Developing elite hockey skills

Brady Grove
Times Contributor

 

The 2016 Elite Prospects’ Camp by Elite Hockey Development is currently under way at the Strathmore Family Centre. Now in its 11th year, the Elite Hockey Development camp features players who have played higher ends of junior or triple-A midget hockey.
“We have a better chance to make them a better player in the summer,” said Doug Raycroft, who is an instructor and a former assistant coach of the CFR Bisons triple-A midget team. “The only purpose is to get better for everyone.”
Raycroft helped coach the Bisons to a Nationals appearance in 2015 and, as a result, he knows what it takes to get other players to this level. Dan MacDonald, who was the head coach of the Bisons during their National run, is one of the on-ice instructors.
The camp is broken into two different programs: on-ice training and off-ice training.
The on-ice training is used to develop a player’s traditional skills like shooting, passing and skating while also increasing a player’s compete level with battle drills.
“We work on all the skills every practice,” said Raycroft.
The off-ice program is focused more on conditioning and strength training for the players. It emphasizes growing a player’s speed, power and agility, but there is an educational component as well. Players will learn the proper way to eat through a nutritional guidance program. Players will also learn on-ice tactics and strategies.
During the month of August, the hockey school will switch focus to players from the novice to bantam age range, 7-14. As the players are younger there is more of a teaching component involved but the focus of the camp is still to improve skills, conditioning and strength.
For registration information, visit elitehockeydevelopment.com.