The Crucial Role of Passing and Teamwork In Youth Hockey

Welcome back to "Our Kids Play Hockey"! In this enlightening episode, Lee Elias, Mike Bonelli, and Christie Casciano Burns dive deep into the essential skill of passing in youth hockey. Inspired by a letter from a coach in Norway, our hosts engage in a lively discussion, shedding light on the significance of passing, teamwork, and the development of hockey IQ at the youth level.

Key Highlights:

• The Importance of Passing: Explore the critical role passing plays in developing young athletes' hockey sense and skills. Understand why fostering a culture of teamwork and selflessness is crucial for the game's growth.
• Disagreements and Learning: Witness a dynamic debate among the hosts, offering diverse perspectives on coaching strategies, the balance between individual talent and teamwork, and the best approaches to cultivate passing skills in young players.
• Practical Coaching Tips: Gain valuable insights into effective coaching techniques for encouraging passing, including creative drills and the importance of explaining the 'why' behind each skill taught.
• Parental Support: Discover the vital role parents play in reinforcing the values of teamwork and passing, ensuring their children understand the importance of being well-rounded players.
• Expert Opinions: Benefit from the hosts' years of experience in coaching and sports education, as they share personal anecdotes and professional advice on nurturing youth hockey talent.

Episode Insights:

• Passing Over Scoring: Learn why focusing on passing can lead to more significant success on the ice than emphasizing individual scoring.
• Cultivating Awareness: Understand the need for teaching young players to be aware of their surroundings, making them better at both giving and receiving passes.
• The Role of Games in Learning: Discuss the effectiveness of games and structured environments in teaching passing and teamwork compared to traditional drills.
• The Big Picture: Embrace the concept that developing passing skills and hockey IQ at a young age sets the foundation for future success in hockey and team sports in general.

Final Thoughts:

This episode of "Our Kids Play Hockey" is a must-listen for coaches, parents, and anyone involved in youth sports. By focusing on the art of passing, we're reminded of the beauty of hockey as a team sport and the importance of cultivating skills that elevate not just individual players but the entire team.

Hockey IQ: Scanning the ice, recognizing pressure, anticipating what happens next, making the right decision faster. Research shows these perceptual and decision-making skills can actually be trained. With NHL Sense Arena, kids can get extra game-like reps at home, working on hockey IQ, reactions, real stick-handling for skaters, while goalies can train reads and tracking. Save $25 on an annual plan with code OKPH at http://hockey.sensearena.com/okph

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Transcript

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Improving Passing Skills in Youth Hockey

Speaker 1 1:27

Hey everybody , welcome back to another edition of Our Kids Play Hockey , powered by NHL's Sencerina . In this episode today we got a letter from a fan out in Norway , believe it or not who's asking us about how to improve passing at the youth levels , and we have a lively discussion , even some disagreements , in this episode . So I think you're really going to enjoy it because we all learned something in this episode about passing and how important that is . But it's also a great opportunity for you to understand that our title sponsor , nhl Sencerina , actually has several drills built into the program it's more than several that help your kid improve their passing in a virtual environment . I'm going to be sharing some of these drills in the coming months , kind of a drill of a month format that showcase exactly how , within the virtual reality environment , it helps your kids build that on ice awareness , the awareness of the clock , how to catch and receive a pass , the , more importantly , how to look up and see the situation and scan the ice to find methods to pass , to make them better in a game , better in a practice , better in a hockey environment in general . So , again , just to remind you , all you got to do is head over to hockeysensorinacom . Use our code HockeyNeverStops . We'll give you $50 off an annual subscription . I know VR can be taboo for some people out there right now . I got to tell you I am so impressed with how immersive it is in this VR thing . I do not regret ever jumping into this system now . I completely wish I had something like this as a kid and I understand you probably want your kids to earn something like this . I have to work with my son and my daughter to make sure that they're earning not just time on the system but the system itself . But again , hockeysensorinacom , use the code HockeyNeverStops for $50 off your SENSORINA subscription for the year . I'm not going to lie to you totally worth it . I know it seems like I'm obligated to say that because I'm on the podcast and the title is sponsored , but when we partnered with them and we waited to partner for a long time , we wanted it to be with somebody that we believed in . I'm telling you that I believe in NHL Sensorina . You're exactly the method I'm telling you today as a player , and we'll get into the goaltending stuff in the future with them . But with that said , let's dive into this episode of our kids play hockey powered by NHL Sensorina all about passing today . Here we go . Hello hockey friends and families around the world , and welcome back to another episode of our kids play hockey powered by NHL Sensorina . Today's topic is an important one . We have received a letter all the way from Stavanger , norway . Mike . Why don't you say it the correct way for the people in ?

Speaker 3 3:55

Norway . Don't put me on the spot . Don't put me on the spot , my whole family . I don't know what they say over there . Well , I say Stavanger , so they forget about it , I get run out of town .

Speaker 1 4:04

Yeah , I just go with .

Speaker 3 4:06

Oslo Easy and I got where Sheshmo is .

Speaker 1 4:10

Hey guys , we got a letter from Norway .

Speaker 3 4:13

Norway is the easiest route .

Speaker 1 4:15

We got a letter from Norway today , but again thus doubling down that we have a very large international audience . We want to say to everyone in the United States , canada and around the world that's why we start the show with Hello hockey . Friends and families around the world , thank you for being loyal listeners . But this is a topic that I know as a coach . It's really particular for me . It's something that I try and work on with my kids . I know Mike has his own set of thoughts on this and then Christie literally wrote a book about it . So great topic today . I'm going to read the letter here from Andreas . He says Hi , I'm Andreas , coach from Stavanger . I should say coach from Norway . Excuse me , I'm doing it again . Love your podcast . I'm learning so much . I'm wondering if you spoke about how to get the kids to pass any ideas that you have , how big of a problem is this if they don't do it up to age 10 years old ? So common problem that I shouldn't say problem , even thought common question that I get a lot in the might , in the squirt levels and then beyond into Pee Wee all the way through . So I'm going to start with this one by giving it to Mike Bonnelli . Mike , passing in youth hockey , your thoughts yeah .

Speaker 3 5:27

Well , listen , if you can take the puck and go score every time , then don't ever pass . Why ? The goal is to win the game . The goal is to score . So if you can score at will and you could be a player that never has to move the puck , to anybody I say go for it . But eventually you will run into a wall and if you are not equipped to work through those issues then your career kind of dies when passing really does become the primary source of moving pucks from goal line to goal line . So again , if it all depends on how you set yourself up , but I've watched 10 years and , listen , I watched 15 . You kids , at certain levels they're probably playing in a group they shouldn't be playing with and take the puck anywhere . They want to go on the ice and score . Score eight goals a game . Do it . I said it's great .

Speaker 2 6:18

Don't do it . Don't do it . Start young learning how to pass , how to be a teammate . I do not condone this behavior .

Speaker 3 6:28

The goal is to win . The goal is to win the game . No .

Speaker 1 6:32

The goal is to develop a team , a team .

Speaker 2 6:36

What is the team concept ? Mike Bonnelli , explain what a team concept is . Win , it's all about winning . Win at all costs , at age eight , win the game that is set , mike .

Speaker 3 6:50

I really can't count .

Speaker 2 6:51

You're stinking up this podcast . You are so stinking up this podcast .

Speaker 3 6:55

I'm just saying listen , I'm around rinks every single day I would eight year rinks and they are winning . Why ? Because they can take the puck from end to end the thing over a four foot tall goalie . It looks like a sock draw goal and they win . And you know what People are very , very happy about that . I see all the kids raise their hands , the coaches are victorious and I just say don't pass until you can't play without passing .

Speaker 2 7:22

So let's teach selfishness . No , no , no .

Speaker 3 7:26

We're teaching winners . We're teaching players .

Speaker 2 7:29

We're teaching losers . I am real , I can't believe we are so far apart of this issue , which is why I wrote the book the Puck Hog because we had a kid like that on Sophia's team . He was amazing . They were eight years old . He had the talent of a 12 year old and the length of a 12 year old and all he did was go up the guys and scored . You know what that did for the rest of the team ? It divided them . It made them feel like they weren't part of anything special . They weren't even happy to win because they felt like it wasn't . They weren't a part of it . And the coaches love this kid who could score and the parents love this kid who could score . The kids never got a chance to really feel like they're a part of that specialness . So there I said it .

Speaker 3 8:20

With that kid . I'm sure that , and considering the fact that I probably read that book 25 to 30 times , you would think I would have learned from that . But the premise that I'm talking about is players will learn that at some point they cannot play hockey without moving the puck . And until coaches add those roadblocks in there for them early Like a lot of times , listen a lot of times we have to at the youth hockey level , create these environments for the kids . If you're gonna play three on three cross ice hockey at the end of your squirt practice and you're gonna allow that player to be in a , you know , an unconstrained environment and you don't put constraint based learning in , that player just reinforces the fact that they think they could just go and not move the puck . So you know , if you have a player that doesn't have to move the puck and score they , if you allow them to do it , you will win . Maybe the kids are unhappy , who cares ? At the end of the day , you know your job is to get that one kid moving as far in the game as they can . Now that kid probably played pro right . I'm sure he went on to be a pro hockey player .

Speaker 2 9:27

He went on to play call of talk Best play .

Speaker 1 9:30

Where is Mike Bonnelli ? Who are you ? This is like an evil .

Speaker 2 9:33

Mike Bonnelli coming out of your .

Speaker 3 9:35

I'm just saying there are kids that are better than other kids . So you know what . The fact is that then you need to take that player and teach them and put them in constraint based environments to avoid to teach the end lesson right . At the end of the day , the lesson is by moving the puck . You're a better teammate , you're a better team . You're gonna be a better player . I work with 16 year olds right now that still struggle with the fact that if you wanna score down there you need to make passes down here . And until you learn those things and sometimes it takes a little it takes that player just getting the freedom to go until they learn it . And you know what .

Speaker 2 10:17

Really , and the sad part is , what about coaching and teaching the player how to learn early on ? 100% 100% .

Speaker 3 10:25

But to your point . And the reason you were motivated to write the book is because there's coaches out there that are saying , oh , I look pretty damn good here . They do this kid's scoring games and we're winning eight to seven . I haven't taught one lick of defense . I don't even know my goal counter's name is , but all I know is that kid , if I put him on the IC , score goals . Yeah , yeah , and they allow them to do it . And my point is , if you have that child and you wanna feel great about your eight year old , then go ahead , just go ahead , go score as many goals as you can , but you're not doing your kid any service .

Speaker 1 10:58

You're not doing that here a certain You're not doing it coming out , I'm starting , I'm gonna get the smelling salts , where are you ? I'm starting to get the sense of this . New York sarcasm , a Connecticut sarcasm , here that sarcasm it's just our kids that are better .

Speaker 3 11:16

So are you supposed to tell a kid to skate down the ice circle around the zone a couple of times , walk through everyone and start looking for a pass and say , oh okay .

Speaker 1 11:26

No , but I don't think that's the situation we're talking about , Right I ?

Speaker 3 11:28

think we're talking about that situation .

Speaker 1 11:31

If a kid gets a breakaway , you have a breakaway , you take the breakaway

Developing Talent and Building Teams

Speaker 1 11:34

. I'm talking about , from my coaching experience at this age , the kid who goes on one on four , one on three and tries to deke all three kids when his teammates are wide open and just doesn't get his or her head off .

Speaker 3 11:47

Yeah , but does he . But my point is if he gets through those four players , he does it .

Speaker 1 11:51

That's unbelievable for him . It is unbelievable , but it rarely happens .

Speaker 3 11:55

That's an elite athlete .

Speaker 1 11:57

No , it's not . It's someone specialized in one or two skillsets .

Speaker 2 12:02

So , Mike , I do see where you're going here . I know I see where he's going to , but selflessness , sacrifice all those beautiful lessons that hockey can teach our babies . I'm talking about the little ones , the mice and the scores ?

Speaker 3 12:15

That wasn't the question . The question is like how do we build teams ? The question is , what do we do when a player doesn't pass the puck and the player doesn't ?

Speaker 2 12:22

pass the puck .

Speaker 3 12:22

Wait a minute , I'm not let him play until he has to pass the puck .

Speaker 1 12:27

You know what I'm going to say it .

Speaker 3 12:28

That's when that player's career probably ends in checking . No , the episode Once body contact comes in , it doesn't move that much further .

Speaker 1 12:35

It only took 200-plus episodes for us to disagree on something . That's what I just read .

Speaker 2 12:40

Yeah , yeah . But wouldn't you take the opportunity ? When you see that gifted kid and I'm grateful because , well , that first year where we had this kid on the team , the next year the coach really knew how to coach and said hey , I won't say his name , but when you see Sophia next to the net , study you taking the shot , pass it to her . And he did learn the importance of passing because he had the right coaching . He thought he was because everybody was encouraging him to do that . He didn't know any better . He's like wow , we're winning games . Coach is putting me out there more than anybody . And when we're in the final minutes of the game , he pulls kids and puts me out there . So , yes , it's all about developing that kid with the right coaching . So you do have an opportunity to rate them in . You just don't let them go and say , hey , that's beautiful , that's great , Go for it . You need to take the time to teach them why , the reasons behind and how it makes the team stronger .

Speaker 3 13:42

I watched a world junior game with Conor Bernard in it . In the whole third period the kid was on the ice every other , every shift . He never got the ice ever . This is , this is basically the pinnacle of hockey . And there was 22 kids on that roster and even my nine-year-old at the time was like man , they're just gonna keep putting them out there . I'm like , yeah , because we can't all around everyone in score . He's the best player on the ice . So at the end of the day , if you can do it , you are gonna be exploited to do it now . Do you think his teammates ? I don't know , I'd love to be . I'd love to interview that team and say , did you feel poorly that your teammate won the world Junior hockey championship for you because he took all your ice time and maybe and and leak it ? Probably you know he tested this . There's a lot of kids on that ice are like , yeah , it wasn't as enjoyable for me , it wasn't a real moment for me . Now it was a moment for for my country and it was a moment , I guess , for the team , but that happens all the time there . Does it matter than other kids ?

Speaker 2 14:43

The difference between worlds and .

Speaker 1 14:47

You allow the . All right allow the hockey encyclopedia to step in here . All right , mike , you brought up Conor Bedard and I , so I brought up his stats . I brought up his stats from the world juniors in 2023 . He had 23 points , right . What do you think ? The breakdown was goal to assist .

Speaker 3 15:05

He probably had 18 assists .

Speaker 1 15:06

He had 14 assists in nine goals .

Speaker 3 15:09

So he was because they were rebounds . They were rebounds , look at it .

Speaker 1 15:12

No way man .

Speaker 3 15:14

Like , look , tell me if they were , tell me if they're a look-off passes .

Speaker 1 15:17

We got to bring this back a little bit . You gotta bring this back a little bit , all right . So because , mike , I actually do I'm kind of in the middle between both of you , all right , I got you both yelling at each other . Now I'm sitting in the middle and I'm gonna try and put my arms out and do this because because I agree with both of you it's about cultivating talent , right ? So to Mike's point you should never inhibit a kid's talent . If a kid is talented , you develop the talent , right ? Developing talent does not mean , in my opinion , throwing them out there . Go score a goal , go score a goal . Go score a goal every shift . Okay , it is being aware of the ice and understanding that if you are in a breakaway and if you can go around these kids and you know you have the opportunity to score one on the one with the goalie . I understand that situation . I understand that situation , all right . But I've seen too many times that's not the situation . I've seen too many times the kids coming down head down . Teammates are open , no thought to pass , or , no , I should say , no awareness to pass . It's not always fair to the kids to say that they're not .

Speaker 3 16:20

Nobody's open coach . Well , you didn't look you didn't look right .

Speaker 1 16:23

So that's part of the talent to cultivate . So I think to start again to kind of just dissect this whole thing Eight you , ten you , you are gonna have kids that are more talented . Now , like , look , I've watched the team with a very talented player who's a goal scorer and they're not really winning . Right , he's scoring but they're not winning . And and I think that when I watch these games a lot of times Not even just this one team , I've seen this all over the place it's because there's not an understanding from the on ice awareness of , look , we have to , as you say , mike , move the puck . All right , it's the fastest moving thing on the ice . So I think , to answer the question of Andreas , at 8 you , 10 you

Teaching Awareness and Passing in Hockey

Speaker 1 17:01

. It is my greatest hope as a coach that I can teach Awareness on the ice . So I'm gonna say it again , mike , if a kid has a scoring opportunity , I am not saying that that kid should give up that scoring opportunity . I mean , even if it's two on one or two on up , if that kid thinks they can score , they , they got to do what they got to do . I feel the same way at the elite levels . Right , you make that decision . But if you're not aware that you're on a two on one , you're not aware that your teammate is standing right there , and this also goes both ways , all right . The other thing that really grinds my gears is when a player shoots and then there's another player in front of that with a stick off the ice , kind of going what do I do when there's a rebound right ? So awareness goes beyond just the passer , but I do believe that if we're gonna cultivate talent and make a complete player at practices , at games , there needs to be discussions of look , this player is open . There was an opportunity here for you to move the puck to better the team right in this situation . I think it's insanely important that we teach passing . I hear too often and again , it's just natural for children to do this only about goals , goals , goals , goals are all that matter when we know points and goals are worth the same amount , right . So I think that it's on the coaching staff and the parents , to be fair , to cultivate an environment where kids understand getting an assist is a big deal , it is not nothing . I understand the glory of scoring , but when you get an assist it's a big deal . I had a kid the other week on a my team assist on his teammates first goal ever Right and we celebrated them both equally because he contributed to her first goal ever Right and I'm hoping that memory is going to stay with him of the importance of this . Now I'll also say this to Mike , the kind of not not contradict you or anything like that , but to kind of support . I guess what you said later is if we do not teach passing , or if your kid is not learning how to pass , it will catch up with them All right . Because I'll tell you right now that when I , when I coach especially those middle levels that ban a midget level I'm looking for playmakers , I'm looking for kids that can separate . The goal scorers are always going to be goal scores Right , but I need players that can pass to that person . So we're not cultivating that . I don't know what the hell we're doing Right across the board from a team standpoint .

Speaker 3 19:08

So so think about your coaching right . Think about especially all you folks that listen to this podcast , that or watch it or whatever they do is , and they and you and you use this . And then you go back to and your kids are all doing private lessons , one-on-one lessons . Ask yourself this , because I've watched this and I've done , I've done my own little internal studies on this when you watch a private lesson and you watch one-on-one or two-on-ones or small group lessons , if they always end the drill with a shot on goal , always and I'm like you get four shots on that a game in White hockey and in Squirt hockey and pee we hockey why aren't these ending with plays ? Why aren't these endings with head up ? So we're , we're cultivating a culture that if I can beat a deviator and then rip the puck on the net , then I'm going , that , I'm going to be , I'm going to be in a great shape and I think what you know , if you look at my , my training , my training rarely ends with shots on that . That always ends with a play , either a dump , a chip , a pass , a redirect , a look-off , a Little turn off , whatever it is . You know you need to create these environments in practice and in training , because if every drill you do ends on a shot on net , then you're not cultivating passing anyway . And you could do all the passing drills in the world , you could do two on O's and three on , but that doesn't . That doesn't drive and cultivate passing , because at the end result is they keep Shooting . At the end we don't let me think about . I mean In again . We're training to shoot and score , but we're also to have to train and cultivate a place where the puck is gonna go Eventually so we can score and I'll change the wind , yet change with the win is at the end of the drive . In USA hockey's defense , you know , in their , in their wisdom in the last few years . I mean this whole constraint-based learning environment that they , that they're initiating with youth hockey players , is really brilliant . It's just a , it's okay , you can do this , but then what ? If this is here ? What do you do now ? Oh , I don't know what I do now . I just usually used to shoot there . Well , what are you gonna do here ? You know , you know , I mean you do watch this Owen tippet score in the other day . This little , this guy like like yeah it like you watch him come down , he does like a , like a pushback spinorama and and puts the dean really backhand shot . But again I only kill , like , oh , my god , but yeah , but if you watch that guy , you probably did that a million times in practice . Right , and a lot of time that doesn't have to end with a shot . That get in with a look-off , a pass . But the opportunity arose where the shot could be taken . But we don't give our kids enough Options in practice End in a shot right options . And maybe one of those options is to put the puck in a safe place . We don't even teach that like we even teach the kids that it's okay .

Speaker 1 21:50

Well , mike , how about this ? How about ? How about ? You know , one of the one of the biggest annoyances to me in Youth hockey is just blue line management at both ends right , make the win and getting the puck out of your zone .

Speaker 3 22:03

No , but understand why I tell her that , if you ask kids why yeah , why is the blue , their blue line is in our game ? The blue line is a play as a barrier . Right is something in our rule book that we need to learn how to use . It's not about just getting the puck out . It's about understanding that once the puck does cross this barrier , Wow yeah , team now has to reset in a different way , then they would have if you would have lost the puck 10 feet inside that barrier . And I think once kids start understanding that the act , that the rules of the game are you know , you can then use those rules to help you understand why we chip , you know why we dump pucks , why we do indirects , why we do stretch passing . If the kids could learn and Well again , and this comes down to you know Christie's point about coaching if we're not coaching that , if we're not Developing that , that talent and a kid to understand why moving the puck to this area benefits you , I get the most selfish players sometimes in the world and I'm like you want the puck , then move it here , because you will get the puck more actually , like you'll still get the puck and score Right . I don't care about you being the goal scorer , I care about you putting because , going back to my initial conversation , if you could be the kid that scores every single goal in our team , you know what we want to win . Yes , score every goal , but I'm gonna help you get there by . You need to do this , this , this and this . You can't just be this one-dimensional player , because once you do that , your game ends your game finishes and then You're looking up converse points right . I at some point at you know , when you scored a hundred and ninety seven goals as a 14 year old , he needed to , he needed to , maybe he did many assists . His assist to goal ratio wasn't great then , but he evolved and learned and started to see yes , where does my game have to go ?

Speaker 1 23:48

and that is the point everybody's good right .

Speaker 2 23:52

Yeah , and that's really important for coaches to realize when you've got a gifted player , that they you know , there , you see the talent not to just okay , I can always come on him , put him in , we're gonna win the game , but help develop that and as I love that we described it making sure they're not a one-dimensional player . That is so important and I always liked the early on the cross rule . When Sophia played the cross , there were some girls who could obviously run a lot quicker than others at that age of eight and they had a three-pass rule . They had to pass three times before they could take a shot at the net . I love that . It really helped the girls develop the concept of passing . It Forced them to pass even though they might have been open . Oh , we've got that rule , I have to pass . It was a great way to teach passing for young kids .

Speaker 3 24:44

Right , but just again that this comes back to that . There's a nuance there , though . Like you don't want kids forcing to make that third pass in a in a non-pass situation , like , so you have to find ways like I see kids all the time like you got to make three , I coached across , you know a lot and we have these three-pass rules all the time because there's some kids against that . They scoop the ball up , they run down the field , right , but you don't want , you have , but you have to create these environments . Now the the taboo is that you're gonna create you probably need to create these environments in non Game environments , like you got them , that the game doesn't have to look like the game Right at eight years old , nine years old and ten years old . You don't have to have a game to teach these things . A matter of fact , when you don't have a game , it's much easier to teach these things when you have strategies and say the reason . You're like . Like in lacrosse , we have a rule where we want that three-pass rule , but we would form games where , if you got to this area of the of you in these cones , we would put right or crease . If you could get into the crease , then you're eligible for a pass . Now why don't I decrease ? because that's really where you need to be to support this other play like so it's not just a three-pass rule in a stroller making the past we each would be giving , be getting and giving a learning environment that okay , I'm wide open , I'm running out of the field and I'm supposed to stop and make a pass . No that's not the game . But the game is just like to least point earlier . That's what this is . I get crazy with this , with kids like like oh , coach , you mean you're telling me , if I get a breakaway I can't just go score ? And this is a . It's a hard because the kid that could do that Does it all the time . So you're right , well , no .

Speaker 1 26:22

I don't . I'm not against that . I want to say that , mike , I'm not against that kid who gets the breakaway , I . But in my experience I don't want to say it's rare that you have that kid , because I think every team has a kid that can do that . But I think the majority of teams that I've seen they have a top scorer but it's not every time they get the puck they're gone .

Speaker 3 26:42

Right , you also don't want that kid to jump over the blue line seven times and then turn back around and make a map .

Speaker 1 26:48

I totally agree . I think it's appropriate to teach the kids that if someone is in a scoring position and they are in a shooting position , they should shoot the puck , Right , I'm talking about the awareness of situati Like I said , I have several teams in my mind where it's just there's no awareness that a pass is possible . Right , and Mike , to your point , I think you're doing a great job . That description I just want to say this pay you compliment . That description you just said about the blue line and how to teach the why behind the blue line . That was brilliant . I've actually never heard it explained that way before . I'm going to save that clip and show it to my own team . Yeah , Right , Because it was so well done . And you bring it back to this and I think now this is going to become the crux of the whole episode , and when I teach coaches , I always talk about this , but we're talking specifically about passing and drill making . It's the why behind the drill . This is where you lose kids when you don't give them the why . Right , I can tell you right now coaches listening and parents if you tell those kids to do a drill , they will do it exactly as you tell them to do it Because that is what they're trained to do . They go to school do this . They go home do this . Right , but if they're not picking up the why , they will do it and never remember the reason for doing it . They're just doing it because you're telling them to do it . Now , Mike , to your point . It was beautiful the way you described that blue line and the rules as an advantage . Here is the why behind getting it over the blue line and how this can contribute to breaking it into the other zone or , probably more importantly , stopping the puck coming back into our zone for a scoring chance . If you teach the kids the why why we're passing on this drill , why we're or , Mike , the lacrosse thing you said is also brilliant , Christy you too why , when you enter this area , there's a high probability of a scoring chance from a pass . Now you are teaching awareness and now you are teaching the game

Youth Hockey

Speaker 1 28:34

. And , Mike , I do agree with you . If you have a prodigy on your team , like look , I actually think there's ways to coach around the prodigy . If you have a kid that is so good at goal scoring , I don't think there's anything wrong with teaching the other kids how to support that kid Right From a passing standpoint , from a breakout standpoint , but with the understanding of we all need to get better together , All right . So , yeah , I just think it's really important that we cultivate awareness from all players that it's very important to explain to players the value of passing both passing and receiving and awareness of the amount of times I see kids at the levels I'm coaching , at the younger levels . They get the puck and just whack it Like , and I would say this we're not playing ping pong , we wanna maintain possession , and I explain the why behind that as well right , the art of passing . And I think that if we're not putting that into our practice plans and Mike , you are right , not every drill needs to end with a goal , right .

Speaker 3 29:30

Well , and not every hockey event or lacrosse event or whatever we're doing has to look like the event , like that , and there's the crux right . The parent looks and says this doesn't look like hockey . What the hell are we doing out here ? Well , and the kids are like I don't coach , I don't understand why . This has nothing to do with hockey . Like I have drills that kids look at , like this doesn't even look like what a game would look like . No , but the concepts I need you to learn are space and timing and indirectness and support and all these different things that you can do . Then , as we walk out of the game , that you know , when I make a pass , I'm no longer , I'm not a spectator now , I'm actually an active member of the next play . And I think that's where you know we don't teach enough of all these kids . And again , I think it's . I think number one is because our coaching , our youth coaching resumes , aren't great and they need to be better . We need better trainers and less stat guys and girls and less schedule . But the fact is , when you can create training environments that just are fun and beneficial to giving the sport , and that's why like , that's why , that's why people talk about immersion sports , right . That's why they talk about you know , a kid that's a hockey player learning how to play basketball and soccer and lacrosse , because in theory those should help those kids understand states and time . But if we don't reinforce those things in the on the surface that we're playing , right , I could do all the basketball drills I want If I can't be able to convert that to a hockey kid to understand you know what triangulation looks like and what support looks like and what back pressure and looks like and what flow looks like and what you know waves of offense and defense look like , if I can't get parents , players and other coaches to understand it . And we're in a such a bad spot with our youth hockey world because the only way people think we can learn these concepts is through games , and games are the one thing we can't teach anything because we can't manipulate the environment . So once you're playing a game against another , yahoo that has his needing goal scorer that could score eight goals . It's my eight goal scorer versus your eight goal scorer . Let's see who the better . You know who the better team is by who can manage that kid's ice time better ? And I think that's where , when we start playing all these games and you want to teach . You know we want to teach passing and to and to , and then forget about the fact that we haven't even talked about Europe , that that kid's in a , you know , in an Olympic size rink with so much space and time that it's it's like skate on a pond for a nine year old . But again , they're . But even when you dive into those environments like those kids are playing , they're playing half ice hockey . They're playing , you know , their . Their surfaces shrunk . Even though we think it's bigger , it's really shrunk up until like 13 years old , actually . Now it's . It's really just a matter of what . Our best way to teach passing is a keep them from playing in in in environments where you can't control , because then , to Christie's point , you can manipulate and teach that kid why passing is important and how it benefits them . I love that challenge . I love taking that kid that says , coach , I'm the best player on the ice , yeah , okay , well , let's . I'm going to put you in these situations where you're going to , you're going to feel pretty small and think you know , and you can , you can . Now , if you can't do that and this kid still beats you , you're like this kid's good . I mean they didn't take advantage of that . But I don't know . I just think it's . I think it's an issue of saying you know , what environments can we put these kids into to show them that passing will benefit them , their team and the team win .

Speaker 2 33:05

Right . And parents need to support that concept too , because you know , I've seen parents be the driving force behind the kid who doesn't know how to pass and doesn't want to pass . And the parent can also play a really important role along with a coach . They need that reinforcement at home too . Like , hey , you know , coaches want me , wants me , to pass , but mom , dad , you're always telling me , go there because I can do it , I should , I should win the game for the kids . But so you need to also , as a parent , say look it , you want to become a really good hockey player . You got to learn how to pass , you got to learn space , you got to learn awareness . You got to have you know that game IQ , and part of that is being a good passer as well . So that parental support is important too 100% agree .

Speaker 1 33:57

It seems like a really funny moment to do this , but we do have to talk about NHL Sensorina real quick , because there are so many drill sets within Sensorina that teach the value of passing and receiving a pass and finding open ice , and I know that there are title sponsors , everybody listening , but there is immense value there . So we're going to be doing drills of the week and drills of the month in the coming weeks . I should say that will showcase that . So for those of you listening , just keep an eye out on our Facebook page . Our kids play hockey because we really want to show you the value of that system . I'm not going to dive into it too much here now , but there are ways to teach

The Importance of Passing in Hockey

Speaker 1 34:31

this . You know , mike , a few weeks ago I did a playmakers clinic . I was asked to do a clinic and I said I wanted to teach the value of passing and you're inadvertently paying me a compliment , because we did a lot of drills where the win was a good pass or understanding awareness of when to make a pass , and I really wanted to impress upon the kids that this is a skill set worth developing , in addition to whatever you're great at skating , shooting , right , checking in some cases . I want them to have an awareness of this . And the way I ended the clinic and follow me here , because it does kind of end with a goal at the end of the drill , but there's a higher purpose here is I had middle school aged kids and elementary school aged kids out for this clinic and when I told the kids at the end was I made two teams . I split middle school and the elementary school kids into two separate teams , not elementary versus middle school , but two mixed teams and I told the middle school kids you are only allowed to pass . Only the elementary school kids can score a goal right . So now what happens after this clinic is the elementary school kids are skating for position as hard as they can because these middle school kids are bigger and , yeah , they want to score . But the win for the middle school kids suddenly was I got to get a great pass to this younger kid who might not even be able to handle the pass right . And , man Mike , when they connected on a pass , the whole crowd went nuts , the parents went nuts , the coaches went nuts . I only think one or two goals were scored in . But it was clear that wasn't the point right . The point was get open , skate hard , which is always a problem at these ages . I always say to parents well , why don't they skate ? They think they're skating because they're drifting and they're moving . So they think that they're skating , but they're not right . So suddenly every kid on the ice had to move . The middle school kids had to really put their heads up because scoring is not an option for them . Right , in this environment ? Right , and I was really . I was just really happy with the way it ended , where we were celebrating good passing and I think something was learned by both groups that day .

Speaker 3 36:33

Right . So next week , when the coach dumps the pucks out at center ice right or in the zone , I want you , as a parent , to see how many kids pick a puck up and start ripping them off the glass in the net Right , and see how many kids find somebody on the ice and say , hey , let's skate around and make passes to each other . Let's see if we you know I'm going to go backwards , you're going to go forward , I'm going to go backhand forward yeah . See , and nobody does it . Why ? Because it's not ingrained in their culture .

Speaker 1 36:55

It's not like I don't agree with you . I've seen kids do that . I've seen kids that's great If you have a kid that says it's going to pit .

Speaker 3 37:01

It's going to say , hey , instead of me just going in the , in the , in the butterfly drill and ripping pucks , I'm going to start . I'm going to find a teammate of mine and I'm going to . My goal is to skate around and avoid everyone and make passes to each other . Yeah , let's encourage that .

Speaker 1 37:14

Mike I look like everybody listening like like , shooting is part of warmups and a lot of it depends on how much time you have . But if you're not spending time in warmups working on that , I mean , look , the first thing I do after I stretch a lot and get myself ready , but even when I was playing , the first thing I do is I start , I start doing a skating routine where I pass the puck off the boards and receive it back hard . That's my , that's my warmup , that's my start . I will , I will do that for several minutes before I even think about shooting a puck on net . Now again , that's me All right . Different people do different things . Sometimes players do right , go out there we see it in the NHL and they just start ripping shots Again .

Speaker 3 37:44

That's the NHL and that's and that's after different , but they they start passing too you think about all these guys and all these kids in the game . They get three shots a game , but they probably pass the puck 60 times , so you know what's the more important skill ?

Speaker 1 37:56

That's a good point .

Speaker 3 37:58

So , so where is the skill ? And then , like me , I teach a lot of , like , my biggest issue with kids passing is the passing and then and then not being prepared to receive a pass anymore . So staying low and keeping a stick on the ice and being and being active in the play , it's like , okay , I passed it , hey , great job , and I'm out of the play now . And I think this is where all of that that dance that's out there and moving the puck and supporting the play and moving the puck up ice and moving the puck back and moving the puck forward I mean I I watch all these coaches do regroup drills over and over and over again and I watch a game I I maybe once do I see a kid get caught up on the blue line , go back to the D and then up the ice and regroup again . I just never see it and it's because kids just dump it in because it's safe . So how do we teach all that ? Well , that all has to happen . Unfortunately , it has to happen at six and seven and eight and nine years old , I agree , if you can't be instituted at 17 years old .

Speaker 1 38:48

Yeah , it's too late . It's too late . If you're doing it at that age , go ahead , christy .

Speaker 2 38:51

No , I'm just saying this is such good stuff , it's really good . I wish my kids had the opportunity to learn from both of you . It's those drills are just yeah , I wish we had that when they were kids .

Speaker 1 39:08

You know , sometimes , you know , I think we take kids for granted and what they can receive , you know , like cognitively right , like Mike , I love when you say you know , we don't say these things enough , they're out there . But it's like , yeah , you're right , you know , seven shots a game by one player would be excessive , like that's a lot of shots , but you're going to get a minimum of seven passes opportunities a game , most likely , right ? So it's like , what is the more valuable skill ? They're both valuable , don't get me wrong , for the people listening at home . But it's like if you're not putting the onus on receiving and catching a pass , it's going to eventually create the scoring opportunity anyway . Right , I ? Just that boggles my mind . The other thing too is and again taking out the superstar prodigy aspect of this for a minute I believe and Mike , you can tell me if you disagree with this , christy , you too I believe that a great passing team at six I should say eight you , because six years very , very developmental still . I mean they're all developmental . But if you have a great passing team at eight you and 10 you , you are going to win a lot of games . Just because I don't find that the opponents understand how to defend against a great passing team . Right , and I should define this A great passing team to me is a team that makes the attempt to move the puck down the ice right , with the awareness of what they're doing . I'm not talking about the team that gets it and wax it and you get lucky right , because somebody might have been there . But when I think about scoring opportunities at the squirt level , I mean , if you have a passing team just the way goaltenders move , you're going to get great shots on net right If you can move it across the front of that or even move it up to the defense . When you listen to the NHL , you hear it all the time going north to south , east to west . So I think if you can , from a coaching standpoint , develop a team with that skill set , as a team , the goal scoring will take care of itself a lot of the time , right .

Speaker 3 40:59

It's the same concept from meeker to skinner . The puck is faster than any player . That's right . Move the puck and you will be faster , your team will be faster , your players will be faster , your reactions will be faster . Learn to move the puck and you will get those goals . And I will say if you looked at the Edmonton Oilers right now , and you said how many completed passes , and I don't mean like tape to tape , area passes , indirect passes , puck moving north , puck moving south , quickly back to north , transitional play . If you look at that and you look at their winning streak , I guarantee it is a correlation between accepted and given passes and completed area plays and not the days of dumping the puck in and chipping it off the glass and getting rid of it as soon as possible are over . And you need to move the puck and the game is so fast that unless you learn how to receive and give passes , you can't play the game . It's just impossible . And I think if we're playing , if you're playing , you know , with your eight-year-olds in 1980 hockey , then you're just setting them up for some really , really , you know failure down the road .

Speaker 2 42:06

Well , 100% .

Speaker 1 42:10

I will close this episode on this . I'm reading Mark Messier's book right now called no One Wins Alone Ironically Enough . And , Mike , it's funny because both Edmonton Oilers today and Edmonton Oilers back in the year I'm going to talk about , 1988 , were experiencing this problem . And Messier was talking about the 1988 season , 87-88 , where Wayne Gretzky had just been traded to the Kings and he said the biggest mistake he made in that season , where they did not win the Stanley Cup I don't even think they got out of the first round that year Right , this is . This is 1988 . I'm sorry , 1989 . I apologize . The biggest problem with 1989 was he said he tried to do everything by himself . He's writing in the book about how he felt the pressure of Gretzky not being there and that he made this mistake if he tried to do everything by himself . And then the 1990 season he understood that he didn't do it . They won the Stanley Cup , Right ? So even I guess he's the third now greatest player stat wise in the NHL is saying you cannot play this game at the highest level without understanding how to pass . Mike , you gave me a heart attack at the beginning of this episode . I'm not going to lie to you . I was really worried about where you were . I was like where is the ?

Speaker 2 43:17

point . I wanted to go right through the screen .

Speaker 1 43:19

I was like yeah , there's joking again , 200 plus episodes . We probably disagree , but I think we had a really great discussion here today and in a back and forth discussion , which is really the best way to do it . This is how we learn , and I want to shout out again , andreas , who wrote this letter ? We thrive on when you ask us these questions , because these are the discussions that really do need to be taking place at the arena . On the homes , you know not about what team you put . What team are you playing for next year ? What team are you playing ? No , these are the discussions we really need to be happy about having , about the development of our children and our teams and the development of our coaches . Right , like , like you know , we don't put enough onus on that . I think , as a hockey culture , that the coaches are learning to . They're mostly volunteers , right ? They don't know what they don't know . Right , and as a coach , you have to always be learning . You can never figure out that . You just think you have it all done . But any final words before I close this out .

Speaker 2 44:10

Nope , we are lifelong learners , that's so true .

Speaker 1 44:14

Mike's smart enough not to say anything back to that , I think . Got a thumbs up there .

Speaker 2 44:19

All right , that's going to do it for this edition of our podcast , if you can read it to your kids .

Speaker 1 44:23

We are going to give a shout out to the podcast . You can find that book lots of different places . Christie , make sure you check out our kidsplayhockeycom and , again , all episodes available there . I want to give a quick thank you to all those of you that voted for us for podcast of the year . We're looking very good for that right now . We'll have those results in a few weeks . And again , if you're inclined , give us that five star review on Apple podcast , on wherever you listen to us . That's a really big way

Our Kids Play Hockey Promotion

Speaker 1 44:48

to help us out . But for Christie Cash , yadall Burns and Mike Bennelli , I'm Lee Elias . We'll see you on the next edition of our kids play hockey . Take care , everybody . We hope you enjoyed this edition of our kids play hockey . Make sure to like and subscribe right now If you found value or whatever you're listening , whether it's a podcast network , a social media network or our website , ourkidsplayhockeycom . Also , make sure to check out our children's book when Hockey Stops at whenhockeystopscom . It's a book that helps children deal with adversity in the game and in life . We're very proud of it . But thanks so much for listening to this edition of our kids play hockey and we'll see you on the next episode .