“Our whole mission is to leave hockey better than they found it.” - Danny Heath

When the Winnipeg Jets relocated from Winnipeg to Phoenix for the 1996-97 season, the newly renamed Coyotes didn’t arrive to much fanfare.

Hockey in the heat will never work, said many. Yet the Coyotes caught the eye of seven-year-old Danny Heath from Glendale, Arizona, and sparked his lifelong love for hockey that continues to this day.

Heath, now 32, is the founder of the at-home skill and mindset development app, Project Hockey. His previous roles include Student Assistant Coach Minnesota State University Men’s DI, Assistant Coach Mankato West Hockey Boys Varsity and 10+ years of youth coaching experience, not to mention his playing experience: he spent time in the USHL with the Tri-City Storm and Des Moines Buccaneers, before landing a scholarship at Minnesota State, where he played for four seasons.

Heath’s take on hockey is fresh and contagious; he begins his TCS Live on-ice presentation saying “Hockey is the greatest game in the world and we like to have a ton of fun with it,” before taking a group selfie with attendees.

“Our whole mission is to leave hockey better than they found it.” – Danny Heath

Heath, joined on the ice by Eriah Hayes, a former NHL/AHL player and owner of the hockey training facility FIVE7, demonstrates a practice good for as few as two players, up to a team of 30. The name of the game during his presentation is helping players find pucks through traffic and it’s an important one. Games are filled with congested areas where players lose sight of pucks, yet learning how to navigate this situation is rarely taught. Until now, that is.

Watch his 21-minute presentation and learn how to get players stimulated, moving and thinking to kick off practice, before showing and explaining the what and why of what you’d like to accomplish, and finally then progressing their skills.