Tryouts: Putting your best skate forward

Let’s face it. Tryouts and evaluations aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. I went to the doctor for my annual check up and could not help the anxiety I was feeling while I awaited the doctors arrival. “What’s he gonna say about my weight? Are my eyes really getting that bad? Should I ask about that pain in my knee?” That’s from someone there to help me, in a 1 on 1 situation. Imagine the mind trap when being compared to the masses? Not fun at all. Unless you are one of the few people I know that thrives in these sorts of situations, this can be a very tough thing to negotiate. So I am here today to discuss some things that go into hockey evaluations and what you can do to position yourself to have the best tryout possible. Hopefully, even look forward to the process.

I have the privilege to be a coach of the U10 Jr Steelheads. This will be my fourth season coaching at this level and I will probably be here until my youngest son, Cash, graduates from this age group. I absolutely love this level of hockey. This is the “golden age” of hockey player development as described by USA Hockey for players 9-12. One of the my favorite features of this age is how quickly these players improve through proper developmental curriculums, volume of training and solid foundational coaching. Hockey Canada has a really good illustration of what age appropriate teaching should look like for this age and the progressions moving upward.

 Using tools like this and all the great information provided by USA Hockey, we are able to get our players on track to enjoy a lifelong enjoyment of the game.

That's great! So where do we tryout?

Glad you asked. That was my next point of coverage before providing you with some things to think about before deciding to try out. 

The Idaho Junior Steelheads are the Treasure Valley’s most prominent travel program. With divisions starting at U10 and running all the way to U18, it’s the most comprehensive travel program in the area. Most age divisions field an A and a B team depending on numbers and quality of the team. Additional information for the Jr Steelheads tryout process can be found at www.jrsteelheads.com The cost to tryout for the Junior Steelheads is $60 and that includes 4 ice times. For the U10 level I will be coaching this season, the dates of tryouts are:

All ice time for Junior Steelheads tryouts will take place at Idaho Ice World. We understand that families take holidays and may be out of town during one or more of these times. Please speak to the coach of your age group to get more information or to make arrangements if you will be absent.

Here are some helpful tips that I hope give you guidance before deciding if travel hockey is right for you.

Cost:  One of the biggest things that we speak about at our parents meeting during tryouts is cost to play travel hockey and the associated costs of playing travel hockey. Our goal is to play 7-9 tournaments a season. Last season, we played 6 in Idaho (Boise, Salmon, Idaho Falls, Sun Valley, Teton & McCall) and 3 out of state tournaments in Utah (2) and Wyoming (1). On the horizon this year is possible trips into Washington State and Oregon. A staple of our belief system is to not spend parents' money just to go to exotic tournaments. We don’t feel it’s beneficial to the player nor do we get the return on investment in spending that money. Our goal is to be the best team in the state. To accomplish that, we must be able to beat all the teams in our state at U10 before going outside state lines looking for competition. Other things to consider: uniforms & track suit costs, travel & lodging on trips, food and other incidentals. An average bill for a player in this age group last season was $5,000-$6,000. Something to consider and plan for. 

Preparation: My father taught me the 5P method (Proper Preparation Promotes Positive Performance) at a young age. Always be thinking of things you can do before hand to give yourself the best opportunities to succeed come tryouts. For instance, not the time to break in new skates or try out gear you have never worn. These things should be done before tryouts so that you are going into these 4 skates ready to make the team. Have your skates sharpened beforehand and maybe try to attend a couple ice times before suiting up for tryouts as well. This will give you the best opportunity to make the team. Whatever you can do before the first skate to give yourself a competitive advantage, do it. Remember, at the U10 travel level, we play full ice hockey with black pucks. So perhaps getting reps in with those beforehand can help. The goal is to walk into the rink under zero pressure. Show up and leave it all on the ice.

Evaluation process: I like to be as transparent as possible within these situations. Number 1.) I like parents to know how we do things. Number 2.) I like to be able to explain why your player may or may not have made the team. Number 3.) I want to set the table for the standards we will employ over the season. A lot of sports have tryouts and you never really know what criteria is being evaluated. I want to be clear as a bell on how we present our tryouts because we want everyone to have an equal opportunity to make the team. It’s not like, “they have 13 returning players so there is only 3 spots open.”  Our U10 group does not operate that way and won’t as long as I am around. We aim for the fairest tryouts we can. If you play well, you deserve to make the team. Everything will be earned. The players that make our team will play every position. If your child "only plays center" or "doesn’t want to play defense," this could be a problem for you and your child. We play our kids in every position to develop them as hockey players. To develop players we need to develop the skills that make good players and allow them to milk every minute out of this "golden age." We subscribe to USA Hockey's Long Term Athlete Development Plan. Below is an evaluation sheet I created when I used to scout & evaluate players at higher levels. We use a variation of this at our Jr Steelheads tryouts now.

This may be a little direct to some but this is what it comes down to most of the time. When coaches sit and discuss players, these are topics they speak about when picking their teams. This template has served me well in my travels and produced quality, competitive teams. Every coach has some template they use in their evaluations. Ask the coach you are trying out for if you can see theirs. The good coaches want you to know what they are looking for. It shouldn't be a secret. It's good to know what questions you will see on the test right?

At the U10 level, there are six major skills we evaluate. Then a 7th that our coaching staff pays particular attention to. Here is where to find them for every age group in hockey. The ones we look for are:

Skating- how well the player moves on the ice. Assessing the ABC’s of skating (agility, balance, coordination) Forwards, backwards, transitions and Mohawks. Their overall proficiency on their blades.

Puck handling- how well the player moves with puck on their stick. Can they keep the puck on their stick (puck possession) during competitive situations and changes in direction? How fast can they move while handling the biscuit? It's easier to win when you have possession of the puck, so this is important.

Passing & receiving- the level at which the player can give and receive passes. Utilization of teammates and “supporting” puck are concepts that mature at this age. Use of forehand and backhand sides of stick. Learning to "give and go" and finding the open player/open ice are starting to take shape.

Shooting- how well player shoots with a black puck? Do they hit the net? Can they elevate the puck? Velocity in which they shoot comparable to age and other players? Proficiency at forehand and backhand shooting are things we evaluate.

Competitive contact- utilization of body control in defensive situations. Angling, stick on puck & stick lifting skills are taught and honed. Teaching and progressions of shoulder to shoulder contact begins to lead player down path to ensure they are responsible for their body as they mature to hitting hockey.

Goaltending- this is a hard one at this age because this may be a participants first foray into the position. If this is something that interests you on a full/part time basis, speak to your coach. Our philosophy, following USA Hockey’s recommendation, is if we have 2 players that want to play in net, we split games 50/50 or alternate games. When a player is not tending the net, they are skating out to continue their development as a “hockey player.” Position specialization is not recommended at U10.

*Hockey IQ- In a nut shell, this is how a player sees, interprets & executes the game of hockey. Playing similar sports like soccer or basketball where similar concepts are taught aid players in navigating this game. Playing Small Area Games (SAG) is how we evaluate and develop this skill. SAG's create infinite, unscripted opportunities to read and react to game like situations. By doing this, we build a database of experience to aid the player in their decision making, allowing them to execute in real games.

Skating is far and away the most important at every level. As you get older, it propels you further if you skate well and acts like an anchor if you can’t skate. The better you skate, the farther you will go in this game. This article by USA Hockey’s Bob Mancini illustrates why this age group is so primed for development and why this time in their hockey journey is “truly the beginning of their most important window for skill acquisition.”

Manage expectations: If your player has one bad ice time or one bad shift, this is NOT the end of the world. Players do not get picked because of one drill. The body of work is much more important than a single session. I used to laugh when I would hear from a parent in a tryout situation

Me-"How are tryouts going?”

Them-“Great! Couldn’t be better. (Insert name) has scored so many goals in this game!”

Me-“Fantastic! How is (insert name) doing in the rest of the practices?”

Them- “What does it matter? Didn’t  you hear how many goals they scored in this game?!”

This right here is a common misconception. That scoring a bunch in practice will make your child more desirable to the coaches. At the younger levels this promotes a brand of hockey I refer to as “hero hockey.” It’s the 1 vs 5 style of hockey where player tries to go through the other team and score. My point: your child may be the next Connor McDavid and that's great. If the player cannot be part of a team, follow instruction or listen to coaching, they may not be a part of our team at this point in time. Our group will not teach or tolerate the player that is here for themself. We are here to mine every piece of gold we can from this "skill acquisition" phase. Being part of a team is as an important skill to develop as scoring goals.

Dealing with setback: At the end of the day you may or may not be picked. That is part of the hockey experience. It is hard and as someone who has gone through getting “cut” at various levels of hockey, that can be extremely difficult to deal with. Please have a plan in place if this happens to your child. You know your child better than anyone. How are they going to handle this? Sometimes setbacks are the precursor to the greatest comebacks. Michael Jordan getting cut from his high school basketball team was a life changing moment for him. This may not be a Jordan-esque type of situation at this age. However, handling it and getting better from it is an invaluable life lesson that will aid your player in so many pursuits in their life.

Dealing with success: You have arrived! Congratulations. Now the work begins. Typically speaking, you can expect to be practicing in the neighborhood of 10-12 times a month depending on tournament schedules. Most of those times take place on weekends and can start very early in the morning. The organization tries to utilize ice at Idaho Central Arena on weekday afternoons when the Steelheads are not in the building. Those times usually begin at 5pm. Can be tricky to navigate with school schedules and work schedules. Good to know beforehand so you can coordinate transportation for your player. That’s a lot of money to pay for hockey if you are missing practices consistently because you can’t find a way to the rink. We also understand that kids may be in other sports that overlap. We welcome that! The part we don’t welcome is when parents or players decide that they don’t want to go to practice because of inconvenience. If you make this team, you are expected to be at practices if you wish to play in games. If you have a flag football game or a school function, missing one here and there is permissible. Missing practices at volume may mean your family is not ready for this responsibility of travel hockey. Here is my philosophy on development through practice. The reason our development outpaces other programs is the volume of ice and the amount of repetitions we are able to create for our players. This and our attention to detail allow a strong foundation to be poured and built upon.

Our goal as a staff is to take every player that makes our team and challenge them to become the best player they can be. We focus on player development along with team development. Please understand that this is competitive hockey and we are trying to win. That doesn’t mean that is our sole purpose. However, if you think that it’s a “just for fun” type of program, you may be inclined to play another season of recreational hockey within the house program before making the commitment necessary to play at this frequency and level. Our first and foremost desire is to develop our players and make their experience an enjoyable one. Our second goal is to compete with the intention to win. We aim to play everyone similar amounts of ice time. If we enter a close game or have an opportunity to win a tournament, the coaches will make the decision to play the players that give us the best opportunity to win.

In closing I want to share with you an anecdote that was passed along to me when I was cut from Team Canada during the 1999/2000 World Junior Selection Camp. At that time, playing for my country was my biggest dream. To wear the Hockey Canada crest in an international event was the pinnacle for me. In mid December, at a hotel in Toronto, the head coach, Claude Julien (Stanley Cup winning coach of the Boston Bruins) informed me that I would not be making the team on the last day of camp before the team departed for Sweden.

I was the last defenseman cut for that club. I was devastated. Heartbroken. Crushed. I thought my hockey career had ended at that moment. Coach Julien, sensing my shaken emotional state imparted some advice that has stuck with me through my years. “Darrell,” he said in his deep French Canadian accent, “this moment is a flashbulb in your career. This will only define you if you let it.” Looking back on my career, the ups and the downs, they are all flashbulbs. Instantaneous moments that shape the next moment. Used correctly, they make a player stronger for the next flashbulb and build confidence to face the next challenge. Used incorrectly, they can weaken a mind and shake potential, possibly leading to missed opportunities down the road. Being cut doesn’t equate to failing. It means more work needs to be done. More effort needs to be invested. More practice needs to be compounded. It asks you point blank- is this something you really want and what are you willing to do to achieve it? Making a team/not making a team, especially at the U10 level does not mean you have arrived or failed. Please understand this so you can have this conversation with your child if that time comes. It will allow them to carry on in this journey with the correct blend of enthusiasm and belief that is needed to be successful on the ice and in life. It’s a flashbulb in time. A Polaroid. One to look back on and learn from. A moment to reflect on when you're old and writing blogs thinking,"remember that time?"

We are going to make this experience the most transparent, the most professional and hopefully the most memorable it can be. We will work our hardest to make sure you know what we know every step of the journey and there is no gray areas to navigate. I sincerely hope this has helped and if I can answer any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out and ask. Thank you for reading this.

written by Darrell Hay

March 23/2024

Darrell can be contacted through email at [email protected]