Dear Parents and Players
Welcome to the 2011/2012 STMHA Minor Peewee selection camp. My name is Troy Carlson
and I will be this year’s Head Coach. I
have coached hockey for the last 21 years at many levels in both the boys and
girls hockey systems. As a player I have been involved in hockey last 35
years. Please find below information on how the evaluation camp is going to
run, how the players are evaluated, team composition and selection.
Evaluation Sessions
Team selection will consist of three 1.5 hour ice sessions and one invite only exhibition game, after which the team selection will be made. Each session has specific goals and evaluation criteria. During the evaluation sessions minimal individual instruction will be given as we are evaluating rather that teaching. Instruction will be given if a player is having a hard time understanding the drill. For the most part drills will be simple and fast paced.
The following is a list of the main categories being evaluated;
Individual Skills
- Skating & agility, speed, passing, pass receiving, shooting, checking and puck control.
Team Skills
- Offensive tactics and Defensive tactics, ability to play with others, unselfish.
Mental Qualities
- Hockey intelligence, reading and reacting, concentration, drive, desire and one of the most important qualities of coach-ability.
Physical Qualities
- Strength, endurance, balance, agility, coordination, power
For Goaltenders the criteria differs somewhat;
Individual Skills
- Skating, agility, reflexes, angles, puck control/handling.
Team Skills
- Puck playing ability, communication, ability to get along with others.
Mental skills
- Concentration, anticipation, coach-ability, desire, mental toughness.
Physical Qualities
- Strength, endurance, balance, agility, coordination, power
Sessions #1 & #2 are broken into three main evaluation components, those being;
- Skills Drills (skills testing) - Evaluation of Core skills (individual skills) skating, agility, shooting, passing, puck control.
- Competitive Drills – Drills where players compete against one or more players such as races or battling for the puck are methods to evaluate not only individual skills but also mental and physical qualities such as strength, drive, determination and desire.
- Scrimmage – naturally the best way to evaluate a player’s ability to play the game is to evaluate the player under game conditions. Scrimmages provide the evaluators the opportunity to not only evaluate the above mentioned skills, but to also evaluate the player’s abilities to play positions, to read and react and their willingness to actively engage in the game. It also demonstrates finer skills such as play making, goal scoring and for me one the most important aspects, TEAMWORK.
Session #3 will consist mainly of an inter-squad game.
Coach- ability, which is the players listening skills, behaviour and ability to complete an assigned task is being evaluated throughout all four sessions.
Session #4 will be an invite only exhibition game. The date and time for this game is currently being finalized.
Non Resident Players (NRP’s)
New this year is the inclusion of Non Resident Players. The OMHA has brought in a new rule allowing travel teams at the Peewee level and up to select a maximum of three Non-resident players.
Team Selection
Team selection is perhaps the most difficult task for a coaching staff and is often seen and taken as a very negative experience by those parents and the players that have to be released. I encourage you as a parent to try and make the evaluation and team selection process as positive one, regardless of whether or not your athlete makes the team. Remember, try-outs are a vehicle to place players on teams where they will benefit most. When selecting a team many factors must be taken into consideration, the first being the size of the team. In youth travel hockey one of the most important things to consider is how many players can effectively be used during a game to ensure each player receive sufficient opportunity to play. Very little benefit will be gained by marginal players seeing limited ice time. It is therefore the coaches’ responsibility to play and develop the players that are chosen. After session #4 is completed evaluations will be examined and a team selection will be made and the roster posted to the Minor Peewee page on the STMHA website which is www.stmha.net.
If you have any question about the evaluation process don’t hesitate contact me. I can be reached via email at [email protected].
Once again thank-you for coming out and good luck!