Want to Win—There Are No Little Things
Posted by Don MacAdam
Here is an article that hit home with me. Our team is at the tail end of a string of games during which we played hard, played strong, competed—we just didn’t win. There was a situation or two in every game where someone didn’t get the job done. The isolated situation could, and often is described as a little thing that led to the winning goal against.
The Simplest Detail is a December 1, 2009 post by Mike Tully on his site www.totalgameplan.com He gives us a great example for his point that ‘there are no little things’ if you want to get the job done.
Anyone who thinks that success is complicated should look at the Grey Cup final — the championship of the Canadian Football League.
Montreal won because Saskatchewan received a penalty for having 13 men on the field. Damon Duval missed a field goal that would have won the game, but got a second chance because of the penalty. Let that sink in for a moment: After weeks of training camp, a long season, and a bruising game, Saskatchewan lost a title because it could not put the right number of players on the field.
“It was a lack of communication … but it should have been recognized,” coach Ken Miller said about the critical penalty. “The disappointment of this loss is going to affect us as long as we’re on this planet. Total 100 percent disappointment.”
Saskatchewan’s pain can become your wisdom. No detail is too small. And never let yourself think that success is something magical or complicated. It’s not. As North Carolina women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance is constantly preaching, it’s about doing things right every time.
Remember Thomas Keller, the world-class chef who said that no one step in cooking is particularly difficult?
All Saskatchewan had to do was count the number of players on the field. That doesn’t sound particularly difficult. But it didn’t get done. And the pain will linger a lifetime.
The StarPhoenix newspaper reported it this way:
“It’s not a moment thing; it’s a lifetime thing,” said Saskatchewan special-teams coach Kavis Reed, insisting that he, and not the unnamed extra player, should take the blame. “This is something I’ve got to live with for the rest of my life, and it’s something we have to live with for the rest of our lives. A mistake was made that essentially cost us the Grey Cup championship. I’ve got to shoulder that, I’ve got to live with that, I’ve got to replay that for the rest of my life.”
Never let that happen to you. There are no little things.
Most coaches will admire, and likely have feet the pain of the Saskatchewan special-teams coach. Getting things right every time may seem like an impossible task, but it should be a goal for all coaches and players.
Moving the Puck the Key to a Defenseman’s Success
Posted by Don MacAdam
Toronto’s Globe and Mail writer Matthew Sekeres posted an article on Sunday, November 29, 2009. With the buildup to the Vancouver Olympics in high gear across Canada, the main focus as always is on the men’s hockey team.
Using insight from world class defenseman Rob Blake, the writer highlights a catch phrase that virtually all coaches try to drill into their defensemen. “Move the puck!”
Chris Pronger, Adam Foote, and Rob Blake have formed the backbone of Canada’s defence through three Olympic Games.
They are the only three defencemen to play on every Canadian Olympic team since NHL players began participating in the Games in 1998, yet only one of them – Pronger – is back in contention for a fourth Olympics this February in Vancouver.
Neither Foote, nor Blake, were invited to Hockey Canada’s summer orientation camp in Calgary, and while Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman has said that non-invitees could play their way onto the team, Blake isn’t kidding himself and said his days of manning the country’s blueline are over.
“I understand the situation,” said Blake, a San Jose Sharks defenceman who turned back the clock in 2008-09 and produced a 45-point season. “If you’re not clearly in the top six, they’re not going to bring you to the orientation camp when you’re almost 40. There’s not much place for an older guy, and it’s not like they’re going to bring you in to get you experience.”
So, given his experience and new-found objectivity, The Globe and Mail asked Blake to pick the Canadian defence for 2010.
He held to one governing principle when making his selections: “You have to have guys who are going to move the puck.”
Blake said the 2006 Olympic team, which finished seventh in Turin, sorely missed Scott Niedermayer, a one-man trap breaker who could skate the puck end-to-end. Barring similarly skilled defencemen, Blake said the next best thing was a player who could move the puck with his stick.
“I really think we missed Niedermayer a lot the last time out,” he said.
“At the Olympics, your forwards are so dominant across all four lines. Because your forwards are so dominant, you just need to get them the puck as quickly as you can. Look at Danny Boyle’s style. That’s what you need.”Boyle, Blake’s teammate in San Jose, is more noted for his offensive ability than his defensive prowess, but his older teammate said he would be perfect for the Olympic team because “he’s as good as it gets in our league in terms of getting the puck out of your zone.
“He’s a one-man breakout, but he’s not a high-risk guy,” Blake added.
“He has the puck all the time, and when it comes out of our zone, it comes out fast, and it comes out tape-to-tape.”Blake said that Canada’s management should endeavour to have a puck-moving defenceman on every Olympic pairing, and his selections also suggest that familiarity is important. Blake picked three Calgary Flames rearguards, as well as two Chicago Blackhawks and the defensive pair – Pronger and Niedermayer – who helped the Anaheim Ducks win the Stanley Cup in 2007.
Running drills in practice sessions and constant positive reinforcement quick puck movement should be a daily task for the coach. Getting the puck off your stick an on to the stick of an attacking forward should always be the immediate task of every defenseman.
As repetitive as it may be for coaches to say, and as likely annoying for defensemen to hear, “Move the puck!” will be part of our hockey vocabulary for quite some time to come.
