add it to our "Drills Categorized by Skills" sidebar. See the link below.

Hockey Canada Drill Hub link

 

NGHA Coaches Clinic #4 - "Battle Tested"

NGHA Coaching Clinic #4 - "Battle Tested" 

Coaches,
Please join us Monday January 19, 2015 @ Sportsplex3 from 8:30-10:30 PM  for the next in our series of NGHA Coaches Clinics.

During this clinic we will be focused on teaching the fundamental skills, body position, and dynamic movements that contribute to a players ability to battle for pucks and position in all areas of the ice. Our focus will be on how players can establish and maintain position and strength in a variety of game situations, ultimately giving them an advantage during any and all puck battles they are engaged in.

Some of the skills  we will focus on are: creating and battling for space, getting open to receive passes, body position in front of the net, moving to open & tight spaces,  puck handling in tight spaces, puck protection, and offensive and defensive battle postures. Drills will be game relevant and use a variety of battle zones (Front of net, corners, side boards, etc).

Again, this is a great clinic not only for head coaches, but for all assistant coaches and on ice staff to attend. These clinics are designed to help all coaches of  all levels and age ranges and we strongly encourage increased participation from our competitive stream of coaches. If you cannot attend, please send a representative from your staff. 

Prior to the on-ice session we would like to lead another "Hot Stove" discussion addressing issues our NGHA coaches face throughout the course of a season. 


***Again, we will be capping the number of coaches at the first 50 to sign up. 

To be included please be sure to:
  1. Let us know you will be coming by emailing coachdev@ngha.ca ASAP
  2. Arrive at the Sportsplex by 8:25
  3. Bring your gear because you will be going on the ice
See you January 19th,
NGHA Coach Development Team

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Drill of the Week

 Ice Knight Drill Set

Wishing all our great coaches a very Happy New Year! I wanted to start 2015 right, with a great development drill for all ages.

I love this drill as it provides focus on skill development in multiple areas with multiple reps. It is a small space skill set that can be done at multiple age and skill levels. This is a fantastic drill for young defenseman as it targets multiple facets of their game (lateral movement, transitions, quick passes).