Dweeb Alert! Dweeb Alert!

Ask any kid coming out of a good hockey program, high school coaches who have been on the bench for more than 10 years have no clue about current systems.

Our high school coaches (of a pretty successful D-1 program) preached to defensemen "Get it out!" "Off the glass!" "Ice It!" to the kids for years. One defensemen said, "I would get killed on my other coaches if I battled for a puck, won it and then threw it away...it's all about puck possession."

Yes- as the kids move past middle school hockey a lot of the focus turns to PP or PK.
A good coach will have all players practice each during the week so all the kids get reps, but come game time teams will have roughly 5 forwards and 3 D used for PP and 4 forwards and 3 D for PK. Again, most coaches will keep all players taking meaningful reps during the week in case of injury (next man up mentality).
Its a tough pill to swallow for some parents but the kids get it.

Your coaches should be working on this now if your kid is in middle school. If they are still doing 3 on 0 down the ice, get him/her out of there. Practice needs to be situational because 1/2 the game is now PP or PK. Even small area games don't cover this, you should be using the entire ice for the players to learn entry into zone, then set-up, then send in the 4 PK's and teach situational hockey. Use both ends of the ice also keeping all players engaged.
We do see kids coming to us with very good skill (skating, handling the puck, etc) but they lack the IQ to see a play. This isn't a bad thing but a 14 or 15 year old needs to know this stuff to move to next level hockey.
So coaches, keep doing what your doing ans sprinkle some of this in, we appreciate it.

Pond Hockey plus Basketball minus cheerios equals a bologna sandwich .

Parents like you are what ruins it for your kids. Don't be like this guy. Here is what you can expect to hear in the future "Whats your name? Sorry, we don't have any spots available this year"

A clinic to teach special teams.... I have heard it all now !

If your kid is pee wee age or older and your coach is not dedicating 1 entire practice a week to PK and PP then you you are overpaying for your hockey !

Let them have thier skills night, one practice for small area games or battles and transitioning the stuff they learned in skills to game type situations and then one practice primarily for PK and PP scenarios.

sprinkle in some specific skill type stuff, like rebounds, tips drills, collecting passes off the boards or in open ice and then some shooting drills for players and goalies.

and a good coach should be able to combine about five of those things listed above in 1 drill and teach the fundamentals of forwards and Defense at the same time.

Are you a coach who played or just a Dad who pays for hockey and thinks hes an expert because he has watched his little player and the Bruins?

coach who has played, and a "daddy coach" on top of that ! Imagine that ? It is not rocket science if you were coached correctly growing up, understand age specific needs of your kids, recognize deficiencies in games and then work on those things and are organized.

I do not show up at the rink and step on the ice and wing it, lots of planning goes into our practice plans from the start of the season to each practice, as that there is progression of difficulty that coincides with the progression of skill.

Like this guy says, put in a little effort and you'll see the benefits. Previous poster, why so bitter? Pick a better team and coach next year if what he says is foreign to you.

Problem is, most parents are stupid and would not see the value in this.

I think your spell check corrected that - think you meant to say most parents are stupid and don't know they should expect the team to work on these without needing to pay extra for a clinic.