Former NHLer Andrew Alberts Explains the Best Offseason Plan for Youth Hockey Players

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello, hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome back to another edition of Our Kids Play Hockey. I'm Leah Lias, and my co-hosts aren't here. They're all on assignment. Mike's on the ice. Christy's reading the news, but don't worry, we have a guest today that you'll love to hear from again on his second appearance on the show. It's early June when you're hearing this. The season just pretty much wrapped up, unless you're playing spring or summer hockey. But here's the deal tryouts are behind most of you. Uh, some are ahead for others. And right now the hockey world splits into two camps. Are we gonna grind all summer? We're gonna take a break. So today we're bringing back a voice who's lived it as a nine-year NHL vet, a Boston College standout, the current hockey development director at NHL Sense Arena, a name all of you know well. Andrew Alberts is here today. I'll be welcome back to our kids play hockey.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Thanks for having me back, and what a loaded question to start with, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

I well, that's that we only do the hard-hitting questions, which makes it funny that Christy's not here. I'm the journalist today.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

It's just you and me. Yeah, it's it's it's it's a rat pack race of trying to figure out what is everybody else doing, what am I doing, what's my kid doing, what should I do, what shouldn't I do? Um, and and the the hardest thing is for parents, it's it's changed a lot over the years. So if I go back, I look at what I did, it was throw the hockey bag in the basement and it doesn't come out till the end of August. And right, um, you know, as things evolve and things change, and uh the pressure for kids to compete and excel and drive to get better is uh is almost too much at this point, I think. Obviously, uh, I think that's why we're here to talk about this. Um, because my main message is like kids have to be kids too, right? Right. So um hockey's important, but uh there's other things to life as much as parents don't want to hear that, and the off season is for kids to be kids, right? Like that's that's the main point. So uh to answer the question, I think a lot of it uh tends to depend on their age group, right? So if I take my son, uh he's 12 now, right? And so he's just entering that age of training to train for hockey and learning how to train properly and how to get stronger and how to work on stick handling his head up and how to work on uh explosive movements um in a in a in a phase that has a plan in a training plan throughout a summer, if you will, if you want to call it a training plan. And that plan involves swimming and playing golf and playing lacrosse and other things, right? So um, so to answer your question simply, um I I like to put the hockey bags away. Um my kids, all three of them play. I've got uh a 12, a 10, and an eight, and they haven't even thought about hockey since the last game, which is great because they pick up the Glaucostics the week after, right? And that's what they're into now. Um, not one of them's asked to get on the ice, but we still hop on the sport court in the backyard and we play three on three at night or two on two and play keep away and uh and have fun with it. But um, I want to give them a mental break from the game, right? And be excited about other sports, which they are, and so um that kind of goes into what other sports provide for young kids, right? And and we can jump into that now, or we can we can dig into this a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Yeah, no, look, here's here's what I'll say first. I think the biggest thing you said already is about them being kids, and you got to meet these kids where they're at, and what we're gonna uncover in this episode, parents, and you you said that jumble amount of questions at the beginning. Like, I I I know there's people listening, like, yeah, yeah, that is all the questions I'm asking. And what I'll tell you all at the start is this is that I wish we could say, here's the definitive thing that you need to do for your kid in the offseason. You're not going to get that from this episode. What you may get is questions you should be asking in the house, things that you should be looking to do, and hopefully some other aspects of off-season stuff that maybe you haven't thought of, right? Uh you know, Albi, to your point, one of the most refreshing things, because I don't, my kids don't play in the spring um either. When the bags are away, they're away. Uh outside the occasional thing that we may do, sure. Um, the most refreshing thing I hear every year, and it usually comes around July, is hey, when are we getting back on the ice again? I want to get back on the ice again. I'm telling you, parents, that is one of the most wonderful things you can hear. As coaches, it's one of the most wonderful things you can hear. All right. The thing that scares me is in July when I hear, Dad, can I get a break? Like, I've been playing all year, like that is equally as dangerous as the other one is positive, right? So why don't we start here? I'll be like, like again, and my goal with this episode is to provide the audience with the questions they should be asking for their families. Because again, if you're 10U, 14U, 18U, these are dramatically different conversations of if you're prepping for college versus it's your second or third year in the game. Um, so why don't we start here? Maybe what should we not be doing in the offseason? And let's go from like 10 to 14. We can do this by age, but what should they not be doing right now?

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Still a load of question.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Um, they all are.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Let me let me try to broad stroke it by saying, like, you should not be having too much structure. It is as odd as that may sound, but it's like if your kid wants to get on the ice, like like awesome, like they want to go skate, they want a good time, but like like make it fun, right? Go do a three on three with your buddies if you want to play a three and three league once a week, like like that's the type of right structure you'd want. You don't want them to be running through constant drills, having a coach yelling at them on the ice. Um, because I look back at it it in this is a bigger I don't mean to like dive into another bigger question, but like like the creativity and the fun aspect of hockey of us when we grew up, it was like, well, let's go grab the neighbors and go play in the cul-de-sac or the drive, play play ball hockey, right? Like, right, like that's what you want to be doing in the spring or summer, right? Have fun with it, be creative, try new things. Uh, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Like, that's that's that's how you grow and you evolve and you learn, right? And so I think too much instruction in the early summer is is not what kids need. And what they need is just to play, right? Just play and have fun if they're gonna be on the ice, and even if off the ice, like I mentioned, we we play in the backyard, um, and we we have a great time trying new things, flipping the puck over sticks, spin a ramas, and and you know, we laugh about it because I'm I'm so competitive with my kids, but um, you know, Jackson, my son, learns new things from me too, and I try to teach him new things, so um, yeah, too much instruction is not what you want at this point.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

I I I like to say that nothing teaches your kid hockey faster than a sibling or another kid, another kid down the street, like you're saying, uh, because just due to the competitive nature of being a kid, right? And I think about it, like you said, all the things I learned as a kid on the street with there was no coach, there was no parents back then. It was just we were just outside trying things, um, everything from from hard skills, but also soft skills, like just like, hey, let's see who can get the ball of the puck on top of the net, right? And it's like that's what I learned to do that, right? And we're not gonna work on that at a practice, right? So I think that's a really good point. I I also think we we should tap into this unstructured play because here's something I hear a lot, Alby. We'll talk to parents. Oh, they're playing Spring League. Uh, it but it's it's just real light. It's no practices, it's just games, it's real light. Then I show up to the rink and I see that same parent in the stand screaming at their kid exactly what they need to be doing. Shoot it, pass it. Like, no, no, no. If it's if it's unstructured, then you gotta you gotta let them play and you gotta let not talk to them. There's probably probably a coach on the bench that's probably a super volunteer at that point. Just let them go out there. Well, they're being selfish, so go an end to end, let them do it because they will figure it out. Their teammates will let them know at some point, too. Let them figure it out in the summer, don't jump down their throat and try and overcoach, just to your point.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah, can you imagine how refreshing it'd be if you were a 12-year-old sit on the bench and you didn't have to hear from your coach at all? Right, they're like, Oh, go, good play, like good mistake, buddy. Keep going, like give them a break, right? Like, let them go play.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

So, yeah, and and again, I I would make an argument too that during the season there has to be uh some unstructured stuff too. Like obviously, there needs to be structure to practices. Sure, we always say kids crave discipline, like there has to be a plan, but I think it's okay too just to let them fail. And I often tell the kids I coach, I tell the high-level players I coach the whole game is based on capitalizing on the mistakes of your opponent. Like our tactics are built to create mistakes. So if you're if you're not allowing that to happen, you are not gonna allow them to build confidence. And the amount of kids and again, high-level athletes I coach that are afraid to make a mistake, it's the biggest thing that holds them back, all right. And I could make a huge life lesson, you know, thing here, too, about how the real world works, right? But it's the greatest opportunity for your kids to go out there and just try things. And I think that to the first point, just in hockey, the summer is a great time to do that. Now, with that said, um, you mentioned it also playing other sports. There is not one report out there, not one, that does not say playing multiple sports is a key to becoming a great athlete. I have seen nothing come across my deck desk that says if you specialize only in hockey for 10 years, you're guaranteed to make it to the pros. Not a thing. All right, you got to be a great, well-rounded athlete. So, Albi, before I dive into like your NHL career, you said it again. Tell me some of those things you did in the summer. You said you played other sports as well. Maybe we should bring it back to the when we grew up and the things that we did.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Yeah, yeah. Um, it well, again, it goes to hide in the hockey bag, right? Like if you're a parent, just lock it in the closet, throw in the basement. Um, but but it goes to, you know, I I grew up playing baseball and playing golf. Uh, it all happened to be, you know, swing sports, just because it seemed it it resonated with me, but like like the benefits of other sports of of learning to work with teammates, right? Structure um, uh different um injury prevention just by using other muscles and being agile and being athletic, uh, building other cognitive skills, other physical hand-eye coordination skills. So it's like it's it's it's all gonna help bolster your game in the future and your development. Um, and it all does resonate. The sports all resonate with each other. It's like it's like tennis and hockey like are so similar, but they're so different. It's an individual versus a team sport, but individual-wise, in tennis, it's both anticipation and planning and pre-scanning ahead and looking uh see what's my next move, how am I gonna outthink my opponent? So um every little sport translates. Um, you know, for my kids, it's it's lacrosse. You know, they get into lacrosse in the spring and they love playing lacrosse through the summer. I'm like, all right, this is great. And they move into golf or field hockey in the fall. So um I think being able to adapt to other athletic environments is a huge bonus for any individual. It's just gonna help you out. And uh it's funny, like being a coach now, and I look at the kids that have early success, not that it's gonna paint the way, pave the way for the future, but like early success, it's they all play other sports, right? And they're very athletic and they're very competitive. Um, and so that's one of the key factors, I think, and just being an overall well-developed athlete, both mentally and physically.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah, and and I'll add on to that too, what you said is that the pull aways from the other sports, the other skill sets that you get from these other sports are invaluable. Another common mistake I like to call out, too, is uh look, I'm a hockey person, right? So it's easy for me, and I have to be careful with this to look at uh baseball or softball with my kids and say, this is how this sport will help you with hockey. And I I fight the the urge to say that because here's the truth they may like this other sport more than hockey, and I don't want them to think that everything you do leads just back to hockey. So when my daughter's playing softball, I don't even mention hockey. And I may be thinking it again, or or like my son's a goaltender. There's obvious parallels between catching a baseball and and obviously catching a puck, but I don't want him to think you're only playing baseball to get better, a better glove hand, right? So, so again, if you're a hockey nut like we are, you just parents just you know beware of that. If they're playing another sport, let them play that other sport. Another point, too, I'll be is again, it's an athletic show. We're talking about athletics. It's also okay, and I do think kids have to be active, but there's also other interests. What about music? Like, what about you know, some kids like to do theater? I mean, whatever it is, there are other, we'll just say, extracurricular activities that are okay to dive into. And I'll tell you what, I think they transition too. So, for example, uh, my son's very into music, right? Uh, piano, uh, violin, guitar. Um, and I can see that the discipline he's learning in practicing, and also the awareness of, oh, I'm practicing and I'm getting better, which parents don't underestimate the the kid understanding that. They don't get that right away. All kids want everything right away, right? Yeah, I can see that transitioning to his goaltending game of oh, there's the discipline it takes to learn the music is is teaching me the discipline it needs to become a better athlete. So it's not just limited to athletics, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:42

No, and and that comment that you just mentioned uh of the process of learning to understand that practice is making me better and better, for them to realize that um as they're going through the process is such a huge bonus for young kids. And it's everybody's a little bit different on how they they they come to that realization. But I think the sooner they do, it's gonna happen, it's gonna help them not even only in hockey, but right in in real life. And so I'm currently at that struggle with my kid and like he's like, I'm gonna go shoot bucks. I'm like, like, uh awesome, but is there anything else you can kind of like work on, you know? Um and so uh, but no, it's great for them to see success as they they put in the work, right? Right, we used to call you know, put in the bank, you know, uh put in the work now and it's gonna pay off later, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

So no, I don't lose the point. It's a great point. And and I I love that you shared with the audience the struggles because we all we all have those struggles as parents, right? Yeah, but but I will say that when it clicks, it really does click. Like I remember my my son's son specifically, like kind of realizing, oh, if I if I do this work, I probably will get this outcome. Yes. Uh, and and again, we have to revisit that every once in a while. It's not just because he gets it in one thing means he's gonna get it forever. But I'll tell you what, one it's a lot easier to say, hey, do you remember when you did the work on this one thing and you got the result? Like, you just have to do it again here. I think also for a life lesson, uh, and and this is this is one of those harder ones, but great ones of you're not always gonna love the work, you're not always gonna want to do the work, but it has to be done. And the big separator is there's people willing to do the work. One of the things that I'll speak for myself that really, really motivated me when I was younger, especially the late teens when I was, you know, trying to make it somewhere, was this thought in my head of hey, someone out there's working harder than me. Yeah, and and man, that used to just I worked hard, I worked hard. I just always had that someone out there is working harder than me, right? And and I never allowed myself, not saying this is wrong, but I never allowed myself to think I'm the hardest worker in the room. Even if I was, there's someone out there working harder than me. Um, and I tell my kids that if they have a goal that they want, you're gonna have to put the work in. If you don't want to put the work in, that's actually okay as well, but you can't have this result in your mind, right? You have to be realistic about these two things, and and kids, kids have a a way of figuring that out. And and again, you can tell them so you're nauseous, but they have to figure it out at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Um, I said that's a huge point, and uh it it it doesn't extend just to you know the youth there, but also uh it you you triggered a memory of mine is is as a rookie in Boston, uh we had a veteran team coming out of the lockout in 04. Um, and so the Bruins had all this extra money to spend on free agents, so they brought in Sam Not and Fitzgerald and Brian Leach and some older players. And I remember uh Fitzy would take the young guys out the lunch quite a bit. Uh, and he I remember him saying it is it's harder to stay here than to get here, right? And that's that mentality of hey, somebody's always coming for your job, somebody's always trying to work harder than you. Um, and so being able to carry that mindset through, like almost like you never really earn your way or you never belong until you made it, but like you haven't made it every day. You got to make it and prove yourself. So um, thanks for bringing back the memory.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

No, hey, thanks for sharing it. You know, you know, I it's funny you bring that up. I obviously when we're recording this in in uh 2026, uh look, I'm in Philadelphia, so I hear a lot of the Philadelphia Flyers stuff, and one of the things I keep hearing about uh from the GM Danny Brier, who's a well-known NHL uh player from his time, was we've got to teach the guys how to be pros. And I always love that statement because as you as you're kind of alluding to, you think, oh, you get to the NHL, you're a pro. Well, no, you got there, but you got to learn how to deal with this every day. And not only that, LB, but like an environment where someone's coming for your job and you still have to do what's best for the team all the time. It's almost in a weird way a paradox, unless you're there and you understand that you got to do anything you can for the association of the team or whoever you're coaching for. So I think that we don't have to dive in, that's a whole nother episode, but we'll have you back on. But but the point I'm trying to make is that the work is never finished, right? We're talking about off-season training, but even if you do all this stuff and you get there, there's more work to be done. So there is no ending, right? And I can make the argument too, now that we're you know we're both past playing age, you find this later in life too, that that it's there's no ending, right? There's one ending, yes, right? And we're all fighting not to get there. So um, I want to ask you this too, and I'm glad you brought up uh your time in the show, because I think we should talk about like what is an NHL off season look like? Because we can use that as context, right? I'm quick disclaimer I'm not saying your 12-year-old should be doing what Alby's about to say, but what what you played you played a long time in the NHL. What did your off seasons look like from ice time to the gym? Were there other sports? Did you did you go away from the game? What's it look like for you?

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yeah, um, I want to I want to preface this by saying uh it was a long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Not that long, okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

With with uh with the advances in technology and training and rest and rehab and nutrition, like there's so many more aspects of the off-season training that guys go through. Um, just talking with uh a couple guys a few years ago, and I'm like, what does your typical day look like? Just because I was curious and how different it was for mine, and I was like, I was like, geez, like I should have really lived that up a little bit more when I was back you know back training. But uh for for me, like it when I when I look back and whatever we ended up, so say uh we'll we'll take uh mid after April. So say we didn't make the playoffs, you have you have much more time than if we went to the finals, right? And then you only have two months to prepare. But typically, um, I I'd take you know 10 10 days to two weeks off because you're you've been in this this cycle of constantly training, working for years. And so anytime like you get more than two or three days off, you start to get the itch, you want to do something. You almost have to like pull yourself back and say, hey, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna take two weeks off, get the mental, physical rest. Um, and also rehab, it's injury. Injuries are a big part of it. Um, you know, I have to let you've got a a torn labrum or something or whatever surgeries or whatever might be. Uh rehab is a part of that, the resting period. But uh if I can get back at it in two weeks, I get back at it in two weeks. Um, and then it begins your your your muscle building phase, right? Um, and again, things have changed a lot with what the way guys work out now. And I was kind of at that stretch of development, continued development, if you will, and in strength building, where it was a lot less of the heavyweights uh and more of uh you know the plyometrics and the weighted squat jumps and the explosive stuff. And so again, that first phase of training moved into you know building muscle, which then pushed into the strength and power and explosive phase of working out and and uh again, ply metrics, jumps, um, a lot of out-of-the-box training, if you will, slide board, that sort of thing. And then as we get into like mid-July, I'd start hitting the ice uh to complement that explosive power um phase, where now we're we're taking what we've built and we're translating that into on ice performance. Um, because you can you can lift all the the weights you want in the gym and get strong. But if you can't make that translate to uh uh on ice explosiveness and skating and and uh proper positioning, it's not gonna benefit you in any way. So um, and that was about average. I think most most guys took a month or two off from the ice, um, where now I think it's a little bit different. Guys stay on the ice a little bit longer. But I needed that break from the rink. Like I never I I don't want to see the rink till July, and that's kind of the mindset I had. Um, and then in the meantime, it was um, you know, it's workouts, it's stick handling, shooting, um, it's stretching, uh, it's rehab stuff, it's whatever you need to do to get your body feeling good because you want to feel Good in the in the summer. And obviously, you don't you don't want to get hurt. You never want to get hurt in the weight room. So that was a big part of it. And then for me, relaxation. Um, I lived out in Lake Minnetonka, and so my afternoons, I'd spend out on the boat just relaxing, um, typically, or playing around to golf, that sort of thing. So, so the the time away from the weight room and from the rink uh throughout the summer is always a big part of um you know your summer training as a whole, just to mentally reset. And as that summer keeps going, you start uh spending more time in the weight room, more time on the ice, really ramping up for that pre-season to start.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

You know, it's it's funny. A few things you brought up. I've been writing notes is that one you talked about that recovery period, both mentally and physically. Uh kids, if parents, if you don't think your kids are feeling it after a season, you're crazy. Now they they heal faster and they don't show it, but I can tell you, looking back at my youth career, I needed a break even after the youth season, even if I wasn't playing check, I needed a break. Sure. All right, let the body recover. It is a long season. I would all I would make the argument it's too long, right? And if you don't let your kids heal, that's when these long-term or or later injuries and look, I've had a shoulder replacement, right? Like I probably should have been resting my shoulder at times in my life um that I didn't do that, you know. So that's the first thing. The other thing, too, is you know, Alba, you you bring up this great point. We we can kind of go through 50 years very quickly of what off-season training looked like. But I could tell you uh 50 years ago, off-yes training was cigarettes and not doing anything, all right. And there's video evidence to support what I'm saying, like these guys smoked, right? Then you go back to maybe let's say 30 years ago, where we'll call it the Neanderthal time period, that's when you and I grew up, where a 6'5-220 was the standard NHL player, and those guys lifted, right? They were heavy lifters and they got real big and real strong. And then, as you said, you know, when when we were getting to playing age at high-level playing age, plyometrics were introduced, and all of these things came out of nowhere of hey, you don't need to be lifting like this, you need explosive power. Yes, right now that that would be 15-20 years ago, and then today it's even evolved again with band workouts, and then believe it or not, AI coming into the game. Uh, the information that AI can tell an athlete or a coach about their body, where they are, where they need to be, and what they want is kind of scary at times, right? I I know a coach that a high-level team had a lot of kids come out, a lot. And I said, How do you decipher between the top 50? He goes, We use AI, we we use AI to track things, and you know, I remember there's eye rolls. I was like, No, I I get it. Why of course you would it the i the AI can read these kids from at least a statistical data standpoint better than they, of course, you know, parents play into it and attitudes play into it, but when they when they get down to the top 50, you know, everyone's pretty close, yeah. Uh, so it's an always changing game, right? And I think that when it comes to the off off-season, I'm glad you shared what you did, but I think it's two things. It's you got to find what's kind of new and out there, and you have to do your research. Uh, and just to round this out, uh, smoking is never a recommended off-season, off-season thing. It's it turns out not good for your lungs. Uh, there's there's some data to report on that, but yeah, it it's it's funny, man, how how NHL bodies change and and hockey players change. And again, one last note on that. Like, again, I remember if you go back to 1997, hulking beasts, these guys are on the ice, they're gigantic. And then you look today, you know, if you if you put an NHL player today next to let's just say Eric Lindross, yeah, completely different body, like completely, it would shock you how how how like kind of slender and like almost look like swimmers nowadays, you know. That's comes to my mind, right? Anyway, sorry, that was a lot of information. I'll let you comment on that if you want.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

No, no, I I think uh it's a great point. Um, and it's just the the evolution of the game, the the speed of the game, the skill of the game. Like, like if you're if you're I don't know, take McJesus for a reason or for for example, like he's 6'1, 6'2, he's probably buck 85, buck 90, right? Like he's lean, he's but like if he's 220, he can't move like that, right? Not at all, yeah. So I think uh players have sacrificed uh some aspect of strength, maybe upper body strength, if you will, um, for speed, agility, and power, right? Like supposed to this. Um, and so uh I think it's made our game better. And then when I relate that to younger kids, I think of all right, well, well, let's let's train. If you want to train, if you want to take that age drift, that 10 to 14 that we've been talking about, like, well, let's be smart about it, right? Like, like, do they need weights? Like, like how about we just do some sprints, uphill sprints, downhill sprints, uh plymatrics jumps, one-legged jumps, hockey's a one-legged game, you know, like build up some one-legged power, like simple as that can really propel a young player with a little bit of strength in the offseason. It doesn't have to be crazy, but it can be something that they can do for 20 minutes, three days a week, and it's not gonna grind them down, it's not gonna be physically too physically demanding to hurt them in any way. Um, but it's just something that can bolster the game if if they want to take the next step, next steps into training. And can that be pushing the parents? Yes, but a lot of times it has to be the player too. Um, hey, do you want to get better? Like, well, here are some options to get better. You know, what do you let's let's have a conversation about it?

SPEAKER_00 27:31

100%. And and I think that again, going back to what we said at the beginning about meeting these kids where they're at, they gotta want to do it. Uh to some level, to some level. I'm not saying they gotta be jumping out of bed saying, let's go do sprints, okay? But but there has to be a commitment of hey, I do want to get better, can you help me? That's kind of what you want to hear, right? The other thing, too, is and this is uh a buyer beware of the parents. Um, just rounding out the segment a little bit. Parents, you gotta be careful that when you're helping your kid, you're not reverting to the methods that you used when you were a kid. So, again, using my own example, uh, if I did that, I'd be like, let's get in the gym and lift. Yeah, it's like that's not what you want to do nowadays, right? So you gotta do some basic research. And you know, LB to your point with with McDavid, like the difference between hockey today and hockey in uh you know, we'll say 2000s, is uh there's not someone headhunting going to run them through a wall like they used to, right? Like, that's one of the reasons that we we wanted bigger bodies back then was protection, you know. The game has changed. Um, so something to look out for, right? You know, another thing too, I want to dive into is skill. One thing I want to add there, sorry. No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Actually, two things I want to bring up just for parents. Um, and these these are key because um, one give the opportunity to your son or daughter to present a goal, like say, yeah, and give them time to say, Hey, Jackson for my son, hey, can you give me the goals that you want to have for this next year? Right, and I think it's fine to have 10-year-olds have a goal, right? Like everybody has goal.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

100% agree.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Yeah, so so have them write that down, put it on the fridge, it's somewhere they can see it every day, right? So you have your goal. Parent is to is to look at that and say, all right, well, what type of process or or plan, if you will, I don't want to call it a training plan, or plan we could implement that's gonna get you to your goal and you support them in what they need, whether that's mental, physical, nutrition, um, because it gives them the small ideas of the steps you need to take to have success, right? And so if we can give, you know, a little bit of information goes a long way uh with young kids, there are sponges. And so just about seeking out the right, I guess, the right assets to provide to them. And maybe that's listening more of your podcast or looking up certain things that are gonna give the correct insights on how to help develop your child as a player, as a human being, as for any sport, right? And so uh I just wanted to point out those two things.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

No, you know, here's what's cool about what you just said the the simplicity of it is very real, right? I I heard Tom Cruise of all people talking about this recently, and they said, like, how do you accomplish your dreams? That's basically what they asked him. And he said this he goes, it's very simple. He goes, You write out what your goal is, and then you just write out the things you need to do to accomplish that goal. And the person like, is it that easy? That that is it is that easy now. Doing it, doing the things you need to do is the hard part, all right. But but just that step of what is the goal, okay. Dad, I want to play in the NHL. I'll say it again never tell a kid they can't follow their dreams. Okay, you don't you don't have to agree with their dream, but you have to agree with their right to have a dream, all right? All right, kid, you want to play in the NHL. What are the things you need to do to do that? And then parents, let them answer that question on their own. Again, cultivate, you can help them, you can lead them a little bit, don't give them the answer because then you have it's not ownership for them, it's ownership for you. Yes, let the kids have the ownership, all right. And here's the thing, they might sit there and go, that's a lot, and you go, Yeah, yeah, it is. And there's no and I here's the other thing I always add on is uh, and I'm okay telling my kids this there's no guarantees you'll accomplish this goal, but if you try and do it the the attempt and you work hard, you're gonna get a lot further than the people who don't try. Absolutely, all right, and that's why you have to try because that's a big separator in life. I was trying to bring it back to that. So I love that you brought that up, man. Um, and maybe that's what we'll make our ride to the rink about this week for the kids of the simplicity of that doing that, and then you can you can break it down into smaller segments, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Like, hey, this is an eight-year plan, like you're you're 10, right? This is an eight-year plan to get to wherever you want to go, or to college, or a high school hockey, whatever your goal is. It's help your child break it down. But um, again, as you mentioned, they have to own it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Ownership is everything, and you know, a great quote I heard recently. Um, that thank you for putting me in a position to share it is commitment comes before confidence. And I love that quote because it's so true. You know, another version of that is no one who was ever courageous felt courage when they were being courageous, right? It's only after the fact that you go, Well, that was very courageous. You're scared as hell when you're doing it, right? Or you're very unsure of yourself when you're doing it, yeah. All right, like you know, that but commitment comes before confidence, writing out your goals, and this is an off-season thing, writing out your goals and and having ownership, that's the commitment. And when your kid starts doing it, they will absolutely build the confidence, all right. And confidence is not guaranteed, it comes and goes, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:39

But that commitment is what keeps you there, and so and you know what's key about that is if you you make them write it down, and I'll use your words again, they own it, yeah, and then you put it somewhere where they see it every single day, right? It's just gonna resonate and resonate, and then it's you don't have to remind them, right? Right, it their goal is reminding them, right? Right, like how many times have I told my kid to put his shoes on every morning, like to get going for school? Like, I should just write a note, right? This is your goal, put your shoes on, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Put a jacket on. It's cold outside. I don't want a jacket, it's 12 degrees. You need a jacket. Why is this a fight? When you're my age, you're gonna want the jacket. Yeah, I I might have had a little PTSD. Um, you know what's funny is uh one of our other co-hosts on our girls play hockey album is Haley Skimora, and very, very goal uh oriented person uh who also believes in manifestation. And we talked a lot. You can go back to these episodes of before the Olympics, she had a sign when she woke up, multiple places in her home. I am a gold medalist. This is before the Olympics. Right now, yeah, yeah. Well, and right now it says, I am a Walter Cup champion, which as we're recording this, she's heading into the Walter Cup final right now, right? So this stuff matters, pros do it, right? And then it's it's a process you'll repeat throughout your life. When we started this podcast five years ago, we had a goal, we've reached that goal, we've created new goals, right? And again, statistics and parents, you can look this up, just Google it. The percentage you have of achieving your goals when you write them out is dramatically higher, dramatically, like I think it's like 80, 85, just writing it out. So that's an off-season thing, too. I I want to I want to curve into this a little bit too because I think um another aspect of off-season uh we'll say training, and I actually think this is important, is that I think sometimes when you do want to train for hockey in the offseason, you get the schmorgis board of okay, skating, puck handling, all it's it's a lot, right? And while you do need to work on the the hard skills of hockey, one of the things about pro athletes, Alb, that always surprises me is they'll dedicate themselves to like really kind of one or two main things. Again, the example that always comes out to me, and I say this a lot on the show, is Sidney Crosby with faceoffs his first year. Notoriously wasn't good, then became one of the best face-off guys. He spent a whole offseason. Then he wanted his backhand to be better, probably has the best backhand in the league, right? But he he he spent a very focused time on that in the summer. I'm sure you have aspects like that too. So, can we talk for a minute about maybe it's not about 55 different skills, it's kids maybe figure out two or three things in your game you want to improve on, and then like you said, write it out. Okay, I want to get better at my tow drag release or my snapshot, whatever it is, and then and then finding a way to do that.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Yeah, it's it's I've had this internal battle in my head with this training concept of what to train every spring, right? So it's like, and I think the NHL has changed, uh, and again, not to date myself, but so what like my off seasons, like I knew what my strengths were, right? Like um, for those who aren't familiar with my game, I was a more or less stay-at-home defenseman. I played physical, um, took care of my D zone, a PK player. Um, and I was able for being a big guy that was physical, I could skate, right? And that was kind of what got me into college, into the pros. And so for me in my offseason, um, leg strength, um, leg power, explosiveness, um, quick stops and starts, um, closing on defenders, that that sort of thing is what allowed me to keep progressing and succeeding through my career, right? Um, and so that was my main focus. And so that's what I like, I focused on that. And then it becomes all right, overall strength um is a big part of my game, being physical, being uh durable, if you will, uh throughout an 82 game season. Um, and then the second tip phase is all right, well, it it's obviously the cognitive game is a big part of that, right? Um, so I watched a lot of hockey. Um, I didn't have, I guess, the tools available to that are available to kids now, speaking of accessory and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

We're gonna talk about that in a second.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Um and so my approach then was like, all right, well, then I can I can still add skill development to shooting, passing, um, stick handling, that sort of thing. But it wasn't like something I I'd focused a lot on um just because of my role as as it diminished, I guess, through my career, as I finally became like a you know a five-six defenseman and then a six-seven um after starting out strong and going through some concussion stuff. So um I knew what my role was in the strengths I had that I like would have kept me there, if you will. Where now I think young players they need to be well rounded. Yeah, and and I think back in my day you were more pegged for a certain role, and that's what you did. And now I look at defensemen on teams, and it's like you know, the the Quinn Hughes and like the Favors, like those are those are different aliens, like they're they're unbelievable, right? But they do everything, and then you look at the second pairings and the third pairings, and and everybody's starting to produce and provide more value to their team. So I don't really think you can focus on just one or two things nowadays. I think you really need to be a well-rounded player at every aspect of the game, whether you're a defenseman or a forward. And so, long-winded answer here. But you look at Crosby and and he's so skilled in every single way, and and I don't want to take anything away from him because he's worked his tail end off on every single aspect of that. Yeah, and those guys, there might be you know, the three that come to mind are him, McKinnon, and McDavid, and like maybe Celbrini, but like that's about it, right? So, everybody else, you've you're trying to you know polish your game in every area you can to get better, and so um, for me, it was it was one or two, three, three focuses, and now I think you really need to you know understand what value you provide, and you need to polish that, but also bring up the tail end of your other uh whatever you're you know you're inefficient in.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

See, I love where you're going with this because when we coach, we often talk now about positionless hockey at the highest levels, where I think the number one question we get on the bench of of younger youth athletes is can I play center? Can I play this? And it's so hard to tell them, like, guys, it doesn't matter what you're playing. You need to learn all those positions if you really want to be a good hockey player. I do understand the allure of the face-off at nine years old. I do okay, but we want to move these players around. So when I when I meet a parent, it goes, my nine-year-old's a defenseman. We know they're great at defense, and I go, that's just like yeah, that's where it lines up. That's where he lines up. Yeah, but it's it's like that's great. That's great. They need to play wing now, right? It's it's one of those things of like we talk about like hyper focus on something. And I love that you talked about the generational players there that we just spoke about because you're right, there's only one, only one Crosby. It's not gonna be another one. Um, and that's important to well-rounded your game. Now, I do want to talk about the cognitive side of the game because in the time period we live in, there is absolutely no lack of off-ice training tools to work on honestly any aspect of the physical game. And coaches across the board, albeit we say it, like hockey IQ may be at an all-time low in terms of not just ability to read the play, but to kind of understand the tactical side of the game. Uh, simple things like over the blue line, you don't want to go on a one-on-three, not a good play. You want to see the other options, or probably more importantly, without the puck, what are we doing? Right? Because the amount of times I see players without the puck watching the player with the puck, um, that's not the game. And I I am gonna mix in Sensorina here. Um, and again, the audience is well well versed on Sensorina. You hear it before every episode. But one of the things that I love about a gang is the cognitive side of teaching, and there's a yes, there's a lot of fun stuff in there too for skill development. But there are uh uh drills in here where you've got to make the right decision with the puck or without the puck. There's not much I see in actually the real world outside playing and maybe some drills at practice that offer that. So I'll be, I was wondering if you could dive into a the thought process behind how those drills are created, and if you want to talk about some of the drills specifically, do that because I think that for off-ice training in the summer, literally off-ice, this is probably the most advanced resource uh that exists.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

Yeah, I I think I I appreciate you some of that because um in your spot on, it's like you you and I think I mentioned it earlier, it's like we've we've gone so far to really dive into the off-season plymetrics and weightlifting and nutrition and rest. And and we have this everybody's brain is just a big sponge trying to soak in as much information, but we really haven't flooded it with uh the tool or the information needed when there we weren't enough tools out there, right? Um and so I think you know I'm I'm partial, but I think censoring is a great opportunity for that. And and just to like address the elf in the room is that some people think it's well, it's just plays with the puck, right? Well, I think there are there are many drills plays with the puck, but also there's drills that start without the puck, right? And you need to get open with to to accept the puck and move to a position uh to receive the puck. Um, and and this brings me to something we're developing for the fall, which I'm really excited about. It's playing without the puck, which is hopefully we blow everybody's mind at this when I when it comes out. But um, that is a key aspect of of off-season development. And the one thing that kills me is is you all these kids and and don't get me wrong, I love it. Shooting is fun, right? Going bar down is awesome, playing post is a great game, but but how many shots do kids really take in a game, right? Three to five, if you're lucky, and then you think, all right, well, how do I how many passes do they make? You know, hopefully 10 to 20, right? If not more. And then, all right, well, let's how much time is that puck on your stick? If you're a good player, maybe 15, 20 seconds, right? So all this other time, we don't have the puck. We don't, you know, we're skating around the ice, we're making constant reads, we're taking in information, we're analyzing space, time, movement, anticipation. There's all these other uh skills that we need to use to move into the play, move out of the play, timing of a play. And so, like, how do we take all that and put it into something that we can learn from? And so that's what we're trying to do with our our our new uh mode that we're gonna develop, where it's learning to play without the puck and learning to support the puck, learning to steer a play so that you can cause a trauma. Um, so different concepts that uh that you're doing it and skating around in the game, again, 99% of the time without the puck is such a big part of the game, but yet we don't do much to to uh uh you know encourage growth in that area. And and I think it's just become it's come to the forefront now where that's the new frontier. The new frontier, I shouldn't say new frontier, but sad. Athlete, that's where it is. And there are still kids shooting 500 pucks a day, which is great. We want goal scorers. But if you really want to build your game, it it's it's between the ears. It's that's that's where you look at the best players in the game. It's between the ears, right? And everybody can build up their physical aspects of the game and physical talents, but but up here is where you make the difference between a good player and a great player.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Yeah, and you know, it's funny the way we describe this, there's kind of this arms race going on in development, but it's all skill-based, like power skitting coach, hitting coach, you know, all these all these different off-ice things. I've got the best setup in my basement. Um, and the truth is, again, as you said, when you get to the higher levels, everyone's good. Everyone's good. I can tell you this right now, as someone who has to select players for a national team, um, I shock players sometimes when I say things like, and it it shocks me that they're shocked. Like, hey, you do a really great job of creating time and space for your teammates without the puck. And no one's ever told them that before. And it blows my mind. They didn't even realize that was a skill set. I've had I actually had someone say, Well, what do you mean by that? And I said, When you don't have the puck, you draw other players to you and you create space for your teammate to skate. And I said, That's invaluable, right? Now, if you're at home understanding what I'm saying, the question should be, hey, how do I how do I work on that? Well, we're we're kind of telling you, like, this is what Censorina provides that I can't provide for you in most other places. And like, look, yeah, at the roller hockey game outside, there's aspects of this, but you got to know. I remember recently just bringing us down to the younger level um during the season. I was coaching uh an elementary team, right? Just because I love coaching. And I was talking to this kid, and I was saying too much. Like, I make mistakes too. I was saying, you know, do this, dude. I just got lost in it a little bit of all these things, and I I kind of got the cross-eyed look back, and I realized, okay, I I explained too much. So I looked at the kid in the eye. I said, if you remember one thing that I just said, and I said, This is all I'm telling you to remember, is I want you to find the open ice out there. And the kid kind of nodded and started to do that, right? We've we've we've talked about it ad nauseum on the show. The kid that looks up, sees a one-on-three, and goes, I'm gonna dangle all three of these players, right? And it happens 20% of the time, maybe the other 80% of the time, it's a massive turnover that often will lead to a scoring chance. That's not what we're looking for, right? But the player that looks up and says, Oh, I'm a one-on-three, and I see that the far corner is open, and then the player without the puck that says, Okay, they're in a one-on-three, I need to get to the far corner so they can dump it or move the puck there. That is really the level of thinking that I look for for separators on the play, and the good players put themselves in positions to learn that, and and this is the final thing I'm gonna say, I'm gonna throw it back to you, Albi, is that I don't assume a player going into one-on-three just naturally knows that, right? They they need the reps to learn that and to see, okay, here's your scenario, right? What's the options here? One of the things with kids that I realized recently is they just see it as black and white. There's a right and wrong option. And the truth is, there's probably three good options and three bad options on this play, and we've got to put them in a position to say, what are the three good options? What are the three bad options? And then what are you gonna do in this situation? The more reps you get in that environment, yeah, the more you're gonna learn. You get the tools in the toolbox, and again, like I know it sounds like we're being advertising, I'm not trying to. I don't know anything outside Censorina that's providing that, and you guys are always evolving it too.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

Yeah, uh well, thank you for saying that. And and two things come to mind is and one I'll touch on just quickly, and then I'll hop into sensor in it. Is like, yeah, uh, we as coaches and parents of that are coaches, we have to understand that our our young kids they're not playing an NHL, we're not we're not dumping pucks in to run the D, grab the puck, and hit somebody in front of the net, like and cycle the puck. Like uh it's I I have parents ask me, like, well, why don't you guys dump the puck in? Well, because we just work so hard to get it, and if we dump it in, how are we gonna get a scoring chance off the rush? So um, part of that comes to coaches and and coaching. Um, yes, kids need to make mistakes, but let's realize the age group and the skill development that we're trying to do here, as opposed to just trying to replicate what we see on TV, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:29

Um, especially if you're not hitting that too. We have to say that. Like, if you're not in the checking ages of hockey, you're playing a very different game, right?

SPEAKER_01 48:36

Right, exactly. So so puck possession becomes a huge thing, which is great because then you need puck support. So that goes back to positionless hockey. So we send players out there to line up at positions, and it's like, all right, well, you know, the D rights, well, can I can I just skate it up? And if there's nobody there to pass to and go, I'm like, I'm like, yeah. And yes, they learn that there's gonna be a two and one the other way. Well, now the forwards need to realize that they didn't need to cover for the D. And so it's all about uh like learning from failures and mistakes, right? And so that leads into Censorina and our game, uh our game replication drills is is the beauty of it, is one, you can make as many mistakes as you want to, and you're gonna learn every single time, right? Um, so and two, um, you're not gonna get hit physically, right? And we can change the pressure that comes at you, the speed in which the attackers come at you, right? So you're learning to read and react in different times and area with different uh specific time available to make a play, and and you're still you're learning, you're analyzing, and it's again, you I don't know where else you get these reps. Like to go get nine other buddies, grab a coach, grab a goalie, a whistle, and run through these drills and reps uh in the time that you can run through you know 20 different reps in in less than 10 minutes, like where else do you get this? So I think it provides a huge value for especially that that that 10 to 16 age, where you need the repetitions to understand uh the the patterns in the play and understanding scenarios and understanding route to different players and where my support should be or where my support isn't right now, and what else? What a play do you need to find the timing of a pass versus the timing of a player coming into the zone? So um there's a lot of different aspects you can really break down here. Um, and that's what's cool about sensory is given the difficulties and the in the and the speeds in which you can train at, you can really adjust it for any age appropriateness. Speaking of the player here, sorry, not the goal. No, no, sorry, goal.

SPEAKER_00 50:27

Look, it's a great breakdown. And look, I'll say this too. And this is going to be a little advertising, but but I want the families to know because it's actually the number one question that I get is always the cost. And what I just tell families is look, if you're investing in a private coach or you're investing in ice time, or you're investing in like a lot of extra gear, invest in this because it's it's really the same price point when you think about it. If anything, you're probably saving money long term because the amount of reps you're gonna get in. Um, and if you're not in a position where you're fortunate enough to do that, right, you got to look at it as a long-term investment for your kids, um, so forth and so on. And look, at the end of the day, uh, where there's a will, there's a way, right? Like, like I always ask about the people who make it, which is like a super open-ended question. But I don't know too many people that have made it or are successful. I'm not even just talking about the NHL that didn't have an uncommon drive to work and practice, right? And that comes from the kid, that doesn't come from the parents, of they they they on their own are putting the time in to do the work, right? And I will say that there are a lot of resources out there to help you do the work. This Sensorina um being one of the ones on the cutting edge. Um, and again, it updates all the time. And and I'm lucky, I have a goalie and a skater, and they both use it. We make videos of them using it for you to see at home. Yeah, go ahead, I'll be I'll I got what that one more thing and then I'll finish this one up.

SPEAKER_01 51:52

No, no, the only thing I want to say is is uh stay posted because, like I said, like what we have in development, the play without the puck. Um we really think it's gonna revolutionize this type of training because there are so many different aspects of the game that you can jump into, right? Uh, whether it's reads on a forecheck or reads uh playing at a defensive game, taking rushes back, moving into a play for a scoring chance. Um, and and with that, excuse me, it's not to say that there won't be passes with a puck, but it's just uh we're not using a stick anymore, it's just gonna be controllers.

SPEAKER_02 52:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

So you can really um efficiently move through a game. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_00 52:29

That's okay, yeah. And and again, you can see um with some of the uh evolutions of sensorina, how how you're building this, because there's some modes in there you can see. Oh, oh, you can probably do this now, you can probably do that now. So uh look, they're always working on it. I'll remind everybody real quick. Albi did play the NHL for quite a bit of time, and he doesn't work with Sensorina, so it's not just some schmoes making a video game or anything over there. They really do put the time in it makes this realistic. All right. Um, Albi, how I want to end this one is uh let's have a little fun. All right, this is kind of like a rapid fire segment. Yeah, um, you can do green light, yellow light, or red light. I'm just gonna rattle off some some things. You say for off-season, we're thinking off-season training here, green light, red light, or yellow light. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_01 53:12

All right, well, what age group, what age group are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 53:15

Uh well, we'll keep it to from that 10 to 14, just to keep it even there. Okay, that's that's a super fair question. All right, here we go.

SPEAKER_01 53:21

Year-round tournaments bright red.

SPEAKER_00 53:26

There we go. All right, multiple sports.

SPEAKER_01 53:29

Uh green, right.

SPEAKER_00 53:31

Uh, early morning lifts for these kids at this age. Red. Right. Private lessons every day.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

Red.

SPEAKER_00 53:39

Right? Playing pickup with friends. Green. Right. Uh taking two weeks completely off from hockey.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

Green.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

Right. That's right. That's all of it. You know, there's no yellows in there, right? No yellows. That's the go or no go.

SPEAKER_01 53:53

No, it's if you're gonna do anything, it's it's it's unstructured play with with friends and teammates or skating specific, like technique, which is not heavily demanding, because the skating is the foundation of everything. That that's my only like one exception is skating technique, uh, and power skating. Uh, again, technique early in the summer. If you want to do power skating, over speed skating later on, great, but um, skating uh will carry you further than anywhere else.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

I'll make one final note on that too, buddy, is that when I talk to parents of my youth teams, I tell them that the primary skill that we will work on the entire season is skating. There will never be, never be a practice where that is not a primary focus. And then I also tell them that yes, there are other skills where you're gonna work on passing, shooting, tactics, all these things. But the truth is, if you really want to work on that, off the ice is the place because you can't replicate skating the way you can replicate some of these area things, right? So, you know, if you are choosing to do stuff off ice, uh I don't want to call them soft skills, but your hands, your shot, these are all things that can be worked off off the ice. On the ice, skating, off the ice, skating. Um, can't skate, you can't play. I don't know, I don't know how else to say it.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

It just explain to the parents that like it's a lot cheaper to do stick handling off the ice, right? Maybe that'll resonate, right?

SPEAKER_00 55:17

Right, right. That it it's it it's logic, but logic doesn't always prevail. But uh yeah, 100% on that one. I agree. I'll be a great episode as always. I'm sure the parents uh and the kids and the coaches listening learned a lot, but thanks for providing your perspective once again.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

No, you're great. This is great conversation, so I enjoy it. Happy to come back anytime.

SPEAKER_00 55:35

Oh, you're always welcome. We gotta get you the hat trick and become a three-time guest. That's how it always parts.

SPEAKER_01 55:41

Is that a thing?

SPEAKER_00 55:42

Well, yeah, we'll send you something in the mail if you do it too. We'll make a nice big award on your wall that you can put up there. But uh, that's gonna do it for this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey. Albia is gonna join us for the ride to the ring for those of you listening. That'll be out for your kids here shortly. So make sure you uh you don't want to listen to the whole hour here, you can just send them that 15 minute to 10 minute clip and uh can hear from him directly. But if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, if you have an episode idea, email us at team at our kidsplayhockey.com. Also, you can text us using the link in the uh description here. Just tap it, text us, you can leave a voice message, you can do anything you want to allow us to communicate with you. Not everything you send goes on the air, people. Don't think because you send it, we're gonna put it up here. Uh, we just love having conversations with hockey people. But enjoy your hockey, enjoy your off season. Go take that two weeks off and then get back to work. We'll see you in the next Our Kids Play Hockey. Take care, everybody. We hope you enjoyed this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey. Make sure to like and subscribe right now if you found value wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network, or our website, our kidsplayhockey.com. Also, make sure to check out our children's book, When Hockey Stops, at When Hockey Stops.com. It's a book that helps children deal with adversity in the game and in life. We're very proud of it. But thanks so much for listening to this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey, and we'll see you on the next episode.