For decades, Canada held the position of the world’s best hockey country. We would dominate at international tournaments like the Olympics and the World Junior Championships. Other countries could hang with us and occasionally win, but for the most part, Canadian teams were the ones to beat. Anything less than a gold medal or championship would disappoint the players and the Canadian fans.
But over the past few years, things have changed. Canada has not been as dominant on the world hockey stage. There is a lot more parity in today’s game with strong squads from every European country. For Canadians, perhaps the most difficult part about global hockey parity is the emergence of the United States as a bonafide hockey power.
Hockey has always been the one sport that Canada has excelled at compared with the United States. But after decades, the Americans have caught up to Canada in hockey too. With some of the best NHL players now hailing from America, it’s time to take a look at the improvements made in the US developmental hockey program. This article will discuss the differences and similarities between Canadian and American youth hockey and how America has taken strides to match Canada in global hockey supremacy.
Youth Hockey in Canada vs USA: Differences
Perhaps we should begin the discussion with the major differences between the two countries. These have to be taken into account when comparing the two minor hockey programs. The most important difference is the population of the United States which is about ten times the population of Canada.
In the United States, sports like football and baseball have always been the first choice for many youths. But hockey is starting to gain popularity, especially given the recent success of many American NHLers. So when you have ten times the population, you are naturally going to get a larger pool of players to choose from. This does put the USA minor hockey and development program at an advantage to Canada.
Where Canada has an advantage is that a larger part of the population is dedicated to hockey compared to other sports. Minor hockey is a rite of passage in Canada and is usually the first choice for many Canadian families.
Major Junior vs. Collegiate Level
One of the biggest differences is the higher levels of hockey development. In Canada, players tend to graduate to their Provincial leagues like the BCHL or the OJHL. This is one level below the CHL which is considered one of the highest junior levels of hockey in the country.
In the United States, there are regional junior leagues as well but often players will aim to play in the NCAA college system. This is similar to other sports like basketball and football, where the College level is considered the highest level before the professional leagues.
In recent years, the gap has closed between the two developmental programs. While most Canadian players will head through the Major Junior system, the NCAA College program is pumping out some of the NHL’s biggest stars. These include players like Cale Makar, Jack Eichel, and Adam Fox.
Remember, there are Canadians who go through the NCAA system and Americans who play in Major Junior. Both programs are excellent for developing NHL talent!
American High School Teams
An interesting and unique aspect of minor hockey in America is the rising popularity of high school teams. This is a perfect springboard to the NCAA college system just as it is with other sports. We all know how popular high school sports are in America so it should not be surprising that this has started to include ice hockey as well.
In America, high school teams are often thought to be more important than local leagues or Rep teams. But in Canada, local leagues are the primary focus for young players, mostly because high school teams are not as prominent.
Youth Hockey in Canada vs USA: Similarities
At the heart of hockey development, much is the same between Canada and the United States. The two countries develop the same type of hockey mentality: tough and physical while also utilizing talent and skill. It’s a good balance that has served both countries well in the NHL and international matches.
The cost of minor hockey is also something families in both countries need to deal with. With equipment, travel, and league fees, ice hockey remains one of the more expensive sports to play. This is especially true when compared to other popular youth sports like soccer and basketball which require very little equipment at all.
Dedication From a Young Age
Whether you grow up playing hockey in the United States or Canada, players need to prepare to sacrifice for their development. Dedication to hockey starts at a young age. In Canada, the competition is already fierce to get to the higher levels of junior hockey and it is getting competitive in the United States as well.
Not only do players need to sacrifice for their development but families do too. This isn’t just isolated to North America either. Any NHL player will tell you how much they gave up and how much their families sacrificed so that they could get to where they are now.
Hockey Canada vs Hockey USA National Team Development Program
While both programs have some differences in how they develop players, both are also recognized as two of the top programs in the world. Both of these national programs have been developing elite hockey players for decades.
Hockey Canada has been the gold standard for player development for as long as anyone can remember. From the grassroots movement up to Team Canada at the Olympic games, few programs can compete with the success that Hockey Canada has had.
Hockey USA and the National Team Development Program have come a long way in recent years. This is evident in the number of high-quality players and high NHL draft picks it has produced. Hockey USA deserves high praise for managing to grow the game’s popularity in America. It’s difficult to compete with baseball, football, and basketball but youth hockey popularity in the US is higher than it has ever been.
For anyone who has played hockey at any level, you already know that each coach along the way has had a different philosophy. At the end of the day, the most important of the coach’s job is player development. The development of skills, knowledge of the game, and sportsmanship.
Coaching is usually broken down into three distinct styles: authoritarian, democratic, and holistic or laissez-faire. It is a bit of a generalization, but for the most part, all coaches fall under one of these types. Is there a right or wrong way to coach youth hockey? Definitely not. With kids, it is more likely that a less authoritarian style would achieve a better connection with the players.
At the same time, players at an early age need help staying focused and the basics of the game need to be instilled. Perhaps an authoritarian coach would find it easier to get this message across.
In this article, we’ll examine each of these coaching types and the pros and cons of applying them to minor hockey.
Authoritarian Coaching
Typically seen as the strictest form of coaching, authoritarian coaches are like drill instructors. They have complete control over practices and expect to have the full attention of their players. This is far from a two-way conversation and these coaches generally rule with an iron fist.
Pros of Authoritarian Coaching
Hockey is a sport where players need to be focused, especially during games. An authoritarian coach would be able to help younger players stay on task and provide an added shot of discipline as well.
If the coach is well-respected and the team is succeeding, the players will usually buy in. Authoritarian coaches are usually feared and seen as authoritative figures by players which can lead to a well-disciplined team that is cohesive on and off the ice.
Cons of Authoritarian Coaching
Authoritarian coaching is a little outdated and can often be considered too harsh for younger players who are new to the game. While it might help younger players focus, it can also turn them off from hockey altogether if it is a negative experience.
Authoritarian coaches are usually not liked by parents as well. This style of coaching can receive pushback from both players and parents and can result in a divided dressing room. Finally, even if it works, it has a chance of taking some of the fun out of hockey for younger players.
Democratic Coaching
Democratic coaching is the style that is most frequently used with youth hockey players. As the name suggests, this coaching style includes the players almost as equals when it comes to the team achieving its goals. This usually results in a friendlier, although not always more successful experience for players.
Pros of Democratic Coaching
The coach is still involved but allows the team to share in goal-setting and learning. There is usually a strong two-way relationship between players and coaches, and parents are also encouraged to join in the discussions.
For younger players, this is definitely a more positive environment to learn in. They do not need to fear punishment like from an authoritarian coach and can build confidence if they make a mistake. This style also builds a strong connection between the players and the coach and often leads to a positive team experience.
Cons of Democratic Coaching
Democratic coaches often cross the line between being an authority figure and being a player’s friend. There needs to be that divide in order for the team to succeed. This can often be difficult for coaches especially when it comes to younger players.
While team goals can be established and worked on by everyone, a democratic coaching style can also lead to a loss of focus. Without fear of punishment or failure, players may not develop as fully. It creates a friendly environment but there may not be enough emphasis on winning and overcoming challenges to succeed as a team.
Holistic Coaching
Holistic or Laissez-Faire coaching is the most hands-off approach. Laissez-faire refers to the French saying that means “let them be” or “leave them alone”. As you might expect, this isn’t a great coaching strategy to use when it comes to minor hockey.
Pros of Holistic Coaching
Leaving the players alone can be a way for them to figure things out on their own. Hockey is a game that is usually determined by the players and coaches do not have as big of a direct impact, especially at the youth level.
Holistic coaching is a non-complicated way to ease players into their first couple of seasons of hockey. After all, these young players are still learning the basics like staying on their skates.
Cons of Holistic Coaching
The cons of this style of coaching are fairly obvious: the coach is entirely missing as an authority figure for the players. The players are mostly left to their own devices and it is difficult to build cohesiveness as a team.
For younger players, it can be a difficult way to develop the skills needed to learn the game. It’s almost as if there isn’t any coach at all. Not having enough authority for the team can also be a negative experience for younger players.
Conclusion
Is there a right way to coach youth hockey? It really is up to the coach and how they apply their style on and off the ice. For developing players, the best coaching style is likely a hybrid of authoritarian and democratic.
Authoritarian coaching can help with player focus and discipline. Democratic coaching can help players develop team-building skills and reinforce that hockey is the ultimate team game.
In the spirit of Alexander Ovechkin trying his best to chase down the all-time goal scoring record of 894 held by Wayne Gretzky, it’s time to take a look at other NHL records that have stood the test of time. When Gretzky retired, nobody would have suspected that his 894 goal record would be within reach as soon as it is. Ovechkin still has some work to do, but he is definitely the best chance we may ever have at taking down that lofty record. Here are five other NHL records that we don’t think have a chance to be broken, at least in our lifetime!
Most Career Points: Wayne Gretzky 2,857
This one is easy isn’t it? While the Great One’s all-time goals record could be within reach, his all-time points record will likely never be touched. Gretzky’s record is nearly 900 points more than Jaromir Jagr who sits second on the list, and is more than 1,300 ahead of Joe Thornton who is the closest active player on the all-time points list. Perhaps the most impressive part of Gretzky’s point totals? He has more career assists with 1,963 than any other player has points. It is a testament to just how dominant Gretzky was in the 80’s and 90’s during the Edmonton Oilers dynasty. If we compare his pace to Connor McDavid’s, Gretzky had about 300 more points through the same amount of games as McDavid, and already had two 200-point seasons under his belt. Trust us when we say, Gretzky’s all-time career points record will never come close to being broken.
Most Consecutive 200-point seasons: Wayne Grezky 3
Truthfully, Gretzky can dominate any list that talks about NHL records. I didn’t want this whole article to be about the Great One, so this is the last record and probably one of his most impressive. From 1983-1986, Gretzky had point totals of 205, 208, and 215. No player had ever recorded 200 points in a season before he did. In fact, if you zoom out even further, Gretzky put up 212 in 1981 and missed the 200-point plateau by four points in 1982. That would have given him five consecutive seasons with 200 or more points. The NHL barely has any 100-point scorers these days, let alone 200. I get it. It’s hard to compare different generations of players, and goaltending and defense was much worse in those days. But these were still professional players and goalies. Gretzky’s numbers would be impressive in a beer hockey league, let alone the NHL. It would be a stretch to imagine any player scoring 200 points in a single season in this day and age, so like his all-time points record, consider this one unbreakable.
Most Points in a Single Game: Darryl Sittler 10
Compared to Gretzky’s incredible feats, this one certainly does have a chance of being broken. But in this day and age, where NHL teams rarely ever score into the double digits, it seems unlikely that a player will score ten points in a single game anytime soon. Sittler achieved the feat in 1976 against the Boston Bruins. He potted a double hat trick for six goals and added four assists in an 11-4 beatdown of their rivals from Beantown. Considering no team has scored ten or more goals in a game in quite a few years, I think it is safe to say that Sittler’s record will stand for a long time.
Fewest Wins in an NHL Season: Washington Capitals 8
Eight wins is really difficult to imagine. Well, it happened to the Washington Capitals back in the 1974-1975 season. It is hard to believe considering how well the Capitals have performed since they drafted Alexander Ovechkin. This stretch of time includes a Stanley Cup win back in 2018, and multiple playoff appearances as well. But eight wins? Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy had a twelve-game winning streak earlier this season. During the 80-game season, the 74-75 Capitals went 8-67–5 and only scored 181 goals. Of course, this was before the NHL implemented the shootout rules that ensured that every game has a winner. Still, even if the Capitals did win some games in a shootout, it would not have added much to their win totals. The most ironic part is that the Capitals received the number one draft pick and chose Alex Forsyth with that pick. Forsyth would go on to play in a total of one NHL game in his career.
Most Goals in a Season by a Rookie: Teemu Selanne 76
It was the rookie season that came out of nowhere and flew right into the history books. Teemu Selanne, the 10th overall draft pick in the 1988 NHL entry draft, blasted off in style scoring 76 goals in his first season in the NHL. The Finnish Flash was near unstoppable that year, and won the adoration of fans around the world with his glove-hunting celebration where he would throw his gloves in the air and pretend to shoot them down with his stick. His rookie campaign was the best in NHL history and would prove to be one of the best in Selanne’s career. He would never come close to the 76-goal mark again in his career, although he did manage to lift the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks. Overshadowed by Selanne setting the record and winning the Calder Memorial trophy as the league’s top rookie, was the goal-scoring race Selanne had with Buffalo Saber sniper Alexander Mogilny. The two went toe to toe all season long and finished the season tied with 76 goals apiece. With rookies being eased into the NHL game nowadays, it seems very unlikely that any prospect will score 76 goals in a season again. Heck, we may never see another player score 76 goals in a season for a long time either!
More than any other sport, hockey requires players and especially goalies to wear a lot of equipment. Most players are a good 20-30 pounds heavier when they are decked out in full gear, and goalies can be even heavier! It is a large part of why hockey is also such an expensive sport to play. Youth hockey just happens to coincide with the biggest growth spurts and development cycles for children. Buying new gear every year or two isn’t easy on the wallet, so it’s important to learn how to maintain equipment for as long as possible.
But it’s not just about how much money the equipment costs. Remember, hockey equipment serves a purpose and especially for children, it is important that the gear is kept in good shape to prevent injuries. There is also a hygienic reason to maintain your equipment. We all know that familiar hockey gear smell, and while it certainly indicates well-worn equipment, it also means they are covered with bacteria. As casual players, we don’t have an equipment manager to stay on top of our gear, so it’s something we need to take on ourselves. Here are some helpful tips for staying on top of your hockey equipment maintenance.
Keep Those Skates Sharpened!
It certainly can be a hassle and it can add up when we pay for it each time, but sharpening your skate blades is one of the most important things to stay on top of. There is no greater risk to your safety than having skate blades that are not adequately sharpened. Dull skate blades are more prone to sliding out on the ice and catching edges. You also lose a lot of your ability to maneuver and turn sharply, as well as stopping on a dime.I also understand that a lot of players actually don’t enjoy freshly sharpened skates. Personally, I prefer my skates in the second game after they get sharpened so I can get used to the new edge. The general rule of thumb is to sharpen your skates after about 15 hours of usage, or every three to four games. This is totally up to your personal preference, but I know after about four games I find my skates starting to slide.
Clean Your Gear/Air Out Your Bag
Your family or spouse may not enjoy it, but your gear and immune system will thank you. Hockey players are well known for just stuffing their equipment into their bags and closing them up until next season. Do you wonder why there is such a sour smell when you reopen your bag? It’s time to start regularly cleaning your equipment during the season, but especially at the end of it. Most hockey rinks are now equipped with steam cleaners, and for a small fee, it is certainly worth it in the long run. There is also the chance of bodily fluids like other player’s sweat or even blood getting on your gear during a game. Don’t take risks with your own health, keep your gear and hockey bag clean to avoid spreading bacteria.
Tighten Your Helmet
This is one that a lot of players seem to overlook. As you play and especially when you just throw your helmet in your bag after the game, your helmet gets jarred around. It’s always good to tighten the screw in your helmet so that it fits securely and has no chance of moving if you fall back on your head. While you’re tightening your helmet, make sure your visor or cage is secured as well. I find that these screws get especially loose throughout the season, and again, these are in place to ensure your safety. Helmet maintenance is so important, and it only takes a couple of minutes after each game!
Stick Maintenance
Your stick is obviously one of the most important pieces of equipment on the ice so it definitely helps to take care of this as well. Taping and re-taping your stick is an artform, and a very personal preference for each player. My only suggestion is to re-tape your stick more often than you are currently doing. Over time the tape will lose its grip, so make sure to re-tape the shaft as often as you can, especially if you feel like the stick is sliding in your hands. If you tape your blade, make sure you keep an eye on that too. The ice will really eat up the bottom of your blade, so adding a fresh layer of tape will keep your stick in better condition. The tape also gives a nice feel when the puck is on your blade, and helps to fortify your stick when taking slap shots.
You might have noticed that some players even like to wax their blades as well. Have you ever wondered what this might do? Stick wax helps to seal the tape and keeps water from weakening the tape over time. It also provides a nice smooth coating to your blade and some players even think it helps with their shot as there is less friction between the blade and the ice. It’s definitely not mandatory, but it is another thing you can do to prolong the life of your stick, especially since they are getting pretty pricey these days!
For Goalies
Goalie pads are an expensive investment, so there must be ways to keep them in tip top shape, right? Absolutely! Cleaning your pads is fairly straightforward, you really just need to wipe them down with a cloth and any components that you can take off you can wash in the washing machine and hang dry. With the same logic as waxing your stick, you can also wax goalie pads. The effect is two-fold: first it protects your pads over the long-term from water damage, second it helps you slide better across the ice. Keep on top of tightening your helmet, especially for goalie masks, and usually you can pop out the sweat guard to wash separately. Goalie skates also need to be sharpened, and since you need that edge a bit more for pushing off in the crease, it is actually recommended to sharpen goalie skates more frequently so every couple of games.
Whether you are a first-time peewee coach or a Jack Adams Trophy winner, hockey coaches should never stop trying to learn more about the game and their craft. There is so much more to coaching than drawing up X’s and O’s or choosing the best line combinations. It is a constant battle to maintain leadership while providing equal opportunities for all of your players.
As if hockey itself was not complicated enough, coaching the sport brings an all new type of understanding and analysis. When you are a player, you only really have to worry about your own position. As a coach, you have to know every position and how each of them affects the overall game plan for the team. Regardless of what level of hockey you coach, here are five reasons to never stop learning, no matter how successful your team is.
The Game Evolves
What worked one season might not work the next. This is especially true for coaches at higher levels of competitive hockey and even in the NHL. Opposing teams can find out your strategies and create a game plan against them. Every good game plan works in the league, until it doesn’t. Hockey has likely already changed since you were a player, so keep on top of how the game is evolving and learn how you can adapt that to your coaching style.
The overall sport evolves as well which makes outdated strategies stale and useless. As a coach you always need to keep up with the new ways that hockey is played. Just always remember that before exciting, offensive hockey in the NHL, coaches thought that the neutral zone trap was a viable strategy and a great way to play the game. Sure, it worked for a time, but as with most strategies, other coaches caught up and created a system to counteract it.
Personal Development
Learning new skills for your personal development is an underrated part of being a hockey coach. Sure, it’s usually a volunteer gig for parents, but there are plenty of things you can learn from it. It is an excellent way to spruce up on your leadership skills and a great way to work on speaking in front of groups. Most youth hockey coaches even know that there is plenty of on the job training for how to handle confrontations with hockey parents.
Being the coach of a hockey team is also an important role in a child’s early life. The things you learn from your players can help you be a more patient and empathetic person, and is a good reminder that winning isn’t everything when it comes to sports. For as much time as you work on drills at practices, take the time to learn more about yourself and how you perform in a leadership role.
To Learn More About Your Players
This goes hand in hand with personal development, but as a coach you should want to learn more about how to get through to your players as well. At the NHL level, people often talk about how a coach can ‘lose a dressing room’. This means that anything the coach says simply doesn’t resonate with the players anymore. It could be as simple as not feeling motivated by what the coach says, or as complex as losing confidence in the team’s system on the ice. Whatever the case may be, coaches need to constantly be learning how to stay connected with their players.
Establishing a strong bond with your players is a great way to build team rapport. Remember, players are often a reflection of their coach on the ice. If you are positive and supportive, players will want to play and win for you. But if you are negative behind the bench, players will pick up on that energy as well.
Learn to Adapt to Your Players
Every team at every level of competition has a team full of players with different skill sets. As a coach, each new season can be a challenge, and even every game if the same players aren’t there all the time. A great coach will know the strengths and weaknesses of each player on the team and accommodate for that depending on the personnel they have to work with. Adapt your game plan to your players rather than force your players into the game plan.
At the NHL level, it is usually apparent when a coach is trying to force players to play a different style than what they are used to. A good coach won’t force Alex Ovechkin into a defensive role because it simply isn’t how he is effective on the ice. As a coach you need to learn your players strengths and know how to apply them to help the team succeed on the ice.
Winning and Success Are Never Easy
That’s right, you read that correctly: winning and success are never easy. Success always takes hard work so if you want to be a successful coach, you need to be committed to putting in the effort. It starts with doing the little things like showing up first to practices and games or establishing a personal relationship with each of your players. An active coach is always trying to learn more about their players, and a better relationship means it is more likely they will listen to what you have to say from behind the bench.
Not only is winning difficult, but you have to keep re-learning how to win as well. What worked in one game won’t always work in the next game, so refining your craft and making adjustments is something you’ll have to learn to do. Never be satisfied with a victory, because the next one will always be a new challenge. It is always helpful to take a look at what worked, but it is even more important to learn from what didn’t work. Hockey is a challenging game to play and at times, it can be just as challenging of a game to coach as well.
Communication is Key in Hockey, and because of this, hockey has developed some common sayings. There are phrases that only make sense in the context of a hockey game and sayings that, when you hear them, you instantly recognize it as a “hockey quote.” But sometimes we hear and repeat these hockey sayings without knowing where they came from or why they were said.
Here are five common hockey sayings and how they came to be:
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”
Likely the most popular is attributed to Wayne Gretzky, and it serves as a useful saying not just for hockey, but for life in general. Although, one of the earliest recorded uses of the saying is by Burton W. Kanter, a tax lawyer, who was talking about Gretzky and claimed that Gretzky used the saying in conversation with him. The saying is also sometimes attributed to Wayne’s father, Walter Gretzky, or to one of Wayne’s coaches.
Regardless of who first uttered the quote, the idea of missed opportunity has long existed before Gretzky’s phrase, in the form of a soccer adage from 1965, “you can’t score if you don’t shoot,” and a baseball saying from 1943, “you can’t expect to hit if you don’t swing at ‘em.”
Recently, the popularity of Gretzky’s saying exploded beyond the world of hockey and even beyond the world of sports, when the American sitcom The Office featured the quotation as part of a gag involving one of the show’s main characters, the office boss, Michael Scott (pictured above).
“Gordie Howe hat-trick”
A normal “hat-trick” is defined as “the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match.” A “Gordie Howe hat-trick” is named after NHL hall-of-famer Gordie Howe and involves a humorous combination of two positive feats and one more questionable feat: a goal, an assist, and a good old fist fight.
The phrase was coined by a New York sportswriter in the 1950s and was named for his all-around hockey prowess and his reputation as a “tough guy.” However, Howe himself only achieved a Gordie Howe hat trick twice: once in 1953 and once in 1954, both against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The former head coach of the Arizona Coyotes, Rick Tocchet, currently has the most Gordie Howe hat tricks in NHL history, with 18.
“Bring your A-game”
This phrase isn’t just common to hockey, it’s used nowadays in pretty much any sport or activity, and if you were or are an athlete in any discipline, chances are that you’ve had a coach say this to you at some point.
To “bring your A-game” means to perform at your best, both in terms of focus and physical ability. Although it is uncertain how long the saying has been used in hockey specifically, hockey writer Adrian Dater claims that he first heard the phrase, “bring your A-game” used by former Colorado Avalanche coach Marc Crawford in 1996. One of the earliest recorded general uses of the saying is in a 1969 “Gentleman’s Quarterly” article about an unusually difficult golf course.
“Great moments are born from great opportunities”
This fantastic quote is courtesy of Herb Brooks, who both played for and coached multiple Olympic hockey teams throughout his life. He first used the now popular hockey phrase in the opening line of his pregame speech to the 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team he was coaching, as they were about to face the Soviet Union team that had consistently dominated international competition and seemed like an unstoppable force.
Brooks specifically built and trained the Olympic team to be able to face the intimidating Soviet Union team. When the U.S. team defeated the Soviets and claimed the gold medal, the entire story, as well as Brooks’s iconic speech, was enshrined in hockey history.
The story of the U.S. 1980 Olympic ice hockey victory is told in the 2004 film Miracle, where Brooks is played by Kurt Russell.
“Don’t go through life without goals”
Outside of the sport of hockey, this proverb just sounds like a boring, obvious piece of life advice. But when you consider the context of a hockey game, the saying gains some humour and extra meaning: scoring goals in hockey is great, but it’s important to have larger aspirations both for your hockey career and for your life.
Although the saying is often cited in hockey books and by pro players on social media, it isn’t known who came up with the quote. The saying is often featured on hockey t-shirts, bumper stickers, and posters, the earliest of which was first seen right around the start of the 21st century.
There you have it: five common hockey sayings and their origin stories. Although language may continue to change, including the language of hockey, there will always be some way of urging players to “give it their all” and “put the puck in the net”!
