yzerman19

If that’s what you’re taking from that long post, my point was missed...

Oh man- this is a huge debate topic across the hockey world right now. As a former coach and now just the dad of an elite 10U player (Brick player) I’ve been neck deep in it for awhile. My coaching philosophy was always to avoid the labeling of players in 8U and 10U. Obviously there are kids who are naturally (or trained) better hockey players, at young ages, but there are more kids who aren’t but could leapfrog down the road...puberty is the ultimate arbiter and development trajectories are neither linear nor consistently sloped. So, you have to balance things to try and 1. Keep kids in love with the game and having fun and 2. Helping each kid develop to the best of their ability at any given time. At 8U you have some kids working on single skate reverse edge pivots and some learning to stop. In games at 8U we used to make gentleman’s agreements with the other coaches to set lines as A and B and stack line A. We’d then only run A vs A and B vs B. We focused on fun and skill. Lots of small area games, so lots of puck touches for everyone. This approach helped both the advanced players and the less advanced players. 10U things get more complicated, because an advanced 10 year old has likely been skating for 6 (or more) years and been playing hockey for 4 or 5. The difference between the advanced and not is huge. Especially if the game is played on a full 200 foot sheet. Many coaches in this zone start to be corrupted by the allure of taking the best skaters and “stacking”. they start to emphasize winning and can’t resist coaching Full positions and a basic system. They de-emphasize individual skill development and emphasize the team concept. As hockey is the ultimate team game, they cut any weaker skaters to avoid a weak link. The result is big wins and fuels the misguided thinking. On the flip, those who stay the course feel the opposite, as the unstacked, puck touch, skill-focused teams lose repeatedly. Now at 12U and absolutely at 14U the focus should start to move towards the team concept and top kids. 10U is just too young based on the science of physical and cognitive development. I am not an apologist dad upset about losing. I have a kid that playing in this approach has helped to become one of the top 2010s on the continent. As a team, we lose a lot to top Teams in AAA programs in the US and Canada, it sucks, but it is teaching a lot to my kid- about hockey AND life. When we move to a stacked roster and team concept at 12U/14U he will be better prepared with individual skills and creativity and be of the right cognitive age to put it into a team concept and structure. Bottom line is stacking and coaching to win at 10U might fuel some egos, but it won’t help a kid play D1 and it might prevent another kid from playing D1 down the road. All that said, there is nothing wrong with exposure to a little mix. The best players can and probably should play with other top players and get exposed to some team concept stuff- but do that in the spring/summer with a couple tournament teams or camps- not for the regular season.

Are they loading a team or holding birth years together aka a top 2009 team and a top 2010 team at 10UA? The top 2009 team would logically seem stacked as they are bigger, older, and more experienced.

If UND stays #1 and DU #6, they will send us to Allentown not Albany or Loveland. They will not put #1 overall with the #6. That makes sense to no one except for NCHC haters

Ortega is playing in Europe. He was a very good player in the NCHC. 3 straight 20 goal seasons. One of those little guys with a knack for the net.

He was a perfect college shutdown dman

Funny- that comparison crossed my mind, but I was so young when Patrick was at UND, I didn’t have a first hand recollection of his play. Sounds like my speculation would’ve been accurate.

I see JBD having a very nice NHL career as a 2-5 dman. He reminds me of Paul Martin. Not flashy, but smooth, smart and effective. Very reliable in all situations. Won’t physically overpower guys, won’t go end to end or dominate a pp at that level, but he’ll give you 30-40 points and + hockey for years. Wish Paul had gotten a cup. Hope JBD does!!

Best dmen are quietly highly efficient and then throw in a few beauties from the point. That's JBD in a nutshell. Dicta Yzerman19 (for defensemen) 1. Read your gaps and your partner so as not to give up an odd-man situation. 2. Be able to elude a single forechecker and make a quick, decisive outlet pass to achieve transition. 3. Make your outlet pass to a forward in position to make a play with the puck in order to create flow. 4. Use your body, your brain, and your stick (all, one, or two, in any order) in order to win puck battles deep in your own zone. 5. Always be ready to be a safety valve for your partner or the forwards. 6. Get quick, low, and hard shots off and to the net in traffic and under pressure. So says Yzerman19

That’s why I’ve got JBD and Pooly in consideration. Stats don’t do them justice, but anyone who watches knows they are among the best dmen in the country

Gotta think Gooch and Kierstad are locks for first team all NCHC. Pinto is a lock for all rookie team Adams and Michaud solid chances for 2nd team along with JBD and Poolman. One of our goalies will be on an all NCHC team too. Guch and Pinto solid bets for POTY and ROTY

Not going to argue. I will say this though. What builds a winning squirt team is not what builds a winning Bantam or high school team. You can coach players into a system at a young age which results in wins, but avoiding the systems and building individual player skills is what comes out on top as the kids age. Tons of science behind this. The windows of trainability say that 10U is a golden age of skills and that should be primary focus- puck and feet skills. Lots of programs playing 100 feet at 10U and doing position agnostic hockey. Kids playing in this environment get shelled on 200 feet vs positionally sound teams that overload a dman or jump the wings on a breakout. Parents and coaches need to ask themselves what’s most important- winning now or helping your player reach their individual potential. I personally think a little mix is way to go. During the long season play small area and build skill. Spring- play the big ice team game.

Didn’t do it 94 and prior

Speculating that if we were to get swept by Omaha and lose to the Dawgs in st Paul, we could possibly end up the #2 overall, and UMD could get up to #4...

I agree that you have to play conditions, but skating and skill teams are impacted by bad ice more than grinder teams

No way is UND in northEast and BC in Midwest if both are #1s

But isn’t Cornell by proxy the host of Albany. I believe it’s host is officially the ECAC...seems To me that they’d put the ECAC #1 seed there for that reason. Like I said, current brackets will result in some controversy. Be a lot easier if the committee just moved a regional to the Ralph - LOL

So we’re closer to Loveland than Allentown by 500 miles. The question with both being flights is do they send us to Allentown with the number 7 seed PSU or to Loveland with the number 6 seed DU. Current seeding calls for some controversial moves within the brackets. A UND vs DU final will make that region a success. I’d also venture that a UND vs PSU final would also result in a successful region. the UMass Clarkson half bracket would certainly move to Albany. i think you do your best to protect the overall #1 in terms of bracket integrity (even if only 1 spot), so I’ve got: Allentown: UND vs Atlantic Winner PSU vs BSU Loveland: mankato vs maine DU vs OSU Worcester: BC vs Quinnipiac UMD vs ASU Albany: Cornell vs Lowell UMAss vs Clarkson A side benefit is you have 4 conferences represented in 3 of the 4 regionals.

If you knock him down for sure. If you are jockeying with your Check in the low slot in OT? Better be blatant and prevent him from scoring.

A slash can be called stick on stick, there is a judgment line there...break a guys stick, penalty. Knock a stick out of a guys hands, penalty....if he has two hands on it and you two hand whack top down. A love tap like ya mean it, or an upward or sideways one hander...stick check.

Being the WMU forward in that situation You are also driving the net hard, hoping to distract, disrupt and get a rebound. Puck went on net a second too late for him.

It’s called a stick check. It’s called hockey.

Playoffs will also factor into PWR

That’s an accurate view. As I said, the attacking player has to make an effort to avoid the contact. It’s not “oh I was bumped and now I can fly into the goalie”

Gooch made contact, but did not directly force the WMU into Scheel. The onus is on the attacking player to avoid the tendy, and rightly so. Otherwise you’d see a ton of guys suddenly weak on their skates in that situation.