GENERAL SKILLS ADVICE

A Not So Skater Helper

By | January 4, 2023

Aaaaah, the memories… When I was a very young coach, I was just starving for any kind of information that would advance me in that profession. And so I enlisted in just about any clinic or course that helped me in that way. (Actually, would you believe I climbed US hockey’s coaching ladder twice? Yup, I achieved Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Coach certification under the original AHA organization — even taking the Advanced level program twice; and then I climbed the entire current-day USA Hockey ladder, from Level 1 to Level 5 Master Coach. Among my fondest memories, however, was…

How NHL Teams Evaluate Their Prospects At The World Juniors

By | January 2, 2023

Fans watch through a different lens than scouts, who watch through a different lens than management personnel. While many fans are focused on the best players or their favorite team, scouts are primarily focused on draft-eligible players… More…

How Pro Hockey Scouts Think

By | December 30, 2022

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Coach Chic’s Hockey Podcast 34

By | December 26, 2022

I made these recordings not long before my move to Florida. After many years of coaching high school, Juniors and college, I found it fun to be paid to coach both a Mite and a Bantam team.  Anyway, the reason the enclosed audios aren’t so great is because I was recording while driving to a rink, and because one of those trips was in the rain… Hockey Talk While Driving Honestly, I believe the information I shared on those trips is as good as it gets. I also hope that it proves good food for thought, so that listeners might…

Another Chicken or Egg Story

By | December 22, 2022

By now, most serious hockey fans have seen the following video, and many have replayed it until almost memorizing the moves — if it’s even possible to memorize them. Anyway, whether you’ve seen this clip before or not, I’d like the visitor to watch it a time or two, before allowing me to say my piece… Okay, that thing about the “chicken or egg”… Well, what really bothers me nowadays is something the previous generations of hockey players never faced. And by that, I’m talking about the video fads we now see on the likes of at least Instagram and…

CCC-TV Hockey Show – Episode 74

By | December 15, 2022

Each CCC-TV episode includes awesome advice from some of hockey’s top coaches and specialty advisors.  Non-members should know that the latest episode might only be available to the public for awhile. Currently many past episodes are available to the public on our CCC-TV Youtube Channel. Sometime soon, however, all past episodes may be archived (for members-only to view at their leisure).As usual, there are several (or is it all?) segments in this month’s episode that our members won’t want to miss.Awesome advice from some of hockey’s top advisors: – Dr. Mike Bracko– Oldrich Jindra– Dennis Chighisola/Coach Chic– Kimberly Smith Lukhard–…

YOUR Stick

By | December 10, 2022

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Hockey Stick Measurement Help

By | December 9, 2022

She began with the following: Hi Coach Chic, Sorry to bother you but I’ve been searching your site and have not had any luck on finding the info for sizing a hockey stick. By now, I hope she knows she wasn’t bothering me at all.  Again, I invite anyone in our game to bother me in that way.  She also gives me the opportunity to point-out the Search box that’s available on the home page and then on just about every other page or post on this site.  For sure, searches can be tricky.  But I suspect she should find…

Modern Hockey’s Frantic Pace

By | December 6, 2022

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Instilling Heart and Desire in a Hockey Player

By | November 30, 2022

Now, believing in myself as I do, I wrote back to say that I see it as relatively easy to accomplish — with a couple of IFs.   Ya, a couple of dawgoned IFs… Okay, so I’m boasting a bit as I write back to the former pro, telling him I know exactly how I’ve always liked to start infusing a little heart or desire into the young players in my charge. And, reverting back to a few drills I’ve mentioned previously in these pages, I suggested that I’d do it with some combative-type games… I always began with 1 on…