so how did autobots do last night?

[jeSteR]

[Duncan]

have any of us gone through power skating courses? i know i haven't... maybe someone who has can teach the rest of us during the private atb practices?

but still... i think power skating or not, just simple tutorials as to what a break out looks like or positional play instead of chasing the puck helps... not to mention teaching half the forwards how to shoot... haha... i kid i kid...

hey tys, you on board with the idea of issuing a mandatory 50-100 bucks on top of the original fee to hold private atb practices? i say you don't even make it an option for the team to opt out of... say if you want to be part of this team, this is how it is and how it always will be.. if you don't want to make it, then don't... only people who can opt out of it are people with legit commitments conflicting with the practices.. but then again, don't know how you'd be able to say if it's legit or not...

i'm thinking renting a rink is about what, 200 bucks right? so there are 15 full timers right? so that's up to $1500 bucks which is roughly a max of 7 practices you can hold... i suppose if we're playing for 5-6 months, you can just have a dedicated practice once a month... and subs can pop by for $15 a head if they want...

if we do like 90 min sessions, we can do the first 45 mins as personal practice time where you can work on whatever you want.... face offs, shots, whatever... easy going work out time.. then the last 45 mins we can scrim 3 on 3 or 4 on 4... or even practice pp/pk time... have 5 on 4 time for 15 mins then switch... i think that'd totally help...

[joel]

I've taken the power skating lessons offered at 8 rinks. And i recommended it for everyone.. no matter how good of a skater you are. There are a couple different levels offered. I took level 2 and I must say i learned a few new things every single session... Remembering them all and putting them to use is another thing altogether though. The prices are very reasonable too. Worst thing is the times which are sometimes 6 or 7 in the morning. Combine that with the late autobot games...

[tyson]

the idea of mandatory practices and practice fees sounds good in theory, but i don't think would work well IRL.
not to mention nobody here knows how to run a practice and i doubt if many people would enjoy practices on the team.

nothing stopping us from running practices now though. i can reserve one saturday a month for practices if you guys really want

i am not really sure what is happening with autobots beyond this season. i am not really happy in ice604 and it seems like the feeling is shared by many on the team. i am looking at other options.

[[JT]]

FORWARD IS FUN, I WANNA PLAY FORWARD

about the positioning and stuff.. i think some of us more "experienced" players (including me) FAIL SUPER hard at helping our teammates learn.

by this i mean, when they're on the ice and in the wrong position or not doing what they're supposed to.. we (myself) does some nice yellin from the bench

BUT the moment they come off the ice and sit down it's rare that someone explains to them in a calm, positive learning way where they should've been/what they could've done better etc etc..


and i agree with joel, nobody can run a practice.. the practices we've had a long time ago were pretty useless haha, its not gonna help our team.

i think the most effective way is to just talk to each other on the bench more.. give your teammates positive feedback to reinforce the good things they did on their shift.. and tell them how they sucked without being a jerk about it

obviously they wont learn instantly on their next shift but if you keep telling them it'll eventually get stuck in their heads..

[supersuk]

tbh, when you're on the ice, you hear maybe about 5% of anything that comes from the bench.

yelling from the bench is like hollaring at the girl from the passenger side of your best friends ride.

[Duncan]

Well, maybe not a practice practice, but kinda a work out session where people could come and have some private ice to work on stuff like their shot, or face offs or whatever... it doesn't have to be a structured practice... i'd personally like that

[geForce]

[joel]

I agree that during a competitive game is not the ideal place to learn and improve on one's skills or understanding of the game. Usually, there's too much going on to be able to address any specific learning during a game. You can coach someone into to doing stuff that they already know how to do during a game, but you aren't really going to be able to teach them anything, skill or strategy wise, even on the bench.

I can't really give any formula on how to get better. But I will just share what things I have done to "try" and improve my game.

One thing I do is identify players that are better than me overall or at specific skills. I will talk to them and ask them how they do or use those skills, watch them do it and ask them to watch me do it and give me pointers on how i am doing it wrong or right. In general, they are usually helpful, especially since it's flattering to have someone say you are good at something. The next thing is just practise it over and over. The physical aspects of hockey is completely muscle memory. You basically want to get to the point where you aren't thinking about that skill when you perform it in a game. Most of this physical skill development I think is best learned outside of a game setting.

The mental skill development can happen anywhere really. Although i think it is much harder to do during a competitive game. And your physical skill set has to be a point where your focus can be on what's happening around you and not on what you are doing. One thing that I think really helped me was play defence for a few years. Understanding the different positions really allow you to understand the game on a different level.

And here's one more funny, off-the-wall tip. Play NHL 2010 hockey against JT, or if he's not around play on Superstar mode.

[geForce]

[LIUongo]

Yeah, I like that idea. I'll probably come out to Sat night more since Kevs back to play for the bots!