USA Hockey and the Coaching Education Program (CEP) require coaching certification, USA Hockey Registration, Background checks, Age Appropriate Module completion and SafeSport Training to be eligible to coach. Why?

The answer is rather simple; the kids deserve it. What do I mean by that? As parents, you turn your children over to their coaches for several hours a week. After parents and teachers, your kids spend more time with coaches than probably anyone else during the season. USA Hockey and AHAI want that experience to be the best and safest it can be. Properly educated coaches can only help in the development of your skaters both on and off the ice. Coaches have a massive responsibility. Most of us remember our coaches; both the good and the bad. The effect they have on players can be immense and with that comes great responsibility. FULL ARTICLE>>

The Minnesota Development Model (MDM) is based on the principles of USA Hockey's American Development Model (ADM). Minnesota Hockey is providing the following guidelines and best practices, with the goal of assisting associations in developing programming which supports LTAD. DOWNLOAD BROCHURE>>

QUESTION: What separates the good players from the great players?

ANSWER: As your child moves along their own development pathway, at 12U, the hope is that they are acquiring a solid set of physical skills. Yet, as players progress, it's the mental skills and hockey sense that separates the good players from the exceptional ones. The best player's decision-making skills with and without the puck are superior to their teammates and the opponents.  So how do players improve those decision-making skills? READ MORE>>

By Michael Rand ~ Malcolm Gladwell's 2008 book "Outliers" brought widespread attention to a phenomenon known as "relative age effect," used to describe a bias toward members of a cohort or team born earlier than peers in the same group. Gladwell emphasized his point by using examples from Canadian junior hockey.  But if that was the first time you had heard about relative age effect, or at least the bias that it describes, you probably haven't spent much time in youth hockey. READ MORE>>

By Jessi Pierce ~ Ask Gretchen Ulion-Silverman what she remembers about winning the 1998 Olympic gold medal - or any moment in her hockey career - and you'll be surprised to hear it has little to do with the victories, medals or honors.  In fact, it has little to do with the actual sport at all.  "When people want to know about the Olympics, they're really most interested in the medal and what it felt like to have the medal put around your neck," said Ulion-Silverman, now head coach of the girls varsity team at Taft School in Connecticut. "It's interesting because, even without the medal, my experience of the Olympics goes to every other aspect: the stories in the locker room, the jokes and the fun we had together. READ MORE>>