Youth Hockey Podcast

Randall decides that the idea of cuts should be part of the stands. Cut the parents. Not the kids. Just kidding, but sometimes it seems like kids are best off on their own. Rolly reports on the Californians on the national team. There is some good news. Kids from the coast are scoring and winning medals. Lance talks about the camps that lead to the national program. His kids kept going to the camp...

Lance did not want to leave his home. He talks about how the next generation is just catching up to the experience in his youth. Coach has a lot of suggestions for what kids need when they leave the home. He has great ideas about how to prepare a modern kid for free range roaming. Randall runs into a parent who left the rink two years ago swearing that they would never be back. At tryouts. It is a...

Coach talks about how many players from California are making a splash nationally. Is there a trend? Is there a way to get your kid into that upper echelon? The kids from the west coast are getting opportunities. Lance looks at how his kids started out and sees if he can refine the process for the next group of mighty mites. Randall has a new segment to end the show. IDTA (I was definitely the ass...

The podcast is back! The podcast crew talks about how kids train during the summer. Each member of the team has their favorite activities. From spin class to beach runs. We all have our picks. The ice is melting at the barns around the summer. Some rinks are holding up better than others. Fantasy tender is the name of the game to end the show. Where would you like your kid to get a tender from?

Rolly gets us all ready for summer. It's time to hang up the microphone for a month and get back at it in the fall. He will recharge and be better than before. Randall talks about bubble players and bubble parents. Are there ways to make sure you kid is not on the bubble? Are there parents who you wouldn't mind if they don't make the cut for the next year's team? It's partially...

Coach talks about the update to the Gladwell examination of hockey players in Outliers. There is science to the idea that maturity has a statistical advantage. Lance examines the break between kids who have hit their growth spurts. The scoreboard is merciless. Randall tries to give balance to the idea that kids with late birth months are going to always be disadvantaged. They will have their day o...

Lance talks about the best bantam programs in the nation. He also digs into the SoCal programs. Is there a program that is consistently the best in the region? Are there programs on the rise? Rolly talks about how programs grow and fade back east. He seems to know every program Lance brings up on the list. It's a bit frightening. Randall gets questions about the girls. They have some great pro...

Lance takes a strange stance. He backs the refs in youth hockey. He tries to make the case that they are just doing their job and deserve universal respect and patience for a hard job. Coach modifies this to be a little more in line with the product on the ice. Are they doing the best job possible? Shouldn't we expect the effort to match the level of professionalism they seek to be treated wit...

Randall looks at the So. Cal landscape and decides to zoom in on the club hoppers. Who are they? Why are they hopping? Will they ever be able to just walk to another club rather than jumping? Lance decides that it is often about moving up. Lateral moves are not the way to club hop in his humble opinion. Rolly gets into the stats of how many slots are really open on a given team. The numbers are of...

Rolly brings skating guru Jason Yee onto the program to talk about video feedback, shin angle, Finland, Mckinnon and more. He credits this coach as the best resource in hockey for a young player in his developmental years. Lance asks about the corkscrew. It turns out to be one of the secrets of the game for Yee. Randall knows when he's out of his depth and stays quiet. You heard right. It'...

Randall digs up a hockey league for kids that is totally outdoors. It's the kind of thing that CA kids can't even imagine, but it sounds like the kind of place most of our kids would love. Lance talks about the way hockey without coaching can be the best idea for a kid who has only seen the game as a structured event. Rolly talks about how enthusiasm goes hand in hand with pond hockey. The...

Rolly brings up some of the classic "coach speak" moments from his time with his kids in the sport. He can't believe how long the deceptions can last. Honesty brings confrontation. Is that the right way to do it? Randall takes on the idea of how defensive coaches sometimes put the defense in the spotlight. This means they sometimes want to involve the defense in ways that favor the p...

Lance has a take on how to gauge success in a hockey season. He wants his kids on the ice at the important moments. That's necessary for a good season. Coach agrees and talks about how merit can play against a player in some circumstances. Randall wants his kids to fit onto the team. It's a difficult thing to quantify, but fitting in makes for a good season in his experience. Fairness is a...

Welcome to Laura, our guest host for the week. Laura keeps her sense of humor as she talks about youth hockey. She knows the ins and outs of social media and how hockey seeps into a family dynamic. It's hard to let go of the experience, but she talks about that too. Lance is a big fan. He read her book and loves the way it conveys the hockey landscape to an audience of experts or newbies. Rand...

Rolly builds the best coach possible from his experience. Each layer is painstakingly analyzed in Coach's best practices. He shares his years of experience and judges accordingly. Randall recounts a strange strategy that worked in a tournament. Lance talks about communication with coaches. It can be strained, but it can also be something that elevates the young player. Understanding is key. La...

Randall makes an observation that almost all players who make it to the NCAA share.  He's seen a lot of fast, skilled kids bail out of hockey.  He's never seen kids with this attribute get drummed out of the sport. Lance talks about the idea that concussions lead to more concussions.  What evidence is there? Rolly takes a nasty swipe at Randall, then makes an excellent point about n...

Randall gets into the idea of goals being disallowed.  Is there a mathematic theory that can explain the way they are called? Lance talks about great trainers who have small character issues. Coach talks about how performance is not always recognized by those in charge of picking youth hockey teams.  The people who are on great teams are still often not getting their kid developed.

Randall is about to take a trip on Spirit Airlines.  It was fun knowing all of you. Lance talks tournament schedules that can't get out the details until the ten minutes before the puck drops.  How can a person plan a weekend when there is no schedule of games?  Come on tournament people. Rolly has some shocking stats on point distribution among teams in So. Cal.  It won't shoc...

Randall looks at jumping levels as a double-edged sword.   It can really damage the social group around a talented kid.  It's great if it works, but there are stories where the kid gets punished for moving up without his friends. Rolly talks about the way the locker room can move against a younger player if there isn't careful monitoring and adjustment by all of  those involved...

Lance shatters all records and decides to talk turkey.  Also juice boxes.  Randy uses snack to clear his pantry.   YHP has the best week ever.  There are 1000 people listening weekly.  It's a privilege and honor to get the chance to talk to the hockey community this way.  Thanks. The podcast ends with a playful round of Kings or Ducks (which team is leading in each AA...

What do people do at this point of the season to set themselves up for the next?  Stories of skating with the next coach while still on the old team. How does the transition to prep school work out best?  What did Lance go through when his kids were going to Minnesota. Is it good to build a team?  There are mistakes that can be made and friendships are tested.  Strained. And so...

Lance talks about what he would have done differently in his hockey journey.  Randall and Dave get into a brawl.  Dave wins easily but Randall lands some haymakers (unfortunately they landed on Lance). Randall sees the landscape of hockey at the end of the season.  What are some of the things you have to do to get ready to move on to the next year that start at the end of this year....

Randall tees up hotel stories from travel hockey.  There are some details that should be left on the road.  Or on a podcast. Lance has two stories that each have police arriving at the end. Rolly smells the stench of cattle as he pulls up to the team hotel.  How did the weekend go?  He can't remember.

Randall talks about building lines.  What kind of players naturally complement each other?  Is there a recipe for the best combination? Lance talks about some line woes of the past.  Where did he make mistakes with his top-tier sons? Rolly talks chemistry.  It's not about player types, it's about how any three kids blend and get coached.

Randall talks to a hockey mom who has a kid who leads the league.  She was very angry that he hadn't scored for three games.   Rolly talks about blowouts.  He thinks they might not be as bad as some parents make them out to be.  The idea of parity is not every going to work out well, so let the kids play. Lance remembers a AAA story about a losing team.  He dodged a slappe...