Inside Edge

So, what do hockey scouts really look for? It’s a question every serious hockey player will ask as he or she approaches Bantam and beyond. Scouts rate players in five main categories: skating, size, game sense, character and skill. Glen Williamson, a former scout with the Los Angeles Kings, tells our players every summer at [...]

Everyone knows how great it feels to accomplish something that we really value and have worked hard at to achieve. The feeling of success is an important component in building self-esteem, self-confidence and a drive to be your best. The question is, who defines what success really is?  Externally, success is often equated with money, [...]

Playoffs bring with them what I call the “dichotomy of pressure.” As teams continue to win in the playoffs or at a tournament, each coming game brings higher expectations, which generate more pressure for players to perform at a higher level. Yet the more players internalize (or feel) this extra pressure, the tighter they tend [...]

Who would ever think that the one biggest obstacle to achieving success on the ice and reaching your hockey dreams would be your own frustration and self-directed anger whenever you make mistakes or fail? When you get impatient and upset with yourself for messing up — because you feel that, at your level, you shouldn’t [...]

Everything good this season will result from the energy of your players! When it comes to playing your best game, understanding how to re-energize is every bit as important as mental toughness, or knowing the team system, or game preparation. NHL coaches pay intense attention to the energy of both their individual players and their [...]

After 25 years as a teacher and hockey coach at the prestigious Athol Murray College of Notre Dame, three-time Olympian Terry O’Malley knows his fair share about the development of aspiring elite-level hockey players.  In fact, with the help of his leadership, the Catholic residential and coeducational school for students in grades 9 through 12 [...]

When the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks’ owner, Bill Gallacher, wanted to revamp the Hawks’ hockey operations in 2008, he turned to Mike Johnston — a sought-after coach who knows there’s a lot more to hockey than what goes on after the puck drops. With nearly 10 years of NHL experience, Johnston has an impressive track record [...]

If you really want to be successful as a coach, if you really want to motivate and inspire your players to take their game to the next level, if you really want to build mental toughness in your athletes and have them perform under pressure, then you would be wise to follow these very simple, [...]

My wife, Jenn, and I really enjoyed the 19 seasons of minor hockey that our three boys played. Our oldest son, Ben, who now plays professional hockey, was a Novice player during the last season that I played in the NHL. So, while I was having my first experience coaching minor hockey, I was finishing [...]

Every hockey player — from the professional to the recreation-league player skating at the local rink — had to get a start on the ice somewhere. And for many players, particularly in Canada, that start came early, often before they even reached elementary-school age.  While there are learn-to-skate classes and other more informal programs for [...]