So, You Didn't Get Drafted

Here is some GREAT advice by Ross Mclean. I met Ross in Finland! Great hockey mind and straight shooter. Every player should read this!! Click Here!

Troy Bourke - 3rd Round to Colorado

Here is the audio conversation with Troy Bourke of the Prince George Cougars talking about being drafted!  Click Here!

Coaches - Coach loses body control - Don't be this guy!

Check this video out! Coaches - grow up!

Bring out the clown music!

Hockey Canada should look in the mirror regarding goalie woes

Interesting article with small snippets of information about junior hockey and the business side.

Here is the link!

Quote

"Your attitude is either the lock on, or the key to the door of success." - Denis Waitley

College Hockey Conn Smythe Hat Trick

Six former college players helped lead the Los Angeles Kings to the Stanley Cup championship, with goaltender Jonathan Quick becoming the third straight collegian to capture the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Quick, who played two seasons at UMass and is the first Minuteman to get his name on the Cup, follows in the footsteps of Tim Thomas (Vermont) and Jonathan Toews (North Dakota) in winning the Conn Smythe. He is the fifth former college player to win it, joining those two plus Brian Leetch (Boston College) and Joe Nieuwendyk (Cornell).

Quick - who could also follow Thomas as the Vezina Trophy winner (he is a finalist) - compiled one of the best playoff runs by an NHL goaltender in history. He posted a 16-4 record, a 1.41 goals-against average, a .946 save percentage and allowed only seven goals in the six games of the Stanley Cup Final series. He posted three shutouts along the way.
Teammates marvel at his efforts.

"It's kind of strange for us because we see him in practice every day," defenseman Rob Scuderi, a Boston College graduate, told NHL.com. "Just like with any great player I've been fortunate to play with, they do more great things in practice than you'd ever see in a game. It's not really a shock to any of us. It's great to see him playing so fantastic and at such a high level every night, but it's not a shock to any of us who are in the room."

More Collegians
Scuderi and Matt Greene, a North Dakota product, tied for second among Kings defensemen at +9 for the playoffs. The Los Angeles defense had a heavy college influence, with Alec Martinez (Miami) and Willie Mitchell (Clarkson) also among the top six.
Up front, former Maine star Dustin Penner finished the playoffs with 11 points in 20 games, including the overtime goal that sent the Kings to the final round.
The Cup is a third championship in 12 years for Scuderi, who won the NCAA title as a senior at BC, then claimed the 2009 Stanley Cup as a Pittsburgh Penguin.

From the Top
Several former college players contributed to the Kings' efforts in the front office, led by Dean Lombardi. The team president and general manager played at Elmira College and the University of New Haven.

Lombardi's front office staff includes Jack Ferreira (Boston University) and Nelson Emerson (Bowling Green). The team's co-director of amateur scouting, Mark Yannetti, played at both Brown and Williams, while the scouting staff includes Mark Mullen (Boston University), Mike Donnelly (Michigan State), Tony Gasparini (Minnesota Duluth) and Bob Crocker (Boston University).

Troy Bourke - 2012 Draft Prospect

Here is fantastic article on Troy Bourke. He is the smartest player I have coached! He is highly intelligent with a great skill set! Good luck Troy in the draft!

Here is the article!

Playing Consistent Hockey

From Website Grow The Game!

I remember watching the movie The Boys On The Bus over and over again when I was a kid—almost as if it was a Disney movie. The movie is about the Edmonton Oilers in the early and mid-1980s. I still remember one clip in which Mark Messier explains how he plays every game like it’s his last. It’s a great and—I argue—the only attitude to have when approaching each game.

For a little perspective on “the Moose,” he played 1,752 NHL games. If you do anything close to 2,000 times it can be repetitive and boring. Plus the travel, little nagging injuries, up and downs of a marathon season and non-hockey life can make for big distractions. For the most part, elite players have a passion for the game. If not, they would have been weeded out a long time ago. But the greatest players take that passion and have a laser-like focus that allows them to play great consistently. Good players, meanwhile, play great every three games or so—a big difference over a season and career. Here are two simplistic ways to approach the game: Average vs. Greatness.

Average Approach
If you go into a game thinking “it’s just another game” or “we beat this team 8–0 last time” or look past this game to a “bigger” game coming up, then you’re not giving your best. There was a game yesterday and there will be a game tomorrow. So you take the present game and basically go through the motions. The problem with this, as Seth Godin points out in a recent blog post on business, is that there is competition. As you take the skills you have worked so hard to achieve and average them out to just get through the game, the competition is giving it their all with a take-no-prisoners attitude. At least the good teams are. Who’s going to win?

Greatness Approach
If you think this might be the last time you enjoy the great privilege of strapping on skates as Messier did, then most likely it won’t be. Plus you get the added benefit of playing great hockey. Get hungry out there on the ice. It’s the difference today of two points in the standings. It’s a difference tomorrow of making the most out of the skills you have and achieving consistent greatness.
Good luck this weekend.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Brett Henning of Score100Goals.com for this story. Henning is the author of 7 Pre-Game Habits of Pro Hockey Players, and was a member of the Inaugural National Team Development Program and 2000 World Junior Team with USA Hockey. He played Junior Hockey in Canada and at the collegiate level for the University of Notre Dame. He was drafted by the New York Islanders before a back injury ended his on-ice career.

Core Hockey Gear and Summer Camps

Some new Core Hockey Gear!

Core Hockey still has spots open for our 'position specific camp' for Bantam Forwards,  Bantam Defencemen and Midget Defencemen. We also have availability for our Peewee, Bantam and Midget conditioning camps at the beginning of August!

Check out Core Hockey Camps Here!

strength and flexibility movements

The following workout will help improve your quality of life through strength and flexibility movements.

Click Here to view the workout!

Derek Boogaard’s Dad does the legwork, finds appalling amount of pills prescribed to his son

 

Posted by Justin Bourne under News, Opinion on Jun 04, 2012

I’ve written about the abuse of prescription pills in pro hockey in the past, specifically about how their distribution needs to be better monitored. Right now if players want them, they can get them, and with the pain of the game and the rigors of travel, plenty of guys do. Never have I been more sure that something has to be done then after reading what Derek Boogaard’s father discovered about what had been prescribed to his son over the years.

Before I list the numbers, a simple point: it’s not solely the doctor’s responsibility to monitor the amount of pills players are swallowing - players have to be accountable for themselves as well. Though some guys are (as Boogaard seemed to be), not everyone is a victim of the system.

There’s just no way it should be possible for one person to acquire this many drugs from this many sources:

From the New York Times excellent feature on Boogaard, and his Dad’s work:

Derek Boogaard received more than 100 prescriptions for thousands of pills from more than a dozen team doctors for the Minnesota Wild and the Rangers.

Continuing:

* In a six-month stretch from October 2008 to April 2009, while playing 51 games, Boogaard received at least 25 prescriptions for the painkillers hydrocodone or oxycodone, a total of 622 pills, from 10 doctors — eight team doctors of the Wild, an oral surgeon in Minneapolis and a doctor for another N.H.L. team.
* In the fall of 2010, an official for the Rangers, Boogaard’s new team, was notified of Boogaard’s recurring abuse of narcotic pain pills. Nonetheless, a Rangers team dentist soon wrote the first of five prescriptions for hydrocodone for Boogaard after he sustained an injury.
* Another Rangers doctor, although aware that Boogaard also had been addicted to sleeping pills in the past, wrote nearly 10 prescriptions for Ambien during Boogaard’s lone season with the team.

What blows me away more than anything about those numbers is the ”10 doctors in six months” part. I’ve played on teams with a team doctor. I’ve seen 2-3 in certain training rooms. I know there are some specialists you deal with over the course of a career. But 10 and these people don’t communicate at all about what’s being prescribed to their patient, a guy who’s supposed to be a pro athlete, a finely tuned machine? It’s an absolute sin. (None of that addresses the blatant disregard for a guy with a problem, but I’m not looking at Boogaard’s situation as a stand-alone event here.)

Shady doctors aren’t everywhere in pro hockey, but they exist. I’ve heard of guys texting their team doctor, who would in turn call in a prescription and have pills ready to go for them at CVS in an hour. “What do you need, sleeping pills, pain pills, muscle relaxers….would you like fries with that?” As in all lines of work, some folks are just ethically questionable, and they always will be – being smart enough to become a doctor has little bearing on that. That fact is precisely why there needs to be some sort of official system in place so those people don’t go messing everything up for the rest of us.
For one, necessary prescribed pills could be doled out to players out on a daily basis at the rink. The doctors write the scripts, fill them, bring them to your dressing room, and say “Here’s your three for the day.” For another, if you’re going to have 1000 doctors, each player should have medical files on hand that doctors need to update every time they prescribe anything so they could see “Hey look, Dr. Percy prescribed him 30 pills yesterday, he doesn’t need any more.”

I realize these ideas aren’t flawless (as I said, guys may get them regardless, but let’s at least make it more difficult), but they’re ideas. We need to get moving in the right direction.

Boogaard’s story is terrible and sad, but if it could be the catalyst for some positive change that exposes less players to ridiculous amounts of pills that they don’t need, then at least it could have been for something. Though that may be small consolation for the Boogaard family, maybe it could save another family from feeling the same pain.

If we do nothing, the problem isn’t going to go away on it’s own, it’s only going to get worse. R.I.P., Boogeyman.

What Makes A Nightmare Sports Parent -- And What Makes A Great One

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 8:20 pm

Written by: Steve Henson

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Hundreds of college athletes were asked to think back: "What is your worst memory from playing youth and high school sports?"

Their overwhelming response: "The ride home from games with my parents."
The informal survey lasted three decades, initiated by two former longtime coaches who over time became staunch advocates for the player, for the adolescent, for the child. Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching LLC are devoted to helping adults avoid becoming a nightmare sports parent, speaking at colleges, high schools and youth leagues to more than a million athletes, coaches and parents in the last 12 years.

Those same college athletes were asked what their parents said that made them feel great, that amplified their joy during and after a ballgame.

Their overwhelming response: "I love to watch you play."

There it is, from the mouths of babes who grew up to become college and professional athletes. Whether your child is just beginning T-ball or is a travel-team soccer all-star or survived the cuts for the high school varsity, parents take heed.

To Read the rest of this article, Click Here!

John Wooden on true success

With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father's wisdom. 

John Wooden, affectionately known as Coach, led UCLA to record wins that are still unmatched in the world of basketball. Throughout his long life, he shared the values and life lessons he passed to his players, emphasizing success that’s about much more than winning.

Watch the video Here!

Inspiring elementary schooler with cerebral palsy runs amazing 400-meter race

Watch the Video Here! A must see!

The young man who refuses to be beaten by his own limitations in the video above is Matt W. (last name unknown), who attends Worthington (Ohio) Colonial Hills Elementary School. Like most elementary schools in America, Colonial Hills has a once-a-year track and field day, and like most kids, Matt was clearly eager to take part.

However, unlike most of his peers, Matt suffers from spastic cerebral palsy, a debilitating condition that limits his ability to undergo rigorous physical exercise of any kind. Incredibly, despite knowing those limitations, Matt decided to run the 400-meter event (roughly quarter of a mile) on the school's 200-meter track.

The result was absolutely inspiring. While all the other students in the event finished far in front of Matt, the student athlete simply refused to stop running, chugging his way around the track on his own, even as it appeared he might collapse.

Naturally, the inspirational Colonial Hills student needed plenty of encouragement, and he first got that from the school's gym teacher, John Blaine, who trotted up alongside his pupil and walked and then ran alongside him for the remainder of the race.


Then, after all the other fifth- and sixth-graders in the race had finished, they joined in, running over to follow Matt around the track and chanting, "Let's go Matt, let's go!" until he finished, spun around, hugged his gym teacher and then accepted a series of high fives from fellow students, all while his mother watched on, sobbing with emotion from the kindness shown to her son.

It's an inspiring video that shows the power of positive thinking and what children can do with a little encouragement. No matter what Matt's athletic future holds, he, his family and his classmates will always have his gritty, inspiring and joyous 400-meter jaunt during an elementary school field day to look back upon and smile.

Food Labels Decoded

More Info at Coach.ca!

Understanding nutrition information on packaged food labels can help athletes choose the best foods to meet their nutritional needs. Knowing how to make sense of the “Nutrition Facts” in particular, helps you compare products easily and select the optimal diet for your unique training regiments and sport of choice.

Knowing how to read the nutrition information on food labels will enable you to:

• Compare products more easily, and identify high quality, high energy foods that will fuel your workouts and keep you healthy
• Find the nutritional value of foods
• Better manage your sport diet
• Increase or decrease your intake of a particular nutrient of interest

Follow these 6 easy steps to read the Nutrition Facts label

1. Start with the Serving Size. At the top of the label, you will see the serving size. Serving sizes differ even on similar types of foods. More important, the Serving Size on the label may not equal the serving size you normally eat. If you eat twice the serving listed on the label, you will need to double all the numbers in the nutritional facts section. Keep this in mind when you are looking at the label, as it may not be a healthy alternative if you are going to eat more than the suggested serving.
    
2.  Percent Daily Value. Use the % daily value to see if a food has a little (less than 5%) or a lot (more than 15%) of a nutrient in the serving size. The “% Daily Values” for fat, carbohydrates and protein are based on a 2,000-calorie reference diet. However, this may be less than athletes require on a daily basis, so athletes should consider their individual nutritional needs for calories and nutrients when choosing foods.
    
3. Review the Calories. This section on the label tells you the total number of calories in each serving of the food. For example, one serving of Campbell’s® Chunky® Vegetable Beef soup provides 140 calories. Carbohydrates, protein, and fat are three nutrients that provide our bodies with energy.
    
4. Add up the “Total Fat”. Fat is an important nutrient for health and plays an essential role in the body, but it is important to remember that it is also very calorically dense. There are many different kinds of fats found in foods. The Total Fat value found on the Nutrition Facts includes monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (from plant sources, such as canola oil) as well as saturated and trans fats (from animal or vegetable sources). The type and amount of fat you eat are important. Some types of fat like saturated and trans fats, may increase your risk of developing heart disease and should be limited. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats should count for most of the total fat in your diet.
    
5. Look at the Sodium Content. Sodium is a mineral naturally found in many foods and can also be added by using table salt. Canadian adults need about 1500 mg of sodium per day and should not consume more than 2300 mg/day (or about 1 tsp). However, most Canadians are getting more than is recommended. Some athletes who typically lose large amounts of sweat and are at risk of hyponatremia should be aware of their individual needs. These athletes may need to consume sodium-rich foods before, during, and after their sustained activities.
    
6. Check out the Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates include fibre, starch and sugar. Except for fibre, they provide energy to fuel your muscles and your brain during activity. Fibre, a non-digestible carbohydrate, is found in many foods and is important for daily and long-term health. Your diet should include carbohydrates as the foundation for each meal and when possible choose whole grains more often.
    
7. Look at the Vitamins and Minerals. This section of the label helps you choose nutrient dense foods. The Nutrition Facts table is required to include information on calories and 13 ‘core’ nutrients including Vitamins A and C and minerals calcium and iron. There may be other vitamins and minerals nutrients in foods that may not be highlighted on the Nutritional Facts table.

Note: There are also Nutrition Claims that appear on some food labels, for example, ‘low sodium’, ‘low fat’, ‘source of fibre’, etc. For more information about these claims check out http://bit.ly/IaHRD2

Finally, don’t forget to look at the ingredient list on the label. 

The list of ingredients is mandatory. All of the ingredients for a food are listed in descending order by weight. The list of ingredients is also a source of information for people who want to avoid certain ingredients like allergens or verify the presence of an ingredient in a food.