Late-night hockey training

For those who can take it and who normally don't play on the Monday night that week arrive at hockey on Tuesday night at 10pm, just after the figure-skaters leave the ice between 10 - 15 senior players warm up for a fitness training session designed to be fun but to keep the feet moving for the majority of practise, additonally combining different forms of game skating along with puck work and technique.

Tuesday's training had ten guys down and after a 5 minute warm up we started our training with alternate lap skating. This is a great drill and I can remember it from the days of Dennis Nicholson. Slightly altered, this drill shows you personally where your breaking point is as you will be able to feel and on which lap when you dont have anymore power in your legs to push.

The next drill went to circles, skating with deep pushes, this applies constant pressure on the legs and works like no other. Alternating direction and adding in pucks with passing keeps players skating hard & keeping their heads up for the pass.

Break-away skating and passing with precise passing on the boards, and focus on quick excelleration from stand-still, receiving the puck on the stick and then sprinting throught beacons or around a point and then back to join the rest of the line. This drill divides the good from the bad from different positions, 1. Receiving the puck while tired and skating hard, 2. Making an accurate pass to a player... These 2 simple points also show players where their fitness levels are at as many begin to fold is the drill ticks over.

Red line to blue line and back, another simple drill to work on puck control, with massive focus on the legs with all the stopping and starting. A player should not lose the puck when stopping and changing direction, this is an additional sign of fatigue.

Not to go thru all the drills that we covered, but all of the drills involved alot of skating with puck control and the object to get players to push themselves as they would either be motivated or skating against another player or the entire group.

Ending off the training with a cross-ice game of 3 on 3 with changes every 45 seconds which keeps all the players moving and skating hard.
Practice conclusion: A job well done and great effort by all the players that made it down, as we progress with the trainings we will see an increase in effort, speed and technique. Looking forward to it.

Eagles back on top form

Taking to the ice rather late on a Monday night, with the Senior game only starting after 9pm, Eagles team were looking a little diminished with only having 9 players. A late arrival by Jerry Mcambo made it an even two lines, but were facing up against a Sharks team of 3 lines...

The game got underway with rather quickly with fast pace and tremendious hitting from both teams. The Sharks team is made up of the entire Namibian squad including a German Semi-Pro player (sorry, didnt care to catch his name). For some or other reason there was a lot of off the puck plays with the Namibian trade mark of slashing and hooking consuming the game.

It was not long after this that a warning was sent out to both teams about fair-play. The Sharks team scored first putting Eagles on a backfoot but that didnt seem to fase them much. I fumble by Namibian Giersch allowed Giot to control the puck and send a pass to Samaai on the backdoor for the equaliser. Period 1 ended 1-1.

Period 2 started slightly slower as you can see both teams were relaxing, a little tired and controlling the play more. A slashing call on Dustin Wessells and words between him and Yates got Wessells thrown out of the game and D'Amorol with a 3rd man in call, this was the turning point for the Eagles team as Mike Fraquet makes a flip pass into open space, Giot skates onto it and Fraquet drives to the net and the pass accross sees Fraquet finish on the backdoor.

Giot then put two goals away, one on a rebound from the initial shot and the other skating down the boards and shooting over the shoulder of Jack Nebe. Sharks were now looking to control the game and get a couple goals back. Under 18 National players Jade Johnson and Chad Williams were trying to make their mark on the game but with little assistance by the rest of their team...

Third period saw Grant Yates step up from his blue line and take on a forward role burrying the puck past the goaltender to leave the Eagles with a comfortable score of 6 - 1. Relaxing too early, the Namibian line took control and put away 2 quick goals passed the American female goaltender, one over the shoulder and the other a backdoor touch-in.

The game ended 6 - 3 in favour of the Eagles team. 2nd Star went to (cant remember) and 1st Star went to Baden Best.

Monday night is hockey night.... Eagles vs Rams

The first game of the 2nd half of the season and it starts off with us and them. Although both teams had smiles on their faces throughout the game it was balls to the wall, litterally.

Eagles were playing with starting line-up: Michael Fraquet, George D'Amorol, Marc Giot (Me), Grant Yates and Chris Reeves with Uthman Samaai & Luke Carlse on 2nd line VS Rams: Ivan Tchekashkine, Sergey Petrov, Kyle Martins & John Fay. Mich Joubert, Klyde & Brendon Stevens were playing on 2nd line and the game got underway full-steam ahead.

Eagles were quick to score the first goal from a 1-2 play from Giot to Fraquet with a tap in on the backdoor passed American goalie Sandy McClurg (Yes, a girl). Soon after that, an incident from Sergey Petrov with a high sticking call injures Fraquet with a rather bad split lip and broken teeth. Fraquet was out for the rest of the game but no penalty was called on Petrov. This left Rams with a smile on their faces as Eagles were playing with a man down.

To cut a long story short, Rams took the game 6 - 3. Better luck next time to my Eagles team :)

Thursday night practise, looking good for season!

Thursday night saw many eager ice hockey players pour into the Grand West arena for the first official training session now that the soccer world cup has come to an end. Ample players were on the ice and loving it, with smiles on faces and an overall great practise and with the Rams and Eagles players looking forward to their rivalry taking place on Monday night.
Their next training session is on Sunday morning which will give them another 2 hours on the ice until their game the next day. A new edition and a long awaited return to the ice, Chris Reeves who is playing for the Eagles team alongside me, Michael Fraquet, Grant Yates and the 3 young superstars (Samaai, Carlse and Best).

We are looking forward to a great game and will definietely report back after the game. For those of you who wish to come and support: Grand West this Monday at 8pm. See you there!