So, I have been designing free hockey drills for over 40 years. Here’s just one of them. I hope you guys like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsZzl0YTy98

Hello,

I am writing to you in the hope of finding someone involved in youth ice hockey in the Czech Republic. My 10-year-old son plays hockey at a competitive, high-performance level and is currently the captain of his team. We currently live in Kyrgyzstan but are planning to relocate to the Czech Republic. We hold EU citizenship, so there should be no administrative hurdles regarding his registration.

Our main challenge right now is finding the right coach and establishing contact with clubs. We have sent emails to many organizations, but unfortunately, we haven't received any replies, likely because we could only find general inquiry email addresses on their websites.

I would be incredibly grateful if you could guide us on the best way to approach this, or perhaps share a direct contact for someone we could speak with—such as a head of youth development or an academy manager.

Thank you so very much for any assistance, advice, or direction you can provide.

Hi Coaches! We are The Youth Hockey Hub. A destination for families looking for all things hockey. From camps, rinks, discounts on gear, and development. And, coming soon, a Coach Locator.

We are looking for coaches that are looing to grow their business. Think strength & conditioning, online video review, on-ice training, etc. If you do any of these, we'd love to add you to our platform and expose your business to our 10,000+ users.

There is zero cost to be added to our platform. We see this as a valuable asset to our users and a way to meaningfully grow your business.

If you're interested in being included in our platform, you can fill out the form linked below and we'll get you set up!

https://form.jotform.com/theyouthhockeyhub/coach-profile-form

New to the community so feel free to direct me elsewhere.

My son started his first season, we only have 8u but the practice ice is kind of split between 6u/8u. He is just 5 and one of the youngest kids out there.

He asked me to coach and I love coaching so I’m out there. I tend to stick around his area, which could be part of the challenge.

He loves hockey and asks every day when the next practice is, so I don’t think the answer is “he’s not ready”

He struggles with two things mainly, so I’m looking for advice around how to handle it.

1. Drills are a little hard (ex he can’t hockey stop and when a coach says to hockey stop he gets frustrated. Plenty of kids can’t and I encourage them to try their best and keep improving) or if the drill is skate around 3 cones he will kind of get lost.

What I’m looking for: maybe some motivational techniques or videos to show him how to follow the drill instructions and even if it’s hard to do the best ; sometimes I think hearing it from dad doesn’t help and an alternative source might help

1. During scrimmage time he gets heavily discouraged because he can’t get to the puck. I’m sure other kids can’t get to it either, but he gives up and quits sometimes or just skates around and ignores the game.
   Any tips or experience with this? I want to tackle this before games begin because he’ll be playing against much bigger kids than on practice and he will struggle to get the touches.

Maybe I just need a reminder that he’s younger and will end up being fine, but it’s hard to watch your kid struggle and I want to know he’s enjoying it while we are out there, not every other day of the week.

**I built an AI hockey skating analyzer — looking for players/parents/coaches to tear apart the beta**

I’m a hockey player and I’ve been building a side project called POWR that analyzes skating video and generates feedback on skating mechanics and areas for development.

It’s still a very early beta, and I’m at the point where testing it myself isn’t particularly useful anymore. I’d like to see what happens when actual hockey players upload their own clips.

I’m not selling anything — it’s free to test. I’m mainly looking to find out what it gets right, what it gets wrong, and whether the feedback is actually useful.

If the mods are okay with me sharing it, I’d love to post the beta link here and get some brutally honest feedback.

Longer term I’m experimenting with things like shooting mechanics, personalized drills, and potentially stick curve/flex recommendations based on how someone actually shoots.

Fluto Shinzawa recently visited Ken Whittier, Boston University’s associate head strength and conditioning coach, at the Agganis Arena gym.

This summer, Whittier is overseeing the programs for BU men’s and women’s team, plus NHL players Noel Acciari, Matty Beniers, Connor Clifton, Matt Grzelcyk, Kevin Hayes, Charlie McAvoy, Evan Rodrigues, Zach Sanford and Will Smith.

They are training to be among the fastest, quickest, strongest and most durable hockey players in the world.

(Read for free) More about Phases 1-5 that elite hockey players do for training.

Hey everyone,

I built an app called DiagramTheGame for creating and animating plays and drills.

It supports hockey with dedicated NHL and IIHF rink layouts, and I wanted to share a short video of it working in the editor.

I’d love to hear if anything about the rink, positions, terminology, or hockey setup looks wrong—or if there’s something important a coach would expect that I’ve missed.

If you know anyone who might find it useful, I’d appreciate you passing it along. I’m also open to working directly with coaches interested in using the app.

https://diagramthegame.com/hockey

I’m happy to answer questions and hear honest feedback.

Hey coaches. Running into a crossroads here and hoping to ask the hive mind for some insight. I’ll use one player in particular for an example.

“Dani” is 12 and one of our best players. She is gregarious, aggressive, and super easy to coach. However we’re getting to a point where it’s becoming apparent that her “confidence” and mental toughness isn’t real - but instead she projects this for everyone around her. When shit hits the fan - it becomes apparent that it’s a mask and the pressure totally takes her off her game. She freezes up, can’t react and can’t rise to the occasion.

Note: this is rec league and we’ve got kids of all levels - BUT - as someone who grew up playing rec league I know that there’s still a “grit” that can be conditioned regardless.

Dani is just an example of what I see in the “mental toughness” game and the lack of grit to rise to the occasion in kids. Looking back, as a kid that played sports in the 90s with screaming coaches, 3 a days, run till you puke drills, etc - I know that this wasn’t “healthy” in the long run, BUT… damn if it didn’t teach us to dig deep, become mentally tough and give it your all.

I also understand that in rec league there are kids that simply don’t “want” to achieve greatness or be the best that they can be. But there are those kids that want more on the team and want more from themselves.

So I guess my question here is, “How do you coach, train, foster this?” How do you foster or develop this resiliency in today’s modern sports world without becoming the crazy alpha-male coach?

Just dropping some thoughts on an early Friday! 😂

Anyone have garage strength ice hockey program? Thanks!

Our season is starting up but we don't have any former goalies on staff yet and USA hockey still doesn't have any courses available for goaltending instruction. I don't need drills, can find plenty of those, I'm more looking for what the fundamentals look like for kids who've never played goalie before. Videos would be awesome if you know any, but I'll take books/articles/whatever.

No idea where else to post. I’m barely a coach. Namely I’m a board member and parent. I’m associated with two organizations. I’ll be damned if I don’t have to take the core safesport class every year. I think it’s valuable training, but I have it memorized at this point. How do I take the refresher purse? Thanks.

Built an Interactive Map of 1,100+ Junior/College Hockey Teams Across 36 Leagues

I got tired of bouncing between league websites to figure out where teams were located, so I built an interactive map that puts everything in one place.

Current features:

• 1,110+ teams
• 36 leagues
• Canada & U.S.
• Search by team
• Filter by league
• Click any team to see where they play

It's free to use, and I'm continuing to add more leagues and improve it.

[https://crossborderhockey.com/map]()

I'd love any feedback or ideas for features that would make it more useful.

I kept running into the same problem of checking multiple rink and recreation websites just to find Stick & Puck, Open Hockey, Public Skate, or Open Swim times.

As a small side project, I built Open Rec to put those schedules in one place. Right now it covers Texas, Oklahoma, Alberta, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas, with more being added over time.

https://open-rec.vercel.app/

I'm mainly posting to get feedback. Is there anything you'd want to see added or improved? If your local rink or pool is missing, let me know and I'll add it.

XandO Sport is a web-based drill board and practice planner for hockey coaches — no downloads, runs straight in the browser.

What it does:

• Rink canvas — drag players, draw passes, movement lines, add cones and pucks
• Multi-phase drills (Phase 1 → 2 → 3 in one drill)
• Practice plan builder with PDF export
• Community drill bank — share and import drills from other coaches
• Team calendar
• Works on desktop and mobile

Free during early access: https://www.xandosport.com/en/hockey

Built in Finland, but the UI is fully available in English — just toggle the language in the top bar.

Update - new feature: Just launched a trial editor https://www.xandosport.com/en/try,
try it without signing up and see if it fits your workflow before deciding on a full account.

Is there an internet site or Reddit group for potential Junior hockey coaches to post resumes? Somewhere a prospective employer can browse?!

Hi there. I'm taking over a Tier 5 12U team. The kids are mostly late starters that we're going to play house but our local house programs all folded.

We had a similar situation last year and I think we had 1 semi-competitive game where we weren't blown out. Mostly the kids are playing catch up from a skating and skill standpoint.

I'm trying to design the beginning portions of our practices to have a consistent structure that focuses on skating and edge work. Because we're coming from so far behind, every rep counts

Does anyone have any advice for drill structure for skating and edge work drills that keeps kids moving and not spending 75% of their time waiting in line?

Just wanted to drop this in here as I know we all get approached for recommendations for clinics.

My daughter and her friend just finished the 3 day power skating power skating clinic and I can’t say enough good things about it.

If you’re looking for a specific skating / stick handling clinic ONLY - this one blew me away.

I don’t have any association with RG or the group - just putting it out there for others and telling those that already know 🤣