At Micro Ice, we have professional coaches leading our Ice Dog program. The emphasis with our teams is on Long-Term Athletic Development. We teach the game to players the right way. We focus on skating, skill development, and being great teammates. We do not focus on tactics, systems, dumping the puck or winning at the expense of development.
Hockey coaches often talk about the traits they look for in players - attention to details, coachability, accountability, hustle, and being a good teammate. While other programs and teams expect players to show up with these traits, we think it’s a fundamental responsibility of our program to teach kids these traits and help them learn what it means to be attentive, coachable, accountable, etc., and how to do it.
That’s why Micro Ice is different than other programs. Our goal isn’t to win games or leagues, or rise in national hockey rankings. Please don’t misunderstand – we want to win and like to win, but that is not the primary objective. Instead our goal is long term development of hockey players. We don’t just practice; rather, we teach kids why practice is important and how they can get the most out of practice. It’s not only coaching players to stick handle and shoot but also what it means to be coachable. It’s not only developing players’ skating but also helping them to develop hustle and urgency. It’s not only teaching them the rules of the game but also becoming responsible and accountable for their actions.
At Micro Ice our practices emphasize high repetition and puck touches. We emphasize game like situations with maximum pace. Players learn by doing under the attentive watch of our staff of professional coaches comprised of an NHL skills/skating coach and former college hockey players – quality teachers with ample teaching moments. Our approach gives our players the tools and traits they will need to be productive and successful at the high school level and beyond.
We think the best schools teach kids not only the curriculum but also how to be good, productive, and responsible students. We think the best hockey programs teach kids not only how to play hockey but also how to be good hockey players and teammates. That’s our goal at Micro Ice. And interestingly, as we’ve done so, we’ve won a lot of games and leagues and tournaments. Funny how that works out.
Interested? Want to learn more? Please complete our Prospective Player Form or email us at tryouts@microicehockey.com.
