USA HOCKEY, INC.
2007 ANNUAL CONGRESS
COACHES SECTION
2006-2007 Season
ATTENDANCE
Present:
Al Bloomer (Chairperson, National
CIC), Blase Burkhart (Alaska
CIC), John DiNorcia (Atlantic
CIC), Matt Walsh (Central CIC),
Nick DeMarco (Massachusetts Associate CIC) Friday only, Bill Switaj
(Mid-American CIC) Friday only, Jack Witt (Michigan CIC), Mike MacMillan (Minnkota CIC), David Temkin (New York CIC), Bob Gillen (Northern
Plains CIC), Larry Bruyere (Pacific
CIC), Paul Davern (Rocky
Mountain CIC), Bob McCaig (Southeast CIC), Tom Kehr (National ACE Director)
Absent:
Joe Mallen (Massachusetts CIC), Bill Corbo (New England CIC),
Staff:
Mark Tabrum (Director), Dan Brennan (Manager), Ken Martel (Coordinator),
Alison Raines (Administrative Assistant)
Guests:
Bob O’Connor, Keith Blase, Jim Johannson, Alex DePalma, Colleen
Marinari, TC Lewis, Les Teplicky, Joel Brazeale, Paul Jakubowski, Paul
Wineberg, Mike Connor, Chip Burke, and many others
WEDNESDAY,
JUNE 6, 2007
WELCOME
Mark
Tabrum welcomed the Coaches-in-Chief and guests to the USA Hockey Annual
Congress Coaches Section meeting and called the meeting to order.
Mark asked
the Coaches-in-Chief to introduce themselves and the district they represent. The
guests present were asked to introduce themselves as well.
Mark
announced Tom Kehr as the new National ACE Director and welcomed him to the
section.
The passage
of the 2007 Coaches Section Meeting Minutes was moved to Friday to allow the Coaches-in-Chief
ample time to review them.
DISTRICT REPORTS
District
reports were included in the packets. The Coaches-in-Chief were asked to read
them on their own.
Mark Tabrum
and Jack Witt went through the playing rule change proposals. Several were
discussed at length.
The Coaches-in-Chief
were unanimously in favor of keeping the off-sides rule as it currently reads.
The
section was in favor of not icing the puck when short-handed.
15 Penalty
Rule—Discussion ensued on the issue that the number of penalties called in a
game is dependent on too many factors: consistency of referees, varying lengths
of periods, and referees calling the game different in the third period. Jack
Weinberg from Illinois addressed the issue of the type of penalties called
versus the quantity of penalties called. He believes that there should be more
concern over checking from behind and stick to the head type penalties. Matt
Walsh asked if there were any actual figures to show an age-breakdown of type
and number of penalties being called. He questioned how you can put a number on
penalties allowed without any data. The majority of the Coaches-in-Chief voted
to keep the rule as is.
Delay of
Game Rule—this rule calls for a 2-minute penalty if a defensive player shoots
the puck out of the rink while in the defensive zone. All of the Coaches-in-Chief
opposed this rule.
Jack
encouraged everyone to attend the Playing Rules Open Forum on Thursday. Al
Bloomer and Ken Martel will show a PowerPoint Presentation on the off-sides
rule. Al briefly ran through the presentation to allow the Coaches-in-Chief an
opportunity to know what to expect.
Mark
Tabrum announced Tim Taylor as this year’s recipient. Al Bloomer read the new
award description to be changed in the Annual Guide:
Walter
Yaciuk Award – presented by Easton
The
Walter Yaciuk Award is presented annually by the Coaches Section - USA Hockey
Coaching Education Program to an individual who has demonstrated a consistent
commitment and contribution to the coaching education and development of
USA Hockey coaches. This individual has been a
long term supporter of the USA Hockey Coaching Education Program and has, by
example, demonstrated its values.
The
award, sponsored by Easton, is named in honor of the late Walter Yaciuk, one of
founders of the Coaching Education Program.
A
selection committee consisting of USA Hockey’s National Coach-in-Chief and the
District Coaches-in-Chief determines the nominees and selects the winner.
Many
districts have already held their yearly Level 4 clinic.
Alaska:
Held in May in Fairbanks with approximately 75 coaches in attendance.
Atlantic:
Sept. 7-9 at Rutgers University
Central:
Oct 12-14 in the Chicago-area
Massachusetts:
Held in May in Framingham with approximately 160 coaches in attendance.
Michigan:
Held in March in conjunction with the CCHA Championships with approximately 100
coaches in attendance. A second clinic will be held Sept 7-9 in Traverse City
in conjunction with the NHL Prospect camp.
Mid-American:
Sept 7-9 in Sylvania, OH
Minnesota:
late September in Duluth
New
England: July 20-22 in Burlington, VT
New York:
Northern
Plains: Aug 24-26 in Bismark, ND
Rocky
Mountain: Held in May in Salt Lake City with approximately 150 coaches in
attendance.
Pacific:
Aug 16-18 in Reno, NV
Southeastern:
Held in May in North Carolina with approximately 130 coaches in attendance. A
second clinic will possibly be held in August or September.
Al Bloomer
indicated that junior coaches want a Level 4 clinic held in conjunction with
the USHL event in Sioux City, IA.
Mark
Tabrum announced that only licensees are allowed to sell products at the Level
4 clinics. The Skills and Drills DVD-Rom is available to sell at the clinics.
Copies will be sent to the Coach in Chief on a consignment basis. All unsold
DVDs and money must be returned to the national office. The Coach in Chief will
be accountable for reconciling the DVDs and money submitted.
Al
reminded the Coaches-in-Chief that there needs to be a USA Hockey time slot to
feature the benefits of being a USA Hockey coach and the many resources
available.
Tom Kehr
presented the priorities of the ACE Program. The program is focusing on naming
ACE Directors in all affiliates. Tom is working with Rae Briggle at USA Hockey
to create a National ACE Directory within the database. The Long-Term Strategic
Plan is to focus on presentations, the newsletter, and ACE workshops.
Tom showed
several PowerPoint Presentations: ACE Director Responsibilities and Role within
the local association, Student Coach Clinic, and the ACE Director Program
Strategic Plan he is showing at the Affiliate President’s meeting. He also
requested that the Coaches-in-Chief partner with him when looking to
appoint/recommend USA Hockey ACE Directors. He thanked everyone for their
support and is looking forward to working with all of the Coaches-in-Chief.
This
year’s event will be Aug 16-19 in Lake Placid. Space is still available and Coaches-in-Chief
were asked to encourage coaches of girls’/women’s teams to apply.
Dave Peterson Goaltending Workshops should be a primary focus this
year. Each district should hold at least one workshop this clinic season. Bill
Corbo and Bill Switaj are creating a manual that coaches will receive when
attending this clinic. Price range should be $45-$60. Instructors can use this
as Level 3 recertification only.
Checking the Right Way is the new checking workshop.
There is a new checking book and Ken Martel is working on the PowerPoint
Presentation with five different segments and video clips. The PowerPoint
Presentations follow the book and both correspond with the Skills and Drills
DVD. The workshop instructor will receive the manual and PowerPoint on CD to
conduct the workshop. Every coach in attendance will receive the checking book
and a packet of Heads up Hockey material.
The next Coaching
Education Program project will be a skating curriculum to instruct coaches to
teach players how to skate.
Mike
MacMillan suggested the Coaching Education Program use the new Small Area Games
Book and CD to create a workshop. We would need to create a standardized
PowerPoint Presentation.
Bob Mathson,
Treasurer for Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois, presented an AHAI pilot
program to use a four official system by adding a second referee to games. The
idea is being driven by Tier 1 organizations due to the aging officials who
can’t skate the entire game and better enforcement of the Standard of Play. He
handed out a flyer with more information on the program details.
This
year’s training featured 65 CEP instructors, 10 checking instructors, and 12
ACE Directors. Discussion then ensued on the future of the program. Many Coaches-in-Chief
believe the location is bad for most of their instructors. They want to move
the event around the country so coaches who can’t travel can attend. Mike
MacMillan stated the Nationals Sports Center in Minnesota could be a
possibility. Due to budget constraints, the event will continue to be held in
Lake Placid. Jim Johannson, Assistant Executive Director of Hockey Operations,
offered to submit a bid to hold the training at the Colorado Springs Olympic
Training Center every few years. Coaches-in-Chief also want to expand the
attendees to include affiliate and association ACE Directors so they can learn
about the CEP and presentation skills. This led to a comment by Tom Kehr that
the District ACE Directors want more than one meeting a year. Mark Tabrum
explained that the Coaches Section meets only once a year outside of Annual
Congress and Winter Meeting.
All
instructors who conduct clinics need to have appropriate materials to effectively
run the event. All clinic instructors should have manuals, stickers and cards
to hand out to every coach who attends.
Alison
Raines provided a brief update of the website status. Representatives from IMC2
and the Internet Department will speak more in depth on Friday. Coaches-in-Chief
will send their individual registration options to Alison to post on the
website.
Bob
O’Connor was invited by Mark Tabrum to address the section. Bob shared a story
about coaching Brian Burke many, many years ago with the moral being what will
coaches say about you (the instructor) in 25 years.
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2007
Lauren
Pasquale, Jim Smith, Mike Bertsch, Chris Worley and Brian Bradley addressed the
section with more in depth information on the new coach clinic registration tool.
Lauren attributed the major delay in the overall launch to the migration of
1700 Association/Affiliate websites. The new clinic tool will be IntraLearn.
The old Compuware product was built strictly for registering coaches and
printing attendee lists. The new tool will go beyond those basic funtions and
manage the user’s history (coaching clinics, official’s seminars, parent
education, STAR clinics, etc.), allow online testing, online learning,
educational management, instant chat between instructors and coaches, and more.
Coaches-in-Chief will be trained via WebX Demos. We will then hold several
sessions for instructors as well. Lauren stated a drop dead date of July 15 for
a resolution and full functionality of a coach clinic registration tool. Al
Bloomer inquired about District Coaches-in-Chief having access to district
clinics. As the Section Director he also had access to view all clinics. Lauren
responded that the function is not an aspect of IntraLearn but there are two
workarounds: each district will have the same username and password or the
Coach in Chief logs in as every instructor to view clinics. Dave Temkin asked
if Coaches-in-Chief had the ability to transfer coaches between clinics. Yes,
to another clinic run by the same instructor. Lauren will look into a
super-user who can transfer coaches between any clinics (this would be a 3rd
level of security and not the same as the administrator). One new feature is
the ability to add attachments to clinic registrant e-mails. Bill Switaj wants
the ability to post all district clinics and assign them to instructors to run.
Blase Burkhart pointed out that that Coaches-in-Chief can do that now. No
answer as to whether that exists in the new tool. Nick DeMarco and Dave echoed
Al’s comments on needing to have access to all district clinics. Dave did
endorse IntraLearn as a better program offering a better service to our
volunteers. We will see more positives down the road and this will be a
significant improvement. Bill Switaj expressed his struggles the past month. He
historically has all his district clinics posted by early June and the past
month had been the worst for him as a coach in chief. He needs a solution of
what to do right now. Jim Smith said we would post a list of clinics so coaches
can see the dates to plan accordingly. He continued by saying he would have a
timeline from IMC2 next week and has July 15 as a drop dead date for offering a
solution. He thanked Lauren, Mike, Mark and Alison for their efforts during
this process.
Jim Smith
and Ray Ferry from the Nominating Committee conducted the election to remove the
staff person from the equation. Jim discussed the entire election process. He
also asked that the section create a written plan for its election process to be
submitted within the next two weeks to be approved by the executive committee.
Bob McCaig
nominated Al Bloomer, seconded by Jack Witt. Nominations closed with no
additional submissions. Al was elected unanimously for another three year term.
Al Bloomer
asked if the section wanted to continue the joint sessions with the referees. All
agreed that the sessions should continue with a predetermined agenda and
discussion topics.
Bob McCaig
brought up the status of adding videos to the clinic PowerPoint Presentations.
The Coaches-in-Chief want the updates by July so they can use them at district
instructor training sessions. Ken Martel is willing to add the video but
cautioned that it is a time-consuming process to find appropriate and accurate
clips. The national office will do its best to make them available for this
upcoming season. Al Bloomer and Blase Burkhart have not been able to update the
Level 3 manual.
Dr. Alan
Ashare addressed the section on behalf of the Safety Committee. He reminded the
group that coaches are the first line of defense for protecting players. The
Safety Committee has materials available for all clinics. Coaches-in-Chief
should see Chip Burke for more information. He emphasized the importance of
getting Heads up Hockey information up in the rinks. He encouraged everyone to
be trained in CPR. He is willing to assist at development camps so that every
player and coach is trained by the end of the camp. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention has a new concussion tool kit geared toward youth
coaches. There is no grading of concussions and he recommended that a player sits
out 10-14 days to recover from any concussion.
Jack Witt
discussed the Rules Committee meeting that afternoon and its recommendation on
many of the rules.
Ron
Rolston from the NTDP discussed the Coaching Co-op opportunity in Ann Arbor,
MI. Several weekends throughout the year the NTDP invites district coaches to
participate in practices, development and provide video resources. Al Bloomer
will send all Coaches-in-Chief e-mail addresses to Ron so he can send out more
information on the program. Coaches do not receive certification for attending
and pay all expenses. Many districts pay expenses for coaches to attend. There is
no criterion in place for coaches but they should be involved with Pee
Wee/Bantams and up. Scott Monaghan offered assistance in getting hotel and
flight discounts. Bob McCaig highly recommends the program and has sent many
coaches from the Southeastern District.
Ron later
discussed his experience at the World Juniors in Sweden. He outlined the
try-out procedure, the training camp in Sweden, and the games themselves.
Rae
Briggle, Assistant Executive Director of Membership Services, discussed many of
the new features of CyberSport. The Team Application Form has been eliminated.
The Roster Form has been modified to become the Official Team Roster Form. The
CEP data is locked so that it’s official. Documents printed in August or
September can be updated later in the season by the registrar accessing the
database. The registrar can then add page 2 to the roster with the new CEP
information.
She
reminded Coaches-in-Chief to have instructors close out clinics online
immediately so that the USA Hockey database is updated in a timely manner,
which then updates the coaching certification list.
Registrars
and associate registrars can print out reports for Coaches-in-Chief of coaches’
certifications in their districts.
Coaching
clinic numbers from this year are down a bit from last year. She provided a
report with numbers showing the decline.
She also
reminded Coaches-in-Chief that she can send e-mails to district coaches. She
can send html, attachments, or simple e-mails reminding coaches of clinics or
expiration dates.
Dave
Temkin motioned to adjourn, Bob McCaig seconded. Meeting adjourned.
Submitted
by: Mark Tabrum, Director, Coaching
Education Program
Al Bloomer, Section Director,
Coaches Section
MT/ar/07-10-2007