Volume 3, Issue  5 - January, 2003  

 "From the Right Wing…"

 

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Anaheim
MIGHTY DUCKS

#21

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

www.danbylsma.com

 One of the features of this            

issue is about checking...           

For a printer friendly version - click 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

Over the course of a season I get more than a few letters from parents who are concerned that their kids do not have enough energy to play three periods of hockey.  A typical letter goes something like this:

 

My PeeWee son finds it harder to keep up with the game at this level and becomes exhausted.  The other kids on the team are also having the problem.  They all seem to tire out by the third period.  Are there any drills or things they could do to increase their endurance?   They all have the same complaint.  The coach also suggested that he should probably change the lines a little quicker.  Sometimes the same line stays out of approx. 2 minutes or more.  Any advice would be appreciated.  

 

Based on the number of times we get this question, it's not an isolated problem.  Three things come to mind.

 The first is the length of shifts. In the NHL 60 seconds is a very long shift.  I know that we record between 35 and 37 shifts in a 20-minute period - that's 34 and 32 second shifts on average.  If the coach shortens the bench to three lines 35 seconds is a long shift and we try to keep it fewer than 30 seconds.  When penalty killing, we try to keep it under 30 seconds - 20 seconds is not uncommon.  And I suspect we're in better shape than the average PeeWee house or Travel player.  I can't imagine a 2-minute shift; - the pain in my legs from the build up of lactic acid would be enough to get me to the bench, not to mention I'd be gassed.  Lactic acid (actually sarcolactic acid) is produced by muscle tissue during exercise.  When too much of this acid (also called the acid of fatigue) forms around a muscle, the muscle becomes tired or fatigued.  When you rest, you body clears away these acids.  Some build-up of lactic acid causes fatigue, too much of it causes pain.)

The second is nutrition.  What you eat before a game has a great deal to do with your energy levels and stamina during the game.  See the September, 2002, issue of my newsletter  (http://www.danbylsma.com/newsletter27.htm) in the Hockey Camp section for what nutritionists for the Ducks recommend and a discussion on the importance of how and what you eat before and after a game.

The third thing is conditioning.  If the only exercise your player gets is the game or two a week, it may be a factor in why he gets gassed in the third period.  Because everyone on the team seems to get gassed, I'd look to length of shifts and nutrition first.

One high school player who wrote us about eating right for maximum performance at the beginning of the season wrote back last week.  This is what he says:

Dan: I have been eating a lot of carbohydrates.  I do notice a difference compared to last year.  Last year I played third line and had limited playing time.  This year I am playing on the second line.  However, due to injuries and game misconducts, our team has been playing with only two forward lines.  This means I am playing every other shift.  I still have as much energy as last year.  When the game is done I still feel like I could play a whole new period.  Thanks for the advice! Thanks for writing back Landon.

The old saying "you are what you eat" has validity, especially if you are playing a sport that demands high levels of energy at regular and sustained intervals.

Dan Bylsma

THIS MONTH'S BEST QUESTION ON THE WEB SITE…

Dan and Jay: My son loves the game and plays with his heart. But when it comes to playing aggressive, mean, and dirty he's just not that type of player. He is always very respectful of his teammates and even other players on other teams. What can I do as a parent to help my son become more aggressive? Mr.G

Mr. G: 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) and are mean and ugly come from a corresponding 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 aggressive, mean, and ugly, you'd have to start beating him, something it appears he's unaccustomed to. And if you want the message to really sink in, beat him for no reason at all. That will hasten the process of making him mean aggressive, mean and ugly.

This is only a game and he loves it as a game. 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 - this during the last season I played with him with the Kings (and I think he may have paid off the scorekeeper for the few he got credit for). A third/fourth 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 becoming more aggressive 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 easily after the testosterone starts flowing.

From Jay: 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 typically 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.

Mr. G. responds: Thank you for the advice! I surely do NOT want my son to ever be mean or ugly. By aggressive I meant playing a little rougher, like rushing in on the loose pucks and shoving or even elbowing (no intent to hurt) but to get position to get the puck. He's 9 and plays on a Squirt B team and even at this level it gets pretty rough and he gets hit a lot and even checked from time to time. I would love for him to have the skills of Dan & Luc! Thank you!

 

Jay replies: One thing you can do to have him be "more hungry" (maybe what we have is an unfortunate choice of words - hungry vs. mean or aggressive) is to develop the idea of owning the puck. This would be as in "is it your puck or is it his (opponent's) puck." Hockey is not a game of sharing and we don't need politeness or niceties even if we deplore meanness and aggression. There's only one puck and the idea is to claim it for yourself and your team and if an opponent has it, he has something that should be yours and it needs to be reclaimed for its rightful owner.

The operative words here are that you can be "possessive" and "jealous" of something that should be in your possession, and not in the other guy's possession, and it's important to get it back if he has it or get it if it's free (not in anyone's possession).

As a coach I used to say, "Whose puck is it?" or "Who wants the puck?" or "Is the puck worth battling for or should we gift wrap it for them?" or "The only way to get the game puck after the game is to own it during the game." or, "If they want the puck, let them get it out of their net" (after we score a goal).

These comments paint word pictures of possession, coveting, and jealousy to incite effort and are word pictures that play on a person's natural inclination to be possessive of their stuff and do not connote aggression or meanness.

   Dan and Jay Bylsma

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MY CHARITABLE TRUST FUND...

The Adam Oates went for $211 and I thank the McKenney family who now have an Adam Oates stick among their memorabilia.  Adam was flattered to have it go that high and I'm pleased to add $211 to my charitable foundation.  There is no auction this month but we'll have something special next month.

 
NOTES FROM MY HOCKEY CAMP...

My father tells me that the Day Sessions of the Hockey Camp are full and there remain only a few spots in the Travel Skill Camp. 

I was wrong about you having two weeks after the first of the year to sign up; you had until 10 a.m. in the morning of January 2nd for the PeeWee/Bantam session.  We're thinking about changing the format next year.  We're talking of having two weeks of Day Camp: one week of one session each of Mite/Squirts and PeeWee/Bantams same as in the past.  Then we'd have a second week of Day camp with two sessions: another PeeWee/Bantam session identical to week one and a session of Travel Skills - both running in the format of the present Day Camp, i.e. from 9:00 am to 4:00 p.m. alternating ice and dry land training sessions.

In a sense, this is a market survey.  You are my market - tell me what you think.

 

* * * * *

At hockey camp we do not emphasize checking, but in the PeeWee/Bantam camp and the Travel Skills sessions, we devote some time to checking.  We stress that checking is not another word for "hitting", but rather it is an attempt to physically check or hinder a puck carrier. Much of what we do is "angling"; we attempt to force the puck carrier to those places on the ice where it is very difficult to score.  There are times however when checking involves physical contact.  When that occurs two things are important:  You want to do it so it's effective and so that you do it within the rules. 

Let's address checking within the rules first.  You can check without getting penalized if you follow some simple rules and they all have to do with "down": keep your stick down, keep your elbows down, keep your feet down (on the ice), and keep your speed down. 

If you keep your stick down, you avoid the possibility of high sticking or cross checking, and besides, if you're checking the body, you don't need your stick.  More importantly, try to get your stick on the puck as well.  You may be able to recover the puck or prevent your opponent from making a pass.

If you keep your elbows down, you avoid getting your hands up to the player's head to check and you will also give your own body some additional protection.

Keep your feet down (on the ice).  First of all, it's illegal to leave your feet to check, but more importantly, you want to maintain control of your game.  You want to be in a position to recover the puck and you can't do that if you've left your feet.  Remember your goal is the puck.

As important as it is to know how to deliver a check, it's just as important to know how to take one.  In taking a check, be pro-active.  That is to say, be in the process of delivering back as opposed to recoiling.  If you check back, you will diminish the effectiveness of the checker; perhaps even reverse the intended consequences of the check.  If you recoil, the effects of the check on you will be compounded.  It's far easier to plant someone to the ice who is already falling than someone who is checking back.  So if you're going to be on the receiving end of a check, don't recoil - check back!

I'll be the first to admit that in the heat and speed of the game, I'm not always the poster boy on how to check.  But the picture below shows that I can get lucky sometimes.  And I

post the photo because there are some things I want you to see (click on the picture to enlarge it).  Perhaps most important, see what happens if you don't check back.  Toni Lydman flinched and the check wasn't especially hard, but it had the desired effect in part because he recoiled.  Then notice some other things about the position of my body.  My stick is not down, but it's away from Toni and my arms are down.  Notice that my butt is up against the boards so there's no way I can get a boarding penalty.  If I had done the same check facing the boards, an innocent check might have turned into a boarding penalty if the ref had the wrong angle on the play.  He might have thought there's no way I could have sent Lydman flying like that legally.

Incidentally, Toni is not trying to kick me.  He's just lost all control of himself and, more importantly - the puck.

So in making a check, remember the purpose is not to smash someone over the boards.  It's to check him, that is restrain or hinder the progress of the puck carrier or force him or her into a position whereby he doesn't have a good shot at the net (like Toni in the photo).

Things to remember when checking:
1) Keep your stick down.  Try to keep your stick on the puck as well to prevent the player from making a pass.
2) Keep your elbows in.
3) Keep your feet in the ice.  Don't lunge into him because your goal is not to plant him and you but to limit his progress and his ability to make a play with the puck.
4) Keep your speed down.  You are only allowed three strides into someone and your goal is not to see how hard and fast you can lambaste the opponent; it's to limit his progress while being in control of yourself so you don't take yourself out of the play.
5) Angling the player out of position can be just as effective as planting him, with less punishment to yourself

6) Never forget that your goal is the puck.  You're trying to prevent him from having it and trying to get it for yourself.  If your goal is just hitting, you're losing sight of the object of checking.

Things to remember if you're being checked:

1) Be proactive - lean into the checker if not be checking back.

2) Even though you're being checked, try to maintain your concentration on the puck and the play you're trying to make.  To allow your attention to be diverted is as effective for the checker as planting you.  

****

There is an active debate going on to eliminate checking for PeeWees and Bantams because bigger, stronger players are using hitting (as opposed to checking) to eliminate the play of smaller, more skillful players.  As a result, the smaller, more skillful players are leaving the game.  The argument is that we're losing the skilled players and what is left are bigger less skilled players to the detriment of the game and its future.  They argue that in football, at least they line the behemoths up against each other at the start of the play.  They further argue that it's no coincidence that the smaller skilled players are coming into the NHL from Europe, while North America is producing the bigger, checker (some would say mugger) type players (like me).

The other side of the argument is that we should introduce checking in Mites so that kids learn how to check and receive checks at an early age so that it's always part of their game and they'll grow up with it and through it.  The Canadian Hockey Assn. has reinstituted checking for their Atoms (9-10 yr. olds) after accepting a study that showed no increase in injuries.  The math in the study was later proved to be fatally flawed but checking remains at the Atom level - at least for now.  The first segment of a two-part TV documentary "KaBoom" that aired on the CBC over the past weeks on the controversy can seen by clicking here for the first segment (then clicking on "Watch the Story") and here for the second segment (scroll down a bit on the page to find it).  If my father views this piece, he'd have something to say about the values the coach has taught his players - hitting is a God-given skill? That TV segment touched off an editorial in the Toronto Globe and Mail that you can read here.  There's a donnybrook a-brewin' north of the border as evidenced by the responses to the Toronto Star (you can read them by clicking here).   This will have repercussions in the US.   Our thanks to our friend Steve Pesner for the heads-up on these pieces on checking.

     Another argument can be made that checking should be introduced if and when hockey teams are chosen by height and weight as well as ability as they do in Pop Warner football - which long ago realized that physical development is not universally consistent over age groups.

In all of these arguments, there is an element missing - wise coaching.  Coaching is not super-imposing the pro game onto youth hockey.  In my perfect world a coach with a big or an overly aggressive player would be reining him in if he used his size to hit instead of check.  As I said before, checking is about physically limiting or restraining (checking the progress of) the puck handler.  Youth hockey is not about proving how big and strong we are by planting opponents into the cheap seats. 

                 

Dan 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

Ross Hinkle

11

3.67

Wayland Middle School

G.R. Grizzlies PeeWee AA

MI*‡

Shannon Kelsey

14

4.0

Estero High School

Pinch a Penny Womens League

FL‡

Lucas Kelsey

13

3.57

Three Oaks Middle School

Jr. Everblades Bantam A

FL

Cliff Jones

13

3.86

Spring Lake Middle School

Muskegon Chiefs Bantam B3

MI*‡

Marshall Jones

11

4.0

Spring Lake Intermediate

Lakeshore House - Bonners

MI*‡

Brad Christiansen

 11 3.83 White Pines Middle School Norton Shores (Vers. Fab) PeeWee

MI*‡

Winston Jones

9

3.9

Holmes Elementary School

Shoreline Rec League Squirt

MI*‡

Brandan Ryfiak

11

3.538

N. Rockford Middle School

Rockford PeeWee

MI*‡

Marshall Jones

11

4.0

Spring Lake Intermediate

Lakeshore House - Bonners

MI*‡

Ryan Christiansen

 8 TR Peach Plains Elementary G. H. Plastics Mite In-line

MI‡

Jeremy Hopersberger

 11 4.0 Laingsberg Middle School Lansing Capitals PeeWee A

MI*‡

Andrew Frank

8

3.67

Eagle Lake Elementary

Irish Rover Mite A

MI

Paul Engman

 12 3.72 E. Rockford Middle School Rockford PeeWee

MI*‡

Aaron Arkema

 8 4.0 Kettle Lake Elementary GRAHA Griffins Mite AA

MI*‡

Matt Rosenthal

11

3.75

Chapparel  Elementary

Calababas Flyers PeeWee

CA*‡

Ryan Corgan

 14 4.0 North Muskegon Middle Muskegon Chiefs Bantam B1

MI*‡

Josh Corgan

 10 4.0 North Muskegon Elementary Muskegon Chiefs Squirt AA

MI*‡

Caleb Weiler

 9 3.87 Calvary Christian Academy Hatfield Ice Dogs Squirt B

PA

Harrison Huls

 9

3.87

Blaisdale Montessori School

Ajax Knights A Minor Atoms

ONT

Sammie Baker

10

4.0

Fr. Marquette Middle School

Marquette LitiGators Girls 11 Under

MI*

Josh Weinstein

 10 4.0+ A.P. Terhune Elementary Ice House Avalanche Squirt AA

NJ‡
Kris Johnson 10 3.65 St. Stevens Lutheran Lakeland Squirt Spitfires MI*

Bennett Schneider

13

3.78

Canterbury School

Jr. Everblades Bantam AA

FL

Madison Schneider

9

4.0

Canterbury School

Teco Squirt House

FL

Colton Ritchie

9

4.0

Schola Maxima

Red Wings Squirt House

AL

Dakota Abramowicz

11

4.0

Jane Addams Middle School

Royal Oak Eagles PeeWee A

MI

Matt Weinstein

 12 4.0 Schyler Middle School Ice House Avalanche PeeWee AA

NJ‡

Ben Grace

 9 3.63 Raisinville Ellmentary Monroe Ice Hawks Squirt B

MI*

Jonathan Koslop

 11 4.0 Bonita Middle School Sunrise Ice Sharks Black

FL‡

Andrew Lawrence

11 3.9 Quinton Township School Delaware Jr. Blue Hens PeeWee A

DE‡

David Lawrence

 13 4.0 Quinton Township School Delaware Jr. Blue Hens Bantam AA

DE‡

Reid Munroe

 10 4.0 North Muskegon Elementary Muskegon Chiefs Squirt AA

MI

Ben Bodman

 13 3.93 Mason Middle School Lansing Senator Bantam B

MI*

Mark Hazel

 13 3.9 Pinewood Middle School W. Michigan Bantam A

MI‡

Tyler Spiering

 12 3.9 Sylvan Christian School EGRAHA Bantam B

MI*‡!

Matt Slowinski

 11 3.79 Tawas City Elementary GSAHA TBF Graphic Blues PeeWee

MI

Bobby Pease

 10 3.88 Eugene Vining Elementary Billerica Squirt A

MA

Mitch Hughes

 10 3.9 Stoneybrooke Christian Anaheim Jr. Ducks Squirt A

CA
           
           
           

 

     There's room here for you!    
     

 

 

  

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

* Attendees of my hockey camp.  ‡ Indicates repeat offenders. !Wears Number 21

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COACHES AND PARENTS from Jay...  

 Dan's column last month about NHL practices being fun because they play a lot of games prompted me to expand on something I wrote about before; that is, I think most coaches and parents would be surprised at what an NHL practice looks like. I've written that about 2/3 of it is working on skating - the best skaters in the world working on improving their skating.  And right along with skating - passing.  In my ignorance, I thought they would be working on breakouts, defensive strategies, power plays, penalty killing methods.  And I'm sure they do work on these things, but I've been to over 40 practices and rarely do I see these technical things - it's the fundamentals they work on, and work on, and work on.

And what do they do that is both "working" on fundamentals and fun?

For one thing, they play Keep Away.  That's right... Keep Away.  One on one, tw