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chk hrd

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Posts posted by chk hrd


  1. Make sure to check the toe box really good. I took a shot square on the toe and I felt small piece break loose into my skate. The toe box didn't look worse for wear and stayed on for the rest of the game. When I got home and was able to look a little closer the toe box was pretty much seperated from everything. If I had taken another shot off the toe during the game it would have came off completely and really caused some damage. 

    • Like 1

  2. Not to be a downer but it is harder than it looks and if you have only skated a few times and have zero hockey experience you would be more help off the ice. You need to have some skating abilities just to get around the ice and you can't really help with drills if you don't know how to play. You need to be pretty stable on your skates with little kids. If one takes you out by accident it might not only be you that gets hurt. If you have some skating abilities you would be more stable on your skates and less likely to go down. As a coach I wouldn't want you in the locker room because of the liabilities. If you haven't gone through the system with background checks then being in the locker room can be sketchy. All it takes is one parent to make a comment because the misunderstood what a kid said. You also have to think about what the other kids might say to your kids about your abilities. Even at that age they can be rough. And last, you have to think about the other parents, they are worse than the kids.

    My suggestion, enjoy learning the game and being able to watch and focus on your kids. Start taking lessons and go to stick & puck with your kids. You might even consider taking lessons and try playing.

    • Like 2

  3. I got a gift certificate to Hockey Monkey and didn't need anything so I bought three pair of Reebok protective socks with kevlar. The foot section is a very thin but durable with the portion from below the ankle up kevlar lined fabric. Very comfortable, good feel in the boot and a little extra protection from getting cut on the back of the leg.  

    • Like 1

  4. Seen this a hundred times. Sometimes it is the parent living vicariously through their kid or they think their kid will make the show. At higher ages and levels I've seen coaches demand the kids who are not their super stars dedicate all their time to hockey. It really is sad. I've seen to many kids burn out or start to hate the game from parental pressure like this. Most of these parents don't even bother asking what the kids want, it what they want the kids to do. It's not just this sport, it's every sport. 

    • Like 1

  5. I completely agree with what's been said. I wore a half shield for quite a while. One day I had a feeling that it was time to put the cage back on, which was a good thing because I took a puck to the face that night. The guys that chirp about cages are dopes. I tell them I would much rather be a pussy and were a cage that be Mr Macho and bleed all over the ice because I took one to the face. I didn't sign a huge paying beer league contract so I still work for a living. 

    • Like 1

  6. I did my time through the youth hockey grinder (both as a coach and parent). I'm your son is having fun and give you a lot of credit for handling it the way you did. Systems are fine and dandy for older and upper levels, but because hockey is so fluid, systems fall apart when the game starts. Most parents have never seen drill diagrams drawn out, they look like road maps to an alien planet. Some drills can get complicated and trying to explain them to young minds doesn't work.

    Bottom line is it's a freakin' game. If the kids aren't having fun then why do it. I've seen kids take development leaps and bounds by going to stick and puck or playing pick up because they are free to try anything they want and not get hammered for it. Things they wouldn't dare try in practice. I have always thought a player's body will figure out the basics for them and a coach fine tunes it.

    Not ever kids wants to play at elite levels which is completely fine. It's the players who are forced to do this that suffers. You did good for you kid.

    • Like 1

  7. Depending on how the game was going I might have said run the clock sooner. When everyone's having an off night and your chance of winning is gone, sometimes it's best just to finish and get off. Been in to many games where it's not going good and emotions get hot. One player gets pissed because they didn't like something that happened and it goes downhill fast.   


  8. I thought I was back in the 80's with the puck tracking. Didn't like it then and still don't like it now. The only use for it might be for a replay showing what happened. If they used the player track when everyone is still, like a face off or maybe during a replay it might be useful. But if you watch a lot of hockey you usually know who the players are so then it is more of a distraction. I like the idea that the NHL wants to use technology but I would rather see it done in other ways. Maybe a sensor in the puck that lets them know for sure if it is a goal. If you are going to clock shots maybe something that also shows where the puck went, almost like with a MLB pitch.    


  9. I was starting to get burned out also. Years of playing with little break, a team that was going through a dysfunctional period and parts of my body starting to fail me were really getting to me. It took an non-serious injury to get me straight. I hurt my shoulder (the one I already had operated on) and I was seriously thinking about hanging up my skates. At almost 54 my glory years are behind me and I have nothing to prove. The more I thought about stopping the more depressed (more like down) I got. It made me take a hard look at why I'm still playing. I realized how much the game means to me, how much its done for our family, how much the friendships I've made mean, especially with a few that have become like 2nd children. I still play as hard as I can and try to be competitive but my outlook on winning and loosing has changed some. Depending on how my body holds up I may not have to many years left for league play. So now every time I play I remind myself that and try to make the most of it. If my body needs a break, I take a game off and when I do I am looking forward to getting back out there.

    It sounds like it might be time for you to stand back and take a look at everything from a distance. Be honest with yourself and you'll know what to do. 


  10. IMHO, If you want to learn better edge control and balance take lessons from a figure skating coach. The problem with watching videos or having someone who is inexperienced at teaching helping you is you don't know if you are doing things correctly. They may feel like you are doing it right and you may not be falling over but the technique could be bad. Good skating has a lot to do with conservation of motion. 


  11. I've never done a skating camp but have watched my kid do a couple. My feelings are it's better to take the money and use them for private lessons. With camps they will show you how to do something and let you know if you are doing it right or wrong. After the camp is over it's up to you to do the drills and hope you are doing them right. if you are not doing them right then you can start building bad habbits.  With personal training you get one on one instruction with immediate reinforcement and they can gear your lesson to what needs to be worked on.  After a few camps we stopped because he wasn't getting as much out of them as he was with a personal instructor. 

    • Like 1

  12. I'm 53 and been playing for a long time. I am way past my prime but still play in a B/C league with players young enough to be my kid (who is on my team). Heck, I use to coach some of the kids I play against. The first thing is having fun. If your not having fun then why do it. If your not having fun in a higher level then play in a lower level that you enjoy and use your skill and experience to help other players get better. I did this for awhile and it got a lot of enjoyment helping players progress. I've played in leagues with the same Junior B, gonna make it to the big show players. It is never fun chasing the game so you have to accept your limitations and use your experience for an advantage. Sometimes the kids learn on their own what beer league means and sometimes you have to remind them. To me it comes down to the love of the game. I will play at whatever level I need to so I can keep playing.  


  13. On ‎8‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 7:44 AM, CigarScott said:

    I'm also in hockey learn to play which seems to help more since the skate classes are ran entirely by figure skaters and some hings you have to do differently in hockey skates. Since the hockey instructors obviously know how to skate better in hockey skates than the figure skates then it seems to be more beneficial. 

    Don't start thinking this way for starters. You will learn great edge control and balance from figure skating instructors. Many high level teams will bring in figure skaters to refine top level skater's technique. They are also good at teaching power skating. Everything a figure skater does is based on balancing and their edges plus they have to learn to generate power in short distances. 

    No offense but there is a big difference between what most people feel is "being competent" and what is really good skating. Learn to skate with good technique first before messing with profiles. Learning to skate takes a lot of practice, repetition and falling. IMHO it's better to start with a stock, neutral profile and learn how to skate correctly.  

    • Like 1

  14. ^ ^ ^ ^ adam14 brings up a good point about parents and communication. I'm not sure how it is in "traditional" hockey areas but I'm betting it's similar to the "non-traditional" hockey areas like in the West. I don't know how many parents I have seen criticize or even berate their kid for having a bad game or not doing something right, even though as a parent, they have never coached the game or even played the game and just started getting involved in hockey when their kid decided the wanted to play. The closest they ever got to a real game situation was when the puck came over the glass or a video game. Hockey is a fast, dynamic game and if you have never studied it, coached it or played it is real easy to make comments about what should have been done or why you didn't do something, especially when you have no idea what you are talking about. Things like you didn't back check hard enough on their last goal, even though you were the farthest from the play and on the end of a long shift, didn't you see that guy sneaking down the slot, even though you were near the boards covering the player you were supposed to or why didn't you crash the net right after you passed the puck to the slot and were drilled into the boards. 

    When my kid played I never confronted him about the game as soon as he walked out of the locker room. You have to give a player time to come down from the game and be ready to talk about it. My first question was usually "well how did you think you did". I would let him give himself an honest assessment of the game before I put my two cents worth in. I tried to ask why he did or didn't do something first instead of telling him what I thought he should have done. If he asked my opinion on how he played I would be straight up and honest with him, no sugar coating it. As a player and coach I know how fragile a persons mind set can be and when I gave my opinions it was from my point of view based on my experiences. I know what it's like to have a really good game and a really bad game, to play hurt or sick, get to much ice time or not enough. Being in similar situations helps you know when to talk or just keep quiet.

    When I coached I always tried to leave it up to the players on their game assessments. I always told the players (and my son his entire life) to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you gave it everything you had. If you can honestly say you did then you have nothing to be upset about. If you didn't, then why? You let yourself and your team down by not giving it everything you had and need to try harder next time. 

    • Like 4

  15. We went through this years ago and it is a shame that with all the studies it still happens today. My son had one coach in particular who was real bad about it. If you played a summer sport good luck making the team, unless of course you were one of his star players or took private lessons from him, then for some reason it was okay. At one point my son was racing moto-x, playing soccer and hockey. It became to hard for the family to try and make all the practices, races, games and not to mention pay for them all. We talked it over and my son decided he wanted to focus on hockey so he stopped playing soccer and racing. We think it was the right choice for him. From the time he started playing he liked nothing more than being at the rink. It didn't matter if it was for practice, training, S & P or just to hang out (he even worked at one of the rinks until he left for the military). A lot of kids aren't this lucky and have to suffer because of bad coaches and associations.


  16. Here are my thoughts from experience. Yes, the extremely talented players, the ones that are far over and above all the others, will get found. The reality is that in today's world the more money that is put into the player the more exposure they get so it is easier for them to be scouted. But just because you dump a lot into a kid doesn't mean they will go any further than aging out of youth or Junior B (pay to play). I have seen a lot of money wasted because the parents didn't want to admit to themselves that their kid didn't have what it takes to play at a pro (NHL, AHL, ECHL. Europe, etc) level.

    My kid had some opportunities to play at a junior level. He realized that that would be as far as he could go. He opted to join the military and early enlisted. I never tried to discourage him about playing but was always honest with him and we talked a lot about the game on many long trips. When families don't look at the reality of things a lot of time can be wasted that will affect them later in life. Many don't get out of school or start a career path until they are in their mid twenties. My son is 24 has an incredible job with a good future and has been self supporting for quite awhile, which is more than I can say for many of the people he played with. 

    I spent a ton of money for youth hockey. Not because I had delusions of my kid making it to the pros but because he loves the game. Every private lesson and camp was a life learning experience. Every trip was an opportunity to see a different place. Playing in the Pee-Wee International tournament in Quebec was a once in a lifetime experience. He learned more life lessons and about himself playing hockey. There is a reason that many jobs like fire fighters, police, military love hockey players; the team mentality, respect, personal conduct and responsibility you learn goes along way.

    When people ask about the money I spent my first reaction is "it was well worth it", my second is "it's cheaper than paying a lawyer if he got into trouble because of to much free time" 

    • Like 7

  17. Nope, I have gone to a game every now and then (my brother has season tickets) and I have a total of 1 shirt given to me as a present. After the naming fiasco they did do something to earn my support, mainly helped the city in a really bad time after the October 1 shooting (I was at that game and drove through the shooting zone about a half hour before it started). I have supported the team and will keep supporting them but I'll also support the Red Wings like I have for the last 40+ years. I'm not a fair weather fan who only supports a team because the are winning. And believe it or not, some people are capable of supporting more than one team. I like the GN's for the west games and RW for the east. When they played against each other I supported the Wings.

    If I had meant to finish the post off with "jk" I would have included it. 

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