Dallas Ice Jets

“To compete with the best, you must have the skills to be one of the best.”

What makes a player great?
What do all the best hockey players have in common? The answer is “an extremely high level of individual fundamental skills." The two most important skills in ice hockey are skating and puck skills. Without mastering a high degree of skill in both these areas a player will never reach his full potential. Just look at the top players at all levels of hockey from youth to professional. What separates the best players on each team and in each league from the rest of the pack? It's those who can skate better, handle the puck more dynamically and take superior shots.

When watching highlights on television of the NHL, what most often captures viewers’ attention as the greatest and most exciting plays are those that show players exhibiting awesome and unbelievable fakes, moves, dekes and shots at high rates of speed. And the reason these skills are highlighted so often is because they lead to goals and make the game so exciting to watch.

Just look at NHL teams and some of the names here at the forward and defenseman position: Crosby, Ovechkin, Datsyuk, Parise, Kovalchuk, Malkin, Stamkos, Kane, Toews, Heatley, Boyle, Doughty, Lidstrom, Johnson, Niedermayer, and Green. All of these players are recognized as the top in the league because of their high level of individual skill. Yes they possess other intricate qualities that make them top-level players but what these players all have in common is an extremely high degree of fundamental skating and puck control skills. Name one top NHL player who is among the best in the league but can't skate, handle the puck, or shoot well. There is none.

Being part of the play, not just on the team
So why do young athletes choose to play competitive sports? The common answer is because it's fun. But is it really fun for a player when he realizes he is under-skilled and unprepared for the demands of the game? Fun in the sport of hockey like any sport is attained through game performance and knowing you’re part of the play, not just being on the team. Every hockey skill a player wishes to use in a game situation needs to be as available and as simple as running.

Players who are deficient in individual skills often become frustrated and lose interest in playing. They eventually lose their drive because they lose their vision, dreams and hopes of becoming great like their hockey heroes. We believe when given a choice all competitive players want to be a factor in games and to make a difference toward their team’s success rather than merely fill a spot on the roster. The truth is the game is only fun at the competitive levels when you’re good.

Coaches and scouts are aware that if players can skate well, control the puck, pass and shoot, they can be a positive influence for their team during games. But in order to become this skilled player, thousands of correctly done repetitions are required. Even with concentrated effort, it will take some time for these skills to be seen and show up in a game. Eventually skilled players can coordinate with other skilled players making for a fun and exciting game. Much like mastering the scales of music before you play an instrument - then coordinate it with others as in an orchestra. This is true for hockey also.

Combining North American and European training philosophies
The hockey community has learned very quickly, as evidenced by the European and Soviet invasion into the NHL over the last 20 years, that the North American system, or lack thereof, for developing skilled hockey players is immensely inadequate. That being said, we musk ask ourselves the question "how and why have the Europeans been so successful?" The answer is simple but not easy. The coaches in Europe have developed a training system for youth hockey that is centered on individual skill development and emphasizes skating and puck skills first and then builds on those skills to teach concepts and systems.

The success of the European skills development progression training programs can’t be ignored. They have a proven model for skills training. For the last 50 years the Russians and the Europeans have developed and refined the most efficient and effective methods to develop top-level level hockey players. As a result, a significantly higher percentage of players who play and train in the Russian and European systems become highly-skilled players compared to the percentage of players who play and train in North America. Again, look no further than the best hockey league in the world, the NHL, and you will see that European players are consistently among the league leaders in points, awards, draft selections and highlight reels.

In our opinion, the Europeans are not better athletes than North Americans. The Europeans also do not have all the answers when it comes to developing a “complete” hockey player or future “star.” The Canadians and Americans are better at developing players in some areas where European coaches are lacking. But make no mistake about it that when it comes to individual skills training the Europeans have been and still are development leaders. In North America the skill development model is often backwards or sideways. It’s our contention that most coaches don’t “coach to develop skills” because, one, they don’t know how and, two, they don’t have enough practice time with their players. Some coaches will opt to teach some skills but not consistently enough to make a lasting impact on a player’s overall game and others just teach concepts and systems and expect a player to improve by osmosis. It’s even more nonsensical to believe that an athlete can become a highly-skilled player when sometimes the coach teaching the players have little if any significant hockey skill training background or education in the biomechanics of the sport.

Creating measured and noticeable results
We know how self-defeating it can be for athletes to work hard in a training system that doesn’t produce lasting results and personal growth. That’s why we have created our unique and innovative skill training model that is backed by scientific principles and the most current skill building techniques. When players work hard in a proven system that is taught by professional coaches and creates measured and noticeable results, the desire to work hard becomes infectious and success becomes guaranteed. Our skill teaching curriculum eliminates the doubt of whether or not players are training in a smart way and leaves only the question of “How good do they want to be?” totally up to the athlete. It now becomes a question of how hard they are willing to work, how dedicated they are to the sport, and how much they are willing to sacrifice to achieve their goals. The great thing is they're empowered to decide their own destiny. Our Association simply shows athletes the path with no shortcuts, tricks, or gimmicks, just proven scientific skill training principles.

Individual skills development model
At Ice Jets Hockey we believe that by combining the teaching of fundamental skills with the heart, speed, grit, hockey sense and passion of North Americans, a player will become a more complete and better all around player. We agree with the European skill development model and here at our association we have devised  an individual skills training model that combines the best of European training with the best of North American training.

Our individual skills development model is built around the following:

• Professional coaches who have an extensive background in coaching and playing experience and understand the teaching mechanics and exercise science behind skill development.
• A proven science based skill training system to increase the biomechanics of each individual athlete in skating and puck skills. We focus on technique, as it is the quickest, most important method for any player to improve his individual skills.
• Consistent and correct repetitions with more than 400 hours of instructional ice time to build each skill set and maximize individual performance.
• Video analysis on each player’s skills so he can visually and mentally comprehend what he is doing well and what he needs to improve upon.
• Confidence. When players invest countless hours in a skill development training system their abilities grow exponentially and their confidence soars. The learned skills become imbedded in the subconscious memory of the player and his overall game improves.

Reinforcing the importance of fundamentals
Our coaches instruct and drill each player in the following individual skill fundamentals:

• Powerskating. Forward/backward skating, turns, pivots, cross overs, stops, balance, agility, and edge work.
• Overspeed Skating. Increasing and maximizing skating speed with and without the puck using definitive skating patterns and techniques. Pushing players to skate out of their comfort zone to reach new levels of speed.
• Puckhandling. Develop confidence in all puck control movements. Teach short and wide stickhandling movements, fakes, and dekes.
• Passing. Forehand, backhand, flip, saucer, one-touch, drop pass, receiving passes, use of skates to catch passes.
• Shooting. Wristshot, snapshot, slapshot, backhand, one timer, deflections.

Five-step progression plan for skill proficiency
Within the skills mentioned above our coaches use a five-step progression plan for creating maximum development and skill proficiency.

1. Introduce and teach the breakdown of a designated skill in an isolated manner.
2. Have a player apply the same skill adding speed.
3. Direct a player to apply that skill under pressure.
4. Teach the player how to adopt the learned skill in a game situation.
5. The player becomes confident in his ability to execute the skill and uses it more consistently while expanding his use of it and coupling it with other skills.

Improve your skills, improve your game
Hockey is a team game and often at the youth level it is easy to get caught up in the amount of wins a team has during its season as a way to assess individual improvement. Nothing could be further from the truth and inaccurate. Many players participate on successful teams that win but their individual contribution is limited. Most often, if the player is not able to contribute in making plays, creating offensive chances and scoring some goals it is because his individual skills are lacking. Improve your skills, improve your game.

Without a doubt, there are certain individual skills that an athlete must have in order to be a very good player. The player who takes the time to master those skills is the player that has the greatest chance to excel. You need a proven training system to work under in order to see long term and lasting results. The secret to individual skill development is all in the “details.” To compete with the best, you must have the skills to be one of the best.