Putting A Hockey Plan Together – 3

This is a continuation of our special series on readying for the coming season, and it’s also the third part, joining my previous two pieces on “Putting A Hockey Plan Together”.

-- Dennis Chighisola

Putting A Hockey Plan Together - 3

My hope is that members are following along in this series -- both in the overall one, and in this now expanded to 3-part piece about putting a hockey plan together. (I do anticipate there will be a Part 4.) Putting A Hockey Plan Together - 1 was an overview of how I put the whole thing together -- Year-round Plan to a given practice, Putting A Hockey Plan Together - 2 focused mainly on the Year-round Plan, with today's entry being mainly about the Teaching Segments. As I suggested in the previous post, one can use the Year-round Plan and the Teaching Segments in his own way. What I'm going to do here, though, is keep explaining the way I've usually done things. With that, I think members can appreciate how helpful it is to look at a season with a long range approach. Hey, let's face it, nothing very sophisticated is going to work until all the prerequisite work is done.

An example that comes quickly to my mind is the powerplay. Of course, all the basic skills need to be in place before a manadvantage unit can truly do its thing. However, I've identified a number of additional or specialized skills that help the powerplay function all the better.

In a way, the powerplay is very much a game of keepaway, which means that my players -- no matter their level -- play a lot of those games over the early season. One-touch passes are also a biggie in our keepaway efforts, and in our want to free a puckcarrier from enemy coverage. Then, once we do get a guy free, it's helpful if he can shoot off a pass. Oh, and taking this all a step further, I'll additionally want to spend plenty of time on screening the enemy goaler, and pouncing on loose rebounds.

One thing I've always felt is that working on parts of one area of play tends to help my kids' overall game, as well. I mean, can you see it: that screens and rebounds, shooting off the pass, one-touch passes and keepaway can also help our kids with 5 on 5 play? Once again, let me say that all my off-season work in the bunker is ultimately reduced down to a looseleaf notebook that can be used at home and even carried on the road. (In my last few years, that notebook was self-contained in a zippered case.) Actually, the accompanying photo reminded me that I kept my rosters in that book, along with pens, pencils, chalk, and any other small items I might use in my typical game or pre-game duties.

The reason I took that pic, really, was to show the red box I dubbed my "Murphy's Law kit". In effect, that kit was loaded with things aimed at keeping my team out of trouble -- including skate stones, extra helmet screws, small pieces of gear, and all sorts of tools. (Can you imagine losing a top player because he left his mouthpiece or neckguard at home?)

Okay, using the previously completed Year-long plan as a reference, I then go about studying all I'd like to get accomplished, and then plot those things into the various Teaching Segments.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, my season was always broken into three or four "segments". And, during the years I was coaching youth hockey, those segments were always dictated by holidays, or the tournaments that came along with those. In other words, I might try to ready my team to be able to do so much by the time we played in a (November) Thanksgiving tournament, I'd try to have them further along when we went to a (late-December) Christmas tournament, have them yet further along for a (February) Valentine's Day tourney, and then have them firing on all cylinders by our season-ending playoffs.

I can't do this process for you, of course, mainly because every level, every caliber, and every team is so unique. Still, I can offer some good suggestions...

Coaches of younger teams might be lucky, because they can likely go through the earliest weeks of a season with far less tactics under control than can an older team. I'm not letting coaches of younger teams off the hook with that, but older teams have to be far more ready -- with a decent semblance of a system, being able to satisfactorily get through special teams situations, and maybe a lot more.

Anyway, working things backwards in my teaching segments, I'd want middle to older teams firing on all cylinders as they enter the season ending playoffs. With middle aged teams -- like decent Squirts/Atoms, I'd have been practicing all the lead-up skills for their special teams through all the earlier segments, and then put the powerplay and some basic mandown principles in right after the February tournament.

I'd start spending more time on those those lead-up skills for special teams right after the Christmas tournament. And I might add an offensive face-off play or two in during that Teaching Segment, too.

Considering the same level, I'd back up to the previous, Thanksgiving segment, where I'd have taught a new offensive face-off play, put in an alternative breakout, perfect our handling of both offensive and defensive numerical rushes, and maybe add a second forecheck.

Don't get me wrong here -- about adding more and more tactics, because I subscribe to the old adage suggesting that, "It's better to execute one thing extremely well, than to try performing several applications just so-so."

What we're left with is the season-starting segment, when we have to get in most of the basics. Here we're likely putting in the basics of our system -- offense and defense, with and without the puck. We'd have to cover the basics of offensive and defensive face-offs, the basics of covering numerical rush situations, plus get a good start on our skills and conditioning.

Personally, I'm a very visual guy, and I love viewing things in pictures. I mean, the two charts I've described to this point are aimed at ultimately creating a picture of how my teaching should flow through the long season. I'd like members to try the same thing, knowing that gradually filling in all the important skills, tactics and strategies will give you a nice picture of things to be done -- and when. With all that, I hope coaches will go about filling in their sheet showing their respective Teaching Segments, remembering to use pencil in order to be able to shuffle things as it all goes together. Don't forget, too, to envision what lead-up or prerequisite skills will be needed in the earliest segments in order to help the team execute more advanced plays later.

Understand that nothing has to be carved in stone. In other words, as I've said so many times throughout these pages, the best coaches make adjustments all season long. Said yet another way, working in pencil allows a coach to move an element of play backward or bring it forward, depending on how the kids are developing.

Lastly, I'm going to take a break from this "putting a hockey plan together" series -- at least until the coming weekend, hoping everyone will spend that time putting their pictures together. I might make some other, unrelated entries in the meantime, but I really do want to give members time to solve the challenge I've placed before them. If you have any difficulties or questions along the way -- about putting a hockey plan together, please rush them to me as soon as possible.