Articles by Mike Schwartz
A series written for coaches and leaders, drawn from more than thirty years of coaching from youth hockey through the professional level. Every piece is here in full. Read one, and if it is worth passing to another coach in your life, pass it along.
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Data vs My Eyes and The Fourth Line
A night at Augsburg when the numbers said one thing and the bench said another — and why fair ice time is not the same as equal ice time.
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Lessons From Behind the BenchThe Importance of a Coaching Philosophy
Coaching Principles That Stand the Test of Time
New coaches spend their first years hunting for drills and systems. Write down what you believe first — everything else has to hang on it.
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It is what it is? It is what we allow!
A backyard sheet of ice, a fire in a steel pit, and no scoreboard. What the rulebook allows and what a decent person already knows are two different things.
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The Power of Observation
Seeing what others miss
Mike Modano at a North Stars practice, and a bench that heard him say "uh-oh" before anything had happened. Hockey is a game of dominoes.
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The Real Meaning of Fun
Everyone in youth hockey says they want the kids to have fun. Ask five people what that means and you get five answers — and the coach's is the different one.
Read the article →Timing: The Hardest Thing to Teach in Hockey
Piano lessons lost to hockey practice in fourth grade, and what they turned out to be worth. Systems go on a whiteboard. The game is played in rhythm.
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