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s we approach a very busy time of year for our hockey families, the Sabre Board would like to take a moment to extend all of our members their very best wishes this holiday season, and we hope you all have a healthy and happy New Year. Let's end 2019 and ring in the beginning of 2020 wearing Blue and Gold and celebrating many victories on the ice together. Thank you all for your support and loyalty to the club, and GO SABRES.
The Sabre Board
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Thank you Sabre families for taking the time to fill out our mid-season survey. We are in the process of reviewing your responses with our coaches, level directors, and board.
We very much appreciate your feedback that will afford us the opportunity to better our program. While the mid-season surveys have been closed, you will have another chance to provide your feedback toward the end of the season.
THANK YOU!!
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Sabre Girls Program By Carissa Baier
This month all of our girls traveled out of town for tournaments. The 12s through 19s were invited to play in the CCM World Invitational in Detroit, Michigan among 108 Girls teams from all over the USA and Canada. All of the teams brought their very best and we all celebrated as our 12Us earned a second-place finish in the Tier II division. Way to go ladies!!!!
The following weekend the 10Us traveled to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin to play in the Trophy Hunters Shoot Out tournament where they finished in second place. While at the tournament, the girls also participated in the Food Pantry donation Food Fight and came in second place for bringing in 98 pounds worth of non-perishable food to be donated to the local food pantry.
The 10s and 14s also traveled to Wisconsin for double-header friendly games against the Milwaukee Winter Club and Ozuakee Ice Dogs respectively. Ozaukee came to All Seasons this past weekend to finish the 4-game series against the 14s. Our 10s went 2-0 while the 14s went 3-1. This is the third consecutive year our girls program has traveled across state lines for these types of friendly games. We hope to keep these connections with our neighbors to the north open as we continue to do our best to grow the girls game.
And to kick off the holiday season, the 12s thru 16s held their very own "Friendsgiving" celebration at All Seasons Ice Rink the night before Thanksgiving. There was food, fun and laughter shared within the hockey family and we hope to turn this into an annual tradition.
Happy Holidays from our girls to the entire Sabre Hockey Club!
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COACHES CORNER -- BY MIKE MCGINNIS
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Coach's Corner: "Mid-Season Reflection"
Congratulations to everyone on their first half of the season and all the progress your team has made. Our hockey season is a long one and we spend a lot of time during the first part of the season setting norms, building team chemistry, finding your team identity. Now that we have established many of those items it's important to continue building and developing on them. It is very common for teams to get stuck in a normal cadence in practice of doing the same drills and just going through the motions. Every games may feel the same as your pregame talk and warm up are repetitions of the last game. This repetition is good to build structure and confidence in your training and games, but at the same time you want to make sure you are always moving forward and looking ahead.
This is why a mid-season reflection is good to reevaluate your goals, training, games, and individual player development. Look at what you are doing and evaluate to see what is working well for you or perhaps could be improved. Keep what works, and try something new to fill those gaps. For instance, you may have 2 or 3 drills that your teams really likes and excels at. Keep those, but focus on adding perhaps a completely new drill and objective just to give the players a new focus. You want to keep your players fresh, always learning, and enjoying a new experience.
This is also a great time of year to have individual player meetings where you can reflect with each skater on how they have been progressing. You can then look at possible new goals for the second half of the season. For instance, a skater may want to try a new position, be on a different line, and take a different role on the team. These are all good discussion to have at this time of year to see how the players are developing.
Coaching is all about development and performance as a team. Make sure to step back and see where you are at and where you want to go. Enjoy the season and enjoy your successes.
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Tip #23 Equipment Check & Maintenance
Hello Goalies!
With Christmas right around the corner, I want to focus our attention on equipment and making sure we take the proper measures of insuring care to our hockey gear. Many times through the season we get caught up in the hustle and grind that is incorporated into the hockey world. Leaving immediately after school, eating food in the car on the way to the rink, depending on traffic possibly even turning your car into a locker room in order to make the ice in time for practice. Does this sound like at least 3 of the 5 week days?
There's no time to see the wear and tear on your gear until it's too late. You're in a game and make a save only to stand up and notice the strap on your pad has ripped and now you're feeling under pressure and losing focus on what's in front of you because of your equipment. Another example, for the last couple practices you started feeling shots through your chest protector but continue to keep it to yourself until the shots begin to inflict pain and your mom asks "Where did those bruises come from?" Game is tied 2 - 2 in the final seconds of the 3rd period and you locate, rotate, and push to a rebound but your skate gives out because it has not been sharpened in a month and they tap it in for the win.
These are all important situations that can be avoided by simply checking your equipment once a week. It was always the best time to do this at the end of the weekend when games have been played and thoughts about your equipment are still fresh in your mind in case you felt that your skates needed a sharpening or that you needed a new helmet or chest protector. Many times equipment can affect your performance. Unsharpened skates can cause a goalie to begin drifting on shots forcing them to not have their feet set due to the dull skates. This will cause bad rebounds and poor positioning. An overused chest protector or pair of hockey pants can be worn down to where the goalie is feeling shots and now begins flinching before making the save without even realizing it's happening.
Before thinking it's the goalies fault, you need to understand that it is the faulty equipment that is leading to a less than confident goalie. Please take care of your skates and sharpen them at least once every six hours of use. It is the players sole responsibility beginning at squirts to let a parent know when skates need to be sharpened. Parents as well should keep a mental note on how many times the skates have touched the ice over the course of a week. Please take time to sit down and do a maintenance check periodically regarding your equipment so that you can play without worries and be the player you always strived to be. I know Santa's always watching!
Coach Petrak
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Locker Room Policy: Keeping Our Skaters & Coaches Safe
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.
Some Rules To Follow:
- Always have a screened adult present in the locker room; coach, manager, parent, etc. If one is not available and the kids need to get dressed, an adult should stand by the door, prop it open and be sure the kids know you are there to listen. Never leave them alone.
- The responsibility for the locker room is the coach's. He or she is the one that needs to enforce the policy.
- No recording device or camera is allowed to be used in a locker room at any time. This is a clear policy as listed in the SafeSport guidelines and is the cause of many of the locker room issues we see over the course of a season. It does not matter if the team is dressed or not, NO cameras or recording devices in the locker room.
- If you have a mixed-gender team, it is the coach's responsibility to ensure that the girls have a place to get dressed. Know your rinks, call ahead, and be prepared. Be sure that they are included in both pre-game and post-game meetings. The girls are part of the team and deserve the same treatment.
- At a certain age parents should not be allowed in the locker room. The age at which this happens is at a club's discretion, but most clubs stop this practice by the 10U year.
- Coaches, never conduct a player meeting alone. Always have an assistant coach, manager, or parent present during these interactions. This protects both the player and the coach.
Here is the link to the original AHAI News article:
https://ahaienews.com/2019/12/15/locker-room-policy-keeping-our-skaters-coaches-safe/
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ROCKET ICE PROGRAM INFORMATION
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ALL SEASONS PROGRAM INFORMATION
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C2 Hockey - For upcoming Camps and Clinics click here. Go to Chelios Hockey and like us on FaceBook.
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Join us at All Seasons for our Developmental Hockey Programs and Leagues.
For more information,
click here
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NPHL - Naperville Premier House League @ All Seasons Ice Rinks. A true in-house league.
For more information,
click here
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SABRE FATHEADS NOW AVAILABLE
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