“The Hockey Community” categorizes all of the “hockey happenings” in your local area.

A few weeks ago I was introduced to a new hockey site that has the potential to make a serious impact on local hockey. The main idea behind The Hockey Community is to merge all the rinks’ schedules and the drop-in hockey games on the same website. Through a very simple form you can find stick and puck, public skating, drop-in hockey game and much more.

They just rolled out all the local hockey info in the Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby and Delta areas, but they are planning to add more and more cities. I can’t wait until Salt Lake is on the list

This is actually a student’s project from an engineer school, so if you have more ideas, tell them, they might be able to include the functionality you’re looking for.

Either way… this is a great site, with a lot of potential – take a look and see what you think!!

Visit them at http://thehockeycommunity.com or join them on Facebook.

Technorati Tags: Burnaby, Cool Site, Delta Areas, Engineer School, Functionality, Hockey Community, Hockey Game, Hockey Games, Hockey Info, Local Area, Lot, Richmond, Salt Lake, Vancouver

Posted by Jeremy Weiss | 1 Comment »

Just a quick report on today’s sessions…

Interesting day today at the Level 5 Clinic here in Minnesota. We heard from a bunch of pretty good hockey guys including Todd Richards (head coach of the Wild), Mike Sullivan (assistant coach of the Lightning), Mark Johnson (member of 1980 “Miracle” team and Head Coach of Wisconsin’s women’s team), Bryan Trottier (NHL Hall of Famer), and a panel of players from the 1980 American Miracle team.

One of the things I found interesting was Mike Sullivan’s take on defensive hockey (playing when the other team has the puck). He likes a very aggressive style when his team doesn’t have the puck, and showed us a few examples of his 1-2-2 forecheck that looked almost identical to our 1-2-2 Fooseball Forecheck. So – apparently it works in the NHL too

THEN – he showed an example of his neutral zone attack… and guess what? it was just a neutral zone version of the 1-2-2 fooseball! First man pressured outside in, second two took away the outlet passes.

Anyways – the main key that made this forecheck so effective in the clips was that the F1 was EXTREMELY aggressive, and F2 and F3 were REALLY fast to seal off the passing lanes.

So – that’s my report for today. Until next time!

Technorati Tags: Aggressive Style, Assistant Coach, Bryan Trottier, F1, First Man, Forecheck, Hall Of Famer, Head Coach, Level 3, Lightning, Main Key, Mike Sullivan, Miracle Team, Neutral Zone, Nhl Hall Of Famer, Puck, Sessions, Todd Richards

Posted by Jeremy Weiss | No Comments »

Hey guys – sorry for such a long gap between posts! I’ve been really busy this summer running hockey camps, going to family reunions, and a bunch of other stuff…

Anyways, right now I’m at the Level 5 Coaching Clinic in St. Paul, Minnesota. So far it’s been a pretty good event – we’ve heard from a bunch of cool speakers. But the most interesting thing I heard today as about COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT… or in other words BRAIN TRAINING.

There is a company called Applied Cognitive Engineering that has developed a product called IntelliGym that consists of a complex series algorithms that can be implemented into a video game that will train your brain to react quicker to the recurring patterns in athletics. They have already developed it for basketball, and are currently designing a hockey version.

Evidently, this is the same technology the Israeli Air Force uses to train their fighter pilots… it’s kinda like a flight simulator, only it’s totally different… I know that doesn’t make much sense, but it’s hard to describe. Basically, they’ve implemented hockey patterns into a video game that has nothing to do with hockey… (the example they showed us was a little space ship fighting game – but the space ships moved in hockey patterns). So your brain is being trained to react more instinctively instead of intellectually, and your reaction times improve.

With the Air Force pilots, they saw a 20-40% improvement across the board… the basketball players showed similar results, and hockey is expected to do the same!

The players’ decision-making skills can be tracked, and improvement within the game can be monitored. The game gets harder and faster as the player improves…Like I said – this stuff is REALLY cool. I thought I’d share the link so you can check it out for yourselves.

http://hockey.intelligym.com/

I’ll keep you posted on what I learn tomorrow… ENJOY!

Technorati Tags: Air Force Pilots, Basketball Players, Brain Training, Coaching Clinic, Cognitive Engineering, Cognitive Performance, Family Reunions, Fighter Pilots, Fighting Game, Gap, Hey Guys, Hockey Camps, Intelligym, Israeli Air Force, Little Space, Long Gap, Performance Enhancement, Space Ship, Space Ships, St Paul Minnesota

Posted by Jeremy Weiss | No Comments »

A good buddy and teammate showed me this today. The original source is unknown, but I thought it was fitting for the time of season. The dad who wrote it definitely understands what hockey’s really about… Almost brought a tear to my eye thinking about the times I had with my dad, and the times I’ll undoubtedly have with my son.

These next few weeks may be the last times I see my boy lace ‘em up with an organized team. Fourteen years ago we started, not really knowing anything about this marvelous game. He skated out onto the ice as wobbly as can be. Tonight he glides across the ice cutting his edges into the glimmering sheet of white and throwing snow up to the top of the glass with a hockey stop we could only dream about way back when. He’s worn different jerseys, traveled all over the state and country, in rinks at 6am and 12 midnight. Hotels, motels, sleeping in the van and now the bus – he’s been a real road warrior. He’s had great coaches and some not so great coaches. Some years have been great some not. But all in all, he’s met so many other young men and women that have the same passion and they give their all at game time.

Like you, we’ve spent thousands of dollars on this habit forming game. Sometimes we fell into the marketing and bought the white Fedorov skates, the Nike aluminum sticks, the mini stick games, etc., but we did it for him.

He’s played forward and defense and even played goalie at a tournament and let in 20 goals, but still loved it. Always smiling when he came off the ice, he put reality into our over competitiveness as parents. He simply loved the game.

This week though, it might be different. It may finally hit him that from here on, it might be an occasional lunch skate, Friday night drop in, or maybe adult leagues. How will he deal with it, win or lose after that final game? How will I deal with it?

I only hope we’ve raised him so that his perspective will be positive. He knows that he’s not our only son. Yes, he has a brother that skates too, but over the years he’s had hundred of “brothers” – his team mates. Some have been “best buds”, others have faded into history. But no matter what happens, when and where he ever meets up with these kids again, they have a bond that no one can ever take away. Without a doubt, a hockey team relationships is unique – especially the locker room antics.

Over the next few years, tragedies will occur. Families will split up, some of the parents or even team mates will die and life may no longer be as simple as pulling on the old smelly gear. How will my son deal with this? I don’t know, but I do know that through the help of hundreds of other parents, he’s learned so much more about life than I did as a child.

After the last buzzer, God it will be hard. But hugs, tears of disappointment or success will still support the love I have for him and his accomplishments.

Maybe he will continue on. Maybe it’s Juniors, maybe college club hockey, and yes, maybe beer leagues. I may not be able to see him, but I’ll know that if he’s on the ice, he’s in his element and the world is fine.Son, thanks for the joy you’ve given me over the years, you’ve turned out to be an outstanding young man and I’m sure your future is bright. The only thing I ask of you anymore about this game is: When the time is right, please give back for honor and respect those that did the same for you.

Bless all the kids that will lace ‘em up this week and hit the ice in their last games.

Technorati Tags: hockey beginner, hockey dad, hockey season

Posted by Jeremy Weiss | 1 Comment »