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Coachella Valley Firebirds assistant coach Stu Bickel joins us on episode 338 of the Glass and Out Podcast.
Bickel is a great example of a coach who has taken all the information he was fed as a player, evolved it, and made it his own as he has embarked on his coaching journey.
Bickel grew up just outside of Minneapolis and would go on to star for Eden Prairie High School. After two seasons in the USHL, he joined his hometown University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, but after one season, as an undrafted free agent, he decided to bet on himself and make the jump into professional hockey. The move paid off, as in his fourth season, he appeared in 69 games with the New York Rangers.
While not formally a coach at this stage, we sense that the first player he ever coached was himself. He needed to define his strengths and weaknesses and evolve his game into one that would enable him to contribute on a nightly basis in the National Hockey League.
That is now a job he’s doing full-time today, developing defencemen for the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, the parent club of the Firebirds.
Listen as he shares his process for improving defencemen, the importance of being good on the breakout, and the power of video as a teaching tool.
Video Timestamps:
- 0:00 TCS 30 Day Free Trial
- 0:45 Mighty Ducks 3/Introduction to the game
- 5:35 Key defencemen skills for AHL jump
- 9:25 Identifying a players game/Video process
- 18:45 Managing mistakes/Influencing confidence
- 26:05 Different skills and roles of players
- 28:35 Individualized skill development/Gaining defensive knowledge
- 33:40 Key habits and details at the end of season
- 36:35 Teaching routing
- 40:20 Working on defensive skating and breakouts
- 47:30 Developing passion for coaching
- 50:55 Playoff run with Magicians
- 55:20 Creating a winning mentality
- 57:55 Jump to AHL
- 1:00:40 Best time for video sessions
- 1:02:25 Coaching staff debates
