Volume 2, Issue 5 - January, 2002  

 "From the Right Wing…"

Anaheim
MIGHTY DUCKS

#21

Dan Bylsma’s Newsletter --- A Feature of West Michigan Hockey Camp, Inc.

www.danbylsma.com

Patrick, sorry to run into you but I was    

For a printer friendly version - click here                                                               expecting to see you in the front of      

 the net.  What are you doing ambushing   

 innocent forwards back here?      .

This month's issue contains:

 DAN'S TIP OF THE MONTH   THIS MONTH'S QUESTION   TRUST FUND AUCTION   TIPS FROM HOCKEY CAMP 

 DAN'S HONOR ROLL  COACH'S TIP   THE SAYING OF THE MONTH   DAN TRIP IN THE NHL   DAN & JAY'S BOOKS 

  A WAY TO SUBSCRIBE

 
DAN’S TIP OF THE MONTH FOR PLAYERS…

The single most asked question we get on the web site comes from players wanting to know the ins and outs of playing college hockey - recruiting, scouting, or getting a college scholarship.  We thought it might be useful to invite a coach whose opinion we respect (because he recruited me) to give you the straight story.  Bill Wilkinson is the coach of Wayne State University's Division I program.  He was also the Head Coach at Western Michigan University where I was happy to give him a headache or two when I played at Bowling Green (I scored a goal while killing a 5 on 3 penalty and my only hat trick in college came against Western) and he was also an Assistant coach at Bowling Green when my brother played at BG.  It would be an honor to play for Coach Wilkinson and he has sent more than his share of players to the NHL.  He has agreed to give us the current state of college recruiting.  Here's what he has to say:

 

"Personally as a coach I like to see players that have had some playing experience after their high school graduation. This brings the student/athlete to us physically and mentally more mature than if he comes to us right out of high school.  Can a player come right out of high school? Absolutely, but must clearly be a cut above his classmates to compete against the older players he's going to encounter.  Every player matures at his own pace.

"We recruit student/athletes from all areas of the continent and by all means. Emails, letters, video tapes, or just plain phone calls can get the ball rolling.  If you are interested in a certain school and have the capabilities of visiting on an "unofficial" capacity take advantage of that. Coaches may have the time to showcase their program to you, but if not you at least will have put your name and face in front of them.

"With any correspondence you send to a school try to include your SAT or ACT results and if you have been cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse requires that you have 13 core courses: 4 years of English, 2 Math, 2 Science, 1 additional course in English, Math or Science, 2 Social Sciences, and 2 electives in which you have earned a GPA of 2.0 or better. The SAT or ACT also has a minimum that will be needed to reflect eligibility. ACT minimum is 18 and SAT is 810. There is a sliding scale that applies to GPA and Test Scores that determines eligibility for everyone. It is the job of the NCAA Clearinghouse to declare you eligible to participate in college athletics, no longer is eligibility declared by the school you apply to. However, be aware that different colleges have different admission standards. The Clearinghouse declares you eligible, the university's admissions office declares you acceptable. The better the student is academically the more attractive he or she becomes to any coach.  After all, balancing academics and athletics is what college is all about!

"What do I look for in a player?  Good question!  What are our needs?  I don't look for a goalie if I need defensemen.

"As to general characteristics, I prefer to have players with speed and brains. I try to watch to see if they think well on the ice! Can they anticipate the play? Have they got the foot speed to get there if they see what is happening?  If they have the speed do they now know what to do - who to pick up defensively, where to go on the fore-check or penalty kill rotation.  Just the little decisions that have to be made in a split-second of time.

"I know that 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog' is a worn out phrase, but it's appropriate.  Attitude and intensity can make up for a lack of talent - and Danny Bylsma playing in the NHL is a textbook example of that. There are a lot more players playing at the college and pro level because of shear determination than ability. Every team needs players with character not a team full of characters!

"If you are interested in playing Division 1 college hockey there are two things to keep in mind: playing the best competition you can is by far the most advantageous way to advance your chances of becoming the best player you can be (and that's not always an easy road to follow), and, you must play beyond the high school or midget level. You will have a distinct advantage going into the college hockey scene as a mature student.  Be ready to play not watch.

"Recruiting is now a new science. Often I go to watch a player that I have a lead on and come away liking someone else.  Like everything in life - timing is extremely important!"

 

Thanks Coach!

I noticed that Coach Wilkinson didn't say anything about how many goals or assists you have.  What he did say can be summarized in this month's SAYING TO PUT IN YOUR LOCKER.

There is also something in Coach Wilkinson's last paragraph that I don't want you to miss.  In our books and in the newsletters I've repeatedly said, "Treat every practice, every shift, every game as if this is your chance to show what you can do because you never know who's watching."  Now you know: it could be Coach Wilkinson!

Dan Bylsma

THIS MONTH'S BEST QUESTIONS ON THE WEB SITE…

Dan: How can my 8 year old increase his acceleration... Concerned Parent A.

 

Dan: How do you teach a 7 year old puck savvy... Concerned Parent B.

 

Dan: My Mite isn't focused in practices... Concerned Parent C.

Dan: How can my Mite improve his shot... Concerned Parent D.

Dan: My Mite's been playing for 6 months and hasn't scored yet... Concerned Parent E.

 

January must be the month when Concerned Parents of players under PeeWees get anxious about their skater's progress because it seems the Email box was flooded with these kinds of questions.  I want to share the tale of two children and how their parents handled questions like these.  The first tale is about how my father treated me and the rest of his children.  And while his methods would be considered unacceptable by today's conventional wisdom, he did produce three college players and one NHLer... an enviable record.  His method was to treat all sports as if they were games. He supplied the equipment, the rest was up to us.  If our rooms were clean and our homework was done we could go outside and play.  We chose to play sports/games. 

The best example I can give you is how we played baseball in the back yard.  We started with a baseball and a bat.  When our ability to hit the baseball outgrew our back yard, we started using plastic balls, then plastic bats, then wiffle balls, and finally we used plastic practice golf balls and broom handles.  When I got to high school baseball, hitting a baseball was relatively easy.  There were no curve balls thrown in high school that came close to the curve balls my brothers could throw with that plastic golf ball.  I never had a batting lesson, there were no specialized exercises to improve my hip turn or upper body strength.  We played these versions of baseball in our backyard by the hour, day after day.  We did it because it was fun and development came naturally without parental concern or intrusion.  And I believe I was able to compete with my brothers although being younger because I was able to pattern my skills after what I saw was successful for them. 

The other story doesn't have an ending yet...  My little son just turned three.  Because his Daddy plays hockey, baseball, and golf, he likes to play hockey, baseball and golf.  When I get home from the rink, he's excited to come down to the garage and we play.  I have a rule that none of the adults in his life, myself and his mettlesome grandfather included, "show" the correct techniques to play the games.  I don't tell him how to hold his stick or his bat or his little golf club or how to stride on his ice skates.  When I'm with him, I do it correctly and believe he'll watch me and pattern his skills after what he sees me do in this wonderful world of play we have together, much the same as I patterned my skills after what I saw my brothers do.  And the more he plays, and the more he observes, the more adept he becomes.  It's a joy to behold.

And the more fun he has at our games, the longer he wants to play, and the longer he plays the better and more adept he becomes.

A season Ducks ticket holder wrote us recently to say there is a dramatic difference between what he calls the "sandlot players" on his son's youth hockey team versus the weekend/practice players in terms of their confidence, puck sense, skills, and the fun they have.  That's no surprise to my father and me.

The moral here is that these are our children engaged in play... playing games.  They do it for fun.  The more fun they have the more they'll play their games.  The more they play, the better they will become.  So my advice to these and all concerned parents is give your players the opportunity to play their games.  An hour of 2 on 2 shinny is about the equivalent of 15 organized youth hockey games in terms of puck time and opportunities to shoot the puck.  If you don't have a backyard or neighborhood rink, get a roller hockey net and roller blades and your driveway will become a Mecca of kids who will play their games endlessly which will improve their acceleration, their puck savvy, shots, and their puck sense - naturally.  While you're concerned about their improvement, you will have tricked them - they'll think they're just playing a game.  But don't let them read about how Tom Sawyer got his fence white-washed.

   Dan Bylsma

Go to TOP  DAN'S TIP  THIS MONTH'S QUESTION  HONOR ROLL  COACH'S TIP  SAYING  DAN in the NHL  BOOKS  SUBSCRIBE
MY CHARITABLE TRUST FUND...

The kids' auction was a success.  Twenty-six kids entered 138 bids and the hat and the book went for $35.50.  Two individuals (new friends of mine - Warren Anderson of L.A. and Ron Falk of Grand Rapids) and the Bollman family of St. Joseph, MI, each offered to match the winning bid so 138 quarters turned into $142.00 in the trust fund.  My thanks to them and to all the kids who bid and they will all receive a little token of my appreciation.  The bidding was so fast and furious at the end I'm inspired to have a kids' auction again soon.

Next up on the auction is a pair of L.A. Kings tickets to the Kings/Stars game April 8th Sec 114, Row 14 (14 rows from the ice on the Kings' goal line), an autographed stick signed by the Kings, an autographed stick signed by the Stars, our first book, and a pass to visit the locker room area to get the sticks and meet my friend Ian Laperriere.  Since not many of you are in the area and can take advantage of the tickets, the auction will be announced on the "LetsGoKings" web site as well as here.

  The bidding will start now at $50 and will be closed on February 1 at 12 midnight E.S.T.  You can see the rules for bidding and place a bid by going to the Charitable Trust Fund page on my web site www.DanBylsma.com or by clicking here and going to the bottom of the page. 

 
NOTES FROM DAN'S HOCKEY CAMP (from the video analyst)...

I was watching a Ducks' game on TV recently and they featured some Mites skating between periods.  As the kids skated, I saw an obvious problem we often see in younger skaters.  It's a bad habit that if not corrected results in a very difficult problem to correct in older skaters.  It's the problem of not replanting the skate directly underneath the skater after the stride.  When I was watching these little guys at the Ducks game, some of them looked like they were skating on railroad tracks.  It became really noticeable when the tykes skated away from the camera.

Some knowledge of how muscles are trained may be helpful to understand why it's important to correct this problem early.  Skating is not an activity that comes naturally to most kids whose legs are trained to walk and run.  A skater has to train his muscles to stride/plant/glide.  Certain tasks will be "remembered" by your muscles.  Bad technique that is repeated requires re-training those muscles to correct the problem because muscles have memory.  So good skating fundamentals taught early can avoid having to teach an old muscle a new trick.

Then a little bit of skating philosophy.  The goal in skating is to get as long a stride as possible to make the most efficient use of the available energy in the leg muscles on each stride.  While we often concentrate on skating in a seated position to lengthen the end of the stride, it's also important to replant our foot directly underneath so we can add length to the beginning of our stride. 

If this problem is not readily noticeable to a parent or coach, one way to see this problem is to have your skaters line up along the boards and skate along the blue line as fast as they can, one a time, from one side board to the other and observe if their skates ever touch the line.  A skater with good technique will be replanting each skate on or very near the blue line.  A skater with excellent technique will plant his right skate to the left of center of the blue line thereby lengthening his stride even more.  Todd Reirden (D-man - Atlanta Thrashers) who is a counselor at Dan's camp is an outstanding example of great technique as he actually plants his right skate to the left of the centerline of his body; left skate to the right of the centerline, etc. 

There are several reasons why young skaters develop this bad habit.  One is that when they first start skating, they tend to shuffle along and by having their feet more outboard (like out-riggers), they feel more secure on their skates.  As they get more proficient, they will lengthen the end of the stride but often retain replanting in the same "out-rigger shuffle" style.  Another reason is that they don't have a good knee bend (the don't skate from a seated position).  This can be a double whammy.  Not only are they missing out on a longer stride at the end of the stroke (as we've talked about in earlier issues), but they're also forced to bring their skate forward quickly to avoid falling forward and plant their foot early (and short of their center) - they don't have time to bring their foot underneath themselves or they'll fall.  A third reason may be they are not taught the correct technique or concentrating on lengthening the end of the stride and being unaware that replanting correctly can also add length to the stride (and therefore speed).

The blue line is typically 12 inches wide.  If a skater is replanting outside the edge of the blue line - he or she is losing at least six inches of his potential maximum stride.  And while six inches isn't much, it's 20% to 25% of the stride of a young skater.  If you are (or are coaching) an older skater, using the goal line, which is only two inches wide will be an even more challenging test.

Here's an easy drill to teach any skater what replanting directly underneath feels like.  Have them click the heels of the skate that's replanting with the gliding skate when they are skating slowly in warm-ups.  Obviously we don't click our heels together when we're skating in a game, but by doing a drill where they click their heels or by clicking their heels in slow skate warm-ups, they will be training their muscles to replant properly which hopefully their muscles will "remember" when they are skating full out.

Jay M. Bylsma

DAN’S HONOR ROLL 

I think your academic progress is so very important that I have an academic Honor Roll; I don't have an honor roll for hat tricks and shutouts.  I hope each of you are diligent in your studies and can either raise your GPA by one point, or can attain a 3.5 GPA and be listed here.
 

NAME

AGE

GPA

 SCHOOL

 TEAM

STATE

Mitch MacLoed

 11 3.85

Spring Lake Intermediate

GRAHA Griffins PeeWee A

MI**

Cliff Jones ‡

 12 3.96

Spring Lake Middle

Muskegon House PeeWees

 MI*

Marshall Jones

 10 3.85

Spring Lake Intermediate

Muskegon House Squirt

MI*

Winston Jones

 8 4.00

Holmes Elementary

Muskegon House Squirt

 MI*

Tyler Spiering ‡

 11 3.96

Sylvan Christian

EGRAHA PeeWee B

 MI*

Zach Fussey

 9 3.61

Holy Family Catholic

IYHL Irish Rovers Mite A

 IN

Joe Adams

 9 4.14

St. Paul's Lutheran

Jr. Ducks Squirt A

CA

Bryan Duke

 12 3.62

Perry Meridian Middle

Indy Racers PeeWee A

 IN

Ross Hinkle

 10 3.69

Wayland Pine Street

Grizzlies Squirt AA

 MI*

Aaron Alkema ‡

 7 TR

Kettle Lake Elementary

GRAHA Griffins Mite AA

 MI*

Daniel Monteforte ‡

 14 4.20

E. Stroudsburg Sr. HS

Lehigh Valley Bantam A

 PA

Bennett Schneider ‡

 12 3.75

Ft. Meyers Canterbury

Jr Everblades PeeWee Grn

 FL

Joshua Valkema

 13 3.50

Jenison Public

Jenison Wildcats PeeWee B

 MI*

Casey Hobbs

 12 4.00

Pleasant View Middle

Pueblo Panther PeeWee

 CO

Mark Hazel

 12 3.96

Pinewood Middle

Kentwood PeeWee AA

 MI

Ryan Corgan ‡

 13 4.00

North Muskegon Middle

Muskegon Chiefs PeeWeeB1

 MI*

Jody Lisicky

 11 3.80

Garnet Valley Middle

Quakers Squirt AA

 PA

Max Goldstein

 12 4.28

Loggers Run Middle

Jr. Panthers PeeWee

 FL

Jeremy Hopersberger ‡

 10 4.00

Laingsburg Elementary

Flint Phantoms Squirt AA

 MI*

Dan Dunbar

 12 3.93

Los Flores  Middle

South Coast Sabers PeeWee A

 CA

Barrick Bollman‡

 12 4.00

Upton Middle

S.  Bend Irish Rovers PeeWee A

 IN

Piero Iberti

 12 3.55

Packer Collegiate

N.J. Jr. Devils  PeeWee Minor

 NY*

Josh Corgan ‡

 9 TR

N. Muskegon Elementary

Muskegon Chiefs Squirt AA1

 MI*

Kevin Brooks

 10

3.75

 Santiago Hills Elementary  Jr. Ducks Squirt A CA

Brandon Ryfiak

 10 3.50 Rockford Parkside Rockford Squirt MI*

Mark Jannenga

 11 3.92 St. Mary's Elementary Perani's PeeWee MI

Paul Engman

 11 3.85 East Rockford Middle Rockford Rams PeeWee B MI

Lucas McShosh‡

 11 3.96 Baldwin Middle GRAHA Griffins PeeWee A MI*

Andrew Fried

 11 3.75 Greens Farms Academy Wonderland  of Ice PeeWee CT

Ian Jendro‡

 11 3.50 Holy Family Catholic Seattle PeeWee AAA WA*

James Donley

 11 4.00 Maplewood Elementary GRAHA Squirt MI*

James Sheff

 10 3.95 Inland City Academy GLAHA Panthers Squirt B MI*

Michael Orlando

 9 3.5 Wrightstown Elementary Ice World Devils Squirts PA

Chris Orlando

 16 3.5 Canterbury School Canterbury Saints H.S. CT

Jonathan Koslop

10 4.00 Pinewoods Elementary Everblades Select FL

Seth Hawthorne

 15 3.67 Grand Haven High Grand Haven Varsity MI*

Zach Runge

 12 4.00 Kellogsville Middle GRAHA PeeWee B3 MI

Ryan Christiansen

 6 3.5 Peach Plains Elementary Grand Haven Rec Inline Mite MI

Brad Christiansen

 10 3.66 Peach Plains Elementary Excel Propane PeeWee MI

Mathew Rosenthal

 10 4.0 Chaparrel Elementary Lightning Squirts CA*

Cody Hunn

 14 4.0 Fairmont Junior High  Texas Greyhound Bantam AA TX

Parker Ewles

 9 TR Turtle Creek Elementary Jr. Mighty Ducks Mite A1 CA

Brandon Grieves

 9 4.0 Cary Christian  Raleigh Storm Mites Travel NC
      I'll make room for you here    
     

 

 

  

I hope all of you set a goal to make this list.  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.  When you qualify, Email your name, age, GPA or improvement, school, team, and state to Number21@DanBylsma.com