In the world of professional hockey we pre-scout our competition in an effort to be prepared. I do the
same thing in the hockey school world as well.

Throughout 24 years of operating hockey schools I have personally observed competitors programs and
the glaring issue is the absence of the camp’s expert.

I was recently in attendance at a camp with a national presence and noticed yet again the absence of
the camp’s expert. I asked a parent if this bothered her and she replied, “No, because she was informed
the staff was trained to teach his system and as long as they teach his system, I am ok with it.”
I asked if I could watch the camp with her and she agreed. The first drill required her son to shoot a
puck along the boards to a child waiting behind the net. Her son skated along the boards to meet
another player who was told to collect the shoot-in. Her son was told to “Battle” the player behind the
net who had now stopped the puck. The player’s were told to “Battle” for the puck and try to take the
puck from behind the net and score.

The woman’s son was quite small and the other player was much bigger. As her son approached the
larger player, I just knew what was going to happen. Physics took over and her son was knocked to the
ice by the bigger player and the bigger player stepped out from behind the net and scored an easy goal.
The group had 10 kids in it with one coach (even though the camp advertised a 5:1 ratio). The other
eight player’s did the drill and the original two player’s switched position’s and got to do the drill one
more time before it was time to move onto the next drill. The woman’s son got knocked down again
and the bigger player scored another easy goal.

This scenario was repeated at every station and her son spent most of the next 50 minutes being
knocked down repeatedly. Not once was he corrected and taught how to handle the situation he was
facing. Regardless of his size if the staff had corrected his tactics he would have had more success in
executing the drill. After the session I asked her what her son actually learned from the experience
except how to get up off the ice? She had no answer.

I spoke with some of the coaches after the session and asked them their names and credentials (this is
the same process I went through when I used to send my son to hockey schools). The camp website
promoted the staff as current professionals, etc. Only one guy had any “Pro” experience and that was in
the CHL (Central Hockey League). Seeing I coached in that league, I was not surprised that these
coaches did not understand the learning process and how important it is to break things down into more
digestible pieces.

Let me share with you why the “Battle drills” were such a disaster. In the NHL we draft 18 year old
players and bring them to a development camp 2 weeks after the draft. We put them through “Battle
drills” as well and every- single one of them executes the drills incorrectly and we know why. They
spend most of their youth playing 80-100 games a year; most of these kids face “Battle” situations about
5 percent of the game. I know this because I have actually placed a stopwatch on players and tabulated

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