Breakfast Club Session II with Laura

It's good to be back. In the week that I was gone, everyone must have gotten better. Either that, or my week off was showing.

A little light on the turnout today, only 13, 10 of whom were maroon so no scrimmage today. But that's OK, because Scott and Lyle kept us going so hard that we wouldn't have had much gas left for a scrimmage anyway.

Two goalies, which was nice. Full ice 1-oh's for the warm-ups, take it right lane, center and then left. Next? 2-oh's down the one side, passing back and forth. Whoever doesn't take the shot curls up and back, while the shooter takes a pass from the corner and you go back 1-on-1 to the other end.

Continuing on with the theme, one D, one back-checker and two forwards. Ready, set, go! Mix it up, take turns, test yourself in each position. That's why it's called practice!

Oops, can't forget the long passes. Cross ice, first round you're skating along the blue, pass across and then curl toward the zone, get the give-n-go, and go go go! Next time through, take off along the boards, curl across along the blue, catch that long pass and bust it for the net.

One end? Lyle's working you on transitions. So many different ways to work on transitions. Going around the end, facing the boards the whole time, switch those feet from forward cross-wise to backwards cross-wise. When you get it going, the rhythm is intoxicating. The hockey equivalent of a runner's high.

Other end? My personal fav! The cross-ice one-on's and two-on's. Beat each other up, then when the whistle blows you skate away completely gassed and grinning from ear to ear. Great way to start the day!

Keep your head up, and your eys on the goal.

Breakfast Club Session II with Kirk

Great skate today, due to my schedule I couldn't skate on my normal Wednesday so I skated Thursday at the Dearborn Ice Skating Center, a nice rink. Hey Scottie O, no I didn't sleep in you big ......... Sorry folks to clean the dirty laundry in public. A smaller class, 11 good skaters, yes Laura including one woman. I recognized a few guys from a few years ago when I skated at a class there. Coach Joe does the class solo. He keeps it moving and nobody was complaining about ice time. A few winded players at times, including myself.

Started off with full ice crossover drills while receiving passes and then shooting on goal. How often does this happen in a game situation? Safe to say alot. Looking back at my several distinguished pro years of BC Warrior experience when I first started these types of drills I was happy just to maintain my speed. Today Joe was stressing acceleration in the turn: quick feet, knee bend, shoulder turn, GET ON THAT EDGE KIRK (yes I heard Lyle's voice reminding me of that), and pushing off with the toe. You get this technique clicking and you'll have some moves to shake off defenders and fly into the offensive zone. We all know speed is a great weapon especially while in a turn. Isn't that a demotivator when you get smoked by a player cranking up the speed. Oh, do you have a strong side? Mine is turning left. Now practice going the other way.

We changed it up and had some two player quick passing in around the net for a scoring chance. Stressing today the quick release. We know that we will rarely have enough time to make a perfect shot so practicing a quick quality shot even on the off foot will pad our scoring stats. Talk to me baby. I think I had a quality shot on goal less than half the time and that was with no defenders. So with defenders, you get the picture. The goal scorers probably shoot about 75-80% quality shots in those situations. I pulled that stat out of my .....ear.

Overall, a great skate. To my fellow Wednesday brothers and sisters, I actually did not cause any serious drill disruption today. It makes a big difference when the other players don't know me well enough to chirp at me yet. Notice no verbal slashes on my teammates or Joe today, I can't even make up stuff on these guys. They are squeaky clean unlike some of the Wednesday convicts I hang with. I feel incomplete without drying someone out.

I would encourage you folks to try another day, to skate with other players and hear another coach describe technique and tactics it can give another perspective that can hit home. Good skate today Joe.

Lyle you may need to get a large Timmy Horton's next week there is too much nicey nice stuff going on around here. I'm storing up double trouble for next week. Okay speak up, Scottie, Donnie, Todd, Matt, Tom, Ronnie, Jeff, Mike, who sat in my spot on Wednesday, show a little respect for the veteran players. Kirk out.

Breakfast Club Session II with Kirk

Is this my first write up this session? I think so. Fourth session of the winter class and things are moving along just fine, good line up of players and the coaching staff is always ......adequate. I'M JOKING LYLE, you and Scottie are the best.

I did think the earth stopped spinning on it's axis today. During the skating drills facilitated by the Great One and Only, aka Lyle, I heard loud noises coming from his mouth directed at me. No news here, I thought it was my daily dose of "coaching". Well as it turned out he said "Good Job Kirk". I fell to the ice in the fetal position and started to cry (not really). Wait a minute, time out class, did everyone hear that, Lyle said "Good job Kirk". These are new words spoken by Lyle, after all it is Ash Wednesday today. Am I setting myself up for some major abuse next week, maybe but I ready for it......... I think...........I'm feeling a sickness coming on maybe I shouldn't skate next week.

How 'bout the skating and shooting drill with Scottie today? Looked pretty simple and probably happens a lot in a game situation. But wow, a little off balance on your skates, puck not received exactly where you want it or taking an awkward shot was causing a bad shot or no shot on net. So, the reason we go to hockey school, the game isn't going to be played to all your strengths. We need to practice pushing ourselves into the uncomfortable zones so we can still make a good play when the situation isn't perfect. That's the way it is in Kirk's world today.

Two final words, Scottie O was voted teacher's pet today for being selected by the Coaching Staff to demonstrate his outside edge skating to the class, because he's soooooooooo good at it, blah, blah, blah, you suck up Scottie. Plus, I'm jealous. There's a Ronnie Sandler alert out, has anyone seen him? Kirk out.

Breakfast Club Session II with Laura

Yeah, the girl is taking a turn out of place. Line jumper! This Breakfast Club Blog entry has nothing to do with what will happen on the ice this week, though. It has everything to do with a larger issue that has been gnawing at me, and so an out-of-turn placement seemed appropriate.

The other weekend, my son rented the movie "Gracie". For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's about a high-school girl in the late 70's who wanted to play for the varsity soccer team. Since there weren't any "girls" teams, she has to fight the system, as well as her mom's and dad's and brother's and friend's preconceptions about what a girl is "allowed" to do. Suffice it to say that I was a high school-aged girl in the late 70's, that my son looked at me in amazement when I told him the movie was true, and we'll leave it at that.

Watch what gets said in front of your daughter (and in front of other people's daughters) about what girls "should" and "shouldn't" be "allowed to do". Evil thrives where good people fail to object to it. Letting the neanderthal's comment stand unchallenged is nearly as bad as joining in. I know I can count on you in this effort, because you have shown over these oh-so-many months that hockey is just hockey.