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Richard is an award-winning writer and hockey coach/mentor. The former Director of Coaching for Hockey Eastern Ontario, he's a Hockey Canada Master Facilitator/Mentor and coaching evaluator. He's worked with teams from minor to junior to university to Europe and also Canada's Program of Excellence. He's been a newspaper and magazine columnist and has authored two books, one of which is the recently released coaching manual Inside Coaching Hockey. It's available from his web site richardbercuson.ca. He spends inordinate amounts of time running to and from rinks and to finish lines as a runner of various ridiculous distances. He likes cheesecake, dry red wine, and long walks on a hot beach. One of those is not readily available where he lives.
“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” - Sherlock Holmes. Now we apply this to minor hockey practices.
Read MoreEveryone wants drills. It’s 4pm on practice day and you need to be at the rink for a 7pm 50-minute session. You have a good idea of what you want covered but work, family, and a car needing a tune-up have interrupted hockey planning.
Read MoreAre some drills inherently dangerous? What makes them so? In fact, how do you define danger in a sport rife with contact? Do you remember the gut-buster drill, aka wallies? Sprint across the rink, touch the boards with your stick, repeat till either your thighs explode you upchuck last night’s dinner into a garbage pail the coach conveniently left at the bench.
Read MoreSometimes you need to tighten the bolt. If you riffle through a drill book or site, you’ll find an endless list of wonderful drills which have various types of resistance. 2-on-1s – 3-on-1s, which become 3-on-2s – small area games that are essentially battle drills. These are all great and have their place.
Read MoreWhat would happen if minor hockey tournaments didn’t exist? Panic in the motel industry? Anxiety among parents having no place and no one to party with on weekends?
Read MoreYou’ve got your team. Practices begin soon. What do you start with? Not a drill. Not even a type of drill. Not a particular skill or tactic either. While those will come into play, the number one place to begin is with establishing (pick whichever ones apply): tone, work ethic, routine, teaching approach.
Read MoreWho thinks about hockey in the dead of summer? Frankly, only unusual people like me who use the cozy weather to bone up on research, check out who’s doing what, and soldier on in the pursuit of further coaching knowledge.
Read MoreUnofficial survey. Your answers will not be shared. That’s because you’ll keep them to yourself.
Read MoreAt a workshop, when asked for priorities for next season’s team, a coach tossed out Hockey IQ. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable response, except for the fact he was coaching atoms.
Read MoreAt a coaching clinic, I tossed out examples of how one might use questioning to draw better executed skills from kids. The easiest and most visual one was how to improve crossovers with younger children.
Read MoreAsk a teacher, especially an elementary or middle school teacher, if they use inquiry based learning and heads will nod. At least they do when I bring it up at coaching clinics or workshops. Everyone else sort of sits there looking blankly ahead.
Read MoreAssumptions. With regard to coaching, minor hockey is guilty of making plenty of them. Sometimes it’s almost standard operating procedure for a lot of reasons, many of which have few viable alternatives.
Read MoreA coach asked me recently about whether or not it was worth attending a certain coaching seminar. While I’d attended the same one not long ago, I could understand why a young coach would consider going.
Read MoreI work with an association as its lead mentor and we have spring tryouts, a new experience for me. But rather than delve into its pros and cons, let’s look at one aspect of it that is a clear benefit to coaches.
Read MoreCoaches talk too much. I doubt there are many who really truly believe their words hold great import for teams. If I ask a coach how much time is spent on the ice showing a drill or teaching, they nearly always say something akin to, “As little as possible.”
Read More
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3) Victoria Grizzlies Rookie Alex Newhook Carving Up BCHL Far from Home
4) Sudbury Wolves Get one-of-a-kind Quinton Byfield in OHL Draft
5) On Top of the World: CSSHL Keeps Gaining Traction in Canada’s Hockey Landscape
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About HockeyNow
Established in 1999, HockeyNow is the only magazine delivering the best in news and stories from across the minor, junior, collegiate and female hockey ranks, both in print and through our world-class website at HockeyNow.ca. Print copies of our 43 annual issues are available free in hockey rinks across B.C., Alberta, and Ontario. We are deeply involved and committed to developing and promoting the game of hockey to our readers through unique perspectives and stories they won’t find anywhere else.
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