Week 5 - Physicality and Compete

The first game of the weekend had a less than desirable outcome, but it was clear that our opponent was more physical and wanted that game more than we did. The team bounced back with a significantly better performance in the second game. The biggest change was a desire to compete physically with a much bigger team that is willing to use size to their advantage.

A couple things stood out to the coaches. First, we have to work on more aggressive compete and a willingness to initiate contact instead of just taking it and giving up. Second, we need to win more of the 50/50 puck battles. This means we have to want the puck. We have to stay in that battle until we are 100% sure we have won the battle before we move to the next step of trying to attack.

The theme of this week is compete and learning how to play a physical game. Every drill, we will be focusing and coaching the kids to dig deeper and work on getting a bit meaner. They will need it in Canada.

• Practice 13
• Practice 14
• Practice 15

Extra reading:

• Winning Hockey: The Power of Sticks in Passing Lanes
• Improve Faster: Feedback is a Gift

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• 2025 16