Volume 4, Issue 1 - October, 2003 

 "From the Right Wing…"

Hockey camp this year wasn't as      

 much fun for me as prior years!       

For a printer friendly version - click here

 www.DanBylsma.com  

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

What a season 2002/2003 for the Duckies!  No one, but no one (but the Ducks) thought we had a chance of making the playoffs, let alone sweeping the Red Wings, beating Dallas in 6 games and Minnesota in 4 and then taking the Devils to Game 7.  And now, instead of being the doormat of the league, we're the ones to beat.  And frankly, we're optimistic.  Signing Sergei Fedorov and Vinny Prospal adds two players who have the potential of scoring 50 goals or more.  While I will miss my friends Paul Kariya, Adam Oates, and Steve Thomas, the preseason optimism the team has is as justified this year, as it was last.

There is at least one important thing one can learn from the Ducks success last year.  It's this - don't listen to the people who say negative things about you or your team.  My advice to coaches and parents is, "Never tell a kid he can't make it."  Looking at the Ducks talent, the pundits said we wouldn't make the playoffs.  When we made the playoffs, people who supposedly are in the know about these things said we'd never get past Detroit.  Some even suggested that the Ducks were just a warm up for Detroit before the Dallas series. 

Just evaluating the talent on the Ducks, I can understand why someone might have said that.  And frankly, after we had Detroit down in the series 3 games to 0, we were afraid to let them win Game 4 because with all the talent they had, they could come back and win the next four games and take the series.  But as my father says in every edition of the newsletter, talent is not as important an ingredient in success as is hard work and perseverance.  I am unaware of anyone who can tell in advance how hard an individual or a team works, or how long they are willing to persevere. 

So if you're a player, don't listen to the naysayers who predict you or your team will not be successful this season. As I have shown above, even people in the know, people who get paid to know these things are often wrong.  Chances are, the people in the world you live in know even less than the experts.  But if you accept my premise that they aren't qualified to predict that you will not be successful, they are just as unqualified to predict that you are a sure thing to make the NHL.

If you're a parent or a coach, never tell a kid he can't make it.  First of all, it's just not a positive thing to say to kids who can use all the positives they can get, and secondly, nearly every one of my peers has had his share of predictions that he wouldn't make it, just like we had our share of those who said the Ducks weren't good enough to make the playoffs. 

In addition, psychologists tell us that children assimilate criticism differently than adults.  An adult can accept the evaluation that, as a hockey player, he's no Wayne Gretzky without transferring that comment to his worth as a person.   A child hearing that he will never be Wayne Gretzky will internalize that as a comment about his worth as a person.  So be careful when evaluating a player or a team. There are more than a few sports writers with egg (that would be Duck egg) on their face - a condition you may wish to avoid. 

THIS MONTH'S BEST QUESTION ON THE WEB SITE…

Dan: All of my teammates have Synergy sticks.  My parents say it's not necessary.  I have tried them and I think they're cool.  You use a composite stick and so do most all NHLers.  They must be better? Squirt Player.

Dan: My son says he needs to have one of the new composite sticks to play at his best.  Are they really better and worth the money? PeeWee's Father

Dan Replies:

Dear SP: If you were my son, you would enjoy playing with a wood stick.  The cost of skates and the equipment needed to play the game safely is very expensive.  Add to that the cost of ice time and most parents are making a sacrifice to have you play the game.  At the skill level of a youth hockey player, a composite stick is no advantage to your game.  Perhaps your teammates' parents have caved in to their player's wishes to have a composite, but that doesn't make it a need, only a want.

I suspect that if a stick manufacture came out with a $300 wood stick and an NHL star played with it, it would be a marketing success because we tend to equate price with value.  There's a difference and it's no more clear than with composite sticks.  If they were suddenly to all be priced at $5, no one would get caught dead playing with one.

Do your family's budget a favor and learn to play the game with a wooden stick.  I guarantee it won't deter your path to the NHL.

Dear PF:  Truth be told, in the hands of a professional player, composite sticks will add perhaps 5% to the speed of their shot.  In the hands of a Squirt or a PeeWee, I don't think it will have any effect on the speed of his shot.  Adam Oates prefers a wooden stick over composites because he says you have a better feel for the puck.  I agree with Adam there is a better feel with a wooden stick.  Therefore, I'd recommend a wooden stick over composites for that reason alone.

On the issue of cost, there is some talk in the NHL to prohibit the use of the composites.  Not because they are more effective, but because of their cost.   Teams' stick budgets have gone out of sight with their use.  They break (and chip) as easily as wood and at 4 to 5 times the cost of a wood stick, the NHL teams' position is understandable.  The Ducks' overspent their stick budget by December last season.  

Many defensemen are going back to wood sticks because, as you might have seen in the Stanley Cup playoffs, on several occasions a D-man's composite stick would break on a shot from the point, the puck would be recovered by the opposing team and now the D-man has to defend without a stick.  It was at that moment that some of the players decided to go back to the more reliable wooden sticks, which wear out over time, but don't snap with the frequency of composites.

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Based on the response, the kid's auction is a big hit and we're collecting some things you will find interesting.  In the meantime, there's no auction this month.

One more hockey camp is over.  For the over 100 players from 16 states who attended, I know we had a lot of fun together and I hope what you learned will help you both play and live the game better.  My hockey camp has a very strong emphasis on skating technique because I believe you can't enjoy the game if you can't skate and all of us can be better skaters.  So I'm going to review some of the things we talked about in camp.  If you didn't attend, you get the benefit of the lesson without attending (but you didn't have the fun).

If you did attend the camp you all were a part of this picture.  Before and after every on-ice session we stretched, just as we do before every practice and game in the NHL.  We didn't stretch so you would feel like you were in the NHL, we did it because we think stretching is very important.  It has come to my attention that some of you don't stretch before a game.  I think any strenuous exercise without stretching that is specific to the game you are playing is not only unwise, it's also asking for an injury.

So while this section of my newsletter will be devoted to reviewing the fundamentals of skating that are important to become a better skater, no one can skate very well with a pulled hamstring or groin muscle.  So we're going to begin this year with some encouragement to players and coaches alike to pay attention to the very important game preparation of warming up and stretching.

Warming up and stretching is important for two reasons - it reduces the risk of injury and i it increases your flexibility.  Properly cooling down and stretching after the practice is just as important. 

There is not enough room in the newsletter and I don't have the ability to accompany the suggested exercises with the appropriate sketches.  So I'm going to refer you to several web sites that have very good warm up and stretching routines.  The first is by the Transcona Physiotherapy Sports and Industrial Injury Clinic in Canada and you can see their recommendations at  www.sportandspine.mb.ca/stretch/str_1.shtml.  Michigan State University has a page on their web site about stretching here ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/ysi/SpotlightSum96/hockstr.html. 

If you are a coach, I urge you to include a pre-game or pre-practice regimen in your pre-game and pre-practice preparation.  If you are a parent, insist on it for the safety of your player.  If you are a player, take warm up and stretching seriously enough to do it on your own if your coach or team doesn't do it as a team.

P.S. Someone left a Muskegon Chiefs soft shell lunch box at hockey camp.  My parents have it at their home.  If you left it or know someone who did... call them.

NAME

AGE

GPA

 SCHOOL

 TEAM

STATE

There's lot's of room for you here

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PARENT TO PARENTS, COACHES, and PLAYERS from Jay...  

We often get Emails asking why a certain NHL player - usually a rookie - who can skate like the wind and can dangle like a spider doesn't live up to their potential.  Their coming into the league is heralded by the press as being the next Sergei Fedorov or better.  But after an unproductive month or so on the first or second line, more often than not they are languishing on the third line if they are lucky enough not to get sent to the minors.

One of the really great things about being the father of an NHLer is you get the inside story in what really goes on with the team, in the locker room, or on the ice.  So I often ask my special inside source, "What about this player or that," or "What's the story on so-and-so." 

As often as not, the reason why the wind/spider isn't living up to expectations is the lack of the ability to adapt mentally to the NHL game.  That's the polite way of saying, "The kid doesn't think well on ice." Or, not to put too fine a word to it, the kid isn't very smart.

When Dan played his first game in the NHL, one of his reactions was, "The game is going past me in fast-forward, and I'm thinking in real time."  That was to say, the speed of the game was so much faster compared to the IHL, he had to mentally adjust his mind speed to match that of the game.  I knew he was able to do that when some time later, I saw him make an incredible play in an NHL game and asked him how was able to react so fast.  He replied that that he had plenty of time, when in fact, it was done in a split second.  He was able to say he had plenty of time because at that point in his career, the game was going by in slow motion and he was able to react in real time.  He had "adapted mentally to the NHL game."

The point of this bit of insider information is to encourage parents and coaches to impress on their players the importance of working hard to get the best grades possible in school.  While it's important that your player develop his athletic skills if he aspires to go as far as he can in the sport, it is equally important to develop his mind, his ability to think and reason, and to make decisions.  The only discipline I know of where that training is developed is in Education.  And typically, it is accomplished by pushing one's self to stretch the mind.

In one of the chapters of our second book, we ask the question, "What's the most important thing a player can do to make it to the NHL?"  Our answer is, "Get good grades in school" because for American-born players and increasingly for Canadians, college is the route you'll most likely take to get to the NHL and you need good grades to get into college.

But perhaps just as important, to play hockey successfully at the highest levels, you need to be able, as Dan says, "To think in fast forward while the game goes on in real time."

To say that another way, the book "Hockey for Dummies" is not a useful handbook for players.  Working hard at school - and thereby improving the mind - may be just as important for your player as is improving his or her shot.

It's another reason Dan has an academic honor roll on the newsletter.

    Jay M. Bylsma

THIS MONTH'S SAYING IS TO PUT IN YOUR LOCKER...

" Luck is when preparation and opportunity meet."

                                                      Dan Bylsma

 

ONE KID'S TRIP TO THE NHL - current installment...

As the Ducks prepare themselves for the uncharted waters of finding themselves being considered among the league elite, I, too, have found myself in a new situation.  I've been sitting out training camp recovering from off-season knee surgery.  Although training camp is tough, sitting it out is even tougher.  While the new guys are worrying about fitting in to Coach Mike Babcock's system and the team is worrying about returning to last years playoff form, I find myself focusing on my rehab and whether or not the cartilage in my knee will be able to withstand the rigors of another NHL season. 

The second eight-week period of my rehab came to an end as of Wednesday, Oct. 15, and I have just returned from Cleveland and a visit with Dr. Miniaci at the Cleveland Clinic.  Gratefully, there has been significant regeneration of the cartilage in my knee over the past 16 weeks and Dr. Miniaci has prescribed six weeks of getting back on my skates and getting ready to return to a playing schedule.  I will begin with one day skating, one day off, and increase that until I can go a full practice without discomfort. 

The surgery and rehab has had it share of ups and downs from week to week and even day to day.  I have never had a surgery/injury that has taxed me more mentally and physically than this one.  The 16 weeks of healing process has given me far more time to contemplate when and if I am going to recover than it has actually given me rehabilitation time in the gym.  Most indications are that everything is going as planned with the surgery and rehab, but would someone please tell my mind that. 

Training camp started and finished with a flare rarely seen around Mighty Duck land.  From the amount of media attention the Cinderella playoff run of last year got, to the new look of the Ducks, there was added spice to the preseason.  The big buzz, of course, was around Sergei.  Both the players and the fans wanted to see what adding a "1" to Paul Kariya's jersey would be like. 

I think you'd find it interesting to know what kind of an impression Sergei made on his arrival.  After reading all the hype in the Michigan papers about him, I couldn't help but be surprised how easily he blended in and became one of the guys.  He's worked hard and did what's been expected of him both on and off the ice. Secondly, I've been impressed at how he has worked as a peer with guys on the ice.  He's asked where to go and where to be within the Ducks' system, and he's worked with guys on the ice to help build chemistry.  Seeing him work with the players and systems makes me even more excited to watch him play and practice on a daily basis. 

Where does this leave the Ducks? Good Question.  Right now it leaves us 0-4 on the season and struggling to put together a good game for 60 minutes.  We certainly have a very skilled team, but like all good teams we still have to work hard and play together as a team in order to win hockey games.  Like the Duck team of last year did so successfully, we are going to have to get on our game plan and work at perfecting it over the course of the 82 game marathon that is the NHL season.

As for me, my job right now is to stick to my rehab plan and hope to soon become part of getting back to the playoffs for one more magical run.   

So Your Son Wants to Play In The NHL Published in 1998 by Sleeping Bear Press in the US and McClelland & Stewart in Canada. HC $24.95. The story of Dan’s journey from the ice rink in our back yard to the NHL. is "...the best hockey advice since ‘Don’t rile Gordie Howe’”. "This is more than a hockey book. It's a book about life and how to use simple lessons and values for success. …a refreshing straight-ahead approach that makes you feel that you've learned something." LA Times.  Autographed and personalized copies available at www.DanBylsma.com.  

So You Want to Play In The NHL Published in November, 2000, by NTC/ Contemporary/McGraw-Hill. Trade paperback—$14.95. Thirty-five questions that aspiring young athletes have and Dan’s and Jay’s alternating answers. Forward by Luc Robitaille. This book won’t help you play the game better, but we think it will help you live the game better. “I am making this book required reading for my team because it confirms everything I have ever said in the locker room and to parents.” Coach John M. You can read a chapter by clicking here.  Autographed and personalized copies available at www.DanBylsma.com. Now it its second printing.