Dad, what's a Lockout?

Dad, what’s a Lockout?

‘Poor man wanna be rich,
rich man wanna be king,
and the king ain’t satisfied till he loses everything……’
Bruce Springsteen
Badlands

You have to love it when your nine year old son asks questions that make you think harder about things than you usually do.

This one wasn’t quite as challenging as “Where do babies come from?” But none the less was just about as difficult to answer.

There has been so much talk in the media about the pending NHL lockout so I guess at some point I was going to be asked.

I tried to answer him as best I could. Now keep in mind being a former player and a player representative during two work stoppages, I am pretty biased. But trying to be a good Dad I thought I would try to explain the situation as best I could giving both sides of the argument.
I think I may have failed miserably… Here is how it kind of went:

“Dad, what is a lockout?”

“Well son, the owners of the teams and the players don’t have a working agreement that the owners like so they have the right to lock the players out from playing.”

“Doesn’t anyone else have keys to the rinks to get in to play???”

“No son, it is not that simple. The owners don’t want to pay the players as much to play. They want to reduce their salaries. Sort of if like Mom and I wanted to pay you less allowance we would lower it to a level we felt was fairer.”

“Don’t get any ideas…..”

So they are not going to have a season until they agree on something. They will eventually.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.”

“So when will we see a game again?”

“I don’t know.”

“That stinks. But Dad, don’t they sign contracts or something? Those guys are the best players in the world….they should get paid good.”

“Well, they do. Really well. And they just want to continue to get paid well.”

“So then the guys who own the teams won’t play the games at their rinks?”

“Right.”

“But don’t they make money from the games?”

“Yes, but they want a better deal.”

“Gotcha. Well if they pay the guys less, when we go to the games the popcorn is going to be cheaper!”

“Well, maybe not. They have a lot of expenses and a lot of people to pay.”

“Hey yea, what about the Zamboni drivers?”

“What about them?”

“Do they still have jobs if they don’t have ice to do?”

“Good question.”

“What about the refs? They’ll probably find some other games to ref, right? Maybe they will do some of ours!”

“Maybe.”

“So the players want to keep playing, and the owners make money on the games, but they aren’t going to play the games…..I don’t get it.”

“It is very confusing for everyone.”

“What about the Stanley Cup?”

“What about it?”

“Do the Kings get to keep it and keep taking it to their homes?”

“No, they have to probably give it back.”

“To who?”

“The league I guess.”

“So the owners own the cup?”

“I never thought of it like that but I guess they do.”

“But the players win it……”

“Yes they do. Can we get back to your first question?”

“So no one gets paid, no one gets to watch hockey and the owners teams don’t get to play each other. That’s a Lockout.”

“You got it.”

“This is stupid. The players should just go play somewhere else.”

“Some of them will. They will go to Europe to keep playing.”

“Wow, Europe is far. They should start their own league here…….”

“Well, it’s not that easy. The NHL is so big and powerful. It would be impossible to recreate. It’s like a Monopoly kind of.”

“Ooh, Monopoly is awesome!!! Especially if you land on Boardwalk or Park Place……”

Good talk son……

Let’s just hope both sides pass Go and collect their $200.00 soon.

 

Kerry Huffman
www.platinumhockey.net
khuffman5@gmail.com

Twitter  @khuffman5

 

Work

Work

“I always love the feel of sweat on my shirt, Stand back son and let a man work.
Let a man work is that so wrong, I woke up this morning shackled and drawn…..”
Shackled and Drawn
Bruce Springsteen

Well, it is one week after Labor Day weekend. There is talk of an upcoming work stoppage in the world of hockey. Two national political conventions are now over and the focal point of both was work (or the lack thereof). A friend of mine emailed me asking about my break from writing my blog. He told me to get back to work. So what better theme to ramble on about than work?

Believe me, doing my blog does not feel like work. It is far from it!
But as we get older the lines get a little blurred between what is work and what we are doing that makes us feel good and proud of ourselves. The whole definition of work seems to change as time marches on.
I have had good jobs, I have had bad jobs.  I have worked with some good companies, worked with some not so good companies.  Sometimes it felt like I was working, sometimes it didn’t. There were times when I wasn’t working that it seemed like I was working my ass off to find work.  Recently in a mild mid- life crisis, I decided I would run a marathon this coming November. I was told the training was going to be a lot of work. An incredible amount of work. I am now working up to over 20 mile runs. But guess what? The work has morphed into love and passion. I can’t wait to work at it most mornings.

So then what really is work? Well I am sure everyone is entitled to feel any way they want about it or describe it as they choose.
I kind of look at it like this.

I work in order to be, not simply exist. To work is human. Work opens the door to the meaning of life and stops it from being boring and dull. Work is being creative.
I used to think work was a burden. Something I had to get through. Something I had to do for money or security.
If you feel that way you are missing the creative dynamic of work and how it can enable you to feel good about yourself. If we’re lucky enough, we try to shape our work to fit our lives……
Ok, that is deep enough. This is supposed to be a fun hockey blog. So how does all this relate to hockey? I’ll give it a try.

There was always times when I played during the season when the game felt like work. Boy was I wrong. It was challenging for sure but age has taught me that something you love doing that much should never be called work. I hope as parents and coaches we pass that along to our young players. They have their whole lives to figure out what they are going to do for work, AFTER they are done PLAYING.

Players are described as having incredible work ethics. Is it work ethic or do they just love being good, the feeling of getting better, and are willing to endure challenging times to achieve that feeling?

How many times after a hockey game have you seen a team win and the coach gets up in front of a microphone and blurts, “We deserved to win tonight, we outworked them…..” If you ask any pro player they will tell you it always feels more like fun than work when you win. The work feels like it comes during losing streaks…..
So here’s something for the young coaches out there, just a suggestion. Try encouraging your players “to out fun the other team tonight!” It’s worth a shot. It seemed to work with our mite team at times last year….

And one more thing on the topic…..

Let’s all pray that there won’t be a work….I mean a fun stoppage in the NHL again this year…….

Hockey Father's Day

This is obviously one of the greatest weekends of the year. It is Father’s Day weekend and the U.S. Open is on. There is not a whole lot of hockey going on with the end of the NHL season just wrapping up. There are only a few showcase events being played around the country right now but it is unquestionably the best weekend of the year to think about hockey dads everywhere. Some are still with us. Some are not. But they are all loved and I know it is because many of them share or shared some amazing qualities that I am sure you will recognize and agree with.

So please take a break from golf this weekend and join me in taking a moment to say, "Thanks Dad……

-for introducing me to the greatest game on the planet. (and golf too.)
-for getting up with me in the freezing cold to go to practice before school when the car would only start if you plugged it in overnight.
-for having the patience to watch me learn.
-for taking me to Maple Leaf Gardens and allowing me to dream.
-for letting me pick my own team to cheer for.
-for encouraging me when I played well.
-for encouraging me when I played bad.
-for making me work as hard at school as I did on the ice.
-for informing me that Tim Horton was a whole lot more than a donut store owner.
-for keeping Mom calm when I got hurt.
-for keeping Mom calm when I played well.
-for keeping Mom calm when I played bad.
-for keeping Mom calm when I left home.
-for just keeping Mom calm……
-For teaching me how to be a teammate.
-for not yelling at the refs.
-for teaching me that it only hurts for a little while.
-for being tough when it was right.
-for being right when it was tough…..
-for tying my skates when I know your back killed you….
-for rubbing my frozen toes when you took my skates off.
-for making me carry my own hockey bag.
-for buying me that new stick when you probably couldn’t afford it but also…
-for teaching me that sticks don’t score goals, players do…
-for driving all weekend to get to tournaments on some pretty slick roads.
-for teaching me that the game is important.
-for teaching me the game is not the most important.
-for being there for me when I couldn’t play anymore….
-for reminiscing about all the good times we had at the rink.
-for not remembering the tough ones…..

and most importantly…..

-for making sure I introduced his grandson to the greatest game on the planet. (and golf too……)"

Thanks Dads.
Have a great weekend!

School's Out.....Now what? Ask Barney.

It's that special time of year when the school year is coming to an end and young hockey players everywhere are thinking, "Great! Time to sit back for a while and do nothing....."
Well that's not the advice we give those who are anxious to achieve scholarships or financial aid packages in the future. In fact it's just the opposite. It's time to plan, get organized and be ready to seek more information. Yes, that's right, learning even when not in school.
Last week this flog focused on some recruiting advice and we got some great feedback. People had some great questions so I thought we would build on that and get into the academic issues even deeper.
When I wrote "ask Barney" in the title, I did not mean the purple Dinosaur. I wanted to get some expert feedback from someone so I asked Craig Barnett, (Barney)who is the Director of Player Placement for our company to help out. Craig's vast experience and knowledge pertaining to the process allows him to give valuable advice.

1985-1989 - Student-athlete at Plattsburgh State (NCAA III) - NCAA Champions

1989-1991 - Player in NY Ranger system (Flint IHL, Binghamton AHL, and Erie ECHL)
1991-1993 - Assistant Coach, Mercyhurst College (NCAA II)
1993-1994 - Assistant Coach, Kent State University (NCAA I)
1995-2002 - Head Hockey Coach, University of Findlay (NCAA I and III)
2002-2004 - Hockey Director / Assistant Athletic Director, Lake Forest Academy (Prep)
2004-2006 - Director of Athletics / Head Hockey Coach, Becker College (NCAA III)
2006-2009 - Director of Athletics, Mercyhurst College (NCAA II, NCAA I hockey)


I asked Craig for 7 bullet points relating to the academic process and issues potential college bound players and families should be thinking about and addressing. Here is his advice. Hope you can use some of it.

"Academically speaking, some questions families should be thinking of and asking colleges/coaches especially during visits:"

1. What type of academic support services are offered? For example, tutoring, extended time for test, academic advisors for student-athletes, resource rooms availability, extra assistance for students with diagnosed learning challenges, etc, etc. 

 2. Does the athletic department offer any of these services (mentioned above) specifically for student-athletes or is it all provided through the general student body?

 3. Does the college offer priority registration for classes for student-athletes - thus, give them more flexibility to take tougher classes in "off-season" and also allows to build their academic calendar around team practice and meeting times.

 

4. What is the colleges retention rate? What is the colleges APR score (NCAA Academic Progress Report)?  Are there any teams falling under the NCAA minimum standard?

 

5. What about summer classes - are those costs included in my athletic scholarship/financial aid package?

 6. Are there any other expenses above and beyond tuition, fees, room and board that are not covered by scholarships? For example, books, health insurance, travel home at breaks, etc.

7. Do High School AP classes transfer into this particular schools curriculum for college credit?

You can contact Barney at:
cbarnett@cardinalsportsgroup.com
 (814) 449.9868

Or If you see him at the rink over the summer at the many showcase events, make sure you say hello or ask him any questions you might have. You'll recognize him. He will be the one in purple. :)

Thanks Craig! Great job.

Everyone have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend and remember who our real heroes are. The men and women of our armed forces that give us the freedom to enjoy our great game. Try to say thank you to one of them if you can.
Kerry Huffman Platinum Hockey Group/Cardinal Sports 609-339-5156
Khuffman5@gmail.com
www.khhockey.com
Follow us on

 

Parentectomy

Recently I was fortunate enough to spend some time at the College Hockey Coaches convention in Naples, Florida. It was great to spend some time away from a rink with coaches and get an insight into some of their thinking.

While talking with one of the very well known coaches from a major division one school about a possible recruit for their program, I heard him describe the player in a very unique way.   He said to me, "yes we really like him a lot as a player but we are going to pass.....he needs a major Parentectomy....." It took me a very short time to realize that they were not going to offer him a scholarship because of the actions of his parents.....
It got me thinking quite a bit about the recruiting and scouting process of young players and how many different factors can affect the situation. I thought I would share this with everyone.

One of the most important factors that schools and junior programs do consider is what is the players' family like? Specifically what are the parents like?

I discussed it with our staff we decided to come up with five simple points of advice for parents. Specifically parents who have young players that are getting to that 14-15 year old age when the recruitment and scouting process starts to pick up and the game seems to change from just a game to a business opportunity for some. 
This is only our opinion and advice we are offering. We are parents too and have made many mistakes just like everyone else so take from it what you will. We have seen many players get recruited successfully and there are some common traits. Hopefully it helps prevent any more Parentectomies....
If you want more input please feel free to contact us anytime.

The five suggestions for Parents are:

1. Take a step back.
Be suggestive and be supportive but allow your young athlete to research things and make their own decisions concerning where to play and which route to travel. Trust their instincts. You've done an amazing job getting them to this point. Let it go a bit now, step back and watch the results of your good parenting. Enjoy the product of all the countless hours you spent driving all over the country drinking bad coffee and sitting in cold arenas spending time with your child. Let them begin to make their own decisions. It will then be their responsibility to make it work and usually they do.

2. The coach/gm is always right.
Always, always, always, always......Even when you don't agree with them and know they are wrong. I know how hard this can be for some parents to hear or agree with but trust me. A coach who has had his feathers ruffled by a parent can do more harm to a player in a thirty second conversation with a scout than any bad game or tournament can do. Scouts and recruiters are going to talk to these people and listen to what the coach has to say over anyone else 98% of the time.  They rarely will ever listen to what a parent has to say so stay away from them. The best thing you can ever do at this point is keep a great relationship with the coach.

3. Remember, there are more important things in life than hockey.
I know this is where we might lose some people, but it is very important. We try to encourage parents to remember, this is about what your student athlete is going to be like at age 19 and 20 not at 14. Their journey is not complete. It hss only just begun......help them become well rounded. Encourage other interests and challenges. Take good breaks from the game that will keep them hungry to play. Young players can burn and fizzle out from too much pressing and pushing. Also be aware that no matter how good they are, and I mean even if they are hall of fame caliber players, they will not be playing when they are forty years old. 

4. Encourage them to work as hard away from the rink as they do at it.
Too much time, money and resources are wasted on showcases, tryouts and many things that rarely pay off. Invest in a good marketing plan for the player. Build a resume and bio that stand out from the rest. Make sure you have the right schooling and class requirements.  Get powerful letters of reference from people that are not involved in hockey as well. Tell them to think of it like they are a lawyer. Tell them to build their case. They are going to trial and better be prepared. Remember these numbers. There are roughly 28,000 high school senior age boys registered to play hockey with USA Hockey. There are 59 Division I teams and 77 Division III teams. Each of those bring on average 6 new players a season to their rosters and about half of those are from the US… that means only 408 of the 28,000 registered players will get their chance to play in college. That represents roughly 1.5% of registered players. I'd say it's pretty competitive.

5. Enjoy the Process.
It should not be stressful. It goes very fast.....These are the last few seasons you will spend at the rink with your child. Be positive. It will be one of the last lessons you pass on to them. Positive, fun people get recruited way more!!!!! Think about it, who would you rather spend four years with......?




Kerry Huffman
Platinum Hockey Group
609-339-5156
khuffman5@gmail.com
www.platinumhockeygoup.us
Member of the NHL Alumni Association

All I Ever Needed to Know......

As the hockey season has relatively slowed down and everyone takes a 'very little' break from the game I thought I would take a break from just hockey talk and share and article I found written by Robert Fulghum titled, "All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten."

My company does a lot of work with young hockey players trying to play College Hockey, so by no means is this intended to infer that they no longer pursue higher education. It is just a little something to get everyone thinking moving into the summer.
For all the graduates we worked with entering the 'real world', some great advice. Best of luck!

Enjoy!!!

"All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten."

"Most of what I really know about life, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but here in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.

Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup ~ they all die. So do we.

And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and sane living.

Think of what a better world it would be if we all ~the whole world had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Kerry Huffman

www.platinumhockey.net

khuffman5@gmail.com







39 turning 40

"Let your mind rest easy,
Sleep well my friend.
It's only our bodies that betray us in the end..."
Bruce Springsteen/We Are Alive
Wrecking Ball

It is both a great time of year in hockey as well as kind of a sad time. It recently hit me that I am turning forty again. Another season is coming to an end and a lot of teams are involved in playoffs or play downs depending on where you are from. Soon we will look to next season which will be my fortieth involved in hockey in some capacity. Hard for me to believe. So in light of this 'milestone' I am allowing myself to ramble and muse a bit about the game. Thoughts from an old defenceman. I hope I don't offend anyone. Remember, this game is about fun right?

I am lucky that my job has me watching a lot of hockey. Sometimes during the year it feels like too much hockey but then I realize it is never too much.....
The game is so different and yet in some ways still the same after all these seasons.....It is predictable and unpredictable all at once.

The Detroit Red Wings are still good and the Leafs will probably miss playoffs again....
The Florida Panthers will get in and The Washington Capitals may not.....yes all the experts picked that at the start of the season.
I hope my son has as much fun playing squirt hockey next season as he did playing these last two years of mite. I know it will be a challenge to equal the funny memories.....
The Toronto Marlboro Midget team is really good (again) .....and yet one of the best 97 birth year teams in North America is from Scranton, PA.....(with a bunch of Russian kids on it)?
Don Cherry is in a fight with Brian Burke. Not about European Hockey Players but about Ontario Hockey Players not playing for the Leafs....???
I watched my son break his wrist in a practice. Heal. Get over his fear of getting hurt again, and play again. My wife is not over her fear yet though.... That hasn't changed. Moms don't change.....:)

Hockey is everywhere. This year my company has taken on player profiles for kids from states including Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia......
There are players from 40 different states on USA College Hockey rosters.....
All that and I had a parent tell me the other day they had spent $37,500.00 on hockey related expenses this year.  Forty years ago my Dad spent under $200.00 for the entire season, equipment and all.....!
In 1986 I played Jr. Hockey and got a $17.00 a week meal allowance. This week I heard about an Eastern Jr. League coach making $200,000 per season........
When I was a young player there was a team from Kitchener, Ontario sponsored by Bauer Hockey, we thought it was pretty cool.....now five of the elite youth programs in the States are sponsored by a Cable Company (Comcast), a Tire Company (Belle Tire), a Pizza Comany (Little Caesars), a Chocolate Company (Russell Stover) and a Ham Company (Honeybaked Ham).........

The game is fast and entertaining but at what cost? A the halfway point of the NHL season there were 548 man games lost to concussions.......forty years ago you only got your bell rung.
I was looking at hockey equipment in a store at the rink the other day and I picked up a pair of hockey pants that were lighter than some of my jeans.....
Forty years ago you were taught to move out of the goalies way so he could see a clean view of the shot. Today young players are taught to jump in front of everything and block every shot.....Ouch!

Forty years ago Bruce Springsteen was about to release his first album "Greetings from Asbury Park". This week he released "Wrecking Ball" his 17th studio album. (had to get a Bruce reference in!)

The game was awesome forty years ago and is still awesome today......just a little different.

Simply put it was still just another fantastic year being around the game.

So forty years from now I don't know but Detroit will probably still be good, the Leafs will be battling for a playoff spot, Moms will still be worried, hopefully concussions will not exist and the game will still be great!!!

(That and Bruce will have just released his 34th album.....:)

Even Wayne Came Off The Ice....

Thank you to everyone who requested my blog to come back. I took some time off to work on some other things but it is good to get back to having some fun.
As you know this blog is usually relating to my son’s Mite hockey team and our positive experiences together learning and growing. Sometimes you can learn things by the actions of others……..

"I’ve been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone….The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone.”
We Take Care of Our Own
Bruce Springsteen

For all the coaches out there:

Two weeks ago our Mite team played a game against a team and the game was not pretty. It was one of those games where nothing went well for the other team. They were missing some of their players and it seemed like every time one of our players shot the puck it ended up in the other teams net. Almost every player on our team scored. During the game we took a time out to talk to our young kids about not running the score up, making good plays, passing the puck being respectful of the other team. It was a tough day and the score ended up 13-3. As coaches we felt bad for the other team but felt like we taught our kids to react properly.

Fast forward to this weekend. We played the same team and lost 6-4. What was upsetting was not losing. In my opinion at this age it is not about the wins and losses but what the kids are learning.  It was good for our kids to be humbled a bit after the previous weekend. What was troubling were the actions of the other coaches and the decisions they made.  They have a tremendous young player who was clearly the best player on both teams and maybe the best in the league. He just so happens to wear the number 99, so of course I was having Gretzky flashbacks that I thought I had buried. The coaches in their infinite wisdom decided to have this player play the entire game……never came off the ice. He either scored every goal or was involved in setting them up. Good for him, shame on the coaches. After the game they acted like they had won the Stanly Cup. This is mite hockey remember. If there are hockey gods, I’m sure they would have been severely disappointed by them. What are we teaching our kids? That it is good to sit back and let someone do the heavy lifting for you. That one person can decide your future. That it is important to win at all costs even if it sacrifices the confidence of your friends and teammates. Isn’t there too much of that in the country already?

The number 99 thing got me thinking about things.

There are legendary stories of Walter Gretzky, Wayne’s dad, walking from one side of the rink to the coaches’ bench to tell the coach to stop playing Wayne so much, that it was more important for the other kids to play more to improve the team in the long run. The other day I didn’t see any parents walk over to their coach….
I played with a lot of guys who played with Wayne and every one of them talked about him being the greatest teammate and person they knew. They all said he was a player that made everyone around him a better player. I think Walter taught Wayne a lot more than just winning at all costs.
When I was 18 and playing for the Canadian Olympic Hockey Team, we played an exhibition series against the Canada Cup team that was filled with the greatest players on the planet, including Wayne. Clearly we were outmatched and after two periods and being down 6-0, the coaches decided to split up the rosters to make the game better. The door to our dressing room opened and in walked Wayne, Mark Messier, Brian Propp, Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey. I’ll never forget the way Wayne spoke to us. He told us that our focus should always be on the effort, the process and in getting better- not what the current score was. It was incredible. He made everyone in the room feel better and raised our confidence just by the way he acted and carried himself. I am thankful that 25 years later the action of some misguided grown- ups made me remember that incredible experience with Wayne.

After the game I really had trouble shaking hands with the other coaches. I just felt like they really disrespected our great game. But then a couple of things happened that made me feel a whole lot better. After the game my family went out to dinner with one of our teammates and I watched them have a great time and SHARE a pizza. Driving home my son said to me, “Dad, we didn’t get beat by that team……….we got beat by 99……” I laughed and said I agreed. I could see him thinking, then he said, “Dad, don’t worry…. That coach can’t make 99 do the other player’s homework for them……”
Exactly son. Well said. Maybe we are teaching them after all.