when we arrived it was a very light turnout, and I was the only coach. The kids asked about dryland. Huh? You know, pre-game exercises, running-hopping-stretching through the stands and around the rink to get the body ready. Uh, OK, sure. I'd seen national teams do this at rinks around the world, who was I to object? So I led a half dozen sleepy but happy young pucksters the length of the rink, doing deep bended long steps with our hands behind our heads. We got to the far end of the rink and I found something I'd never seen before, a hockey equivalent to a batting cage. A linoleum-type shooting surface, a hafe sized net, all totally enclosed by firm netting. It was a "shooting cage"! Tom was off like a shot, running back for the sticks of his two favorite teammates (and himself, of course). I notcied a sign, "$10 for 20 Minutes, Cheaper Than a Batting Cage." Hmmm...good idea, overpriced, kind of a rip-off, but kind of a good idea. Tom arrived with the sticks and a ton of enthusiasm, even after digesting the sign's information. "No one's here, let's just shoot until they kick us off!" This was exactly what I would have done at his age, in fact, this is what I would have done if I was on my own right now, today. But as a coach, or teacher, or parent or any role with similar responsibility for establishing some kind of moral code, I nixed it. Kids survived, and the coach had reinforced a boundary that might have made them feel more secure somehow, maybe, maybe not. That's waht some experts say.
Back to the dressing room. A now growing number of players, but still no coaches. I was girding my loins for going it alone, with no whiteboard, hell, not even a working roster. I did know most of the names, slightly more than half, but it was a start. I wanted to get the kids broken up into lines, and truthfully, get Tom and Jaden together. Jaden's buddy from last year's travel hockey, James, was there, so I quickly established them as a line. Jaden had his smile beaming again, surrounded by pals he knew. I was hoping this would stick, keep Tom from being odd man out again.
A few minutes later, in the midst of 11 year old potty humor stemming from a plumbing leak (fresh water) in the bathroom, Team manager Kevin arrived with his son and his briefcase. He's awesome with details: getting scoresheets to officials, posting parents on travel logistics, collecting birth certficactes, the whole thing. He has also gravitated to the coaching void, filling the verbal holes and doing a lot of drawing on his mini white board. Seems to know what he's talking about, but might drone on a tad longer than I would prefer if I was a player, but he's pretty useful in the current coaching configuration. Boss coach Steve would miss our 2nd of two games to date. Kevin and I were becoming the fixtures.
I mentioned to Kevin that I had set up a particular line, and he politely shifted them up, sliding Tom to the first line, with James, because we weren't sure of the status of Alex, the Polish speedster with NHL aspirations. Cool for Tom I thought, though Alex is pretty important offensive contributor to this club. I would be in charge of defense, and we had an odd number (5) which presents a little required calculus that I could handle if I got every D on board. It would require some time with them together, so I stopped worrying about Tom.
Alex arrived on cue, and I feared Tom would be odd man out, but I had my own chore setting up the D. Kevin was busy with laces and scoresheets when warmups began, so I got the club skating and then drilling, and warming up the goalie. I wasn't prepared for it (not a great sign) but it wasn't terribly challenging, and the kids were in a routine, getting blood to their muscles, getting puck touches. It was a handsome rink, the ice was hard, you could hear the fans, we had a ref, timekeeper, visible elctronic scoreboard and brightly colored uniforms, the smashing blood-red Jr. Devils away uniforms. This was a nice hockey life. As long as the kids were into it and the parents thought the children were benfitting from these games, this coaching life didn't suck.
Down the bench, working with the D, I realized Tom was out for the second shift, a fixture with Jaden on the second line. Super! He was moving well, and making a useful play. That would be the theme of this morning's game. About 80% of the time he was in proper position, and he was making plays. Very cool.
We dominated the scoring chances, but not the scoreboard. Alex had glorius chances generated from his flashy skating and drive, he reminds me a bit of a European young Jeremy Roenick. Tom got a breakway, which a year ago was money in the bank for a goal. But his high shots dont freak out the larger pee-wee goalies, and he got stoned again. But he had his wheels going and was into the battle. Very entertaining for pops, who was very involved with juggling 5 d, and exchanging feedback after every shift.
Personally, I'm a micro, not a macro guy. I struggle at times with the big picture in various walks of life, I prefer digging deep into simple chores, like running 5 defensemen on a more personal level. We'll see if that does or doesn't serve the needs of the NJ Jr Devils organization. On this day, it was working. The individual relationships with my guys were growing. Kevin was ripping Lane, more of a football type of player who got burned one-on-one for a goal. I reminded him that it had been a successful shift prior to the breakdown, and that we work on his checking as the season moved on. the goal allowed the Aspenites to tie up the game, which was now the trend. Twice we had leads, twice they came back to tie it.
Midway through the third period, Tom collects the puck in the offensive zone above the circle on his off wing. "I like to do my taps (stickhandling), get some speed with my head up," said Tom later, recalling the play. I watched it unfold, thinking he was probably tough to play against. Because of his stickhandling, speed and having his head up, the D had to back in. Rather than shoot, Tom fed his bro Jaden. Jaden got the puck behind him, which was perfect shooting position bdecause he was on his off wing. Tom's hero burried it, and we had the lead once again.
Jaden came to the bench in euphoria, high-fiving anything and everything in black and red. When he got to me I just had to remind him to thank the guy who set him up. Tom was in his wake and Jaden turned to find him. A super hockey hug between feeder and finisher. Good stuff.
Aspen killed the buzz with ANOTHER tying goal :30 seconds later, and the drama would play out the end. Devils sniped late, Tom and Jaden's third linemate, a lesser skating but hilariously goofy winger Brian got the empty netter, and our guys won 5-3. Coach Kevin gave a lengthy speech about periods of sloppy play, but in my micro world of parenting and coaching my D, life was pretty good. I spoke to all the players individually, shmoozed parents, and headed out into the glorious sunshine. Before leaving, I saw Jaden's dad, who truth be told had reservations about committing to the Junior Devils because of uncertainty at coach and whether Jaden would have decent linemates. He was unquestionable pleased leaving the rink, describing the assist in glowing terms, loving the fact that that the pass was slightly behind him for the one-timer. Smiles all around; you gotta love helpers.
Tom had skated hard, gotten several chances, been responsible defensively including some rink-length backchecking to break up good chances. He needs to refine his breakaway repertoire, and adjust his positioning in front of the net, and he might just become a force out there. He has some linemate-love blooming, the season prognosis is quite promising right now. The stress of his baseball dilemma was long-forgotten. He called his Mom with the result and she was delighted. We called later about the baseball result, and they were victims of the slaughter rule, 15-0. We went to the baseball coach's home later and hung out talking sports, watching FB and sharing dinner. No relationship suffered there.
Another hockey game in 24 hours. The season is starting to role on. Calendar still says summer.
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