What Is the Early Season Telling You?

A few weeks into the season, it’s easy to look at the standings and think you know what kind of team you have.

Be careful.

A great record can hide bad habits. A rough record can hide real progress.

The early season isn't giving you a final grade. It's giving you information.

Now is the time to gather that information, understand what it means and use it to chart the course for the rest of the season.

Especially at the youth level, success should be measured by more than wins and losses.

Winning matters. Competing matters. But development matters too.

If you're winning, how are you winning? Are you playing good team hockey? Are players sharing the puck, supporting each other and competing the right way? Or are one or two talented players carrying the team through sloppy games? Are your players learning to win with humility?

If you're losing, how are you losing? Are players staying together, competing and supporting teammates after mistakes? Are they learning from adversity? Or are frustration, finger pointing and individual play taking over?

The score is an outcome. Understand what produced it.

Then broaden the way you measure progress.

Hockey Development: Are individual skills improving? Are players becoming better skaters? Are they improving their edges, puck skills and puck protection? Are they making better decisions? Is your team play getting better?

Ultimately, are we better today than we were a month ago?

People & Team Development: What is happening with your culture? Are leaders emerging? Are players communicating with everyone, not just their closest friends? Are cliques forming? Are teammates supporting each other regardless of ability or role? Are players becoming more accountable and resilient?

Pay attention to how your best players treat players who may be struggling. Watch what happens after a mistake, during a tough loss and after a big win.

Skill doesn't excuse being a bad teammate. The standard applies to everyone.

Turn the Information into a Plan

Follow a simple process:

1. Gather. Write down your strengths, weaknesses, what's working and what isn't. Involve your assistant coaches. They may see things you don't. At older and higher levels, consider involving your captains as well. Ask what they're seeing and hearing inside the group.

2. Analyze. Look for patterns. Ask why. Is it skill? Understanding? Effort? Confidence? Culture? Practice design? Decide where you want to see meaningful improvement.

3. Adjust. Change practice priorities, reinforce what's working, address what's not and create opportunities for leadership and ownership.

A simple way to turn that assessment into action is a Start, Continue, Stop plan.

START
• More small area games to develop puck protection, support and decision making
• Opportunities for different players to lead
• Mixing players intentionally to discourage cliques
• Tracking a few specific developmental goals

CONTINUE
• Developing individual skating, edge mastery and puck skills
• Reinforcing strong compete habits
• Recognizing unselfish play and good teammates
• Keeping practices competitive, positive and fun

STOP
• Spending too much practice time on systems at the expense of skill development
• Allowing one or two players to dominate possession
• Accepting negative body language, finger pointing or criticism of teammates
• Measuring success primarily by the standings

Then measure again.

Revisit the plan throughout the season. What has improved? What hasn't? What are your assistants or captains seeing that you might be missing?

Gather. Analyze. Adjust. Measure again.

I've seen too many coaches get too high after a few wins or too low after a few losses. There is far too much hockey left to play.

At the youth level, one of the best measures of your coaching impact isn't simply your record. It's the difference between the players and team you started with and the players and team you helped develop by the end of the season.

Keep teaching. Keep developing. Stay positive and have fun.

This is hockey, the greatest game in the world, after all.