By Greg Bates, Special to AHAI – When Brad Bialas first started coaching his triplet daughters when they were picking up hockey, there was quite a learning curve.

“What I quickly realized is that there’s different experiences for every player, and not every player wants to go D-I thus not every kid needs to be coached like they’re going D-I,” Bialas said.

USA Hockey’s Newest ADM Manager of Female Hockey, Heather Mannix Visits Local Girls Associations

By Jim Clare, Illinois Coach-in-Chief & AHAI ADM Coordinator – Heather Mannix recently scheduled a couple Association visits in Illinois as she begins her new role as an ADM regional manager of female hockey for USA Hockey. She spent time with the Franklin Park Panthers 12U and 14U girls’ teams as well as a night on the ice with all five Sabre Hockey girls’ teams (10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, and 19U).

By Greg Bates, Special to AHAI – When Girls United Recreational League (GURL) Hockey was formed last year, there were plenty of unknowns going into the first session. Would the program be well received by the girls ages 4-10? Is having instruction solely designed for young girls’ players a great route to attract new players? Would the parents approve of the unique approach with their daughters? The answer to all these questions was a resounding, “Yes.”

Question: What should be the ultimate goal for an 8U hockey player?

Roger Grillo: In my opinion, the biggest mistake made by parents and coaches when working with younger players, particularly the 8U player, is that they are trying to make a hockey player. What I mean by that is, when the focus is on making the child into a hockey player, too much instructional time is spent on how the game is played and the tactical and team-play aspects of hockey. 

By Stephen Kerr - Young players on a full sheet of ice face a steep learning curve as they struggle to cover extra space, recover errant passes and ultimately spend most of their ice time away from the puck. USA Hockey’s American Development Model principles have spent the past 10 years focusing on developing 8U players using cross-ice practices and games. A decade later, some USA Hockey districts and programs are so impressed with results that they’re developing cross-ice concepts at 10U in order to better transition athletes to a full sheet of ice for the first time.

Question: How much is too much hockey for my 12U Hockey player?

Dan Jablonic: I’ve been seeing more and more 12U kids being placed in lessons, clinics, extra ice so they are in skates 5-7 days a week. Once one kid does it, other families follow afraid their kid will fall behind. Is there evidence that this leads to better hockey players when they hit 14U/16U? Or that they could burn out?

Recently two Illinois girls made their commercial debut for the Chicago Blackhawks in the Blackhawks TV video designed to inspire the next generation of hockey players...Dream Big!

By Jim Clare, Illinois Coach-in-Chief – As the season moves along toward playoffs, it is a good time for a reminder to coaches, managers, and parents about locker room policies. The number one priority we all have is to keep our skaters safe. Part of that charge is handling locker rooms.

As a former club president, I can honestly say over 13 years I never once had a locker room issue when an adult was in the locker room. All locker room incidents that crossed my desk happened when a screened adult was not present. Think about it, if you left thirteen 10 year-olds home alone, what are the chances that something would happen? But if the parents are in the house, the odds reduce drastically. It is no different with a locker room. One of the biggest concerns is cameras or recording devices being used in the locker room. This is strictly forbidden. Click button below for some rules to always follow.