#21

Dan Bylsma’s Newsletter

A Feature of West Michigan Hockey Camp, Inc.

www.danbylsma.com

As you may have noticed, at the bottom of every newsletter we print my father’s saying “It takes three things to succeed: talent, hard work, and perseverance. And the greatest of these is not talent". We recently heard of three players from Ontario, Canada, who are real life examples of what my father's saying really means. They have given me permission to share their very happy stories.

Two years ago, Matt Moulson was cut by his AAA Midget team in the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) two weeks after tryouts. He called other teams, but at 150 pounds and coming off a year where he broke a wrist and separated a shoulder, no other team wanted him. But Matt persevered. He dropped to an AA team where he was the leading scorer on the club that finished 3rd in the Provincial tournament.  He Over the year he used his rejection as motivation for an aggressive training program. "Every mile I ran," Matt told us, " every weight I lifted, I thought about how I was never going to get cut from a team again and about my goal to play Division I college hockey."

The next season he went to the Guelph Dominators Junior B team as a walk-on.  He sat on the bench for most of the first 10 games while the veterans played. Few colleges took notice of him because he had come from nowhere (an AA team) the previous year and didn't have the opportunity to show his skills until the second half when he got more playing time. He finished the season as the second leading scorer among 1983 birthdates in the league. He worked extremely hard at weight training, etc. over the summer and added 8 pounds and grew to be 6'0" and 187 lbs. He attracted interest from several Division I college hockey schools and recently achieved his goal when he committed to play next year for Cornell University, an Ivy League school with a rich hockey tradition.

Matt plays lacrosse during the summer with Danny Rudisuela. (Remember our opinion about playing other sports during the summer - March 2001 Newsletter and Chapter 15 in the 2nd book).  Whether it was hockey or lacrosse, tryouts were always a tense time for Danny.  When he didn't make the cut at the tryouts of his local AAA Minor Bantam hockey team, he refused to be beaten.  He went back to that tryout camp the following year and made the team.  In Midgets, he was voted Captain and led his team in scoring.  He thought he had a lock on a position on that team's Junior affiliate, but Danny wasn't even invited to their training camp.  The reason was familiar - he was too small.  Like Theo Fleury in the NHL, you can measure Danny's height but you can't measure the size of his heart.   

"I've never seen Danny take a practice, a game or a shift off," says Matt Moulson of his lacrosse teammate.  "He works his hardest every time he plays."  Danny refused to give up.  He found a spot on another junior team and kept working his tail off.  Soon his opportunity came. When Don Cherry, the famous former coach of the Boston Bruins took over as head coach of the OHL Mississauga Ice Dogs, Coach Cherry was looking for players with heart. You have probably already guessed what happened.  Danny was selected to the team and the Ice Dogs are off to their best start ever. Danny already has one game winning goal and is killing penalties and playing power play in one of the best junior leagues in the world. 

Danny and Matt are friends with a third kid whom they both played against at local Toronto rinks. Matt Stajan was getting ready for a big year in PeeWee hockey five years ago when he picked up a message on his family's answering machine. It was his coach. "We have some players who we really like coming to our team next year, so we won't have room for Matt. You better find another team."  Matt was devastated, but only for a short time.  He realized would rather play anywhere then nowhere so he tried out for a team that had never made the playoffs. "At least I will get ice time there," he thought. After six tryout sessions, he was called into a private meeting with the coach.  Matt thought it was to welcome him to the team.  Instead, he was told he was too small and was cut. Part of Matt wanted to quit, but the greater part of him wanted to prove those two coaches wrong.  That year two more teams cut him before he finally found a team that would put him on their roster.  He worked as hard as he could all summer to get ready for that team.  As luck (or perserverance) would have it, that team had lots of suspensions and injuries and Matt got all the ice time he could handle.  He had a good season and never looked back. That work ethic carried on through the next four years and as he improved, he started to be looked at as a "go to guy". 

After promising his parents he would work as hard at his education as he had with hockey, Matt tried out for the OHL's Belleville Bulls. By the end of the season, his work ethic and dedication earned him the centerman spot on the Bulls second line.  This year Matt has worked his way up to first line, is one of the league's top twenty scorers, and he may be drafted by an NHL team. Matt also fulfilled his academic promise to his parents. Equally rewarding to Matt and his parents is the fact he was Belleville's nomination for the OHL's academic award last year.

There might have been other players with more talent than these three on those GTHL teams that cut them, but these young men knew what my father and I know - that of talent, hard work, and perseverance, talent is not the most important factor to success. Matt Moulson's father tells me that Jason Allison, the Boston Bruins leading scorer was cut from his Bantam team and word in Toronto is that other parents in PeeWees used to say, "Oh no! Not that kid again", when the Mississauga Reps coach put a little kid named Brendan Shanahan on the ice.

I know another kid who from Squirts to college to the IHL played with a lot of guys who were more talented then he was and they played on better teams.  There were teams and coaches along the way that didn't want him because they didn't consider him talented enough. But he worked as hard as he could and persevered longer than the others and eventually made it all the way to the NHL.

 All of these players were not thought of as talented players. Many people passed over them in favor of other players. But they are all example of having a goal, and working hard enough and lasting long enough to realize their goal.  The message in these stories is that if other people think you're too small, or too short, or not talented enough, you can defy the odds and succeed by hard work and perseverance.

Remember, talent isn't the most important factor in success. And in case you didn't guess, that last kid mentioned?  It's me.

Dan Bylsma

There is a very common fault that many young skaters have that can be easily diagnosed if a bit harder to correct.  The fault comes from the tendency to equate skating with running when they involve two very different techniques. The techniques are different because when you run, you’re able to push off against the ground due to the friction between the bottom of your shoes and the ground which prevents your foot from slipping.

For a skater, there is almost no friction between the steel of the blade and the ice - which is a good thing when you want to glide (which you can’t do in shoes on the ground). So in order to push off, a skater needs to force the edge of his blade to dig into the ice in order to push off against that edge.

The sharper the skates and the more and longer the edge of the blade is in contact with the ice the more and longer force can be exerted against the ice to get the push you need to propel yourself.

Because the blades of hockey skates have smooth rounded fronts, a hockey player needs to push off to the side. You cannot push straight back like a figure skater who has toe picks on the front of his or her blades.

Hockey players who push off too much to the rear and not enough to the side will lose their edge before the energy in their leg is fully expended. That remaining energy forces the leg to kick up as you see in the photo. Even from this camera angle you can see that the leg is almost directly behind the skater. Compare that to my picture in last month's newsletter.  Compare the shadows on the ice and the position of my leg as well as the position of my boot and you can see that my leg is way off to the side. 

The skater in the photo looks like he’s running - not skating. His legs are churning and he’s working hard, but his energy and effort are not being used efficiently. If a skater is striding to the side, his blade comes off the ice only an inch or less as he brings his leg back to replant his foot - not the 12 inches or so you see in the photo.

Here’s a demonstration that will show what I mean.  You'll need a hockey stick that has its blade taped.  Hold the stick at your side with the full blade against the floor or ice.  Imagine that the bottom of the stick is the blade of your skate as if you were standing on your skates.  Also imagine that the pushing or cutting edge of your skate corresponds to the taped part of the blade of the stick.  Push the stick straight back (imitating pushing off to the rear) and see how long the taped part of the blade stays in contact with the floor or the ice. Before you move it very far, only the toe of the blade will be in contact with the floor - just as when you push off to the rear with your skates, very quickly only the toe of your skate will be in contact with the ice (which will cause your foot to slip - unless you have toe picks).  Now re-position the stick at your side and push the stick directly away from your side (at right angles to the blade of the stick). The entire taped portion of the blade can be in contact with the floor for a much longer time, almost until you can't push the stick away from you any more.

This demonstration imitates the blade of the skate. If you stride to the side, your edges (which you are relying on to push against the ice and propel you forward) will stay in contact with the ice a whole lot longer than if you stride to the rear. With the same energy exerted, your stride will be much longer. Longer strides translate into skating more powerfully and faster with the same energy input, not to mention you will be in better balance and can keep your head and chest up, unlike the skater in the photo.

So if you see a skater whose leg or legs kick up like the skater in the photo, it's a dead giveaway that he or she needs to stride more to the side.   

Dan Bylsma

I’m inspired to write this column by a long time correspondent – a gentleman whom I very much hope some day to meet – Ed Labine of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada.  Mr. Labine coaches a rep. (travel) team in the very competitive St. Albert Minor Hockey Assn. near Edmonton.  He is also part of a group of individuals with whom Dan and I are talking about ways to take youth hockey out of some of the less than complementary national newspaper headlines.

Ed does something that according to conventional wisdom shouldn’t be done if you want to win hockey games. He plays every player fairly. Equal ice time is mandatory in New Brunswick youth hockey, but Coach Labine does it voluntarily in Alberta – and listen to his reasons:

1) Every kid pays the same amount; it's only fair he should play the same amount.

2) If your better players get more ice time than the others, they will get better and the skill gap between the good players and the no-so-good players will widen.  While that isn’t fair to the not-so-good players,  over the course of the season your team will actually weaken.

3) Coach Labine acknowledges it's impossible to predict with certainty who’s going to improve over the season.  Giving everyone an equal chance to play (improve) has created more than a few pleasant surprises.

4) "Kids who play for me have fun and there are no jealousies or hard feelings over ice time. Kids who are having fun play better, are more creative, less afraid of making a mistake knowing I won't bench them for a mistake, and therefore are less timid and go 'all out' in their play."

Here’s the shocker. Ed reports, “I always have winning teams.” Why? “Because my kids know I’m going to be fair with them and they work hard; they never quit - they play their hearts out for me. I think heart (read that "working hard and persevering") is as important an element in winning as talent.”

If you’ve read our books or perused Dan’s web site, you know playing everyone equally was something I tried to practice as well. I confess I had another reason – I had my own sons on my teams.  I wanted to avoid the criticism of favoritism.  But I discovered the same thing.  Kids wanted to play on my teams, perhaps because we usually won, but I think we usually won because generally kids live up to your expectation of them and if given the chance, they will play to their highest potential.

And I add another reason to Coach Labine's list above - I don't think you win because of your good players, I think you lose because of the mistakes of your not-so-good players.  So you and your team's won/loss record are well served by doing everything you can to improve your not-so-good players.

I think kids at all levels of youth hockey (including AAA rep or travel) should play equally for the reasons of fairness and because this endeavor should be for kids to have fun – and it’s not fun to sit on the bench in the third period or for every power play situation.

But if you don’t want to consider playing each player fairly for altruistic reasons, and you want to coach to win, you might consider it for that reason because it may make a winning coach out of you as it has for Ed Labine and me.  Dan will be quick to tell you it wasn’t my hockey smarts that led to winning teams**.

I’m aware that this month’s column invites some controversy and if you are a coach with a contrary opinion, bring it on.   (I'll refer your comments to Ed Labine J).  Email me at jbylsma@jaybylsma.com.

   Jay M. Bylsma

* * I sure will.         Dan

This was a training camp where I had the opportunity to use a lot of the personal aphorisms that I relied on when I was in the minors struggling to make it to the NHL.  Sayings like "Control what you can control and don't worry about the things you can't control" or "Luck is when preparation and opportunity meet," and "Your attitude will determine your future more than will your circumstances".  From the first day of training camp, I had some concern that I might not even make the Ducks let alone earn a regular spot in the line-up. First of all the "A" was not on my jersey when I got to camp (more about that later). Then, other people were playing in slots I though I should be filling. Guys who I thought were not good enough to be my competition were getting high praise from the press and from the new coach and playing where I wished I could have been playing. I didn't play in the first few exhibition games. The mental anguish, the wondering, the speculation, the second-guessing - it is as much a part of training camp as skating for all but the top line players.

In the exhibition games in which I did play, I was called on to kill penalties and play as a defensive forward, in short - fill my customary role.  Still I harbored nagging doubts.  It's not a financial worry;  I'm on a one way contract which means that I make the same money if I played in the NHL or the AHL.  It's a worry that the dream will collapse, that I will no longer be considered one of the best in what I do.  Mind you, I know who I am and what I bring to the team, but the Ducks have a new coach and like so many other coaches in the past, they hope players with "more talent" will rise to the fore and they won't need me.

When the season started, I wasn't in the lineup. After playing in all 82 games last year, among the top penalty killers and leading the team in blocked shots, and penalty killing time and hits among forwards... it was disappointing.  But I didn't make to the NHL by letting my circumstances dictate my attitude or my fate.  I continued to be one of the hardest workers in practice; I continued to be a leader and have a positive attitude in the locker room.  And the advice my father gave me when I was in the 9th grade and wasn't starting on the high school varsity baseball team kept whispering in my brain. "Your chance will come, and when it does, make sure you're prepared to make the best of it."  Throughout these days what he actually says is, "Dano, what ever happens, I love you and I'm proud of you."   

I didn't play until the fourth game of the season and little by little I've been able to demonstrate to the new coaching staff the value of what I bring to the team in experience, energy, defensive play, penalty killing, etc.  And some of the guys who got high praise and a lot of press in training camp are now down in the AHL or they're struggling to prove they belong in the NHL.  The lines are also shaking out and I feel that the role I play for the Ducks is becoming respected again and will increase.

Why do I tell you this?  Because a lot of you are in the same position on your teams. You're on a new team or playing for a new coach and it's not comfortable yet.  Remember two things: 1)Your attitude will more likely shape your future than will your circumstances, and, 2) Every practice, every shift, every game is your opportunity to show what you can do by doing your best.  I could have gotten sour that I wasn't handed the "A" and that I had to earn my spot on the team over again.  If I had, I would have justified the coach taking the "A" away and perhaps sitting me or even sending me down to the minors.  I could have coasted through training camp - not busted my butt every practice; after all, I'm a veteran of over 300 games, right?  Doing that would have been a sure ticket to the AHL or retirement.  More likely, by acting like that, I probably would never have gotten out the East Coast League.  So remember, like Matt Moulson, Danny Rudisuela, Matt Stajan, and myself - the key is hard work and perseverance and both of them come from having the right attitude.

  *****

Some of you have written asking why I'm no longer wearing the "A" on my sweater.  When my teammates voted me an "A" before the beginning of last season, it was one of the highlights of my career. To be acknowledge by your peers as a leader is very satisfying - especially for a third/fourth line mucker like myself who was a newcomer to the Ducks.  This year the team didn't vote on who would wear the "C" or the "A" and I don't have one.  But I'm the same person I've always been and that isn't going to change.  I've always said that you don't become a leader because you have a letter on the front of your sweater and you can be a leader if you don't have one.  I lived by those words before and I'm living by them now. 

And thanks to the Ducks fan who sits behind our bench and who wrote my father to say, "Dan played 120% hard (last night) and displayed - as we say in the Marine Corps - that command presence.  His leadership and attitude was felt; his 'A' was missing."  Thanks, Mike.  I appreciate that.

Dan Bylsma

COMING IN

2002

DAN’S ORGANIZATION

West Michigan Hockey Camp, Inc.

P.O. Box 917

Grand Haven, MI 49417

Fax: 616-846-0710

Email: Number21@DanBylsma.com