Volume 1,
Issue 7 - February , 2001
“From
the Right Wing…”
Dan
Bylsma’s Newsletter
A Feature of West Michigan Hockey Camp, Inc.
AP Photo DAN’S TIP OF THE MONTH FOR PLAYERS… A
lot of you have written since the newsletters started asking about
checking. So both my
father and I are going to address that in this issue. It
seems that as players approach the dreaded 10-years-of-age mark
parents, kids and coaches begin to talk and worry about what
checking is going to mean for their player and his/her team.
If we only worried about our schoolwork as much, oh, what a
Christmas we’d have. From
a skill aspect, checking should be treated like passing and puck
handling. It is a skill
that when done properly and with purpose can enhance our individual
and team play. The
purpose of checking is to limit the time and space a puck carrier
has to make a pass or an offensive move – that’s what playing
defense is all about. When
done properly it can dislodge the puck carrier from the puck and/or
effectively take that player out of the play.
Without checking Jacque Le Maire would come out of
retirement; with it players like myself have somewhat of a prayer
against the likes of Paul and Mario.
Whenever
I teach checking I spend most of the time talking about angling.
Angling is by far the most important part of being a good
checker. Angling is
the process by which a player can use his body to prevent a puck
carrier from getting to the middle of the ice or more importantly,
from getting to the net. As
defensive players we want to direct the puck and the puck carriers
to the outsides of the rink away from the middle and the dangerous
offensive areas. By
body positioning – keeping your body to the middle of the ice and
maintaining speed - defensive players can use the threat or
probability of body contact to force the puck carrier away from the
dangerous scoring areas.
Note that players below PeeWees can use angling also.
The two aspects of a check is giving a hit and taking a hit.
When giving a hit we need to keep in mind the goal of hitting
is to dislodge a player from the puck and preventing him from
creating an offensive play. 1.)
Always look at a player’s chest (or the emblem or crest on his
jersey), not the puck. The
chest and mid-section will be the last thing to move so that’s
what we’ll try to hit. 2.)
We want to try and put our shoulder into the opposing player’s
crest. Focus on keeping
stick and elbows down to avoid penalties. 3.) We want to use our body like a spring.
Similar to why we get into a 90 degree knee for balance when
skating, now the 90 degree knee bend will give us the necessary
power needed to check any size player. If we are down in the deep knee bend we can unleash the
“spring” into the crest and knock the opposing player off
balance. If we try to
check standing straight up we may just lose our balance. In taking a check, there are three things to remember.
1) If you sense you’re about to get checked, don’t shy
from it or scrunch yourself up into a shell to protect yourself.
I think that’s how you can get hurt.
Plus if you do that, you will have allowed the checker to do
what he intended - distract you and throw you off your game.
Make yourself bigger and if you can, throw a little weight
back. 2)
The 90 degree knee bend is also very
important in receiving a check.
You will be in far better balance, your center of gravity
will be lower, tough to knock off balance, and you will be less
likely to fall than if you’re skating standing straight up. 3)
Try to nullify the check by checking back as you’re being hit.
If you are skating in a seated position (90 degree knee
bend), you will be able to spring up into the check and take the
checker off his game, a la Peter Forsberg. Lastly,
checking is a legal part of the game and fully as much a part of the
game as passing and shooting. If
someone does lay a pretty good lick on you, get up, shake if off,
and get back in the play.
You may want to take the license plate of the truck that hit
you and remember it for future reference, but a good check is not a
statement about your man or womanhood. So don’t retaliate to prove
anything. That won’t do anything but get you a two minute rest in
the penalty box. It’s
also important to remember what checking is not.
Checking is not a legal way to put some smaller kid through
the boards or into the third row.
If you play for me, it’s also not the acceptable way to
prove to your coach or your teammates that you’re a not a wuss.
If you want to play a sport where you can go head to head
with someone to see who’s tougher, play football. I
prefer to think that hockey is a contest to see who’s more
skilled, more clever. It’s
not a contest to see who inflicts more pain or is the toughest –
and by the way, there are no points or assists are awarded for the
most or the most painful checks. I
know there are players in the NHL who get paid a lot of money to go
out and hit people and the harder and more often the better.
I’m aware that a lot of fans like to see a bone-jarring
hit. But you
don’t play in the NHL, and the reason for checking is still the
same, dislodge the player from the puck and limit his offensive
potential. As for the
guys in the NHL who do this, for the most part, they wish they had a
different role, and so do the rest of us. P.S.
Kids and Coaches…you can say you heard it from me first.
There has been no more controversial thing I’ve said or
written than that you lean away from the center of your turns, not
into them. I didn’t
learn that until Robby Glantz came to a LA Kings practice and showed
me. From the questions
and feed back - some of which I’ve put on the web site – some of
you have snickered at that, if not laughed out loud.
“Lean away from the turns indeed,” some of you said.
Well, if you subscribe to The Hockey News, turn to Page 6 of
the February issue and there it is.
David Roy has been hired as the skating coach of the
Lightning and in the article, he says, “Young hockey players
are taught to lean into turns, but…they should lean in from the
waist down, but from waist up their weight has to stay over their
skates; if they lean too far, they’ll be off balance.”
To accomplish what Mr. Roy is saying, you have to lean away
from the circle to keep your weight over your skates.
MY HOCKEY CAMP IS ALMOST FULL… My
father tells me that we can take one more goalie in the Day Camp and
a few more skaters and goalies in the Travel Skills camp.
You can check availability on line by going to the web site
and checking at the bottom of each session on the CLASSES page.
MY TRUST FUND AUCTION – A new item is up for bids… The last item auctioned was a custom-made, autographed, Paul Kariya stick. This month the item is my game stick signed by all the Ducks. The minimum bid is $20 and the incremental bids are $3. The bidding will close on February 28 at 9:00 p.m. EST. How much am bid for a Dan Bylsma #21 game stick signed by all the Mighty Ducks? You can bid on the website. Go to the bottom of my Charitable Trust page. THIS
MONTH’S BEST QUESTION ON THE WEB SITE…
…actually came to us several months ago and Dan’s answer surprised me so much (and I liked it so much) we voted to include it in this issue in case you didn’t catch it as Q&A # 57 on the web site. Question #57:
Dan and Jay: My son will be playing Peewees next year and
while he doesn't appear to be threatened by the introduction of
checking, he's such a gentle soul I'm concerned it will take
considerable motivation on his coach's and my part to teach him to
become more aggressive. I'd like to hear some suggestions from both
of you. R.N. from Mass. Dan Replies: I have a feeling that kids who take to playing the game with violence and aggression (they like hitting and the more and the harder the better) come from a similar background. Moreover, those who are uncontrollably aggressive have experienced violence for no reason at all. From what you tell us, if you want to teach your child to become violent and aggressive, you'd have to start beating him, something it appears he's unaccustomed to. And if you want the message to really sink in, do it for no reason at all. This is only a game and he's only 11. He sounds like the kind of kid I want my son to become. I think he's better off concentrating on the skill aspects of the game. The truly skilled players at my level rarely check. Luc Robitaille had 29 hits in 71 games* or less than one hit every three games (and I think he may have paid off the scorekeeper for the few he got credit for). A third line mucker like myself has to create a little mayhem to stay in the lineup (168 hits in 64 games or 2.6 hits per game). So my advice is to allow him to engage in checking at his own pace as I suspect the more tried and true method of creating violent and aggressive players isn't any more appealing to you than it is to me. It wasn't appealing to my father either and I don't think I hit anyone until I was in Midgets. Hitting is something you can catch on to real easy after the testosterone starts flowing. From Jay: It's always been amusing to me to have parents sign up their children up for the PeeWee/Bantam session of Dan's hockey camp anxiously hoping that some time be devoted to checking. Invariably, those were the kids who couldn't skate very well or had trouble catching a pass. You may be interested in the findings of Canada "Open Ice" forum that recommends that checking be disallowed until Bantams because the physical contact is discouraging the development of stick handing and skating skills as well as forcing smaller, and typically more skilled players out of the game. (See Part Four of "A Game In Crisis" at http://globeandmail.com/series/hockey/gameincrisis/ and if that is no longer available, Email your fax number or address and I'll send you a copy). When my kids were coming through youth hockey, I was more concerned that they learned how to take a check that deliver one and never really emphasized checking. Rather, as Dan says, we thought the skill part of the game was more important. I didn't allow checking on the backyard rink, either. I hadn't thought about Dan's correlation between aggression and a violent background but from my experience the ones who were a bit overzealous about checking did come from backgrounds where arguments were not settled by debate. So I'm with Dan, let him find it at his own pace. If he finds it, he can be another Dan Bylsma. If he doesn't, he can be another Luc Robitaille. Luc will be in the Hall of Fame. *Stats from the 1999/2000 season DAN’S HONOR
ROLL - These kids
understand one of the most important things necessary to make it to
the NHL:
My
congratulations to each of you.
Great job kids! NAME AGE GPA SCHOOL TEAM STATE Erin
Cutter
10
4.0
Beach Elementary
Muskegon Chiefs Squirt AA
MI* Travis Vayda 13 4.0 Bradon River Middle Sch Ellenton Eels PeeWee AA FL* Mark Janninga 10 3.96 St. Mary's School Fredrickson Design Squirt MI Tyler Spiering (2) 10 3.9 Sylvan Chr. School E.G.R.A.H.A. Squirt AA MI* Ian Redlinger 9 4.0 Los Flores Elementary Anaheim Jr. Ducks Squirt CA* Josh Corgan 8 3.5 N. Muskegon Elementary Muskegon Chiefs Mite B2 MI* Aaron Alkema 6 TR Kettle Lake Elementary G.R.A.H.A. Mite MI* Bennett Schneider 12 4.0 Canterbury School Ellenton Eels PeeWee AA FL Daniel Monteforte 13 3.5 J.T. Lambert Middle Sch Lehigh Valley Thunder Bantam A PA Sean LaDouce 10 3.97 Saginaw Sherwood Elem Bay City Blizzards Squirt AA MI Ryan
Corgan 12
4.0
N. Muskegon Middle Sch
Muskegon Chiefs PeeWee B4
MI*
Brian Okarski 15 4.0+ Florida High School Palm Beach Panthers Bantam AAA FL Matthew
Rosenthal 9
3.75 Chaparrel
Elementary
Calabasas Ice Dogs Squirts
CA* Daniel Harris 11 3.5 Emerson Valley Middle Milton Keynes Junior Kings England Adam VanOpstall 13 4.0 Calvin Christian Middle Grandville Community Bantam MI* Jeremy Hopersberger 9 4.0 Home schooled Flint Icelanders Squirt AAA MI* Matt Schmalzel, 9 4.0 St. Anthony's Elem Grand Rapids Area HA Mite MI Lucas McShosh 10 4.0 Bauer Elementary Holland Ice Dogs Squirt AA MI Lyndsay Laxton 13 3.75 Forest Hills Northn Middle G.R. Griffins Girls 15 & U Travel MI* Gavin Harnstrom 10 3.75 Carpenter Elementary Paramount Panthers Squirt BB CA Kelsey Harnstrom 11 3.75 Downey South Middle Sante Fe Springs Coyotes B CA Jonathan Yurewitch, 13 3.58 Bonita Springs Middle GP Naples Roller Hockey League FL
Nicholas Smart 9 TR Ferry Elementary School Rycenga Electric Squirts MI Taylor Compton 8 TR Rosy Mound Elementary Muskegon Chiefs B1 Mites MI Barrick Bollman 11 3.75 E. P. Clark Elementary Holland Ice Dogs Squirt AA MI Ian Jendro 10 3.5 Auburn Holy Family Sch Seattle Sno-Kings Squirt A WA Sean
O'Donnell
11 3.9
Del Mar Pines School
La Jolla Jaguars
CA I hope all of you will be able to make this list. If you qualify, Email your name, age, school, team, and state. To qualify you must have a GPA (on a 4.0 scale A= 4.0, A- = 3.75, B+ = 3.25, B= 3.0, etc) of 3.50 or better, an average overall grade improvement (or OGI) of at least one full grade over last year, or a Teacher Recommendation (or TR) which must be Emailed directly to me by your teacher and be based on outstanding achievement in a non-letter graded situation. A TIP TO COACHES FROM DAN’S DAD…
Dan’s
tip to players this month is about checking: it’s purpose and how
it’s done properly. In
talking about what we would say about checking, Dan recalled that
checking was never an issue in youth hockey when he was growing up.
It was allowed from Squirts (the youngest age group in our
house leagues then) on up. I
reminded him of the rules we played by back then.
There
were the customary rules prohibiting boarding, charging, and
interference. But there
was one more rule in place; a rule that I’m not sure is in place
anywhere else that I’m aware of.
Put simply, it was “No vicious checks.”
How that rule played out was this: a big kid wasn’t allowed
to check a little kid, you weren’t allowed to check in anger, and
you couldn’t check too hard.
And except for one or two players who pretended not to
understand the rules or weren’t smart enough to grasp the concept,
it worked. As Dan and I both remember it, checking wasn’t an issue.
Now
checking isn’t allowed before PeeWees and it is an issue.
More than a few parents voice their concern when they sign up
for the PeeWee/Bantam session of Dan’s hockey camp by asking if we
teach checking. If not,
they will feel the need to sign their player up for a checking camp.
There
are two schools of thought regarding checking in youth hockey.
One group is opposed to any checking below Bantams or
Midgets. There are two
arguments offered by those who oppose checking.
One is that in all age groups, but in PeeWee/Bantam levels
particularly, there is a considerable size/weight disparity within
the groups. Further, we
have not adopted the same size/weight restrictions for hockey as
they have in the other contact sport – Pop Warner football. So more often than is desirable, there can be and is a
considerable weight/size difference in opposing players.
This is perpetuated by continuing to classify our leagues by
age, which assumes that every player grows and develops at the same
rate, despite the obvious and overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Because of this size/weight disparity, it is argued, checking
should be eliminated for the safety of the smaller player.
Another
argument for the elimination of checking comes more often from our
neighbors from north of the boarder.
It is their observation that checking at the PeeWee/Bantam
level is forcing smaller more skilled players out of the game.
Checking is often used by bigger players to intimidate
smaller skilled players under the Broad Street Bully Theory of
winning hockey games. The
result of this is that the smaller, skilled players are quitting the
game, leaving the bigger, less skilled players to advance in the
sport. Further, many have observed that Major Junior A in Canada has
become a league of the survival of the biggest and meanest, not the
fastest and most skilled. As
evidence to support their theory, they point to the fact that the
skilled players in the NHL are largely coming from Europe, while the
Canadians coming into the game over the past few years are bigger,
less-skilled third and fourth line muckers and grinders.
There
are strong voices on the other side of the argument as well.
Some say we should introduce checking at the Mite/Atom level.
They reason that hockey is a contact sport and it will be
forever thus. If
players learn how to deliver and take checks at an early age, by the
time they are big and strong enough to be seriously physical, they
will have learned how to deliver and take checks, and it will not be
an issue when they turn PeeWee.
In
all of these arguments, there is an element missing - coaching. It is coaching that instructs dislodging from the
puck/angling vs. inflicting pain.
It is a coach that decides that a W in the won/loss column is
worth eliminating an opposing skilled player from being effective or
from the game by intimidation.
It is coaching that promotes or allows players to be called
‘sissy’ or worse for not being aggressive enough.
And until youth hockey advances to the point of
size/skill/weight appropriate league classifications, it’s in the
hands of the coaches to monitor what we used to do back in the dark
ages of Dan’s youth… no vicious checks - for the good of the
players and the good of the game.
THIS MONTH’S SAYING TO PUT IN YOUR
LOCKER:
“Success
in hockey doesn’t compensate for failure in other areas of your
life.”
- Pierre Page, Head
Coach, Calgary Flames
ABOUT ONE KID’S TRIP TO THE NHL—current installment Dan has been writing for some months now about what it is like
to be living out his dream playing in the NHL. We’ve received a few Emails from parents wondering what
it’s like for parents to have a son in the NHL. Since Dan’s
mother and I are in Anaheim for our annual trip to check on the
developmental progress of our grandson, and I can watch this part of
Dan’s life up close and personal, we decided this might be a good
time to answer those Emails. So
this is about one parent’s view of his kid’s trip to the NHL. Dan likes to get to the rink early for practice.
This was the first time I was in Anaheim for a practice so he
took me on a tour of the locker room at the Arrowhead Pond.
There is a dressing room with all the equipment as neatly
arranged as if Dan’s mother did it, an equipment room with dozens
of new sticks for each player, new blades for his skates, shields,
all arranged by the player’s number.
The “miracle room”, as Dan calls the medical trainer’s
room, is equipped with everything from tape to an ice machine and an
X-ray machine. The
weight room is as well equipped as any gym, I think there was enough
stationary bikes for one for each player.
Paul Kariya was working on some sticks and was the only player
to beat Dan to practice. “Paul, this is my Dad.
Dad, this is Paul.” “How do you do, Mr. Bylsma.” “Nice to meet you Paul.
What did you say your last name was?”
He laughed at that. I found a seat in the Pond. Several things struck me about the
practice. Dan is still
very much like the little boy I used to coach (he still loves the
games you can play with a stick and a puck and it shows) and these
guys are good; very, very good.
The practice goes at breakneck speed with two pucks, tape to
tape passes, and 12 players going at once.
Practice over, Dan comes out with an ice bag taped to his
instep and he walks to the car barefooted. “You take one on the
foot?” “Last game. Shot
blocking isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.” When we get home, the pre-game meal is pasta and bread -
forever and always it’s pasta - and then a nap. At 4:30, Dan leaves for the game – we follow at 7:00 for a
7:30 game. Tonight
it’s against the Capitals and Dan starts the game.
His face on the Jumbotron is strangely fierce as he tries to
look tough for the camera. He
doesn’t fool anyone. The player’s tickets are very good, in the club level.
After nearly 300 games, I am still not accustomed to the fact
that the player wearing #21 for the Ducks has the same last name as
mine. It is my son who
has somehow found his way into this uniform that I’m here to
watch, not a NHLer who is my son.
I sit next to Matt Cullen’s father; he can’t believe his
son plays either. Doesn’t that just happen for Mr. Yzerman and Mr.
Kariya? I await each shift he takes and watch the rest of the game
with a sort of detachment. But
when he comes over the boards, I tense up and hope – hope he does
well, hope he doesn’t get hurt. I mentally grade each shift and he
usually gets high marks from me.
He’s a very vocal player and I can hear him when he’s on
the ice shouting to his teammates, “Hard around!” or “Deep,
deep, send it deep!” You
can’t hear that on the TV broadcasts. After the game we wait in the Player’s Family’s Lounge.
As is typical, he’s one of the last ones out of the locker
room. His car is parked
under the stadium and he stops at the entrance to sign autographs
and have pictures taken with the 20-30 fans who’ve patiently
waited well past game time. During the ride home and for about two hours after the game
time he debriefs as the adrenaline slowly wears off. He can replay the game in his head - every play as if it were
a round of golf - what went wrong, what went right, who made
mistakes, what should have been done that wasn’t.
It was a frustrating loss, one of many lately and the
frustration comes out as only it may in the confidence that can
exist between a father and son. The next morning the practice is at Disney Ice, the Duck’s
training facility. I
was surprised to see all the equipment that was at the Pond the
night before now appeared to be neatly arrayed in the locker room at
the practice facility and wondered how it got there so quickly.
“No”, Dan said, “we have a duplicate set of
equipment.” That’s
a far cry from our locker room back at home. Practice over, we head for his home.
There is more debriefing, more analysis, some astute
observations about the game, the team, and the organization.
He’ll make a great coach some day.
Jay M. Bylsma DAN AND
JAY’S BOOKS:
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