How to Coach an NHL Team
The National Hockey League (NHL) represents an elite level of hockey players from throughout the world playing one of the fastest sports around. During a game, an NHL coach needs to shuffle players in and out of the game without pause. As an NHL coach, you need to have your team practice precision play in order to succeed at game time.
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Instructions
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Appreciate the fact that your practice schedule is erratic in the NHL. Long road trips, an 82 game schedule and the physical nature of the league means that practices have to be flexible to keep your team on the right track. You should consider practice planning software from websites like FlexxCoach to focus your practices. See the Resources section below for a link.
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Bring in consultants and coaches to provide advice throughout the season. Many NHL teams hire former players and scouts that bring fresh insight on performance during a difficult stretch of the season.
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Maximize your squad's talent by developing lines that can work over an entire season. The standard NHL practice is to use three offensive lines, a physical line called a checking line and four defensive pairings. These lines can change over the course of a season but too much change can leave your team without an identity.
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Rest your starting goalie following a long road trip or a grueling stretch of games. Your substitution allows your starter to gain perspective on the game while your backup goalie can get repetitions in game situations.
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Practice shootouts and breakaways regularly. These one-on-one opportunities offer your team a chance to get important points in a hurry and can mean the difference between a win and an overtime loss.
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Huddle your team together at the end of the game with a time out. NHL rules only allow teams to call a single time out and most coaches call time if down by at least one goal in the third period.
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Rely on individual drills during practice. Scrimmages in practice can lead to unwanted injuries and one-on-one drills allow you to coach players on specific technical points.
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