Two significant indications of success are that you do something well, and that you do it well for a long period of time. While it takes a lot of effort to get to the top, it is that much harder to stay there.

In the hockey world, legendary coach Scotty Bowman was able to achieve success with the teams he coached in the 1960’s, the 1970’s, the 1980’s, the 1990’s and right through 2002 for a number of reasons. Having great players on his teams might have been one of those reasons, but many coaches have had great players and still failed to achieve success.

More importantly, he had a strong, consistent philosophy, and his success proved that it worked. Secondly, he was able to adapt to changing times in communicating that philosophy to his players. Dealing with players in 1960 was completely different than dealing with them decades later.

For over 30 years, Suburban Hockey School has utilized that same recipe in teaching power skating and hockey skills and concepts to hockey players of all ages in Michigan, a strong, consistent philosophy combined with the flexibility to adapt to changing times.

Creating a disciplined and positive learning environment where highly trained and experienced instructional staff members can assess each student’s strengths and weaknesses and then teach them what they need to do to improve, has been the school’s philosophy from day one. But how it has been accomplished has changed somewhat over the years.

"One-on-one instruction has always been a huge part of our program," says Program Manager Mike Humitz, who should know having been a Suburban Hockey School student as a child, and being an instructor for the program for almost 20 years. "We really strive to spend time with each player and provide them individualized feedback, which sometimes might be a small, subtle thing that may or may not help the other kids in their group, but definitely will make a difference for them."

In each class, registrations are taken by the age group that a player will be playing in for the upcoming hockey season, and it is virtually impossible to know what kind of variance in experience and talent there will be in a given class. Some squirt players (ages 9 and 10) have played for 4-5 years, some only 2-3 and some are just starting, but they all are grouped together for the class.

"That has never been a problem for us," says Director Lyle Phair, who has managed the program for the past 12 years and instructed for over 20. "Forming classes by age helps narrow the variance to a certain degree, but we take great pains to go further than that, and divide each of the classes into small groups, based on experience and skill level. Our goal is to make sure that each student is being taught and challenged to improve at his or her competitive level."

Each program features a different theme and curriculum every day. Within each group on the ice, that theme remains the same, but the curriculum is modified to fit the skill level and experience of the players in that group.

Program Manager Cal McGowan, an eight-year pro player with coaching experience at the collegiate level, uses shooting day to illustrate what happens in each of the groups.

"While some 9- and 10-year olds have pretty solid forehand and backhand shooting mechanics while standing still, there are many others who need to spend more time at that phase," McGowan said. "It is not uncommon to see one group of players working on shooting on the move, another group working with weighted pucks, another group focusing on weight transfer, and another on proper set position in terms of feet, hands and puck. While the curriculum is all about shooting, it is more important that the kids are working at the right spot in that curriculum. It doesn’t do you any good to work on shooting the puck on the move, if you can’t shoot it properly while standing still."

Although much has remained the same in the SHS summer programs, recent changes have been significant. Historically, summer youth classes have had a maximum of 32 students with a student-to-instructor ratio of 8-to-1. In 2002, an extra instructor was added and classes were limited to 30 players to lower the ratio to 6-to-1. Goaltender classes utilize a 4-to-1 ratio and in the adult classes less instructors are needed, as communication and organization is much easier.

"Although we can cover a lot in one week, one of the benefits of the summer program is that we provide a detailed evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of each student so they know what to continue to work on, and how to go about doing it," says Phair. "We have found that with the 6-to-1 ratio, the instructors can spend more time with each individual player and be much more comprehensive in terms of the evaluation. In addition, reducing the class size means that players will get more repetitions in larger-ice drills and instructors will have more time to assess and correct them."