This article features thoughts from Roger Grillo (NE ADM Manager) regarding best practices for coaches.
Reading and learning are great ways to pass these difficult times. Right now coaches can gain knowledge by completing their Online Modules and get a head start on the upcoming season. You can also go online to complete your USA Hockey Member Registration for the 2021-22 season.
Click here to go to Online Age Module
Click here for Membership Registration
Click here to go to coaching certification information
*****Also check out USA Hockey's YouTube Channel for lots of information and recent "Coaching Webinar Series" under videos.
HECC’S POLICY ON WORN OFF EXPIRATION DATES ON HOCKEY HELMET LABELS 2016 TO 2017
The Hockey Equipment Certification Council (HECC) provides labels signifying HECC Certification to manufacturers of approved helmets and other equipment. The expiration date of the label is 6.5 years after the date of manufacture. Also on the outside rear of helmets are CSA labels with the year of manufacture on them. The manufacturers also provide a date of assembly/manufacture inside the helmet.
HECC has been working with its validator, Intertek, to create a more durable sticker which will hold up against substantial wear and abuse. We expect a new, more durable label to be rolled out in 2017.
HECC has received some complaints this Fall that the expiration date on the HECC Label had become illegible for coaches, referees and league officials. In order to preserve the integrity of the HECC sticker, HECC cannot provide replacement labels. Some of these helmets show clear signs of abuse or misuse such was washing and drying in dishwasher or laundry machine.
Helmets are expensive and consumers have asked if there is a way to deal with the issue of damaged labels.
HECC is therefore temporarily adopting the following policy on worn labels for 2016 and 2017:
THIS POLICY APPLIES ONLY IF THE HELMET DOES NOT APPEAR DAMAGED AND ONLY IN THE INSTANCE WHERE THE EXPIRATION DATE ON THE HECC LABEL IS ILLEGIBLE. This does not apply if the HECC label is removed, totally illegible or missing. If the label is removed, totally illegible or missing, the helmet is no longer HECC Certified. .
However if the helmet:
1. 2. 3.
Then the League Officials may allow the player to use the helmet if the manufacturing date on the CSA label or in the helmet is less than 7 years from the date of play. If neither the CSA Sticker date nor the manufacturer’s date inside the helmet is legible, then the helmet is no longer HECC Certified.
Does not appear to be damaged
Has a HECC LABEL that is identifiable except for the expiration date and
Has a legible manufacturing date on the CSA sticker or from the manufacturer inside the helmet that is less than 7 years from the date of play/date of inspection
This is a must for all coaches coaching in Maine --- All Maine coaches must complete their Screening and SafeSport before they can be placed on a roster!!!!
Please note that the documents regarding coaching guidelines / checklist / and coaching cliff are a general guide for NE coaches and suggest that SafeSport needs to be done before Dec. 31st which does not follow the policy for coaches in Maine. Please refer to the above for coaching in Maine.
I have a public Dropbox folder that has a lot of articles, guidelines, information, etc.
Please go to https://www.dropbox.com/sh/odoilp00b8izpwd/6Z4xoOtwUw to access this folder.
If you are coaching and or working with an 8 & U team please refer to the document regarding our MEAHA policy. All 8 & U players and teams must abide by this policy, in short all 8 & U players and teams will be playing cross- ice games only. 8 & U players can not request to play up a level. 8 year olds can play on extended teams at the end of the season when they are 8.
Based on the success of USA Hockey Skills and Drills for the Complete Player and Coach, USA Hockey is pleased to announce an off-ice companion, Off-Ice Training for the Complete Player and Coach.
USA Hockey, in conjunction with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), has developed a DVD-Rom with over 400 hockey-specific skills and exercises. Each exercise has been designed to improve a player’s strength, conditioning and agility which are crucial to on-ice performance.
Special features for your computer include:
USA Hockey is concerned with locker room activities between minor players, locker room activities between minor players and adult players, adults being alone with individual minor players in locker rooms, and non-official or non-related adults having unsupervised access to minor participants at sanctioned team events.
It is the policy of USA Hockey and USA Hockey InLine that all affiliates, districts, leagues and local hockey programs have at least one responsible adult directly monitoring the locker room during all team events to ensure that only participants (coaches and players), approved team personnel and family members are permitted in the locker room and to supervise the conduct in the locker room. Any individual meetings between a minor participant and a coach in a locker room shall require a responsible adult be with the coach.
Further, responsible adults must personally monitor the locker room environment at all times while participants are present and also make sure the locker room is appropriately secured during times when minor participants are on the ice.
All responsible adults serving as locker room monitors should be gender correct and the co-ed locker room policy must be followed as described in the current USA Hockey Annual Guide. Monitors must be screened and meet all USA Hockey screening standards.
To access USA Hockey's Coaching Resources
To access material related to USA Hockey's American Development Model (ADM)
Jerry York's Tips for a Successful Season
09/30/2014, 5:45pm EDT
Watch Boston College play hockey and there’s a very good chance you’ll be impressed. Head coach Jerry York’s players are incredibly skilled – and he knows how to maintain and improve those skills throughout the season.
Entering the 2014-15 campaign, York stands as college hockey’s all-time winningest coach with 963 victories. He has guided the Eagles to four NCAA national championships (2001, 2008, 2010, 2012) and he also notched a national title behind the Bowling Green bench in 1984.
York offered USA Hockey some insight into his coaching philosophy, season preparation and skill development.
USA Hockey: We stress skill development at the youth hockey levels. Do you still focus on that at BC?
Jerry York: That’s an absolute given. Every day it’s skill work. We have a system of how we want to play hockey, but you can’t play effectively unless your skill level is at the highest level. It’s something that has to be tuned every day – handling the puck, passing the puck, shooting the puck. It’s like soccer. I watch our soccer teams practice. You see so many balls out there and players working on their skills all the time. We have a lot of reps in our practice and use a lot of pucks. We have a lot of puck touches in our practices.
USA Hockey: Do you think it’s easy for coaches to stray away from skill work? Maybe trying to focus more on systems instead?
Jerry York: I think that’s easy to do at all levels. That could happen at my level. You have to constantly remind yourself that the ability to handle pucks and your skills are going to allow you to get better in team systems. I think one of the great things I’ve noticed in USA Hockey’s ADM is that there are more reps because there’s smaller-area games and more players are frequently touching pucks. We do an awful lot of small games during the course of our season. Skill level, to me, is skating also, so we’re constantly working on skating backwards, forwards, pivoting and so on. You can’t have one without the other. You can’t have great skill and no method to play and vice versa.
USA Hockey: How are you and your staff preparing for the season? What do you do to prepare together and get on the same page?
Jerry York: We have Greg Brown, who’s been here for a lengthy period of time. So we’re on the same wavelength on how we want to approach the year. Mike Ayers is now starting his second year with us, so he’s now accustomed to what we call ‘The BC Way.’ I think each year there is some adaptation and there are some tweaks to the system. We’ll discuss that as a staff and I’m certainly open to input from our staff.
USA Hockey: How important is it to utilize and engage with your assistants as the season ramps up?
Jerry York: It’s vital. I think that’s important for youth hockey also. The assistants should feel like they are a part of the whole planning process. Direct involvement from your assistant coaches helps immeasurably.
USA Hockey: Do you still have to make the game fun for your players at the college level?
Jerry York: I think fun is winning at our level. I think if you practice well and practice smart and are creative with your drills and vary your drills, that’s certainly going to help. But at some point during the year, you have to work through the grinds. It might be our sixth practice in seven days or our fourth game in eight nights – and you have to enjoy the grind. Enjoy getting better and working at it.
You talk about September and October, and when you first start, there’s that enthusiasm and excitement from players and coaches. We have to maintain that through November and January and March. I think you have to be conscious of that.
USA Hockey: What’s the most enjoyable and fun part of the game for you?
Jerry York: I enjoy chasing trophies. The team trumps everything in my philosophy of coaching. Everything else is secondary. When you have a team trying to get better and trying to improve their skill level and teammate skills and you’re pursuing team trophies – that’s what I like the best. I like watching the team focus on getting better because we’re going to chase a trophy. The team trumps all. The team trumps individual accolades.