Preseason Mailbag (3)

Originally published August 2025

Hey Jack,

Thanks for all your work.

I'm wondering what advice you have for teaching young athletes u12 and under to shoot with accuracy and weight.

Thanks again,

Tim B.

Hey Tim,

Back in 2021 I filmed a tutorial on how to develop more power on your shot. It’s especially useful for younger/lighter players who tend to over-shoot with their arms.

I’ve now made it free to watch for everyone, so check it out below:

The tutorial above works for helping players develop a full swing. Once they are adept at leveraging weight shift and rotation to create easy power, here’s how they can make their shooting motion more compact for a quicker, more deceptive release:

Hi Jack,

Wanted to get your take on the following:

What is the most underrated or overlooked tactic that successful teams master? (E.g. Neutral Zone Forecheck, Powerplay Breakout, Faceoffs, etc.)

Appreciate all the helpful content and insight over the years!

Thanks much,

Brennen S.

Hey Brennen,

I’ve coached at the minor hockey, university and pro levels, and have yet to see a team spend too much, or even enough, time on 6v5 or 5v6 play.

They’re opposite sides of the same coin and a huge difference-maker in our sport, where many games are decided by one or two goals.

Hello Jack.

I recently became a paid subscriber due to the value of your content.

I coach a 10 U boys hockey team, they are a fairly competitive team, we are tier two but we beat most tier 1 teams that we play. There is certainly skill gaps between the players but he majority of them have pretty good fundamentals for their age.

We practice twice a week for 1.5 hours.

With this limited information, what do you recommend that we focus on in practice?

Jeff L.

Hey Jeff,

Here’s what I suggest.

On offense: passing inside movement & pass reception inside movement

• If, as a team, you can’t complete passing plays on the move, then you must either play dump and chase or be completely at the mercy of your talent level

On defense: stop/start skating & turning to both sides when reacting to the play

• Shortfalls in those areas prevent players from being effective in man-on-man defense (which is the type of defense that is more translatable to a high level of play)

If you were a hockey parent with limited resources, how would you advise your son/daughter to maximize their on-ice performance?

If you were a hockey parent with unlimited resources, what suite of coaches (skills, skating, mindset, cognitive performance, etc.) or tools would you invest in to maximize your son/daughter's on-ice performance?

Brandon R.

My parents definitely fell into the limited resources category when I was growing up.

Instead of paying thousands of dollars each summer for my hockey, they “suggested” that I help out at the family-owned fast food restaurant. That is, unless I could find something else to do while school was out.

I quickly discovered an alternative: working as a camp counsellor/shooter at goalie camps.

I don’t remember if either ex-NHL goalies I worked for ever paid me a cent, but at least I got to stay out of the kitchen. In hindsight, it may also have contributed to my decision to coach hockey for a living.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many excellent young players, some of whom come from extremely privileged backgrounds.

Here’s the most surprising thing I learned.

It’s easy to hire the best skills development coaches and buy the best gear when money is no object, but the thing that actually holds the biggest bang for the buck is to spread the wealth and invite others to join in on your expensive off-season training.

Since 2020 I’ve worked with a specific training group, in which certain parents take on that majority of ice rental and coaching-related expenses so that talented, motivated but less well-off peers could participate and elevate the quality of training.

All involved have benefitted from that arrangement.

Five years on, we now have multiple NHL draft picks and several more future pros in our group.