Hey Guys, the below post is from a newsletter by Brett Beebe who runs RAD Hockey out in Southern California. He’s been on the podcast and is genuinely one of the best people in hockey I know. With his permission, I wanted to post it to my site and blast it out on social media as I think it’s an amazing message on hockey and on life. If you love it, you can check more out here:
So you have a kid that wants to play in the NHL… or any other lofty goal in life.
What does it take to get there? Greatness is a choice!
Every year I counsel, or am asked for advice, by dozens if not hundreds of hockey families. And despite my clear lack of time management skills, I usually make the time. Usually the conversation is centered around best practices or next steps for their child’s hockey journey. So I’d like to share some of these thoughts and concepts with you. They apply whether your kid is 6, or playing in the NHL.
The landscape of hockey seems to be changing daily, and some of these changes are drastic. CHL players being allowed to play NCAA hockey; consolidation or expansion of AAA programs; the professionalism of youth sports; hockey academies; the never ending spring and summer tournament opportunities; and the unlimited amount of skill coaches and instagram highlights.
How do you know what to do or what not to do. Or as a mentor of mine likes to say, “how do you separate sense from nonsense?”
Almost every parent I talk to is conversing with me because they want to set their kid up for success, which is great! They want to know which team to play for, which off-season program to utilize, which coaches to train with, and helping navigate through all of the craziness. Those are usually easy answers, and I’m happy to help with them, but often times what I say isn’t what people want to hear. If you’re not familiar with Topher Scott and The Hockey Think Tank, I’d recommend following them on social media. He does a great job talking about this topic.
But what does it take to be great, and how do you get there? Looking back at my own career, I was a very talented youth player. I started ice hockey at 10 years old (after a few years of roller) playing Squirt BB, then peewee BB, then peewee AAA. From my second year of bantam through my 2nd year of midgets I totaled over 400 points, won a national championship with the California Wave, narrowly missed out on being selected to the US National Team Development Program, competed for team USA at the 4 nations tournament, then played 2 years in the USHL, 4 years at Western Michigan University, and 3 years professionally. All of that to say, I had what it took to be good, but I wasn’t willing to do what it took to be great. No one taught me what that difference was. I learned it too late. But now I know, and it’s simple.
The bare minimum to be GOOD. Your child needs to be OBSESSED with hockey (or whatever their major passion is). It doesn’t matter what age that happens. If they’re obsessed, a lot of their development will take care of itself. What does a healthy obsession look like? Shooting pucks and stick handling every day, choosing to watch hockey games over scrolling on instagram, and just being a general rink rat. In non-traditional warm weather hockey markets like California, we don’t have outdoor ice to skate on, and ice time at the local rink comes at a premium price. But you don’t need to spend endless amounts of money on private coaching and lesson times. Invest in a hockey net for your backyard, a bucket of pucks, and a few bottles of wine for your neighbors who will undoubtedly have some shattered windows (or eardrums). Kids need to figure things them out for themselves, a coach correcting them in a drill setting is nice, but if it isn’t understood, then the message is wasted. There’s no better way for a kid to figure out how to shoot the puck, then by 1,000s of reps and figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
The following list are themes that I give to players and players looking to be great.
– Keep it simple consistently:
Do the small things every day. Shoot pucks, stick handle, stretch, prioritize sleep, eat healthy. If you’re not doing those, nothing else will make up for it. That has to be the foundation.
– More does not equal better – Maximize your ice time and training:
If you have limited ice time available, make it count. The expectation for my teams was that players would show up minimum 45 minutes before practice to warm up, stretch, and be ready the second practice started. Some players did it, others did not. I didn’t keep track of it, because it was easy to tell who was ready and who needed 10 minutes of practice to warm up. If a player wasn’t getting the ice time they wanted, I usually asked them about their practice habits and if they were showing up early. If the answer to that was no, then the conversation typically ended. If your player is on the ice at 4 pm, get there a little early, warm up, stick handle, and be ready to go. Once the session is over, stretch or roll out for 5-10 minutes after getting undressed. Do that every day for a whole season and it adds up! If you’re not doing those simple things, you’re not maximizing your ice sessions. I mentioned earlier that I didn’t choose to be great. When I got to juniors, I was on the ice early, but usually didn’t warm up prior; and I would stay on the ice for extra work after, but I wouldn’t roll out and cold tub. I struggled once we got into the middle/end of the season, our best players were always rolling out, taking an ice bath every day, and prioritizing recovery and diet. I didn’t learn that was the difference until I was in college. The best players I played with maximized every single day; they chose to be great…every day! It’s simple, but it’s not easy.
– The fun is in the process:
If hockey is only fun when you win, score goals, or are on the ice with other great players, then you won’t be having much fun. Fall in love with the process of getting better. Outcomes aren’t always directly related to effort and development.
– Block out the noise:
Choose your own path, and ignore what everyone else is doing. Get good advice from true hockey people, come up with a plan, and let everyone else run around like crazy trying to create the next Connor Bedard.
– But what if my situation sucks
The teams is not good, the coach doesn’t teach enough, nobody passes, other teams are doing better than we are. I’ve heard it all. If your coach shows up on time, interacts with the players and cares, then at the bare minimum you have a good coach. The words you use in front of your kids will shape their mindset and effort level. If you complain about anything related to your team or other people, your kid will 10x that both verbally and non-verbally at the rink. Conversely if you speak positively, especially when times are tough, your kids will 10x that.
My dad was my best friend and biggest supporter. I have two vivid youth hockey memories involving my 10x rule. My first tournament playing in Canada, I played on a spring team that was very clearly AAA in name only, we had no idea what real AAA hockey looked like. We lost a game 26-1 to the Northern Alberta All Stars. I scored the first goal of the game before Northern Alberta made an epic comeback and scored 26 straight. I remember the car ride back to the hotel. As soon as I got in the car my dad put on the song, Who Let the Dogs Out, and started singing along to the “Who, Who, Who” part. I went from sulking to singing along with him. When it finished, I had a smile on my face, and all he said to me was something along the lines of “if you really want to be as good as those players, I think you will be.” I left a 26-1 game thinking I could be great.
The second vivid memory of the 10x rule was with the same spring team in our second tournament. We were getting better. My dad was an athlete but not a hockey player, he and another dad coached us in roller hockey when we were starting out, but he didn’t know how to skate, or really any x’s and o’s, so he would go on the rink in shoes and just made sure we had fun. He used to help manage our teams, and this particular game he was on the bench opening the doors. We were playing Honeybaked who ended up winning the peewee national championship that year. We were down 6-0 after the first period. Our coach probably didn’t know what to say because it was my dad who came in the locker room to talk to us between the 1st and 2nd period (they Zamboni’d the ice between all 3 periods in this tournament which in retrospect is crazy). He’s 6’ 6” and is usually very reserved and quiet. But he came in the locker room and got us fired up, the message was, let’s just win one period against these guys. Period 2 starts, we score, they don’t. 6-1. You would have thought we won the Stanley cup. We ended up losing by a couple touchdowns, but every player on our team walked out of the rink like we just won the tournament. We were the only team all weekend to beat Honeybaked in a period. 10x !
And by the way, our terrible spring team of 12 year olds ended up with 2 NHL players and 8 players with NCAA D1 scholarships…
When my dad passed away unexpectedly in April of 2022, I spent weeks and months reflecting on our conversations. Many of which are the themes I’ve outlined above, or lessons I’ve passed on to my players. Control what you can control; avoid negativity; don’t speak ill of others; if what I’m saying does not add value or is not something I’d want said about me then don’t say it; never start a sentence with the words “I heard”; find the good in every person and every situation.
As you navigate your hockey journey, I hope some of these principles and stories help lead you in the right direction. There’s no perfect path, and the grass can seem greener elsewhere. But I believe the grass is always greenest where you water it. Water your own grass.
I’ll leave you with this. When my dad passed, my first thoughts immediately went to hockey but not in the way you might think. It went to the sacrifices he made so I could pursue the sport. But most importantly, I reflected on the endless hours spent talking in the car, to cold rinks in the middle of nowhere, to cheap tournament hotels, and eating at restaurants in towns whose names I couldn’t pronounce. If all of this money, time, and effort in the sport gives you nothing else, I promise it’s buying you time with your kids that you wouldn’t otherwise have, and I hope you make the most of that!
Thank you for being part of the RAD Family. If I can ever be a resource for you or your family, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I look forward to keeping you updated with camps and events we’ll be having in the near future!
If you’d like to listen to Brett’s episode on The Hockey Think Tank Podcast, you can check it out here or anywhere you get your podcasts.
