January Blues – Think Ahead!

Many teams complain of suffering after the Christmas break. January blues? I get that. It is at this time of our season that I find myself pushing to keep the effort high. Generally I sell January as the time to prepare for the next hockey goal or hockey season. The second year bantams will be looking toward high school hockey. Many rec players will be wanting to make the jump to competitive, and competitive a’s will want to make aa, no?

I take the time to explain how all sports, all successful athletes use the summer to strengthen, add new skills polish up and make new goals. It starts in January!

I  hear stories on a somewhat regular basis that the ice coach doesn’t like roller, and in some cases even refuses to allow players to play.

I’m not insinuating that these players mentioned do not have extensive ice back grounds as well, but I am saying that they’ll also tell you that not only did roller not hurt their game, it helped it.

Summer roller hockey has been a great avenue for players who need to polish up on stick handling, play making. Those slow sport courts and heavy soft urethane wheels will build a players sprint up ice muscles. Just ask Paul Stastny. Paul played roller  hockey growing up in St. Louis, MO and most recently played on the TMD (Team Mad Dogs) Teams in 05. BTW, the guy on the right is Paul Statsny.

Who Plays Roller Hockey?

Brad Boyes (St. Louis Blues)
Paul Stastny (Colorado Avalanche)
Sam Gagner (Edmonton Oilers)
Ales Hemsky (Edomnton Oilers)
Mike Comrie (New York Islanders)
Rick Di Pietro (New York Islanders)
Mike Van Ryn (Florida Panthers)
David Booth (Florida Panthers)
Devin Setoguchi (San Jose Sharks)
Dominik Hasek (Detroit Red Wings)
Gilbert Brule (Columbus Blue Jackets)
T.J. Hensick (Colorado Avalanche)