Wednesday, March 31, 2010

NHL Advertising

The NHL has some decent ads finally, to highlight the critical moments of the playoffs, called History will be made, you can check it out on Youtube. But some of the best ads are made by NHL fans as a parody, check out Puck Daddy's Blog for some of the best.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Ovechkin vs Crosby

Tonight Ovechkin plays Crosby tonight and as two of the best players/hated players/loved players in the NHL it is a great thing.

In the early 80s the NBA finals were on tape delay and the NBA was not really the big business sport it is today. Two players Magic Johnson and Larry Bird changed they way the game was seen and brought the game to the mass audience. The NBA used the Magic/Bird rivalry to build awareness and public interest in their game.

The NHL should do the same with Crosby and Ovechkin, two great young players who polarize hockey fans. They seemed to be loved or hated, but everyone seems to have chosen a feeling about the two.

This game between the Penguins and the Capitals should have prime time exposure, and the NHL marketing team should really be pushing this game.

Hockey players are great ambassadors of the sport, and the NHL should be doing a media blitz to grow the exposure of the league.

We had momentum from the NHL players in the Olympics, and that should have been used to continue to keep hockey in the minds of the public.

It just seems something needs to change to get hockey out of just being a niche sport with a small amount of fans.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Hockey a Crime

So there was finally a nice day in Canada, and a dad decided to play street hockey with his son. Well imagine his surprise when he was fined $75 for playing street hockey. I guess technically it was because of a noise complaint, but I am shocked this happened in Canada of all places. He is fighting the fine. Here is the story from CBC News http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/03/23/montreal-street-hockey-fine.html#ixzz0j1J2ewtA

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Off Season Strength Training

Now that the hockey season is coming to an end, players need time for their mind and body to recuperate from being on the ice. By doing dryland training and weight training, the youth hockey players can still build up their body and skills without getting burned out on the sport.

The Hockey Share blog put up a good post giving some reasons why this is important.

www.hockeyshare.com/blog/comments-thoughts/allowing-post-season-recovery-time



The American Developmental model wants to build athletes first, and hockey players second.

http://www.admkids.com/


We have developed our summer camps so that players can do the nutrition, weight training and hockey skills that keeps it fun, and builds athletic skills.

www.lagunahockeyacademy.com/camps_clinics

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Summer Training

We want to make sure that we do not burn out our Youth Hockey Players over the summer, depending on their age you need to have them not just play hockey leagues year round. We want them to play hockey because they want to, and it is fun for them, not because we push them as adults. The American Developmental Model from USA Hockey address age specific training, and how we should develop athletes first, and then hockey players.

http://www.admkids.com

Here is an amusing post on the subject by Mike Boyle from StrengthCoach.com

http://mboyle1959.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/summer-training-for-nine-year-olds/

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

NHL and TV

After the great buzz generated for hockey generated by having NHL players in the olympics, two things are certain. First despite the 2 week shutdown, the exposure that hockey and the NHL players got because of the olympics was worth the league shutdown. In a world of stars, getting new people to learn about Ryan Miller is huge. People learn the well known athletes of a sport and then follow the sport, look what Tiger Woods did for golf. So the NHL must send its players to the olympics.

Second after perhaps one of the greatest hockey games in quite a while for the gold medal game, many people who were not hockey fans or casual fans wanted to watch some more hockey games. The NHL needs to fix this by getting a contract with a major network to broadcast games. Versus has been great, but it is not easily available to many homes. Second, the fact that Versus cannot be watched on Directv means that people with the largest satellite TV provider cannot watch hockey on Versus. Someone in the NHL needs to step up and resolve this dispute between Versus and Directv. It would be a shame to lose all this goodwill, and interest in hockey. In a fast paced world, the gold medal game will be forgotten by the general public who move on to something else, and a great opportunity will be lost.