Hello PEAC Parents and Students!
Welcome to our first Newsletter of the year!
We will update you on the significant events year to date and discuss what we are doing to help improve the PEAC time hockey experience.
Overview:
The first couple of weeks were spent establishing our routines and testing our athletes, both on an off the ice. All students conducted dry land baseline testing using established protocols including:
* Total pushups in 60 seconds (upper body strength and endurance)
* Right and left single leg squats (5 reps is a pass)
* Chin-ups (total number until exhaustion)
* T-pattern agility test (speed and dexterity test)
* RIOT endurance testing (cardiovascular endurance)
We noted a solid effort from all our students. They were focused and determined to establish a strong baseline.
Why is this important?
Serious athletes will always take pride in beating their personal best scores, and those of their peers. Serious coach's will always want to see physical improvements in their athletes. We demand both! Baseline testing allows quantitative comparisons which is similar to what our athletes will face when they move on to higher levels of competition. Think about the TSN Combine analysis we see on TV. We want our athletes to have experienced this type of testing long before they get in front of the cameras.
When we look at our most successful PEAC graduates, athletes that include Connor McDavid, Malcolm and Jordan Subban, Josh Ho-Sang, Jordan Binnington, Carlos Amestoy, Daniel Cattenacci (amongst others), the one consistent trait is that all of them were ABOVE average athletes with very high testing results.
We will conduct two more tests before the final report card and students will be ranked according to their progress. Clearly there is a strong correlation between a strong, physically fit athlete and success. We trust that is one of the reasons you chose to come to PEAC!
U14 and U16 Programs
Coaches Andy Meth, Lucas Miller, Ryan Barnes and Jesse Hebscher have been pushing the kids hard and are pleased with the progress made to date. Coach's Miller and Hebscher have the U16's on Mondays and Wednesdays. Coach's Meth and Barnes Have the U14's on the same day and then they switch groups Tuesdays and Thursdays. According to coach Meth, the focus for the next month and a half will be to "amp up the training and get the kids ready to peak for the important Christmas tournaments." Coach Miller plans to focus on "speed and puck control drills" over the next month while noting that he is seeing "improvements in conditioning and first step quickness. I'm noticing they are getting better at shooting to score and burying the puck in practices." Lucas' advice as the kids start prepping for the Christmas tournaments, "Continue to work hard and buckle down. The Christmas tournaments are the big ones for all the scouts and you have to be ready to perform at your best." John Walters, Director of the Hockey Program, notes that having the best coach's in the GTA on staff has helped make this program a premiere destination for elite athletes in
Canada and also internationally. "The European players are getting better at understanding the North American game. Now that their English language skills are improving they can participate more actively. Being able to blend their European skills with the North American approach is going to pay huge dividends for them."
Upcoming Tournaments
Walters notes that the U14's will be involved in the Canlan tournament and we are waiting for an answer regarding the Upper Canada College tournament (that we won last year). The Brampton Tournament is also
scheduled, details on the dates and team selection process will follow in due course. The U'16's will be looking at a Canlan tournament [providing there is not a conflict with the Silver Stick tournaments], the All-Ontario Classic and the Cabernet Cup... details to follow.
Goalie Program
Coaches Kay Whitmore and Dave Wells have been working the ten goalies in the program hard, with an early focus on fitness and basic concepts including positioning, rebound control and puck handling. Notes Coach Wells, "We continue to focus on what we believe to be absolutely critical for goalies at the minor hockey level. Simply, that is to get your butt of the blue paint, play big, care about your rebounds and simplify your game." This starts with a strong focus on skating and edge control and continuous reinforcement of positioning. "We spend a great deal of time encouraging our goalies to challenge out. Goalies who play deep typically are not confident with their skating abilities or have an over-inflated opinion of their reflexes. They often do not trust their defencemen and instead of taking the shooter, they cheat by playing deep, often getting scored on the first shot. It's a constant battle to get a goalie to do their job, to challenge and play big. Overall the progress made to date has been good, the kids are working hard, listening well and making adjustments to their game."
PEAC Prep
Prep team coach Alex Bezzera has his team off to a good start this season with 8 wins, 4 ties and 6 losses. He is particularly proud of his squads efforts against some strong teams in the Boston Pro-Am tournament. "We went undefeated (3-0-1) in that tournament. We played some really good hockey teams (including the Boston Advantage teams) and showed very well. In the East Coast College Cup tournament we played the Springfield EJ team to a 1-1 tie... we only had 12 skaters on the bench." Coach Bezzera was also proud that his team defeated a strong St. Michael's team 4-2 in their home rink. "Our guys played hard that game and took it to a talented St. Mike's squad".
In terms of forthcoming tournaments, the Prep team is in a the Valley Junior Warriors tournament in Haverhill Massachusetts and then they are in the Upper Canada College tournament after that. Asked about personal successes this year Bezzara stated that "we have already moved four guys on to Jr A. The whole basis of this program is to develop players to move on to the next level, whether it's Jr A or NCAA. To be able to practice four times per week and play good teams on a regular basis is a big deal. Integrating academics into the team's schedule is a huge part of the program. We are trying to produce well rounded athletes with a strong academic focus. That will open as many doors as possible."
Game Day Skates - Coaching Staff Perspective
Some Club coach's will not let their players participate in PEAC time skates when they have a game later that same day. We surveyed the coaching staff (coach's themselves) to get their thoughts and it was unanimous - game days skates are viewed as a great opportunity!
Coach Lucas Miller believes that it's a great time to get "warmed up and mentally focused. It gives the player a chance to get their legs and arms going, to feel the puck, so that when they get to their game they are ready to go as soon as the puck is dropped, not the 2nd or 3rd period."
Coach Andy Meth believes it is a good thing and that "we are only working them out for one hour and there is plenty of recovery time before a game".
Coach Dave Wells strongly encourages goalies to take a game day skate. "Warming up your eyes and getting a good feel for your gear, your skates, the ice and the chaos of a game is important. I don't understand the snowflake mentality attached to holding a player off the ice on game day. Once they hit Jr A and above it will be their routine, they might as well get used to it now, there's a huge upside benefit to a pre-game skate."
Prep Team coach Andy Bezzera believes that holding back a kid from PEAC time on a game day is a "bit delusional. Any time a kid can get on the ice for 60 minutes of development he should take it. Seven hours of recovery before a AAA game is sufficient. All these kids want to play NCAA, Jr A and eventually pro. Those guys all do a one hour game day skate, there's no reason minor hockey kids cannot do the same."
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