Becker Big Lake Youth Hockey

Background - What is Mitron?

Although you may be new to Mitron, Mitron is not new. Mitron has been in existence for about 30 years and is used extensively by tens of thousands of coaches, teams and minor hockey associations around the world. The program originated as a high performance elite hockey specific training institute in northern Ontario, Canada and now publishes manuals for player development from all levels of minor hockey from House and Travel (Mini Mite to Midget) to professional AHL and NHL hockey coaches and trainers.

Many coaches that perform hi-tempo, hi-flow practice drills may not know it but they too may already be using Mitron techniques. These techniques are what make up the basis of the Mitron (Hockey) Practice Template.

What is unique about Mitron?

Mitron goes well beyond on-ice coach/player development, however for the purposes of this brief introduction the scope of the presentation will focus on the on-ice elements.

Mitron is the only true curriculum based coaching system in the world. The program is organized as a linear development model, designed to graduate players from level to level by applying the proper weighed percentage factors to each core coaching skill competency on a year to year basis. These competencies include Technical (Fundamental), Tactical, Physical and Mental skills.

Mitron's research looked into the factors that make a hockey player react to the unique conditions of the sport of hockey properly, that is how a player learns to know -where to be, how to get there, when to get there and what to do when they get there! The Mitron Hockey Premise is to develop a player with an intuitive hockey vision which helps them read and understand the schematic flow of a hockey game. Unless you have played the game, it is difficult to comprehend - the game looks simple from the stands, however, to perform on the ice requires a completely different perspective. Only a gifted few ever develop this intuition properly and therefore most minor hockey players that are taught by the traditional practice template rarely execute the skill effectively and efficiently.

The Mitron Hockey Practice Template

How does Mitron propose to develop a hockey player with an intuitive hockey vision? The key is in understanding how players have been coached for a hundred years and how many are still coached today. We call it the traditional practice template. Without dwelling on details, many parents, coaches and players are very familiar with a typical practice; you essentially know what the form of the hockey practice is going to look like from the moment you get into your vehicle to head to the rink to the moment they step on the ice. Looking at only two simple aspects for example, after the ice has been resurfaced players begin to skate around at various speeds, some fire pucks at goalies while others stretch in various unorganized methods; shortly thereafter the team is lined up in the corners and instructed to skate around the circles to work on skating edges, next is to work on passing, then a break out or face-off drill, then finally a high speed sprints program to skate the living daylights out of players and then practice is over!

Unfortunately, this practice template does little to develop a hockey player if at all; most players that develop properly are constantly seeking supplemental practice and playing time. Why - because the traditional practice template is completely impractical and inefficient.

The Mitron High Temp/Flow Practice Template was designed to fully simulate a game under practice conditions and to execute under these conditions at game speed or higher with elements that occur in a game namely: chaos, fatigue and unpredictability.

At first you won't recognize the practice and may also wonder out loud - what exactly are they doing?? - at first it may seem that they do not know the drill and can't execute, in fact many coaches new to Mitron panic and stop the drill (some are worried about how the parents feel about the mess on the ice).

The Two On-Ice Elements - the drill - the template

Drills: It is important to understand that at first the players appear to be executing a disorganized fire drill - this is not the case. As they get better at reacting to the feedback provided by the drill, they become better at reacting and executing properly under these conditions which occur in a game and then the drills flow better with this learning. The drills are designed purposely with chaotic patterns and unpredictable variance. The drills have built in teaching tools that at first you may not recognize, but they are actually teaching while the player executes through repetition and proper feedback mechanisms. These teaching tools become progressively complex as the players graduate from Mini Mite through to Midget due to the cognitive skills of the players as they age. Some examples are: Figure 8's, many parents send their player to skating schools, the skating school does an exceptional job of demonstrating the skill because of the highly talented instructors and teachers - many coaches do not have the luxury of good skating skills and the ability to demonstrate properly. The player on the other hand doesn't necessarily learn entirely by seeing the demonstration -as humans we learn by doing; repeating often and correcting our mistakes as long as the feedback tells us they we are doing it wrong or right - although the skating school can demonstrate well - the Figure 8 is one teaching tool used by the skating school to actually teach the skill, with Mitron you will notice that the Figure 8 is incorporated into many drills at the younger ages to teach the skill of skating by forcing a player to drive the weight of their body into the skate and down into the ice at each apex of the 8; a second example is have players skate backwards toward a pile of pucks to begin a drill - this forces a player to react quickly to puck selection thus teaching or improving the ability to receive a pass, intercept a pass, pick up a loose puck on a turn-over etc; lastly most drills incorporate two or more lines or patterns - the purpose is to intellectually train the player by forcing them to remember more than one pattern, among other teaching tools this also increases the repetition and the tempo of practice.

Practice: The Mitron Practice Template is designed from the moment they step on the ice to be something completely different each practice - primarily however, the template follows a number of key objectives: complete efficiency of valuable ice-time; warm up and stretches are completed off-ice prior to practice; drills with pucks begin immediately after they step on the ice; drills are explained, demonstrated and executed, immediately after the players learn the drills, they are forced into a lapping sequence that puts the player into a fatigue state and then they are instructed to return to the drill to try to execute when tired. This trains the player while the organs in the body have been taxed to the maximum prescribed level; physical thresholds are respected throughout practice so that players become faster skaters and fit athletes.

You will find that the players are more intense and tuned in at practice; the variations keep them coming back and getting better with each practice. You may also find that there may be some instances where players are deliberately given more rest - this is a crucial training technique to ensure that the body learns to deal with lactic acid which is prevalent in the sport of hockey.

The key behind the Mitron Practice Template is the continuous alternating of high speed bursts interspersed with periods of slow speed skating, rest and recovery to closely simulate the full sequence of a hockey game.

Finally, Mitron provides continuous remedial coaching clinics as well as toll free and email to fully support coach development and implementation.

Once again we thank Becker Big Lake Youth Hockey Association for making Mitron the most advanced leading edge hockey development system' your choice for coach/player development.