Issue #1

January 11, 2023

Tip of the month:

Creating a Competitive Environment in Practice

One of the most important aspects of hockey is its competitiveness. Hockey is made up of 1 on 1 battles all over the ice, and often, the Compete Level is the deciding factor of who wins those battles. At younger levels, to develop highly competitive athletes, more focus needs to be player vs. player rather than team vs. team. This is because younger athletes will compete the hardest or give their best effort when being chased, chasing someone, or going towards a target – i.e. a net to score on or completing a pass to a player/coach to end the game. At a higher level (Peewees, Bantams, 14u, 12u, and High School), competing takes on even greater importance “away from the puck,” earning space, getting to the right area, and beating players to those areas by competing (1 on 1) for that space.  

As coaches, we need to strike a good balance in practice between a controlled environment and a competitive environment to allow our athletes to gain a high level of competition. Below are some examples of drills you can do to create this high level that we need for athletes in our association.

HDC Committee

High Compete Level Drill

www.youtube.com/watch?v=buVxJIXVrd8

www.icehockeysystems.com/hockey-drills/skilled-passing-1-1-battle-drill

Animated Drills for All ages

Ice Hockey Drills | Over 550 Animated Drills For All Ages (icehockeysystems.com)

Competitive Drills

Competitive Hockey Drills (hockeyshare.com)

Latest News:

NEW YOUTH COACHES LOCKER ROOM COMING!

At the last board meeting, the HDC Committee presented to the PYHA Board an idea to create a space (locker room) for our youth hockey coaches and it was approved. This idea came about from a discussion by HDC on recruitment, coaching experience, atmosphere, and getting a place for coaches to call their own. The old east entrance will be renovated into a youth coaches' locker room. Coaches will have their own space (lockers) to leave their gear if desired, as well as a team locker to store items relating to the team they coach (for example, training aids). We are extremely excited to start this project this summer and have it ready for next season. The HDC is looking for help this summer regarding the renovation. Currently, we are seeking donations to offset the expenses for the project. If you have any questions or ideas, please contact the HDC Committee through our Hockey Director, Ben Heath.

HDC Committee

NEW DRYLAND FACILITY

The new Dryland Facility is almost completed. Stay tuned for updates on when team use may begin.

Quote:

"Defined as the willpower to persevere with passion

and a sense of purpose, GRIT is what matters most

in whether a person succeeds or fails."

-Darrin Donnelly (p.12 Old School Grit)

Team Updates:

It's been a great start to the season for the PHS Boys Program and the Tigers are playing some of their best hockey as of late. Coming out of the holiday break after a tough fought week in the Little Falls Holiday Tournament, the schedule cranks up with an important stretch of games that has the Tigers playing six games in ten days, including a long bus trip to Thief River Falls and Detroit Lakes to face off against a few top 20 teams. Compete level, discipline and relentlessness will be the key to making this grueling stretch a successful one. The boys have six more home games between now and section playoffs in mid-February, including back-to-back nights against St. Cloud Cathedral and Cambridge-Isanti on January 18th and 19th. We'd love to see our youth players there cheering on the boys! As a reminder, students can get in to high school games for free with their Princeton school ID card. Go Tigers!

The 2023-24 season is off and running. It hasn’t been easy with low numbers, injuries, and a heavy holiday tournament but the girls are tough and resilient. We average 4 periods of play per game for each skater. The teams play has been exciting to watch as they progress through the season and getting a handle on systems play. The team has limited shots per game with a strong defense presence along with averaging more goals for than in previous seasons. We are trending in the right direction. With a 50/50 schedule of AA vs A teams it’s been a great mix for the girls. The girls have worked hard all season and never give up the fight. The girls have been setting shift by shift goals to measure success and I see the advancement and excitement around it. 

With only three Monday night sessions remaining, we continue to work on a rounded mix of skating, puck control, shooting, and have placed a heavy emphasis on passing. There have been improvements along the way but it remains an area of needed development. While the need to work on the physical execution of pass delivery and reception remains, building better habits and understanding of how to utilize passing in gameplay situations is essential. Improving puck support, timing and spacing, awareness both on and off the puck will be crucial in building better and more effective team play. Drills that require puck carriers to move with the goal of creating time and/or space in order to create a pass, and for players to be more active away from the puck to get open are a good way to help develop a more natural feel for the passing game. 

The Bantam A’s have made great strides this season, in addition to having great team comradery, they appear to have found their identity as far as style of play goes. This past weekend they took 4th place (2 wins, 2 losses) at a tournament way up by the Canadian border in International Falls, MN, and are aiming to bring home some hardware from a tournament this coming weekend down in Rochester, MN! 

The Bantam B2 team has made great strides this year as a team. From chaos during our first game to all the boys staying "cool, calm, and collected" even when down by multiple goals, these boys have focused on making team plays. The coaching staff, parents, and myself have been greatly impressed with each players' ability to analyze their gameplay and make adjustments for the benefit of the team. 

Peewee B1's took 2nd place at the I-94 Peewee Tournament this past weekend and in addition they brought home the "Top Dog" trophy for winning the Hot Dog Challenge. The team has been adding Chalk Talks and Film Review's to their weekly schedule as well as completing weekly Hockey Homework with their team accountability partner. Holding their own right now in D10 right around .500. Doing really well outside of D10 with lots of scrimmage wins.

PWB2 is a developing team with several players new to hockey. Our team’s skills have come along way as these players and more experienced players continue to develop. Our team has a special sense of connection and culture. These boys never give up and are willing to work to the very end despite the numbers on the scoreboard. On both teams we measure success by the small victories not necessarily the number on the scoreboard at the end of the game. The PWB2s recently won a consolation championship is Proctor over the weekend.

The Princeton Becker Big Lake girls 12u team is currently sitting in 5th place in D10, 4 points out of first. The team continues to work on their defensive play such as gaps, good sticks and the art of blocking shots. They have tournaments coming up in Rochester and Luverne as well as wrapping up the D10 regular season. A reminder that our Princeton Ice Arena will be hosting the D10 playoffs and Regions for 12u B. The team is excited to play at home during the playoffs.

Squirt B1 is currently 9-4-2 overall with league games, controlled scrimmages, and scrimmages & 8-3 in D10 league play. We play in our 2 tournaments the next 2 weekends (Hibbing 12-14 & Monticello 19-21). Team is working on playing as a TEAM & the passing is getting better every day.

Our team is working hard to compete with teams bigger in number and size, which means our success can’t always be measured in wins and losses. Our focus thus far has been developing skills and hockey IQ, and trying to have some fun along the way! Currently we're working on positioning and breakouts, along with mixing in team building activities like floor hockey and ODR games.

10Us have a very young team but are working hard and developing everyday. We are now playing district teams for a second time and opposing coaches have commented on our progress.

During the months of October-December the Mite A’s have enjoyed developing fundamental skills (skating, puck control, passing, shooting, body contact), increasing hockey IQ with short board talks, playing small area games to teach skills/game concepts, ingraining player habits, and taking advantage of the ODR during the unseasonably warm weather for dryland training and basic instruction on positioning. What a great asset the ODR has been for development this year, even without ice! As far as on ice practices go, to date we’ve completed about 85% percent of the Mite/8U Skills Checklist and look forward to challenging the players even more by including some Squirt level skills during the second half of the season. 

The Mite Bs have so far exceeded any expectations that I had at the beginning of the season. They have been playing their positions very well, playing as a team, and most importantly, HAVING FUN doing it. The kids tell me we have only lost 2 games so far, and I think they might be right (we don't keep score in mites). Even the game we lost were really close! Go Tigers.

The team is having lots of fun. I have seen major improvement on the skills portion of play. It is really great to see it start to come together. Lots of fun and learning to finish out the second half of the season.

We have completed the first rotation of all skaters playing goalie. The team has played a handful of games and everyone is skating hard and having fun! 

The 8U Team has been showing strong improvement at a fast pace and it has been exciting to watch the girls getting stronger every time they are on the ice. We have been focusing on offensive and defensive zone positioning, how to be in the right place at the right time and work as a team and our opponents have been hard pressed to overcome our teamwork! Recently we participated in the MN Wild Jamboree, playing two games on the Xcel Energy Center ice and had a blast doing it! Two of our players will be featured during commercial breaks during Hockey Day MN, watch for them during the coverage!

Tiny Tigers is going well so far. Numbers have been averaging around 35 each time, which could be better. Kids are progressing well with only 3-4 kids still using chairs out of the 15 that used them the first couple weeks. Volunteer coaching support has also been great!