It’s easy to enjoy a hockey game. You sit in the arena and take in the jaw-dropping action sequences that take place throughout the game. Simple enough? Not if you don’t understand all the details.
Understanding Hockey Statistics
Our statistics help you learn more about the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and how all our players are doing throughout the season. If you want to get more into hockey but don’t know where to start, let us help. When you check out our statistics page, you’ll see a long row and several columns of abbreviations, but what does all this mean? Some are easier to understand, like the number of goals a player has scored, but others, like the plus/minus rating, may take some explaining for the regular Joe.
Hockey abbreviations are not as uncommon as one may think. There are actually several situations where you might see them while you enjoy hockey. This is because hockey abbreviations for hockey terms are commonly used across various platforms and contexts where the sport is discussed, analyzed, or played.
Hockey commentators frequently use abbreviations to keep up with the fast pace of the game. Abbreviations are heavily used in statistical summaries, player profiles, and analytics reports. Coaches and players use abbreviations in playbooks, drills, and strategy discussions.
Now that you know a little bit more about hockey statistics, you’ll have an easier time staying up to date with how the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins are performing.
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Effective Hockey Drills
Here are some effective hockey drills that can be incorporated into training sessions:
The Royal Puck Protection Drill
The Royal Puck Protection Drill is a good one to use when you have a chance to work with the forwards in one end of the ice. To set up the drill place two lines along the wall just outside the blue line. The first player in line (P1) skates down along the wall and then does a figure eight between the two players. As they go around each player they have to protect the puck with their body while moving their feet. The two players standing still (P2 & P3) can use their stick to annoy the puck carrier (P1). As the puck carrier skates up the wall and around P3 they have to get a quick shot off right after they reach the cone. Players should keep moving their feet as they release the shot, skating through the shot and stopping at the crease. After the shot and stopping at the net they take over P2's position.
Quick Passing Drill
This is another drill that requires quick passing and will help players develop a feel for the puck. Set up requires four players per face off circle. P1, P2, and P3 set up on three sides of the circle and P4 is in line behind P1. To start, P1 and P2 pass the puck back and forth using one time passes. After 4-5 passes, P2 makes a pass to P3 and skates around the circle to receive a pass back from P3 across the circle from P3. P2 then one touches the puck to P4 who is now in P1's position. P1 has moved to P3's position and P3 moves to P2's position after they have made the pass to P2. P3 and P4 now pass back and forth until P3 makes a pass to P1 and the drill repeats.
Warm-Up Drill
This is a good drill to incorporate for warm ups when you are limited to half ice or just one zone. It incorporates stop and starts, passing, receiving, and shooting. Place 5 players as shown in the diagram above with a line of extra players behind P1. The drills starts with P1 making a pass to P2 and following thier pass to P2's position. P2 will receive the pass, make a pass to P3, and then follow the pass to P3's position. The drill follows the same routine until the puck gets to P5. When P5 gets the puck they take a shot on net. The next player will go once P1 get to P2's position and is ready for a pass from the next player. As long as the players are stopping and sprinting to the next position it will serve as a good warm up drill.
Power Play and Penalty Killing Strategies
The power play will most likely look to move the puck between the top two players and try to generate a clear shot with their player in front. The power play's second objective is to move the puck down low and take advantage of the 3 on 2 down low.
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K1 and k3 alternate challenging the two players at the top of the box (P1 & P2) as they move the puck back and forth. When the puck is passed from P1 to P2, k1 slides down to k2's position, k2 slides over to k3's position and k3 moves out to challenge P2. It is important for k3 to stay in the P2's shooting lane the entire time and be willing to block the shot as they move out to the top of the box. Their stick position should discourage P2 from passing the puck through the middle of the box and encourage a pass to the perimeter of the box. If P2 passes back to P1 then then k1, k2, and k3 rotate back to their original position. If the puck is passed from P1 to P3 then new responsibilities by the penalty killers are needed. When the puck goes down low the power play is trying to create a 3 on 2 situation down low.
P3 will be looking for P5 or P4 on the back door. It is important for k2 and k3 to understand this and discourage both plays with good stick position. When the puck is low, the top penalty killer needs to take away P5 if they are not too low. This penalty killer cannot get sucked down too low in case the puck is moved back up to the top of the box.
The Importance of Multi-Sport Participation in Youth Athletics
I am a big believer in raising kids to be multi-sport athletes under the premise that focusing on one too early in life will lead to burn out, but also under the theory that kids should become overall athletes and that each sport feeds into the skills development of others. In his book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, David Epstein carries this premise using multiple examples such as Roger Federer who didn’t start focusing on tennis until he was 12-years old. There are those who will contradict this thesis and insist that kids need to focus on one sport from an early age, but typically these people have a self-interest to promote this perspective. I’m happy to report however, that Brendan and Sabrina’s tennis season was a resounding success, as they practiced all season and did better and better in their weekend tournaments.
Coaching Philosophy and Player Development
Leading up to the first games we are focused on skating as well as passing and shooting skills. We agree to hold off on tactics until the season begins as we want all the kids to get their hockey legs back under them. How much to focus on game tactics versus skills development is tightrope we will walk all season. Squirts are still 9 and 10-years-old, thus we won’t fill practice with overly complicated drills that demand precise execution. Further, the tactics we teach are more in line with basic positioning and getting the kids to understand that they can’t chase the puck up and down the ice, rather they need to skate to space and let the puck come to them. Other aspects of tactics include teaching some of them the basic premise of offsides which was not something we had to think about during the season in mites. So when I say we are going over tactics, the definition of tactics
Preparing for each practice takes time. We are not professional coaches watching film, but we do take the time to sketch out various drills (we use hockey share) and to continually progress through the season. For each practice session I would estimate that we spend about 1-2 hours thinking about and designing the practice. It’s a rough estimate, we’re volunteer youth coaches not lawyers billing by the hour.
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With 22 players we can divide the squirts into two teams (P1 and P2), but alas we only have one goalie. Our goalie will have to rotate between teams. We acquire a second set of goalie gear, and will use volunteers from the skaters to rotate who will play goal week to week. At the 10 and under level we can still compete using various players in net on a non-permanent basis I was skeptical of the concept last year but came around when I witnessed how each kid enjoyed their opportunity to try playing goalie. Brendan played goalie twice and offered some great insights from his time between the pipes. Playing goalie over the week’s practice and in the weekend game gives each kid an chance to see the game from a different perspective. After his first game in goal Brendan explained to me how he saw skaters bunching up and chasing the puck instead of spreading out and moving the puck around. In this sense, playing goalie made him a smarter hockey player. The second aspect of playing goalie is that kids who played goalie never criticized a goalie again. Playing goal allowed them to appreciate the difficulty and the courage it takes to stand in front of the net and to have pucks shot at you on a continual basis. They also learn how difficult it can be to stay engaged and pay attention the entire contest as goalies don’t get to rest on the bench.
In our last practice before our weekend intersquad match, we use the time on the ice for some small games and scrimmages. Scott and I leave the ice for about 30 minutes to meet with the parents of our players which provides an opportunity to discuss our coaching philosophy for the season. Before I explain the philosophy, I introduce myself using a little bit of the Red Team Who Am I? technique, letting everyone know where I am from, what I do for a living and other aspect of my personal life. It’s a good technique to break down perceived social barriers when getting to know someone. Each parent gives a brief introduction, which I think is important as last season parents did not have a true opportunity to get to know one another. COVID-19 protocol limited the number of parents that could attend and limited the time everyone could spend inside the rink. This season offers more hope that we can build the relationships and friendships that are central to youth sports.
Scott and I then use the remaining time to offer our thoughts and philosophy for the season. I begin by telling them where I want the team to be at the end of the season, because as the Cheshire Cat once explained, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” I explain that first and foremost by the end of the year I want the kids to want to return and play again next year. If we can instill a love and passion of hockey in each kid, then I consider the season a success. Our second goal is for the kids to begin life-long friendships with their teammates. As I approach my mid-40s, I find that the people who I maintain contact most from my childhood are those who I played youth sports with. I was lucky to grow up in a town with a unified sports program. That is everyone from our hometown played in the same youth sports league which was large enough for multiple teams in sports such as little league baseball, and where we had the ability to field competitive teams in football. My teammates remained largely the same from the third grade to senior year of high school. Brendan had his first taste of this aspect of friendship over the summer. The hockey team had its own birthday party circuit, where kids attending each other’s parties were mostly (but not totally) hockey teammates. Brendan still invited a few friends from school, and having a diverse set of friends is important.
After describing our objectives, Scott and I talk about how we will run our practices and the games. I tell the parents that I would rather a player miss a game than a practice. It is practice where the kids get their ice time and while they are on the ice they will skate more, touch the puck more, pass more, and shoot more times than they will in a game. Practice is where they will develop as hockey players at their respective level. At the professional level, Allen Iverson was probably right in his diatribe “We’re talking about practice.” But in youth sports, practice reigns supreme.
I explain my thoughts on how practice means the kids get better by small increments over the course of the six month season and come the end of March each kid will be a completely different hockey player than at the start of the season. The second aspect we talk about is how we intent to run our games. Scott and I coach in a house league and in a house league everyone plays. Winning is fun, and there is an element where kids need to win often enough to want to keep coming back to the rink night after night, week after week. We intend to balance our lines the best we can to ensure we remain competitive in each contest, but no players are sitting out, nor are any players going to do iron-man hockey simply because at 10-years old they are better skaters than others.
Third, we talk about positions. For the most part my intent is to have every kid play each position throughout the course of the season. Learning the responsibilities of each position (defense, center, wing) is a crucial part of player development. When they get older or play for elite travel teams they can focus on one position or another, but building better hockey players means having a broad understanding of the game.
We then talk some administrative issues. We explain that the only ones who should talk to the referees are the coaches. We ask parents not to complain to the refs during games and to stress to their kids not to argue with the officials. The hockey community is small in Southern Virginia, and as such Scott and I happen to play men’s league hockey with most of the referees in the league. We have personal relationships with them that go back nearly a decade. As we explain this nuance, I can see the message resonate in the meeting. Referees make mistakes just as often as the rest f us do in life. We can only hope that bad and missed calls even out over the course of the season. In some ways its another lesson that life’s not fair, and when the calls go your way its often at the expense of someone else. But I stress that the guys who are officiating a squirts hockey game at 7AM on a Saturday morning aren’t doing so in pursuit of generational wealth. Rather, they are out there for the same reason the coaches and the kids out on the ice…a love of the game.
Scott and I then talk equipment reinforcing the importance of neck guards and mouthpieces and the necessity of showing up early enough to get dressed before the game and on the ice for warm-ups. We also ask the parents to let us know ahead of time if they plan to miss a game. For a coach, there is little more that is frustrating than showing up ready for a game and missing half the team.
When Brendan and I get home from practice I reflect on our discussion with the parents and begin to craft my own coaching philosophy. Back in 2006 - 2008, I was a company commander in Second Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. Commanders publish their own command philosophies. Since that time I joined the faculty of the Joint Forces Staff College and wrote out a teaching philosophy to guide my actions in the seminars and classrooms. Why it never occurred to me to think about and write a coaching philosophy is beyond me, but something I hope to finish later this month. I doubt many will read it, but the act of writing forces you to reflect, and often forces you to make decisions where your thinking might contradict itself. So writing this out is probably something I should do.
Our first game of the year is a contest between the two Prowl Squirt Teams (P1 and P2). Along with the P2 head coach, we agree to match lines to keep ensure a competitive game, and that kids don’t wind up playing an entire period without touching the puck. Overall, the concept works as our P1 team narrowly escapes with a 5-4 victory. For the most part the game is back and forth, and neither team dominates the ice one shift after another. Skating one shift after another without ever touching the puck can frustrate any hockey player, and when there is a clear size and talent mismatch on the ice, kids can quickly become frustrated with games and soon find themselves in a position where they dread showing up to the rink early on a weekend morning. After the game Brendan and I go to a nearby diner for breakfast. Breaking bread with my son is perhaps the most ...
Here is a table summarizing key hockey positions and their responsibilities:| Position | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Forward | Scoring goals, creating offensive plays |
| Defenseman | Preventing goals, supporting offensive plays from the blue line |
| Center | Facilitating plays, playing both offense and defense |
| Goaltender | Preventing the opposing team from scoring |