Breakfast Club: Week 9
Hello everyone, I’m Scott, guest Blogger this week as Kirk was strangely absent today. I think he and half the players met for breakfast this morning instead of skating. If you frequent this blog then you know who I am. As for some unknown reason my name is mentioned every week, even the two weeks I was absent. Since next week is the last class for this session, I think I’ll give Kirk a full taste of my “Kirk touted” reputation. He’ll have a month to heal.
Where was everyone today? About half the crew showed up this morning. Of course the class was still successful and challenging. Today was Video Analysis Day, quite humbling.
Drills today: With so many guys and all of the girls missing today, we used only half the ice a time. Aren’t we entitled to a small refund for this? Kirk- see to it. The first drill after warm-ups had two guys looping through center ice with a puck and picking up speed, move those feet, and each going in for a shot on Ronnie. That whole “get the puck into a position to do something with it as you cross the blue line.” Lyle had a string on my puck and pulled it as I fanned on three shot attempts during this drill. Some guys had nice hard shots, but the funny thing was, the harder the shot – the farther off the net the shot was. Well something to work on.
The drill in-between drills. You have got to love em’! Lyle yelled, “Find some space and a puck. Skate a small circle to your left, take two strides and circle to your right in a figure eight pattern.” That’s Lyle’s long speak for, “Skate in circles until your dizzy and fall down!”
Video Taping Time: I knew it was Video Analysis Day when I saw Dave come onto the ice with the camera. Glad he finally figured the camera out. All through warm-ups and the first drill he was against the boards peering into the viewer and pushing all the buttons. He solved it in time. Dave stood with the camera near center ice. One at a time in groups of three, we were to sprint down the length of the ice along the boards / stop / skate towards Dave at center ice / stop / make Dave a snowman / skate to the far corner /stop. Second guy GO, Third guy GO. Do it all again. Dead after that. While three guys were doing that, the rest were in a one-on-one drill for a shot on goal.
Now to the valuable videotape: Lyle called us off the ice in our groups of three to review the pretty pictures. Randy, you know better than to say anything off subject in front of Lyle. Randy said, “I thought TV made me look thinner.” Lyle replied, “It does!” In my group the consistent tip was, as always, more knee bend and also lengthen your stride. At the same time keep those arms pumping forward and back, not side to side.
During the viewing everyone else did an offensive zone three-on-one drill. The object being for the offense to stay spread out and move around to create opportunities and make it difficult for the defenseman. Scott ran this and did a great job at stopping the drill many times to tell us how we were doing it wrong. The instant feedback was valuable. He would stop you where you were and immediately tell you where you should be when the puck is here or over there. It was a fun drill too.
The long stride issue must have been on the video for many of us. The last drill of the day consisted of skating the full length of the ice. Concentrating on long strides and good knee bend. Then the other way with a right leg stride only. Kirk would have certainly screwed this up, as I secretly removed his L and R stickers from his skates. Then back again with a left leg stride. Very difficult, but pure technique. Another reason Kirk would have screwed this up. Last, put the left and right together and GO.
One big lesson for the day, take advantage of the half and three quarter speed laps in warm-ups to work on this long stride technique, so that it becomes more natural and can be used in game situations to generate more power and speed, and at our age, more efficiency.
I must note the value and how great of an opportunity this program is for those of us who never learned the game as a kid or in a structured environment. I can attest to how improving your skills and learning game concepts can and does add to the enjoyment and satisfaction of game play. Thank you to Suburban Hockey.
Later—Scott O.
P.S. Next week on the ice, keep your ears peeled for when I yell, “KIRK’s OUT!”
Where was everyone today? About half the crew showed up this morning. Of course the class was still successful and challenging. Today was Video Analysis Day, quite humbling.
Drills today: With so many guys and all of the girls missing today, we used only half the ice a time. Aren’t we entitled to a small refund for this? Kirk- see to it. The first drill after warm-ups had two guys looping through center ice with a puck and picking up speed, move those feet, and each going in for a shot on Ronnie. That whole “get the puck into a position to do something with it as you cross the blue line.” Lyle had a string on my puck and pulled it as I fanned on three shot attempts during this drill. Some guys had nice hard shots, but the funny thing was, the harder the shot – the farther off the net the shot was. Well something to work on.
The drill in-between drills. You have got to love em’! Lyle yelled, “Find some space and a puck. Skate a small circle to your left, take two strides and circle to your right in a figure eight pattern.” That’s Lyle’s long speak for, “Skate in circles until your dizzy and fall down!”
Video Taping Time: I knew it was Video Analysis Day when I saw Dave come onto the ice with the camera. Glad he finally figured the camera out. All through warm-ups and the first drill he was against the boards peering into the viewer and pushing all the buttons. He solved it in time. Dave stood with the camera near center ice. One at a time in groups of three, we were to sprint down the length of the ice along the boards / stop / skate towards Dave at center ice / stop / make Dave a snowman / skate to the far corner /stop. Second guy GO, Third guy GO. Do it all again. Dead after that. While three guys were doing that, the rest were in a one-on-one drill for a shot on goal.
Now to the valuable videotape: Lyle called us off the ice in our groups of three to review the pretty pictures. Randy, you know better than to say anything off subject in front of Lyle. Randy said, “I thought TV made me look thinner.” Lyle replied, “It does!” In my group the consistent tip was, as always, more knee bend and also lengthen your stride. At the same time keep those arms pumping forward and back, not side to side.
During the viewing everyone else did an offensive zone three-on-one drill. The object being for the offense to stay spread out and move around to create opportunities and make it difficult for the defenseman. Scott ran this and did a great job at stopping the drill many times to tell us how we were doing it wrong. The instant feedback was valuable. He would stop you where you were and immediately tell you where you should be when the puck is here or over there. It was a fun drill too.
The long stride issue must have been on the video for many of us. The last drill of the day consisted of skating the full length of the ice. Concentrating on long strides and good knee bend. Then the other way with a right leg stride only. Kirk would have certainly screwed this up, as I secretly removed his L and R stickers from his skates. Then back again with a left leg stride. Very difficult, but pure technique. Another reason Kirk would have screwed this up. Last, put the left and right together and GO.
One big lesson for the day, take advantage of the half and three quarter speed laps in warm-ups to work on this long stride technique, so that it becomes more natural and can be used in game situations to generate more power and speed, and at our age, more efficiency.
I must note the value and how great of an opportunity this program is for those of us who never learned the game as a kid or in a structured environment. I can attest to how improving your skills and learning game concepts can and does add to the enjoyment and satisfaction of game play. Thank you to Suburban Hockey.
Later—Scott O.
P.S. Next week on the ice, keep your ears peeled for when I yell, “KIRK’s OUT!”
posted by Suburban Hockey @ 12:21 PM
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