Lessons From U16 or Midget Minor Hockey

Lessons From U16 or Midget Minor Hockey

U16 is an outstanding level of hockey.  It’s a wonderful nexus of skill development peaking, and a comfortability with the contact learned at U14.  In fact, U16 is a level that sees a tremendous amount of NCAA Division One commitments, as colleges secure and line up these players services for future years in their program.  You, as the coach for the team, have the opportunity to refine the skills of previous coaches.

These are young players with hockey, school, social lives and much more in front of them.   They have to manage this workload effectively, and you as the coach can help guide them with sound judgement, timely encouragement, and experience.  

1. NCAA Commitments

According to Youth Hockey Hub, an online hockey website, and reinforced through NCAA commitment data, the U16 level is ranked number 3 behind the USHL and NAHL for NCAA Division One commitments year to year.  This data stays consistent across the board for the last 6-7 years.  The U16 level, when in a good league such as the T1EHL or AYHL, is a consistent feeding ground for NCAA recruiters.

That does not mean that these players are entering school at 16 or 17, but rather, it means schools are committing to them for 2-3 years down the road.  These committed players have a spot (or scholarship) at these institutions when they are physically ready.

Some of the reasons this level is so attractive to NCAA Division One coaches and recruiters is because within this age group players start to separate themselves from the pack, and it becomes easier, post- puberty, to identify players with the highest ceilings.  Scouts may not always be right, and de-commitments do happen, but committing players within this age group consistently provides NCAA D1 schools with future top talent.

As a coach, nurturing this talent and steering the top kids in the right direction, plays a huge role on your impact on that player at this age.  He’s a standout player, but are outside influences starting to distract him/her?  Does he not eat right?  Are his grades starting to fall off?  You as the coach for this young player can be the one to lead him down a path to future success.

For the other players on your team who are not the elite, early commitment player, you as the teacher/coach/mentor, can ground that player and direct their focus onto getting to that elite level.  Filling in the cracks to what may be some of the weaknesses in their game.   Is your player a natural scorer, but lacks Division One skating ability?  Do they have the skill, but not the strength?  Is your player a 100’ player, and struggles to defend on the other 100’.  Your role can be vital in setting these players up for future commitments, advancements and success.

2. Teaching Zone Entry

Zone entries should be an attack by all 5 skaters getting up into the offensive rush, and creating a scoring chance that maximizes the attack, the speed off the rush, and also puts your team in a sound position to limit the chance going the other way.  This is a moving, complex scheme within the game that players truly up to this point in their development will struggle to grasp.  With Face Offs, you can create a play off a fixed outcome- Win or Loss.  With Zone entry, the puck can be up the middle, left or right…  you might have a defenseman carrying it into the zone… maybe both D’s are in the rush as a flank player and a middle drive…  It is your responsibility as coach to explain, drill, analyze and develop these skills and concepts within your team.  At U16 they will really start to get it.

Players at this level can now effectively identify puck carrier, middle drive, flank, trailer and other terms associated with zone entry.  You can drill down and practice this concept and in a relatively short period of time your teams and its members will have a strong understanding of this critical piece to the game.

Remember…

Although the brain stops growing in size by early adolescence, the teen years are all about fine-tuning how the brain works. The brain finishes developing and maturing in the mid-to-late 20s. The part of the brain behind the forehead, called the prefrontal cortex, is one of the last parts to mature. This area is responsible for skills like planning, prioritizing, and making good decisions.

The Teen Brain: 7 Things to Know – National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (nih.gov)

Your players will ask questions, they will make excuses, they will point to a previous coach and his philosophy and ask why you are not doing it “his way on his old team”.  These are all oftentimes healthy questions, where if you approach them will value and respect will earn your confidence and belief.  Reinforcing your system and team play with video and meetings only will strengthen the bond between player- coach- system.   

3. Regroups and Transition

Zone Entries and Zone Exits are a critical piece to the modern NHL game.  The ability to carry the puck out of the defensive zone and the ability to carry the puck into the offensive zone.  Play drivers like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Jack Hughes routinely lead the NHL in these categories and as no surprise are some of the best and leading scorers in the entire NHL.  At U16 however, players are not as familiar with the concept of Puck Management, and young players, when pressured, can turn the puck over and lead to scoring chances going the other way.

The game at this level, isnt as vanilla and “safe” as the NHL game from the 1990s when most entries resulted in dump-ins, but is more of a back and forth affair where transitional goals (similar as the 1990s/ early 2000s) are common place.

If your team can become good at transitioning the puck from defense to offense and regrouping quickly so they can attack against a vulnerable defensive structure, your team will most often be successful.  So try these concepts:

• Make commands and communication very simple for defenseman (Quick Up, Wheel, Stretch, Reverse, D to D etc)- and have everyone on the ice know what these commands mean
• Replicate the Breakout with the Regroup and Focus on Structure and Concept-  Strong Side wing engage the Opposing D, Center Low, Weakside Wing Stretch etc.
• Get Off the Walls on the Breakout!  Far too many clean breakouts result in turnovers or dump-ins when players stay isolated on the wall.  Attack the Middle and put pressure on the opposing teams defense.
• Practice NOT JUST THE BREAKOUT.  Practice a breakout that leads to a regroup that leads to a zone entry and so on.  This will dig in to your teams ability to keep the puck.

4. Managing Rest & Sleep

• Sleep research suggests that a teenager needs between eight and 10 hours of sleep every night.
• Most teenagers only get about 6.5-7.5 hours sleep per night.
• Teen’s body clocks naturally shift to make them feel tired later in the evening, but early school starts do not enable them to sleep in the mornings.
• Chronic sleep deprivation can have dramatic effects on a teenager’s life, including affecting their mental wellbeing and reducing their academic performance at school.
• Smart phones and other devices used around bed time reduce sleep time.

Teenagers and sleep – Better Health Channel

The 7am to 2pm or 8am to 3pm school day is a grind for many teenagers.  Combine this with after school activities, family dinners, home work, and friends, the teenager’s life is a blurry maze of distractions that can lead to many poor habits and lifestyle choices.  Coaches want to have all of their players fully engaged in the team practices or meetings that they are involved in, but how is that possible with so many external stimuli?

Managing rest and time is a critical piece for coaches at the U16 level.  Practices have to be planned out and crisp with little down time, and meetings or video sessions have to be short to keep their attention.  

The average human’s attention span is 8.25 seconds, and the average 16 year old loses their focus on an activity between 32 to 48 minutes in.  Average Human Attention Span By Age: 47 Statistics (crossrivertherapy.com)  .  At this age it is incredibly critical to gather their attention, keep it for the allotted time, and then let them go on to their other activities.  Meetings late at night or earlier in the morning?  These will not have the desired outcome if they are not getting the rest, recovery and fuel they need for their day.

Focus on the things you can control as a coach and make your practices sessions fun, constructive and fast paced, so that your athletes are eager to attend.  Advocate for rest, recovery and talk about it just as much as you would talk about the strength and conditioning program.  Sleep and Recovery are essential to developing top athletes.

5. Mental Health

Mental Health, Mental Health Awareness, Safe Spaces, and Mental Health days are common vernacular in 2024.  According to CDC data compiled between 2011 and 2021,more than 4 in 10 (42%) students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third (29%) experienced poor mental health, moreover, more than 1 in 5 (22%) students seriously considered attempting suicide and 1 in 10 (10%) attempted suicide.  Always seek the guidance and assistance from trained mental health professionals as well as the parents of a child in your program who is exhibiting these signs, but as their coach, be an advocate for them and be someone who cares with honesty and compassion.

In Angela Duckworth’s best seller “Grit- the Power of Passion and Perseverance”, she argues that the defining characteristic in successful people is the ability to overcome and work through obstacles.   Here are some quotes from this outstanding work:

“I learned a lesson I’d never forget. The lesson was that, when you have setbacks and failures, you can’t overreact to them.”

“Three bricklayers are asked: “What are you doing?” The first says, “I am laying bricks.” The second says, “I am building a church.” And the third says, “I am building the house of God.” The first bricklayer has a job. The second has a career. The third has a calling.”

“Grit depends on a different kind of hope. It rests on the expectation that our own efforts can improve our future. “I have a feeling tomorrow will be better” is different from “I resolve to make tomorrow better.”

― Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Instill in your athletes the values of pushing through and overcoming obstacles.  Strengthen their character through friendship and a helping hand.  It’s incredibly easy to give up, and many kids you encounter will need more help than the skills that you can provide them, but before succumbing to Easy Outs and Quitting, champion the gritty skills that can serve your athletes in the future.  You can be the coach, at this level, that takes an average kid who loses his direction and channels that energy in a positive way.

2 Small Area Games for the U16 or Midget Levels

The Tire Game

Teach play away from the puck, getting open, finding space and much much more.  No Goaltenders.  Play 3v3 in one zone with 3 sets of tires or cones as the “Goal”.  Players will have to pass the puck successfully through these areas to their teammates to score a point.  Play to 7 or 9.  Stress flat passes, communication and much more.

PP/ PK Face Off Cross Ice

Special teams game that stresses quick decisions.  Face Off Opposing teams 2 v2.  Coach drops puck.  Team that wins the Face Off gets an extra skater immediately.  Team that loses the Face Off, the 3rd player will sprint to a predetermined destination before making it a 3 v3.  Play it out for 45 seconds to 1 minute.

Andrew Trimble is the General Manager and Co- Owner of the New England Wolves Hockey Club.  He is also the Owner of Scoring Concepts LLC, a New Hampshire based hockey training company that offers camps, clinics, private lessons and teams. He has coached at all levels from Learn to Skate to College Hockey.   For more info on his teams and programs check out- www.scoringconcepts.com  or www.ne-wolveshockey.com