The list includes:

1.  A mouthguard absorbs and deflects impacts that cause tooth injuries.  (This was the obvious one to us as well!)

2.  They help prevent jaw fracture caused by side and bottom jaw impacts.

3.  They protect against internal oral lacerations.

4.  They absorb shock to help protect against brain concussions!  YES,  BRAIN CONCUSSIONS!!!!!

5.  Protects the TM joint from dislocation and related injuries.

As we have seen with other ice hockey equipment.  As technology continues and research is further customized to suit specific sports, we will see improvements and design in mouthguard design and fit.  The increasing emphasis on safety may result in mouthguards and other safety equipment being mandated in more sports.  We can’t wait to see where innovation takes us next in this area of protective equipment.

Youth hockey players at the 10 and under level, commonly referred to as the Squirt level, should focus on skill progressions as defined in this guideline.

Rules – Hockey players at this age level should be made aware of the hockey rules and knows them prior to game play.

• Face-offs
  Offside
  Icing
  Checking from behind
  

They should know the following Common Infractions

• Unsportsmanlike conduct
  Body checking
  Checking from behind
  Cross checking
  Charging
  Elbowing
  Falling on the puck
  High sticking
  Holding
  Hooking
  Interference
  Tripping

As well as the following Penalties

• Minor
  Major
  Match

In addition to the above players must learn and master the following individual hockey skills.

Skateing

• Edge control
  Ready position
  Forward start
  Forward start right/left
  Forward stride
  Control stop
  One-foot stop
  Backward skating
  Backward stop
  Control turn
  Forward crossover
  Backward Crossover
  Mohawk
  Lateral Skating

Puck Control:

• Lateral side-to-side dribble
  Forward-to-backward dribble
  Diagonal dribble
  Attacking the triangle
  Forehand shift
  Backhand shift
  Accelerating with the puck
  Change of pace
  Puck protection
  Give and take

Passing and Receiving:

• Forehand
  Backhand
  Flip-saucer pass (forehand and backhand)
  Receiving (stick)
  Receiving (skate)
  Indirect (board) pass

Shooting:

• Wrist
  Backhand
  Flip
  Screen and deflection
  Rebounding

Checking

• Poke Check
  Hook Check
  Lift the stick check
  Covering
  Gap control concept
  Body positioning-angling

Goalkeeping:

• Basic stance
  Parallel shuffle
  Lateral t-glide
  Forward and backward moves
  Stick saves
  Body saves
  Glove saves
  Leg saves
  Stacking pads
  “V” drop
  Rebounds

Youth hockey players 10 and under should understand and learn to following team play guidelines.

Offense:

• Positional offense
  Offense in the offensive zone
  Offense in the defensive zone
  Face-offs
  One-on-one confrontations
  Triangle offense
  Box offense
  Entering the zone

Defense:

• Territorial defense
  One-man forechecking
  Two-man forechecking
  Backchecking principles
  Basic defensive zone coverage

A coach should teach these players about the importance of hydration before, during, and after practices and games. Eating and nutrition habits before game play. Additionally, fitness and training are important for young hockey players. The players should learn different exercises like, warm-up, cool down, stretching, flexibility, agility, eye hand coordination, fun games, balance activities, jump rope, and relays. This should also cover injury prevention advice. How to properly care for equipment, proper fitting of equipment, rink safety, practice safety precautions, and the importance of warm-up, and stretching exercises.

Youth hockey players should also be taught to understand the difference between being relaxed and tense as well as understanding the mistakes happen and are a part of sports, learning from the mistake is necessary to a successful player. As well as understanding the benefits and use of positive reinforcement.

At this age, players should learn character development and life skills. They should be taught that they are to demonstrate high levels of sportsmanship. They most respect their teammates, coaches, opponents, officials, and parents. As well as, time management of being on time for games and practices as well as balancing school and activities. It should be repeated to stay away and say No to drugs.

It Takes a Team Effort to Ensure That All Players Are Properly Wearing a Mouth Guard

By Zac Clark

“You can’t play with them, and you can’t play without them.

The smallest piece of required equipment may be perhaps the most instrumental in preventing serious injuries on the ice.

Still, watch any game at any level of hockey and you’re almost guaranteed to see a player improperly wearing his or her mouth guard. Players chew on them like a pacifier or let them hang from the string on their facemask like fuzzy dice from a car’s rearview mirror.

The USA Hockey Rule Book plainly states that all players, including Peewee through Midget and Girls 8 & Under through 19 & Under, are required to wear a mouthpiece that covers all the remaining teeth of one jaw.

Players know the rule, and so do their parents and coaches. Officials, the last line of rule enforcement, know the rule better than anybody. So then why aren’t mouth guards in the mouths of USA Hockey players?

“Referees can certainly be more proactive in enforcing the rule, but they can’t be running around looking for [mouth guard infractions] because they will miss something else,” says Matt Leaf, director of the officiating education program for USA Hockey.

A player who doesn’t wear a mouth guard is not only putting him or herself at risk, they’re also jeopardizing their team by taking a penalty.

Knowing the consequences of not wearing one, says Mark Tabrum, director of the coaching education program for USA Hockey, should have enough impact on a player to properly wear a mouth guard.

“It’s how the coach addresses it,” Tabrum says. “If a coach tolerates not wearing [a mouth guard], the players will take advantage of it.”

Parents, who sit in the stands or circle the glass at ice level watching every move their son or daughter makes on the ice, should be the first ones to act, stressing the safety factors, and potential visits to their dentist, as a cause to wear one.

But as long as the rule is in place, Leaf says, “the responsibility ultimately falls on the player.”

Still the question remains, why can’t players stand wearing a mouth guard?

Most players argue that the protective pieces are uncomfortable, inhibit breathing and prevent them from communicating with teammates.

“Communication is such a huge part of the game, especially to call for the puck or direct instruction toward a teammate,” says Chris Essey, a defenseman with The Ohio State University’s club team of the American Collegiate Hockey Association.

“It’s frustrating not being able to talk on the ice when I’m wearing one … if I open my mouth it falls right out.”

Essey, who uses a “boil and bite” mouth guard, says he usually stashes it in his glove during games, just in case an official warns him for not wearing one.

Boil and bite guards are immersed in hot water and then formed in the mouth through a biting impression. There are also stock mouth guards, which are available in standard sizes and are simply removed from the package and placed in the mouth.

While the majority of players may use some form of a store-bought mouth guard, USA Hockey medical personnel strongly recommend that players wear a custom mouth guard fitted by a dentist.

“A custom mouth guard stays in the mouth,” says Dr. Alan Ashare, chairman of USA Hockey’s Safety and Protective Equipment Committee. “With a boil and bite, you have to keep your mouth closed to keep it in, and breathing will be restricted because it is a loose fit. It also makes it difficult to communicate.

“With a good fit you don’t have to worry about it staying in your mouth.”

That’s one feature of the custom mouth guard that drove high school player Chris Coyle away from wearing one.

Coyle recently tried a custom mouthpiece but didn’t like the feel because it “fit too well and was too secure” around his teeth. He went back to the boil and bite mouth guards he is used to wearing, and has never had a problem with communicating or breathing.

The main benefit of wearing a custom-fitted mouth guard is it protects teeth and nearly eliminates the risk of tooth loss. It also protects against lip, mouth and tongue lacerations as well as reduces the risk of a jaw fracture.

A potential injury to the mouth or jaw is one reason why Coyle always wears his mouthpiece.

“Every now and then you will get a stick to the mouth, even with the cage,” says Coyle, who plays for Padua High School in Parma, Ohio.

There is no evidence that proves wearing a mouth guard will prevent a concussion, but USA Hockey’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Stuart says it is a “very necessary” research project that he would like to pursue.

“A custom mouth guard may be another piece of the puzzle to help reduce the risk of a concussion,” Stuart says.

There are new guards, Stuart explained, that feature impenetrable bite plates that are designed to re-align the jaw.
“You want material that will absorb the forces,” Stuart says. “It will reduce but not eliminate the risk of injury to the mouth and teeth, and can certainly decrease the severity of the trauma.”

Wearing a mouth guard can potentially protect players from multiple injuries, but the bottom line is that it won’t do any good if it’s not properly fitted and worn.

“If we educate our athletes of the merits of a custom-made mouth guard and refute many of the reasons for not wearing one, there will be more compliance,” Stuart says.

“As a parent, why wouldn’t you support the mouth guard rule and play a more active role in having their kid wear one,” Leaf adds. “Shin guards are not a required piece of equipment, but I would guess that no parent would let their child practice or play a game without them.”

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Some young athletes may have a fear of embarrassment or fear of making mistakes. Some athletes make comparisons with other athletes, which is not always healthy for kids’ confidence. Some young hockey players are worried about impressing a coach or parent. Some athletes are held back because they lack confidence and have doubts. Other athletes may try to perform perfectly and tie themselves up in knots doing so.

Below are seven mental game tips to help sports kids perform their best in competition:

1. Let Go of Fear

In sports, most of the fear athletes experience to is not about being in danger or harming themselves physically, although in some sports like hockey, you can be physically injured. The fear I am talking about is a psychological threat that is often based on an athlete’s perception of the importance of a performance or game and what others think about his or her performance.

Most of the time, an athlete’s fear is worry related to poor results – whether prior to or during a performance. Athletes often fear the negative consequences of their performance. They worry about many things that are often not under their control.

The very first step is to identify the beliefs, attitudes, and expectations that cause your athletes to hold onto over-exactness in competition and lead to fear of failure. You want your athletes to keep the positive aspects of their mental game such as your motivation and commitment to sport.

However, maintaining beliefs or attitudes that support a fearful, cautious, or over-seriousness attitude when performing does not allow kids perform their best. Thoughts such as “I must be perfect if I want to make the team today” or “I must analyze my mistakes and fix them right away so I don’t make the same mistake” cause kids to play tentatively.

2. Play Freely instead of Holding Back

During mental toughness training, I teach my students about two mindsets that contribute to success in sports. The first is the training or practice mindset. Great athletes know the value of training. They strive to get better and to improve. They have a tremendous amount of motivation and work ethic, which help them to practice hard so they can master their skills.

The trusting or performance mindset is equally important for success in sports. Trust is the ability to let skills “happen” instinctively by relying on practice instead of consciously directing movements. The performance mindset is the ability to rely on practice, perform freely, and allow skills to flow without excess thought.

The bottom line… If your athletes are stuck in the practice mentality when they compete, they will limit their ability to perform their best because of too much analysis, trying too hard to be perfect, and a loss of trust.

3. Focus on Self not Others – Make No Comparisons.

Your athletes must start with the understanding that most intimidation in sports is self-induced. Yes, other athletes will sometimes use direct intimidation or play head games with your athletes, but they can make the choice to not pay attention and look the other way.

However, your athletes can’t “look the other way” when they are their own worst enemy because they are intimidated by their own thoughts about the level of the competition, the rink conditions, or the venue. Athletes who lack confidence often look for others to help them feel confident. Likewise, these same athletes intimidate themselves by paying too much attention to other hockey players or by putting other hockey players on a pedestal.

Most self-induced intimidation comes from your athletes giving too much energy to other competitors by making comparisons, thinking too much about the reputation of their competitors, or feeling like they do not belong at the current level of play.

Tips for helping your athlete overcome self-intimidation:

• Help your athletes avoid putting other athletes on a pedestal, as if they are better than your athletes or superior.

• Help your athlete stop making comparisons to athletes who they think are better.

• Help your athletes focus on their strengths instead thinking about the reputation of other competitors and how they stack up.

• Help your athletes see themselves on equal ground in terms of their ability.

4. Play for Yourself, not Others.

Social approval is an important phenomenon in my discussions with athletes that I coach. Many athletes rely too much on social approval to boost their own levels of self-worth. Some athletes think that if others respect their sports performance, this, for some reason, will make them a better person. Many athletes buy into this notion and think that they are better people if they can achieve acknowledgment, gain approval or respect from others through sports.

For many athletes, a huge source of worry about their performance results from the need to seek “social approval” from others. If this is your athlete, they might have a need to be admired, accepted, respected, or liked by other people. They worry about performing poorly because it may have an influence on what others might think about them.

Thus, athletes who want approval from others can become anxious or are afraid to fail in competition. The need for social approval is the root of fear of failure. But this story gets even better. What happens when your athletes want approval, but can’t get it? Does this affect how they feel about themselves as people? For most of my students, yes! Athletes want approval from others so they can feel better about themselves!

Tips to Stop Worrying What Others Think

• Help your athletes understand why they value (sometimes too much) others’ opinions. Help your athletes have self-respect not other-based respect.

• Help your athletes stop the mind reading or thinking too much about what others might think.

• Help your athletes know who they are on the inside. They should define who the person is first – called self-concept.

• Help your athletes separate self-esteem and performance. Too often, athletes judge themselves on their performance in sports.

5. Play Functionally – Don’t try to be Perfect.

An important lesson I teach my students is to learn how to perform efficiently instead of perfectly. I call this a “functional mindset.”

A functional mindset is the opposite of trying to make everything perfect. It starts with the idea that your athletes DO NOT have to be perfect to perform their best. They are human and humans can’t be perfect. Your athletes will make mistakes and you and your athletes have to accept mistakes. Tennis coach to professional players, Brad Gilbert, calls the functional mindset “winning ugly,” which he wrote a book about.

Tips for how to play functionally:

• Have your kids use the warm up to get a “feel” for their performance. Don’t have them practice their game to control it. Remind them not judge the quality of their technique or performance in the warm up. If your athletes miss a couple of shots, tell them not to fret over it.

• Your athletes should let go of the need to control their performance and let it happen.

• Have your athletes think “win ugly.” Use whatever works to help them get the job done in tryouts. For example, instead of needing to execute a play exactly from the playbook, be happy with a play that worked well, but maybe was not “textbook” execution.

• Help your athletes use what’s working. Stick to what parts of your athletes game are working well.

6. Be Confident.

My definition of self-confidence is how firmly athletes believe in their ability to execute a physical skill or perform a task. That’s right–confidence is how strongly an athlete believes in his ability to execute a play. Confidence is derived from a baseline assessment of past performances, training, and preparation. As your athletes’ competency or skill mastery grows, their confidence becomes proportionately stronger.

I think of confidence as a cure-all for what ails athletes’ mental game. If athletes have high self-confidence, it’s very hard to get anxious or tense, or worry about results because they already know that they will perform well. With high confidence, they don’t fret about the competition. With confidence, they are relaxed and focused on the correct performance cues. Do you get my point?

Doubt is the number one killer to a confident mindset. Pessimistic, perfectionistic and over-motivated athletes tend to hold on tight to doubts, which if unchecked can ruin an athlete’s mindset and derail performance. Some athletes start doubting before they even start the competition or make an error. Most athletes struggle with doubt after making a mistake or performing poorly in competition. When they let doubt run rampant and unchecked, it sabotages confidence.

However, athletes who can recognize doubt and turn it into statements of confidence can counter the negative influence that doubt may have over them. The first step in overcoming doubt is to become aware of the thoughts that deteriorate confidence. The next step is to counter the doubts with thoughts that will lead to better outcomes.

7. Focus on the Process, not Results.

Your athletes have the unique ability to selectively attend to what they want. This mental skill comes in handy when they perform, but only if they focus on the right performance cues. Your athletes objective is to focus their attention on performance “cues” which help them perform their best. A performance cue is any thought, feeling, or image that helps you execute. A hockey player might feel his wrist flick on the shot.

Understanding what is not relevant is an important step in helping your athletes improve focus by understanding their distraction. Many of the athletes I work with tend to overload their brains with too much information – more than they can handle at one time. Information overload or having misleading information sends mixed signals to the body. In this indecisive state, the body will not execute with the desired outcome or rhythm.

Once your athletes define performance cues and can clearly recognize non-relevant cues or distractions, they are now in a better position to become fully immersed into their performance – an important quality of being in the zone or gaining a zone focus. Unimportant cues or distractions might be thinking about missing a previous shot or what the coach might do if you lose the puck.

Learning any new skill takes time. It does not matter if your athletes are learning physical skills or mental skills, repetition and application is necessary to make it part of everyday practice and performance. Helping your athletes commit to improving their mental toughness over time, (even when your athletes are performing well), will lead to a consistent mental game and performance in any situation including tryouts.

Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Dr. Patrick Cohn for the above article.

By Brion O’Connor

Aside from team placement, there’s probably no thornier topic in youth hockey than playing time. And, like most issues regarding hockey, sports and life in general, it’s typically easy to identify — “My kid’s not getting enough ice time!” — but more difficult to address. That’s because it can be a complex issue.
Bruins goalies Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas. (Getty)

This is especially true for goaltenders, for one reason. There’s only one goal to protect and goalies, traditionally, don’t come off the ice. If a youngster is the only goalie on a team, he/she plays the entire game, every game (which isn’t always a good thing either, as some shellshocked ’keepers have discovered). If you have two or three goalies, the situation becomes exponentially more complicated.

Here are some thoughts on how to handle it, as a coach and as a parent:

There are “age-appropriate” guidelines for distributing playing time. Assume a team has two goaltenders. For Atoms and Mites, I recommend that each play half the game, alternating starters. Younger goalies can get tired or bored. When their minds start to wander, pucks get behind them. Asking them to play only half the game (with the natural break between periods) gives them a chance to stay mentally fresh.

Things start to change at the Squirt level, and accelerate at Pee Wees. The youngsters are older, stronger and better prepared to focus from start to finish. That ability to concentrate — keeping your head in the game — is just as important as good technique but must be developed. Many Pee Wee teams with two goalies continue to have the goalies play half of each game. I’m not a proponent of this approach, especially as kids enter middle school.

Older goalies play the entire game for a number of well-grounded reasons. Foremost, goalies are at their best when they’re in a rhythm. That’s their comfort zone. Plus, substituting a second goalie halfway through the game puts that child, and the team, at a distinct disadvantage, because they’re coming off the bench cold (the worst-case scenario is the second-half goalie gives up a soft goal or two, and suddenly feels the weight of the team on his shoulders).

Again, the only time I vary from this stance is if a team is playing only one game on a weekend; then it’s only fair to give both kids a chance to play. Ideally, if you have two goalies, your team will play two games each weekend, and they can each play a full game. The other goalie — and I’ve found this to be surprisingly controversial — ought to suit up as a backup.

Why? Because at this critical age, young netminders should learn all the responsibilities of the position, not just the fun stuff (i.e. making saves). This speaks to the “team” element of hockey. Taking a turn on the bench is the goaltender’s lot. I realize it’s another trip for the parents, but as goalies move up the ladder, it becomes more commonplace for one child to play the entire game.

However, the “backup” goalie is still a vital part of the team. Having two goalies also gives the coach options if the starting goalie gets hurt, or the team is getting pummeled that day, and the starter needs a break. This stuff happens.

Here’s another example. In one program I know, there are three goalies for two Pee Wee teams. When the coach put out a note suggesting that one child play a full game, and another child dress as a backup, he got three distinctly different replies. One family said, “Absolutely,” adding that their son was a part of the team whether he was playing that day or not. Another family didn’t respond at all and haven’t made their son available for any backup duty. The third responded but disagreed with the coach’s thinking.

Essentially, Dad No. 3 said if the kid shows up, he/she should play. He added that watching from the bench in a cold rink wasn’t “going to endear the game to an 11-year-old.” While I understand the sentiment, Dad No. 3 should rethink his priorities. First, the game doesn’t need to “endear” itself to anyone. If watching from the bench discourages a child from playing, then he’s in the wrong sport to begin with. Or the wrong position.

Plus, parents should understand that other kids notice the commitment a backup makes by showing up, even if he/she isn’t playing. That endears the child to his/her teammates. Further, the backup goalie can learn a lot about the position by observing from the bench, listening to the coaches and cheering on teammates.

At the Pee Wee level, kids are transitioning into a different realm of sports, where the better kids play more. There’s competition between teams and within teams. Allowing a child to sit home and not make an effort because they don’t expect to play makes a mockery of what sports, and teamwork, are supposed to be about.

Finally, in Bantam, middle school and high school, the rules change again. Now, it can be pretty cutthroat. While sports are about building character and teaching life lessons, there’s a lot more emphasis on winning. Coaches at this level will put the players on the ice that they feel give their team the best chance to do that.

Sports have now become a meritocracy. I’ve listened to many parents complain that their child is buried on the bench because the coach is playing favorites, or doesn’t like their child. That doesn’t pass the giggle test. Ninety percent of the coaches I’ve met aren’t looking to win popularity contests. They want to win games.

Now, what makes things dicey in this day and age of high school user fees is this question: “Why am I paying if my kid isn’t playing?” Remember, all a user fee does is promise a child the “opportunity” to make the team, to earn a spot in the playing rotation. There are no other guarantees. Period. Sports aren’t like band or chorus. There are a finite number of spots on the ice. If you’re a goaltender, there’s only one. That’s a harsh reality. But better goalies rise to the challenge of competing for that spot.

Do coaches screw up sometimes, and neglect to find playing time for the loyal foot soldier (say, when playing a weaker team, or when the score is lopsided)? Sadly, yes. But they’re not so much blind to the kids on the bench as they’re myopic with regards to the kids on the field. They develop tunnel vision.

So do some parents. The worst thing a parent can do in this instance is enable a child when he/she starts making excuses (or, as often happens in youth hockey these days, find another program). There’s much to be said for sticking with a tough situation, and bringing your best effort — your “A” game — every time you suit up. Trust me, those kids always manage to get enough ice time.