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not sure if there s that much to do. maybe a tour of the bell centre. there used to be a habs museum in the basement but a few years ago the canadiens tore it up to build condos next door. Id seek out ethnic food rather than hockey stuff if I were you. vietnamese pho in and chinese food in chinatown, portuguese grilled chicken in the plateau, lebanese shish taouk all around town, etc.

are you bringing your gear? there’s a few places to play dropin hockey during the day for $10-15

Have a few friends in the Acadie-Bathurst Titan org and they just won their first Memorial Cup on Sunday. No doubt they're still all hungover Not my video but what a thrill it must be.

it could also be a right foot issue. was talking with a former echl player who had problems with bone spurs. he said a lot of the pain went away after getting massge on the bottom of his foot to relax the muscles thereby making his foot sit differently in the boot. those muscles work hard when you skate so rolling them out or massaging them by hand before and after might help.

last week at a camp I used an ipad connected to an apple tv + flatscreen TV located behind the glass in the timekeeper s box. worked great.

among the high-level skills coaches I work with there's been a swing the other way where they consider the inside foot release (wrong foot snap shot) to be less projectable at pro level since it is harder to hide the shot inside the skating stride. if you look at James Neal's shot here you'll see he's able to create a lot of deception by shifting his weight onto his front (outside) foot, which is what the best in the business (both players and skills dev coaches) are working on now. As for the P28, more than 15 yrs ago Brett Hull used a big toe curve with a huge rocker and a whippy shaft. I used a stick like that for a while and now a P28 75 flex off the shelf gives me a similar feel and similar benefits (big sweet spot when taking one-timers, able to pull the puck in and change the angle) in a more user-friendly form (bigger blade than the Hull pro and much easier to find). Hull's Shooting and Scoring instructional:

rink wifi is not a factor. the gopro itself has a wifi network you can log into on your tablet

as for the breakage issue - you can either have your iPad safe on the bench and record with a wifi connected gopro in its protective case, or have a helper (maybe another student whose parents need a bit of financial help with lessons?) hold your tablet to film

coaches’ eye and hudl technique are two iPad apps Ive used. both have a good slowmo feature that lets you breakdown details, telestrate and record your feedback

lots of free resources and knowledge out there that can make a world of difference in helping your kids improve faster and get more fun out of their hockey. if you have any questions just ask. someone started another thread with regards to the old howie meeker hockey school clips on CBC. they were made before I was born but lots of very demanding but effective drills for young kids: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/howie-meeker-hockey-school-puck-control-and-the-snapshot howie's drills for the most part are pretty timeless, lots of good skills and skating coaches I work with nowadays still do things adhering to those same basic principles.

lol by far the least coachable person Ive tried to teach hockey stuff to is my current girlfriend

hockey is played on one foot, so I would start the kids out with some bodyweight single-leg squats in their gym shoes, so that they can get used to the feeling of "stacking" their entire weight on one foot/ankle/knee/hip. in ice skate terms the goal is to help them access their outer edges, so that they're able to shift their weight laterally back and forth. any drill that encourages that I'd recommend for beginners and even more advanced players. U8 kids likely won't have a lot of leg strength so make sure their knees dont cave in - here's a video which offer some tips in that regard in terms of stickhandling, you can have them work on "rolling out the back" with the puck instead of using a chopping block type motion when handling the puck. it will help the players develop a feel for where the puck is on their blade, which will accelerate their progress once you move onto shooting and passing drills.

I don’t see a lot of information being shared in the hockey world about what approaches coaches use to help their players who are dealing with learning disabilities or mental health issues. Was wondering if any of you have had experience or second-hand information on best practices. It is not something that is widely talked about, but I know of at least 1 high end NHL prospect is in this situation and two other former NHLers who could not stick in the league because of it.

This would be a good place to share coaching clips - anything related to individual play, tactics and motivational/informational clips.

on a higher level, playing in D Zone Coverage is two distinct activities: 1) standing in the right spot in the hopes of intercepting a puck and starting a breakout, and 2) sprinting to the puck in order to recover it and start a breakout. some players will be better in one aspect or the other ,especially in beer league, so it’ll be important for teammates to be accomodating and understanding of that. to make an NHL parallel, over the yrs #1 had been systematically overrated by coaches and scouts, so you ended up with a lot of 6’2 220lb+ guys who cant skate or make plays but who were good at standing in front of the net and crosschecking people. now teams see the value of having guys like spurgeon, keith, krug, werenski etc EVEN on the defensive side of the puck because they can win puck races and help the team attack down ice. if you have guys like that on your team, be cognizant of that and dont be a dick if they screw up once in a while!

simple is good at the beer league level and the tips above are all helpful. for players who've never really paid attention to that side of the game, I'd suggest first getting a feel for what their current habits are before trying to get them to make conscious tactical changes. 1) be mindful of your check's body language - if you see his numbers, pressure him against the boards and try to take the puck away. if you see his crest, hold your ground and look to a) take away passing options to the middle of the slot and b) deter him/her against walking with the puck into the middle 2) be mindful of your stick position - if you can't physically get to your check, try to influence his play either up to the point or down to the corner by inviting that option with your stick and overall body language. either outcome is better than a pass to the slot, which you should be taking away with your skates and stick blade 3) be mindful of skate position - good offensive players either consciously or subconsciously try to manipulate defenders' feet in order to cross them up and open up space to attack the net. if your skating technique is already deficient (cant stop/turn/pivot in both directions) this is where you may run into problems. at the elite level, the best defenders react quickly, sprint to their check, and are able to keep their toes pointing at the check for as long as possible before having to stop or turn "on a dime" depending on how the play develops. if you turn away early because you don't trust your edges, you're very easy to beat with a shake on one side and a pass or carry to the opposite side.

love to watch high level refs skate. often theyre the most technically efficient guys on the ice!

youtube is a great resource. this hockey canada one is pretty old but the drills in it are great at the start of the season. many young players cannot do the one-legged exercises or can only do it on one side. unless it's identified, worked on and perfected, they ll have a hard time playing a tight gap or aggressive DZ coverage later on.

in terms of 5v5 open play, one thing you can develop your awareness for is the Dot Lane - its a great reference point that 'smart' players at all levels use production quality on that clip isnt great but darryl knows what he is talking about. he's got a bunch of YT clips that are useful to players of all levels

there is no such thing as "systems", especially for players who do not have the technical fundamentals down pat (basically anyone U16 AAA or equivalent) here's the thing about hockey sense - for me it boils down to being able to count to 3 when you're on the ice. if you're able to get your head up and READ whether you're in a 1vs1, 2vs1, 3vs1; 1vs2 2vs2, 3vs2 or 1vs3, 2vs3 or 3vs3, then you'll only need to be taught how to REACT once or twice to make the right play. If I ran a practice for young players I dont think I'd use any drills at all, only a few exercises which isolate the 3 basic technical elements, then small area games with different numbers of players on each side, and then give feedback based on how the players interpret & respond to each situation.

women's hockey is great. had a chance to work with a few of the players on team canada (I was on the coaching staff of a canadian university team for a few yrs) and have nothing but good things to say about how far the high level game has developped. at the grass roots level I think coaches could do more to teach technical fundamentals (weight shift, upper body rotation, weight transfer). Ive had some discussions with other coaches about figure skating vs ringuette vs hockey for girls in their teenaged years, and I think it's not a matter of picking which one but doing all three if possible so that the young player is able to pick up elements in each sport (dynamic balance, body awareness in figure skating; heavy stick, upper body range & willingness to hold the hoop/puck in ringuette) that will carry over in hockey edit: I think boys should get the opportunity to try figure skating and ringuette as well. Im almost 30 and have never skated better after practicing more figure skating drills and techniques at open skates this year. there s a great video of jeff skinner doing figure skate jumps - no doubt it's helped him become a dynamic player