Dear Parents and Players
Welcome to the 2012/2013 STMHA Major Peewee selection camp. This years head coach is Troy Carlson. Troy has coached hockey for the last 22 years at many levels in both the boys and girls hockey systems. As a player he has been involved in hockey last 36 years. Please find below information on how the evaluation camp is going to run, how the players are evaluated, team composition and selection.
***Players are required to bring their own water bottles. Mouthguards are mandatory.
Please Check the try-list by clicking on the link on the left to ensure you are on the list. If you are not on the list please contact the STMHA Administrator.***Evaluation Sessions
Team selection will consist of three 1.5 hour ice sessions and two invite only exhibition games, 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 in St.Thomas against the Cambridge Hawks held on August 28th at 6:45pm.
Session #5 will be an invite only exhibition game in Cambridge against the Cambridge Hawks held on August 30th at 7pm.
Non Resident Players (NRP’s)
Once again this year there is the inclusion of Non Resident Players. The OMHA's allows 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 #5 is completed evaluations will be examined and a team selection will be made and the roster posted to the Peewee page on the STMHA website.
If you have any question about the evaluation process don’t hesitate contact me. I can be reached via email at [email protected] .
We wish all the players the best of luck!