OIL PRICE SWINGS... The New Normal

Here's a short Q&A with leading economists to help you understand why the price of oil is heading so high and what impacts it will have on the U.S and Canadian economies.

See link... Oil Price Swings

Darryl Belfry... Using the Dots as a Defenseman

This guy not only understands the game, but he is a great communicator. He'd make an amazing coach.



Darryl Belfry works with top NHL and Euro pros and top prospects.

For more info. see http://www.proplaymakers.ca/

Outliers - The Story of Success

This entertaining and easy to read book about the peculiarities of serendipity, dumb luck, and the pure and simple desire for perfection rings so true when it comes to hockey...

My own observations as a coach and team manager collecting copies of birth certificates for elite and less competitive teams correlates perfectly with the author Malcolm Gladwell's statistics regarding the direct correlation between the month a player is born and his or her level of competitiveness. Obviously, there are exceptions. But the stats are what they are.

I've also also observed the POWER OF PRACTICE... In Gladwell's investigations he has found that the "magic number" whether you are an NHL hockey player, a member of "the Beatles", or a world class computer geek like Bill Gates... is 10,000 HOURS. 10,000 hours to become a world class pianist, pilot, surgeon or whatever your endeavour.

Relating this to what I see at hockey... I don't know how many times I've heard parents and coaches talk about certain kids as "natural skaters". Certainly that rings true at very early ages but when you peel back the onion you will discover that with the older kids, these "natural skaters" ALWAYS work their butts off at practice and ALWAYS attend specialized skating clinics. The same holds true for shooters... Look at 2 of hockey's best shooters in the game... retired Joe Sakic and current Steve Stamkos. In similar cases... Sakic's dad used to berate his son if he wasn't shooting pucks in the basement and Stamkos asked his dad to put him in specialized shooting clinics because he knew he just wasn't as good as the other kids on his team and around the league. What Gladwell shows here is that when it comes specifically to perfection, when given the opportunity to excel, it ain't magic. That doesn't mean by any stretch that your kid will end up in the show, but it does make me think of the oft quoted double entendre...

"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice, practice, practice..."

This is a remarkable book. Let me know what you think.

Your 5-Min. "Need To Know" About Libya's Col. Moammar Gadhafi

Dictatorial despot to his own people or shrewd diplomatic statesman?

Take a look at the man who managed to win favour with Western countries such as the U.S., Britain, France and Italy, even after having been linked to a number of highly publicized terrorist atrocities through the 70's and 80's.

But now he faces his biggest challenge ever... his own countrymen. And his highest profile diplomats have abandoned ship. I doubt he will be around for too much longer.  Maybe it will become a civil war...???

Read Geoffery York's attached article in The Globe & Mail to learn how he has been able to survive 42 years as Libya's leader.

Tell me what you think. Leave your comments below.

LINK --> Will tactics that saved Gadhafi before be enough for him to survive now?

Joe Venuto's Impact Hockey (Boxing Day 26DEC10)

On Boxing Day 2010 Joe Venuto held a clinic at Westwood Arena to help young hockey players hone their skills and work off Christmas dinner.



COACHES... You may want to include a few of these drills in your repertoire and you can add goalies for shooting too.

For more information CLICK HERE --->  Joe Venuto's IMPACT HOCKEY 

The Tight Turn

Kevin Muller from M2 Hockey shows the proper technique for making a tight turn.

 TEACHING POINTS

• Lead with stick and eyes in direction of turn. It will help move your shoulders and rest of body together.
• Lead with outside edge of inside skate and slightly ahead of outside skate.
• Crossover half way through your turn and accelerate...!!!

1/2 Ice Warm-Up Drill

Here's a nice warm up drill you can use when the other half of ice is being used...