I have gone to some awesome NHL games. Last season when the Philadelphia Flyers came to Florida, I was lucky enough to have tickets on the glass behind the Flyers bench. Close enough to see Danny Briere in action, it was so awesome! I also was sitting next to some crazy Flyers fans, although I had on my Jr. Panthers jersey … I am still a BIG Flyers fan (being born in Philly and all). It is games like this that make hockey players like myself dream big!
Posts Tagged ‘Youth Hockey’
Listen to the NHL San Jose Sharks Skating & Skills Coach Graeme Townshend explain the importance of working on skating skills when you are young. Graeme says “skating is to hockey as putting is to golf”. Tiger Woods spends time perfecting his putt; hockey players need to take time perfecting the art of skating!
In a nutshell; this Coach sums up the importance of not neglecting your skating skills! I attend a couple of power skating sessions a week. I can tell you from my experience that power skating class, in addition to your regular team practices, really does pay off.
Jeremy Roenick is my favorite NHL player. He is also my hero. This past year he became the third American born player to score 500 goals.
Jeremy is a leader and the hardest working player on the ice. He is a play maker and a scorer.
I wear Roenick’s number 27 on my Saints and Jr. Coyotes teams.
I met Jeremy a few times. I was so happy when he signed with the Sharks last season. My Mom and I watched almost every Sharks game last season.
Jeremy is from Worcester MA. I lived in Worcester before moving to Arizona in 2004.
I am back skating at Polar Ice on Tuesday nights. I started Power Skating weekly at the Polar Ice rink in Chandler when I was four. I went almost every week for three years (I went to Florida for a year). Holly Harrington is now the Power Skating Instructor. She is tough but she is one on the best in the Valley. My first Travel Hockey Coach from the Polar Bears, Tim Hedquist told me when I first started playing hockey that if I wanted to be a great hockey player, I needed to be a great skater first.
I tell new players that are just starting out and want to play travel, they really need to work on skating in addition to regular practice. The best place to become a better skater is at a weekly power skating class.
Here is some video from Holly’s Power Skating Class last night
Since returning to Arizona from Florida a couple of months ago; I have been taking lessons with Brock Ballard. Brock has been an instructor for the Robby Glantz International Power Skating School for the past ten years. He is awesome! You can read about Brock here. Today we worked on Power Skating, Hockey Stops, Stick Handling and Wrist Shots.
Oh by the way … today’s my birthday today too! I just turned 8! I will be celebrating with my Squirt House Team the Saints tonight after practice we will enjoy pizza & cake! It feels good to be 8 … what better way to celebrate than being on the ice twice.
My Jr. Coyotes team got a chance to have power skating session with the Phoenix Coyotes Power Skating Coach Mark Ciaccio last week. My Mom took some footage so I could share it here. I am the player in the red jersey. At the end of class, my coach let us scrimmage against each other. We still look a little shaky, but we just formed our new team last month. We have a long season ahead of us. Regular practice starts in August.
