Category: For Coaches
-
Metro High School Invitational reports – Saturday
By Brian Kalisher – Temperatures are dropping, the holidays are approaching, and local rinks are gearing up to play host to their respective high school hockey teams for another season. On Nov. 18 and 19, Novi Ice Arena held the 10th annual Metro High School Invitational. While holiday gifts will be unwrapped soon enough, the…
-
Metro High School Invitational reports – Friday
By Brian Kalisher – Temperatures are dropping, the holidays are approaching, and local rinks are gearing up to play host to their respective high school hockey teams for another season. On Nov. 18 and 19, Novi Ice Arena held the 10th annual Metro High School Invitational. While holiday gifts will be unwrapped soon enough, the…
-
A good time for doing good
We’re heading into the holiday stretch. A little prematurely, I think, so I’m siding with Nordstrom’s on this one holiday at a time thing. Philosophically, of course; it’s not like I’m shopping there (see previous posts about kids and sports sucking up all my money). Fighting my inner Scrooge, I try to recognize that the holiday season,…
-
Suburban Stars share hockey, hamburgers with Ukrainian squad
By Brian Kalisher – HAZEL PARK – The words “travel hockey” mean many things for youth players and their families. Long car trips with dad – check. Weekends playing mini-sticks in strange, far-away hotel rooms – you bet. But imagine coming to the rink and competing against a team that traveled not hundreds, but thousands…
-
Concussions: Knowing how to respond
By Michael Caples – The Little Caesars Amateur Hockey League held their annual Face-Off Meeting at Motor City Casino on Sept. 25 to prepare youth coaches for the upcoming season. The league directors brought in two big names from drastically different professions that had the same message for new and old hockey coaches alike. Longtime…
-
From The Crease: Game management and dealing with referees
No one on the ice has closer and more frequent contact with the referee than the goaltender. Think about it. Every defensive zone face off mandates that the referee position himself or herself 10-15 feet away from the goaltender and straddle the goal line on the opposite side of the draw. There is a great…
-
A Q&A with USA Hockey president Ron DeGregorio
USA Hockey president Ron DeGregorio sat down with MiHockeyNow editor Michael Caples to discuss the state of hockey in Michigan and across the US during the MAHA meetings in Traverse City. MiHockeyNow: How would you describe the status of USA Hockey, as it stands today? DeGregorio: We have some goals and obviously those goals are…
-
A message to parents from Dr. Steven Norris
By Michael Caples – TRAVERSE CITY – Dr. Steven Norris has a message for hockey parents and coaches everywhere – sit down, take a Valium, and listen and learn. Norris, an expert in long-term athlete development who has worked extensively with both USA Hockey and Hockey Canada, said that with a smile, of course. The…
-
The rule that ruled them all
By Michael Caples – TRAVERSE CITY – Despite a strong contingent pushing against it, the controversial rule change of having all 8-and-under hockey players start their season playing cross-ice hockey has now been approved. The voting members of the Michigan Amateur Hockey Assocation voted 39-16 in favor of Proposal 9 – “In the youth Eight…
-
Meijer State Games features 10-player shootout to cap exciting week
By John Raffel – The top two teams in the first-ever 14-and-under hockey division at the Meijer State Games of Michigan didn’t want to stop playing. Teams District 6 and District 2 played to a triple-overtime dramatic 10-player shootout before District 6 was able to win the inaugural 14-U championship in Grand Rapids, a tournament…