Hockey is All About Continuous ‘Self-Improvement’

Minor hockey is rife these days with the desires and dreams of parents for their kids. Psychologists have a field-day with these ‘Snowplow’ parents and look the many ways that they live their lives vicariously through their children – not dealing with the unresolved issues they have  in their own lives.

The minor hockey journey is a long one. It’s also a tough one but it can be enervating and invigorating in ways many will not understand. Because of this, it is important to understand that it takes a burning, yearning desire by a child to achieve success at the highest levels of hockey. I don’t think it can be instilled in a kid – but it can be inspired in a kid.

The best way to inspire it is to take a ‘player centric view’ of the sport – especially when you coach the game. My experience as a sales & marketing consultant is that most companies get focused on the wrong things – they take their eye off their customer and get so focused on their own products and services that they fail to see that there are changes in the market – new competition, new ideas.

I feel the same way about community hockey organizations. Whereas many people join a board for some singular issue – perceived issues in player selections, or issues around certain groups – the biggest challenge exists in the fact that the game is changing, primarily because the kids who play it are changing.

Right now it is my belief that most organizations are focused on 1980, 1990 paradigms of management while the ‘new customer’ …the minor hockey player of today is demanding much different things from the game. Hockey is part of an eco-system of activity that children are involved in which includes other sports, other pastimes found both online and off-line worlds. How these community organizations address this change is at the core of the transformation, and I believe, the growth of the game. Right now its not being served in battles between Boards and coaches as to ‘who makes the teams’.

The only way I can capture that dynamic is with this slogan.

“It’s not just your dad’s game anymore —- anybody can play it”.

The CBC Responds to Ghomeshi $55m Lawsuit

Looks like Canada’s National broadcaster is not going to take Jian Ghomeshi’s $55m lawsuit lying down…or sitting down…..or even perhaps spread-eagled, face-down across the floor.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cbc-memo-ghomeshi-dismissal/article21353114/#dashboard/follows/

Not only do they reject his lawsuit of $5m dollars for every letter in his name ….they are moving forward with his show Q with some new hosts – all but erasing him from the history of the corporation.

Apparently they even rejected some of the new program concepts he was pitching to the Corporation. Here is the super-secret private list of what he offered up – soon to be posted on his FaceBook page. Remember, please respect his privacy.

‘Mr. Dress-up… Starring Jian Ghomeshi’

‘The Passionate Thigh’

‘Chez Helene ….and whoever else drops by that day’

‘The Unfriendly Giant’

‘This Hour has 7 days (That’s an understatement!)’

‘The National Scream’

‘Hymn Sing…….and sometimes Shouts’

‘Street Illegal’

‘The Nature of My Things’

And of course

‘The Fifty Shades of Grey Cup – Pre-Game Special -with Jian Ghomeshi’

It’s amazing that a guy who could create so much pleasure for his audience could now cause so much pain for the Corporation.

Tough News on Mr. Hockey

Pucksense is very sorry to hear that Gordie Howe has suffered a significant stroke.

Thoughts and prayers for Mr. Hockey tonight.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2014/10/28/gordie-howe-stroke/18085865/

Oiler over Habs 3-0

The Edmonton Oilers, trying to emulate the AtoMc Bengals of the SDMHA Fraser Valley West League – Tier 4 , have gone on a 4-game unbeaten streak. Actually its a 4 game winning streak as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 last night in Edmonton.

Something has changed on the Oiler’s team – probably a combination of size – the additions of Pouliot, Joenshu, Draisaitl – some steady goaltending, and a maturing team. I would also add in some stellar goaltending by Ben Scrivens.

I am not ready to commit that this is a winning team but hopefully its a sign of a long-awaited emergent team.

As Churchill once said during the dark days of the Second World War.

“It is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is surely the end of the beginning”

Life of Pi – What a Movie

We watched ‘Life of Pi’ this weekend on ‘Hockey Netflix’. (I had avoided it for quite a while as I thought it was some sort of math competition movie ala ‘Akila and the Bee’)

It was an amazing movie though – visually stunning — with a story to match. The tie-in with the Bengal Tiger was a nice aspect to the movie  and for a moment I thought it might be a good movie for a hockey party with our AtoMc Bengals. That was until the final 10 minutes of the movie when the rather stark metaphor was played out.

Still enjoyed it though.

Sort of like ‘The Usual Suspects’ meets Noah’s Arc……only the usual suspects in this case were animals, and they weren’t in pairs.

A Jian Ghomeshi Situation All Around

Pity the poor CBC. Not only are they in the midst of another round of heart-breaking layoffs, but the one big star that they had has been released due to what you would call – hmm – a sex scandal.

There was never this type of controversy in the good ole days of Hymn Sing, Ceilah, the Pig ‘n’ Whistle, and the Friendly Giant – although there was a dust up when someone wanted to launch ‘Full Frontal Page Challenge’.

It appears that they have fired TV & Radio star, Jian Ghomeshi, for allegations owing to his private sex life.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/ghomeshi-became-bigger-than-the-cbc/article21311323/

He was the star of a show called ‘Q’………but as he was working his way through the alphabet it appears that the ‘S’ and the ‘M’ may have tripped him up along the way.

Today’s Blog  was sponsored by the letter ‘O’….as in ‘oh-oh’!

It’s ALL about Resilience

As a long time (should I say veteran?) sales manager I liked to ask some of the new salespeople that would join my team the following question.

“What was the most favorite sale you made?”

Inevitably it was some tale of a sales journey  rife with the unexpected and obstacles that they had to overcome. In other words it was  a story about their character – their perseverance, their resilience.

I think this is the biggest thing that hockey coaches – all coaches for that matter – have to learn about their players. They need to instill in their kids the ability to persevere and compete despite the score. In minor hockey the score of the game is quite often beyond your control. You just don’t know what team is going to show up  that day – and I mean both teams – your’s and the opposition!

The AtoMc Bengals hand out a vintage WWII American soldier’s helmet to the player who is most resilient during the game. They would have competed for the puck, or made a mistake and then later made a great play, or they got hurt and came back to play hard. Either way it is important to reinforce ‘resilience’ and ‘perseverance’ in our kids.

Last year the LA Kings were destined to win the Stanley Cup after their first round ‘come-from-behind’ victory over the sad-sack San Jose Sharks. I have a theory that the resilience gained in the first round of the NHL Playoffs can lead you to Stanley Cup success. Go back and take a look at some of the champions and look at the adversity they encountered earlier on- Oilers in 1990, Blackhawks in 2009. They get resilient ….and it takes them a long way. It can do the same for our kids – not only in hockey, but more importantly in their lives.

The Eberle Goal -Billies

Come and listen to a story bout a team near dead

Problems on the ice and problems in their heads

Then one day they was shooting for some wins

Then up on the Board came some 3 and 0 wins

‘The Oil that is. Lots of goals.Alberta Tea.’

First thing you know, they’re playing like millionaires

Ed folks said ‘win 3 games, you’re on a tear’

Said California is the place to play the three

So they jumped on the plane with Jordan Eberle

‘LA, San Jose and Anaheim’

They Just Don’t Make Teachers Like they Used To Anymore

Reports out of Montreal have a prestigious privates school trying to recover somewhat from the blowback from firing and well liked teacher in her early 70’s who at one time appeared in some erotic films…probably IN the early 70’s.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/montreal-school-offers-olive-branch-after-teachers-firing-for-erotic-film-career/article21217704/#dashboard/follows/

As the headline for the article states they have offered her an olive branch.

In my opininon I think they should have offered her a fig-leaf.

Soccer ….on Ice

This morning at our weekly ‘Skills & Shinny’ session with the kids we played soccer ……with the puck.

I don’t know if the kids are getting tired of it, but before I introduce some of the skill sessions or games that we play I like to tell the kids some quick stories of what it was like to play hockey outdoors – on the prairies …when there was a real winter.

Today I told them about the times when the hockey rink was turned over to some team to play a game which meant that all the players would head over to the big square skating rink and play all sorts of games – ‘pom pom pull-away’, ‘British bulldog’ and ‘crack the whip’. The one game we got to play involved kicking and skating with a puck in an on ice game of soccer.

It is my observation that our kids lack the requisite ‘Balance & Agility’ needed in the game of hockey. They get a stick in their hands too early, the don’t get to spend the amount of time they need to become totally comfortable on their skates, and like most hockey players they spend most of it on their inside edges.

Playing soccer with a puck teaches them balance, body position and skate agility. On top of that, they just simply loved playing the game. As they left the arena they asked

“Can we play soccer again?”

We will.