It takes teamwork and hard work to make a great team

Teamwork, dedication, and effort will often out distance natural ability in the long run. Skill can come from natural ability as well as hard work. A combination of the two can make for some great hockey. I would rather work with players who have this mindset than a team full of skilled players who take the path of least resistance, disregard the idea of generosity and teamwork. I have often said that it is easier to pick a team than it is to develop or coach a team. Great skill comes from hard work. Great teams come from teamwork and hard work. Each member of a team must contribute. This also means that each member must put forth their best effort during games as well as practice. At the youth level hockey should be about fun and learning the game. Goals and winning games should be by-products of good hockey. Bad hockey can result in wins and goals also, but it is a weak foundation for future growth of the player and the sport. If you want to play the game and put in the effort, than I want you on my team. If you want just want to wear the outfit, or win plastic trophies, without any effort than I am sure there are other teams who can meet your needs. Do you play for the name on the back of your jersey or the name on the front? Hopefully you play for both. Mostly you should play the game because you love the sport. The teams that I have had the most success with have not been the most skilled or the toughest, but they have been teams that worked together, and wanted to play their best. Today we tied a team that is a little bigger and can check a little harder. We started off well with a three-goal lead, but the game changed as the checking picked up. We stopped playing together and lost our advantage. Some players became hesitant to go after the puck, and gave the puck away too many times. Positioning fell apart and our opponent moved in to tie the game up on power plays that resulted from a mix of questionable calls and some that we deserved. The biggest issue I saw was the disintegration into two distinct teams, long shifts, and “goal fever” which left our points open, and gave the other team a man up advantage even when we played full strength. Most of our players did play very well, actually I think they played exceptionally well, but we need 100% teamwork to be the most dangerous. We are very strong as a single unit, and that is sometimes a hard lesson to learn. We need everyone to work together. If we play well and lose – so be it. If we play poorly and win – what have we accomplished? If we play well and win, we have done much. I am very proud of this team. I believe that they can accomplish quite a lot. If we are better players at the end of the season than we were at the beginning than it has all been worth it. After all, it is just a game; a great game and we do have some great players. Good teams are made up of great players, but it takes teamwork and effort to make great teams. Sometimes winning is easy, but playing great is always hard work.