Month: November 2021

As your child grabs their hockey stick out of the back of your vehicle, you may not be thinking about how important this piece of equipment is to their success.

Sure, you put decent consideration into their skates, helmet and the other equipment that protects them, but what about their stick?

Many parents think that buying an inexpensive stick is good enough for a youth hockey stick. After all, ‘A cheap stick would be good enough for any young player’ you think to yourself.

In reality your player, no matter his or her level, needs a quality youth hockey stick in order develop the fundamentals of hockey.

So what does a parent look for when getting the right stick? There are several factors to consider when looking for the best youth hockey sticks. Youth players usually are players between the ages of 4 and 10, but really it depends on the size of the child. When it comes to looking for a stick, you will need to think about the material, length, flex, weight, as well as what you need the stick to do for your young player.

Material Matters

While wood was once the only choice for hockey stick material, a lot of great technical improvements have been made over the past 20 years. These days, the best hockey sticks are not just made up of a single material, but are instead comprised of several.

The most popular — and best — material that you should choose for a youth hockey stick is composite. Composite can be made up of several different materials, from heavy plastic to titanium. Even Kevlar is often used in composite sticks because it is so strong and reliable. Regardless of the exact make-up, composite is more durable and lighter than other options which is great for younger kids.

Stick Length

The length of your youth hockey stick will affect your ability to control the puck, your reach, and your shots. The length will also affect how you receive and make a pass. For young players, a mid-length stick would be the most appropriate to learn good stick handling technique.

The average length for a junior hockey stick is 52”, but sticks can be cut down or extended to accommodate an individual player’s height. Youth players have shorter sticks at 48”, but they can also be adjusted to fit the player’s height. The length really depends on height for younger players.

This is one piece of equipment where grow room isn’t a great idea. A stick that is too big can hinder their development and make learning more frustrating. Have it cut to size with just an inch or two of grow room.

Flex

The flex of a hockey stick is the amount of force that is required to make it bend — which creates a whip-like action when shooting. The force is measured using pounds. So this means that a stick with a flex rating of 80 would require 80 pounds of force to bend.
Looking at the flex ratings for youth sticks, younger children will usually start with a flex rating of 20. Slightly older children would opt more for a flex rating of 30. The older they get, the higher the flex rating.

Weight

Most players opt for sticks that are a lighter. The lighter the hockey stick, the less energy is required to move the puck. This will make it easier to control and use around the ice as well. That being said, some players still like the power that they get from a heavier stick. A heavy stick can slow you down, but the shots can be harder. For a child, however, a lighter stick is a safer bet.

Overall, you want to choose a stick that helps your child develop their core fundamental skills. So the one they feel most comfortable with is the best one. Take time to buy from a place that allows your child to try out a few sticks in a shooting range so they can find one they like. 

And one last thing … have a back-up stick. Sticks can break even at the youngest levels. This stick can be a less-expensive one that will later end up as a road hockey stick without you cringing on how much you spent.

Ask The Mind Coach is dedicated to the “mental” part of hockey from both player and parent perspectives. Shawnee Harle takes your questions and provides feedback based on her experiences and training. If you have a question to Ask The Mind Coach, email us!

QUESTION: “My hockey player is very good at skating and stickhandling. To me, she always stands out during practice when they are doing drills. However, as soon as she gets into a game, all of her confidence is gone and she shoots the puck away almost as soon as she touches it. Her coaches have talked to her but nothing has changed. Is this common?”

THE MIND COACH: Yes this is common. It’s a fear-based behaviour and fear is very common in sport.  We avoid things we are afraid of and my guess is, your daughter is afraid of messing up, turning the puck over, looking bad, etc., and the way she avoids it, is to get rid of the puck ASAP.

In other words, she plays it safe to avoid mistakes.

Remember, we don’t change behaviour by addressing the behaviour. Behaviour only changes when we get clarity on what’s driving the behaviour.

My guess it, the underlying fear your daughter tries to avoid is FOPO; Fear Of People’s Opinions.  She plays it safe to avoid mistakes because she believes mistakes will result in disapproval from her coaches, teammates, parents, opponents and on social media.

The irony is, unless we are making mistakes, we aren’t growing, stretching or learning.  See if you can help your daughter see that mistakes are completely normal.  Even professional players make mistakes all the time.

Can you help daughter focus on the process rather than the outcome?  Mistakes are an outcome and they are completely out of our control.  If they were in our control, we would never make mistakes!

Can you help your daughter identify two things she can do with the puck that are in her control (process)?

Her attention needs to be on what she CAN do.  Get her to set a goal of doing 1 thing/shift, that’s in her control when she has the puck. If you are watching, track these things so she can see if she’s improving.

Focus on 1-2 things and after that, the chips fall where they may.  Sport is a gamble; the outcome is always out of our control.

There will always be small differences in philosophy, training techniques and structure between organizations, leagues, regions and even cities when it comes to youth hockey. But how about other countries? Is hockey really that different outside of North America?

Elite Level Hockey asked Nikolai Salov, a 19-year-old forward currently with the GMHL’s North York Renegades, about his experiences playing minor hockey in Russia.

At what age do most kids start playing in Russia? 

SALOV: I was four years old. All the practices for that team were on roller blades in the summer and hockey skates in the winter. They would teaching us fundamental skills for hockey and physical activity.

How many hours a week are kids expected to practice/play? 

SALOV: After playing on an outdoor rink for two years, I tried out and made the only local AAA team in the whole city of Nizhny Novgorod. My team’s name was Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and it was a part of a big organization that has teams in KHL, junior and minor hockey. From a very young age we had to compete in order to be on the team, because there were many boys who played hockey but there was only when high level team in the area. I first got to play in an organized game in 2009 and by then we had skates up to five times a week. 

What is training like in Russian youth hockey?

SALOV: Starting very young we had regular one-hour or one-and-a half-hour practises. There was a lot of off-ice physical activity, which involved stuff like pushups, squats, core work etc. We also played a bit of other sports like soccer, basketball and handball. We had mandatory acrobatics in our facility, mainly for injury prevention. 

Did you go to hockey camps?

SALOV: Starting at the age of 12, my team would go out of town for a pre-season training camp for two weeks every summer. Training there for three times a day (one skate, two off ice) and without seeing your parents or family.

Some dryland training days could involve sprints, exercises on the hill (running up, jumping up hill), long distance runs (up to 10 kms or completing an obstacle course in military style. Weather conditions were usually ignored, so we had to do it in the rain, storm and even hail.

We only could eat what given at the camp — dietary, healthy meals which weren’t as tasty as regular food at home. All unhealthy snacks brought from outside the camp were taken.

In Canada there are various levels such as AAA, AA, house league etc and kids tend to play for their hometown team. Is it similar in Russia?

SALOV: It is a pretty similar system based on levels of team for youth hockey in Russia, but first teams have to qualify for being a AAA, AA or A team. Also, teams have a chance to move up from AA to AAA or opposite if they were first or last in their division.

Sometimes there were different teams for different age groups but the teams like mine affiliated with KHL organization were usually the top team for example: Akbars Kazan, Niftehimic Nizhnekamsk were the other teams in our group.

Are tournaments part of competition in Russian youth hockey?

SALOV: Tournaments are a big part of competition in Russian hockey. In most of those tournaments I got to play against teams outside of our league such as Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow, CSKA Moscow and even teams from outside of Russia. The most memorable tournament I participated in was the Tretiak Cup in Moscow where my team ended up getting bronze medal and received them by legendary goalie Vladislav Tretiak himself.

What does hockey mean to Russians, especially compared to other sports?

SALOV: Even though hockey in Russia is not a whole culture like it is in Canada, it’s a big part of life for many people. Hockey in Russia is growing as well. There are more teams and organizations and levels so more kids could participate in the sport.

Do you notice a difference between what skills are focused on in Canada vs. Russia?

SALOV: Both countries have different player development. In Canada, coaches focusing on skills separately and one at a time (skating, shooting, stickhandling). Russian hockey focuses more on physical strength at youth and minor hockey, especially that game is played on bigger ice surface. Canadian hockey is more physical and you can even find smallest guys go for hits.

Hockey isn’t a one-country sport.

The universal love for the game has grown tremendously in the NHL’s 100+ years of existence, and even the furthest reaches of that love are reflected in the league’s player base.

Whether it’s Irish-born Owen Nolan, the NHL’s lone Australian Nathan Walker, or Leon Draisaitl, already the highest-scoring German to ever make The Show, beacons of the sport’s success can shine from around the world.

Despite hockey’s global exposure, however, opportunities within it have always been fairly localized. 

While the aforementioned players all come from different countries, none of them were drafted into the NHL without first appearing with a junior team in North America.

Russian Nikolai Salov, a 19-year-old forward currently with the GMHL’s North York Renegades, has taken a similar route, coming to Canada with plenty of talent and the dream of making the big leagues.

“It was a kind of sacrifice, because when I moved here I had to leave my house and most of my family behind, but it was worth pursuing my hockey career,” said Salov, who moved to Canada at just 15 years old. “The transition from Russia to Canada was definitely the biggest change in my life so far.

“I was nervous but at the same time very excited to start that new page, meet new people and career opportunities.”

Salov became enamored with the sport of hockey at age three after being taken to a World Championship game between Russia and Japan. His connection to the sport was instant, and that New Year’s Eve he was given his first pair of skates. A fan of Pavel Datsyuk and the Detroit Red Wings, a young Salov had early dreams of playing professionally for either the NHL or the KHL, but paved with hardship and constant tests the road there wouldn’t easy.

It’s true that Russian natives are no strangers to NHL stardom; with the country producing a number of elite players that could never see North American ice until they join the NHL, but these successes come off the back of rigorous competition and limited opportunities. Salov was first thrust into this competition at just six years old, battling for a spot on the only AAA team in his town of Nizhny Novgorod. 

“From a very young age we had to compete in order to be on the team, because there were many boys who played hockey but there was only one high level team in the area.”

As hard as it was to make the team, keeping up with expectations would prove to be even harder.

“The environment in Russian youth hockey is more harsh and competitive, where coaches want kids to fight for their spots on the team and ice time from a very young age,” said Salov, who played in his home country until 2017.

He contrasts this to his experience since relocating to North America, where he’s found that while the play structure in Canada and Russia are similar, the mentality and approach to the players are worlds apart.

“The whole atmosphere in Canadian hockey is friendlier and warmer,” Salov said. “A lot of coaches, players and parents were very helpful when I was adapting to Canada my first years. I find coaches in Canada focus on a players’ development and also make it fun, which keeps it interesting for everyone.”

Canada’s warmer emotional environment and more positive-minded coaching have also led to better relationships between players, without the cloud of internal competition festering their feelings toward each other. 

“During my whole hockey career so far, I came across — or have been friends — with many players of different backgrounds and nationalities. Canadian players in youth hockey are a little more friendly, because the concept of competing for the spot and ice time is not as big up until junior hockey.”

An environment that its focussed on team success also has led to improved play. Since joining the Renegades during the 2018-19 season, Salov has blossomed, totalling 13 goals and eight assists across 37 games in his first full season (2019-20) and returning after a lost 2020-21 season to play above a point-per-game clip so far this season.

Salov’s journey to success in Canada doesn’t just involve hockey, though. The young prospect has had to put in his fair share of work outside the sport, including learning English to better adapt to North American life.

“My last few years living in Russia I was very focused on learning English, with a tutor couple times a week … 100 hours of English at high school in Canada (also) really helped me to adapt and learn about culture faster.”

Thousands of miles from home and away from most of his family, Salov has left a lot behind to chase his dream, but he’s hardly on an island.

Connecting Salov to his roots is teammate and fellow Russian Maxim Noskov, a 21-year-old defenseman also playing for the Renegades. The two didn’t meet before joining the Blyth Academy Warriors U18 team in Canada, but they became fast friends and a positive reminder of their shared origin. “

We didn’t know each other outside of Canada,” Solov said. “I moved here half a year earlier but we attended the same high school in Toronto and I helped him out to adapt a little …  me and Nos are pretty close friends.” 

The friendship between Salov and Noskov serves not only as a reminder of where both of them came from, but also how both of them got there, traveling across the world for a chance to someday set foot on hockey’s highest stage.

Like many others, Salov has dreams of playing professional hockey, and has shown he has the drive to chase that dream to the literal ends of the earth, changing his life and making sacrifice after sacrifice to make it possible.

While he isn’t alone in that dream or that drive, he’s found himself in the right place at the right time, with the right people and the right moves to achieve it.

The Renegades are off to a blistering start to their season in part thanks to Salov, and he’ll look to help them keep winning while doing his best along the way as he hopes to be the latest in a long line of nomads who tirelessly followed one path — the one to the NHL.

Ask The Mind Coach is dedicated to the “mental” part of hockey from both player and parent perspectives. Shawnee Harle takes your questions and provides feedback based on her experiences and training. If you have a question to Ask The Mind Coach, email us!

“My 14-year-old goalie has a hard time stopping pucks from distance during a game. At first we thought it might be an eyesight problem but that all checked out fine. His coach has chewed him out for not being focussed but it has become clear that he is blinking as soon as the stick makes contact with the puck and then he loses sight of it. Is there a visual exercise he can do to get out of this slump?”

Since he’s wearing a mask, how do you know he’s blinking? And if it were me, and a hard, black object was coming right at me very quickly, not only would I blink, I would run away!!  I would ask him if he thinks he is blinking.  I would ask him if he feels afraid of the puck.  Fear would be a different answer than the one below.

There’s lots of great information about the gaze for athletes.  What are they looking at?  For how long are they looking? For hockey goaltenders, do they track the puck from the moment it leaves the stick of the shooter?  Check out these links:

1. https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/quiet-eye-key-hockey-goalies
2. https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/goalie-s-quiet-eye-key-for-big-saves-study-1.603903
3. https://www.teamsnap.com/community/sports-science/physical-education/watch-the-puck