The Coach's Road

In this episode we talk with Scott Moser, Associate Head Coach with UVM Catamounts Hockey in NCAA Division I. We chat about how Scott got started in coaching and how coaching golf helped his coaching in hockey. We also dive into the major lessons Scott has picked up from other coaches and positions in his career and how he coaches at UVM. Thanks Scott for a great conversation! Thanks for listening...

This episode features a great conversation with Derek Army, Head Coach of the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL. With Derek we talk about the USA Hockey Player Development Camps, what the ECHL is and the opportunity it presents players and coaches. We then also talk about recruiting and buy in, self-development, and the influence his father, also a coach, had on him! Enjoy! We have begun to focus more...

This conversation features Joe Bonnett and Dave Caruso, two pieces of the coaching staff for Team USA’s Ice Hockey Team in the 2024 Youth Olympic Games! We have a great conversation around the games and learning from and carrying on the success of USA Hockey at the World Juniors and Women’s U18 World Championships. We also talk about their guiding mantra of People over Pucks and how that has helpe...

This episode features a great conversation with Thomas Koulentes and Stan Bowman about a core value process that goes beyond selecting a set of words. They talk through their experience of the process that Thomas took the Chicago Blackhawks Management team through and how he encouraged them to own the values they created. We also discuss about the Guardians of a Championship Culture workshop they...

This conversation features Professor Cliff Mallett from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. With Prof. Mallett we talk about the recent serial winning coaches study, what they learned about serial winning coaches, and how we can apply their learnings in our coaching. A big part of the study and our conversation is about striving, surviving, and thriving as a coach. We have begun t...

This episode features Pyry Lukkarila, Head of Coach Development for the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. We explore the coach development system in Finland Ice Hockey and the crucial skills needed to be a coach developer. We also touch on how Pyry got interested in coach development and the aspects of the field that excite him in his work.  We have begun to focus more on creating quality episodes w...

This episode features David Min, Player Development Coach for the Kraken Youth Hockey Association. We speak with David about his story in hockey and coaching. This includes the impact hockey had on him coming from South Korea to North America at 5 years old. We also talk about how he got into coaching and a bit on how his experiences in the game shaped his coaching and the things he finds importan...

This week we have our yearly reflection on our previous season. Last year Rick was with Frisk Asker and Holmen Hockey and he tells us about his experience and learnings spending time there. Derek was at Jar Idrettslag and, same as Rick, shares his experiences and learnings. Some similarities from working in the same country and culture but some differences given the two different environments! Alw...

In this episode we speak for a second time with Markus Åkerblom, now the Head Coach for HC Thurgau in the Swiss League. The first time Markus joined us he was the Assistant Coach for the Swedish National Team and so we speak to him about why he sought out the challenge of coaching in Switzerland, his experience at the Olympic Games in 2022, and how he has had to adjust to the change in culture and...

This episode is a great conversation with Espen Sæther, development consultant for the Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation. We spend time talking about his background and values, the importance of letting go a bit of control as a coach, the importance of winning and losing, and how to measure success. The Coach’s Road Podcast is proud to be presented by CoachTools, a tool to improve coaching and power...

This week we chat with Kalle Valiaho, the IIHF’s Development Director. We take on a global perspective and talk about how the IIHF is supporting the development of the game of hockey through work and support towards federations. It is a great chat that really shows development from a big picture! The Coach’s Road Podcast is proud to be presented by CoachTools, a tool to improve coaching and power...

This episode features Martin Fossli, Norway’s U16 boy’s National Team Head Coach and Head Coach of Frisk Asker U18/NTG! We talk with Martin about the impacts of his teacher education on his coaching, developing confidence as a coach, the environment in NTG and the National Team Programs. We also talk about how he is restructuring the NTG program in his first year there and implementing changes fro...

This episode features Branislav Bendik, Head of Coaching in Banska Bystrica in Slovakia. You may remember Brani from our 7th ever episode, the skill development round table. We now talk with Brani about his work in the club, how he is developing a coaching culture, and the development of their players! It was great to catch up with Brani and hear all the ideas he is implementing in Slovakia! The C...

This episode feature Sports Psychologist, Johan Fallby, from Sweden. With Johan we chat about the nuances of creating a sound and challenging environment, how self-determination is needed to make it to the top, and how how to build internal drive. Then we talk about the role of parents in the process of developing young athletes and how we can involve parents in a positive way. The Coach’s Road Po...

This week we have a catch up episode with Derek and Rick. We chat about our starts in Norway and our new positions and the opportunities they give us. We also chat about what is important for us going into this season and what our plans for the season are. Finally we chat a bit about how we are trying to build up hockey sense in our players. The Coach’s Road Podcast is proud to be presented by Coa...

This episode is a chat with Adam Truhlar, Sport Psychologist and Author of Fearless: Rewiring the Brain of Young Athletes. In his book, Adam goes through the mental development model that starts with building the motivation of the young athlete and how to follow through to help the athlete have success throughout their career. We also talk a bit about his next book Adaptive, written for young athl...

This week’s episode, we talk with Kyle Williams, the Chief Empowerment Officer for A Long Talk. A Long Talk is an organization with the goal of putting an Antiracist at every dinner table in America and to educate to end hate. With Kyle we talk about the experiences that lead to the beginnings of the organization and how we can become more antiracist in our actions. This is an important conversati...

This week on the show we chat with Cory Schneider, Assistant Coach at Clarkson University in New York. We chat about how his pathway as a coach helped prepare him for the role he currently has with Clarkson. Specifically how he has been able to learn from some great coaches on how to scout and recruit players for your team. The Coach’s Road Podcast is proud to be presented by CoachTools, a tool to...

SORRY WE ARE LATE! This time on the Coach’s Road Podcast we have our first conference room breakdown with Quintin Bollue, Jar Idrettslag’s Hockey Director in Norway. These episodes will come around time to time and will just be conversations in the conference room with coworkers, coaches, and other people around Norway! Fun chat today with Q and hope everyone enjoys! The Coach’s Road Podcast is pr...

This week we chat with Dakota Keene, Coordinator of Hockey Operations with the American Hockey League (AHL). Dakota has the ambition to become a General Manager within ice hockey and we chat about that role and his plan to get there. Than we shift to talk a bit about his current role with the AHL and player safety. The Coach’s Road Podcast is proud to be presented by CoachTools, a tool to improve...

In this episode we talk with Steve Thompson, USA Hockey’s Regional Manager for Goaltending Development. We chat about the requirements for goaltending, how coaches with no background in goalies can help their goalies, and how to develop goalies. We also get into ice time, bench activities and a lot of other tips for helping out goalies! The Coach’s Road Podcast is proud to be presented by CoachToo...

This week we celebrate our 100th episode with a special episode with Aku Nieminen and the DP19 class! Aku answers questions about his career and gives advice to the DP19s as they start their own! We have some great questions from the DP19 students about being let go, leadership, balancing family and work, skills needed, and more! We are very grateful to have been able to make 100 episodes of The C...

In this episode we speak with Reko Luojumäki, lecturer at University of Jyväskylä here in Finland. Reko shares with us his knowledge about psychobiosocial states and how they relate to sports. We talk about how functional and dysfunctional states impact performance and how they differ for each individual. We also chat about what things we can do as coaches to help athletes identify their functiona...

This week we have a reflective chat about this last season with the Junior Pelicans. We chat about what went well, what we learned, what we can improve and what our favorite memories are from the year. It is always nice to chat about the season once it is over and we hope everyone enjoys the episode! The Coach’s Road Podcast is proud to be presented by CoachTools, a tool to improve coaching and po...

This week we are joined Vitor Ciampolini, a PhD candidate in Physical Education. We talk with Vitor about how coaches can approach coach education opportunities to take away something for their practice. We then talk about Mille, A Coach Developer from the Brazilian Rugby Federation who Vitor shadowed. Through Mille’s story we learn about being learner-centered in our facilitation and some of the...