Message from Stanley Cup winner Ryan Walter

You and I need to know our STRENGTHS! Through difficult times (really, at all times) what should we be focused on doing more of? The latest research tells us what some people have known intuitively for years... Do what you love! Do what you’re good at! Do more of what is your strength! Marcus Buckingham of Gallup believes there are 4 simple ways to better understand our areas of strength. You will find them very similar to advice offered by other experts on this same topic. Buckingham's four clear questions to help you determine whether you are acting in your strengths are: 1- When you are doing “something,” do you feel very effective, and/or does time stand still for you? 2- How do you feel before you do it? Do you look forward to it? 3- While you are doing it, do you love it? 4- After you are finished, do you find yourself saying, “Oh I never want to do this again?” or, "That was cool… I feel energized - can’t wait until next time?" If, while you are doing “something,” your answers to the above questions are: “I am really looking forward to doing that!” “I really enjoy doing this - where did the time go?” “That was cool, can’t wait to do that again,” ...then there is a pretty good chance that the “something” you are doing is a “strength” for you. Buckingham suggests that strength is not so much a certain skill, rather, your strength-is-found-in-what-you-love-to-do. I believe this to be true. Four books that I have read recently on performance have all said that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become excellent at or an expert in something. How do you stay at something for 10,000 hours, if you don’t love what you are doing? William James said, “That which holds our attention, determines our action.” This week, monitor your energy through the filter of these 4 questions and send me your understanding of what you believe your areas of strength to be. For example, in response to the above 4 questions, I find that any time I am brainstorming a solution or thinking creatively, I seem to be in a place of strength. So, may I suggest that… One of my Strengths is creativity; when I am being creative, I am energized. Send me a list of yours! Thought to ponder: "Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are." --Malcolm Forbes Thanks, and have an amazing week! My passion is to help you play your very BEST GAME! (On and off the ice!) www.ryanwalter.com www.hungryfuellingyourbestgame.com Take the HUNGRY Test! In my newest book HUNGRY! Fuelling your BEST GAME, I show people how to get and stay HUNGRY. Why is this important? I firmly believe that your next season of success is directly connected to the health of your personal and cultural HUNGRY spirit!

Responsible Sports Experts Discuss Training

SOURCE: Hockey USA Responsible Sports Experts discuss training Last month, a Responsible Sports Parent wrote to our panel of experts to ask: Should a high school athlete be allowed to train for sports outside of his normal already-busy school sports schedule. Bert wrote in and asked: “There is a 16-year old 3-sport high school sophomore in our school who is interested in running a full marathon during competitive hockey season. This athlete has never trained for a marathon, plays football, hockey, and runs intermediate track distance events. One of his parents is a runner who has successfully completed 3 marathons, and feels that the son is capable of participation without detriment to schoolwork/other interests/commitments and wishes the son to enter/compete in the next one. But the other parent is not a runner, and feels the son may not fully understand the impact of training/participation and does not want son to train or participate due to commitments to high school sports teams/studies and possible wear-and-tear injuries. What would you advise? Which parent is right?” We asked two of our experts to weigh in. Ken Rausch, Manager of Youth Hockey for USA Hockey and former NCAA Division I National Champion with Boston University, weighed in and had this to say: RauschKenny“Training for a marathon is a long and arduous process. I am training for one now and it seems like a part time job. Many hours are needed for training and recovery. Given that, I am not sure how appropriate it is for a 16-year-old to be running a full 26.2 miles. I would think that in a time of great change in an adolescence’s body (growth spurts, hormones, etc.) a teen might be even more prone to overuse injury. In addition, training for a marathon and a sport like hockey or soccer are very different. Hockey and soccer are primarily anaerobic sports that typically train fast twitch muscle fibers. Marathon training is primarily aerobic training that trains slow twitch muscle fibers. While training both is important, marathon training takes one to the extreme. If it were my son or daughter, I would advise them to stick to what they are currently doing in high school and to focus on their current sports and academics. There will always be time a little later in life to train for and run a marathon.” And Tina Syer, Chief Impact Officer from Positive Coaching Alliance answered: ask the expert 225“I believe the parents’ role in this sort of situation is to help guide their child through a decision making process that will result in him making the best decision about whether or not to train for and compete in this marathon. From what you’ve written, it certainly does sound like this student athlete has a full plate, but if he’s hitting his goals in the classroom, with his already existing sports commitments, and with other family obligations, then it seems he’s earned the right to add more to his plate, if he determines he’s passionate enough to do it. As a former high school coach, I would also encourage him to talk with his hockey coach. He might just go to the coach and say, “I want to talk with you about my desire to run a marathon later this spring. I realize that’s during our season, so that’s why I’m here to talk with you about it.” If after talking with his coach, he still wants to move forward with the marathon, I’d have my son talk with an athletic trainer or sports medicine doctor about his training plans. They can give him specific tips on how to avoid overuse injuries – and perhaps even give your family some warning signs to keep an eye out for during training. We talk about sports’ ability to help kids learn life lessons, and figuring out whether or not it’s the right move for him to participate in this marathon is a wonderful process for your 16-year-old to go through at this time in his life.”

Instructor Nutkevitch Joins Brahmas

Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School instructor Sy Nutkevitch has accepted a contract to play for the Texas Brahmas of the Central Hockey League.

Sy, after completing a four year career New York State University at Potdam where (as team captain) he led his team in scoring and was selected SUNYAC player of the week January 3rd, 2012. Sy completed his career with the Potsdam Bears scoring 26 goals, 76 assists for a total of 102 points or 1.06 points per game. "Its a first step for Sy at the professional level. He is a very capable player, this opportunity could be a launching pad for future professional opportunities" For more on Sy's NCAA career, follow this link http://www.uscho.com/stats/player/mid,16057/sy-nutkevitch/

Congratulations to Instructor Dumais

The Offensive MVP for Dartmouth was junior and Tiger Paw Elite Hockey School Instructor Camille Dumais (Beaconsfield, Quebec). Dumais led the team in points (38) and assists (22) and tied for the team high in goals (16). The 38 points tied the total she put up last season, and the 22 assists marked a new single-season high for the forward. In the second-to-last game of the year again St. Lawrence, the junior eclipsed the 100-point barrier with two goals in the 4-3 loss. She now has 44 goals and 57 assists for 101 points in 92 career games.

Hockey Tip from our friends at Hockey West Island

NEVER GET RID OF THE PUCK BLINDLY Throwing it away blindly is never the right answer! If they intercept or recover your blind pass you are a long way away from your mistake. You might not have time to get to the guy with the puck before he does something to create a scoring chance. If you make the guy take the puck off of you, you are right beside the man who now has the puck and you can check him and try and get it back. You have to have eye contact with your teammates before passing them the puck. If they’re not looking at you, don’t pass! Can’t pass? Keep the puck, protect it, you have the puck, the opponent doesn’t. Don’t just give it to him; make them try to take it off of you! At least he isn’t wide open.

# Health tips from the Tampa Bay Lightning, They draft our players, we follow their health tips!

HEALTH TIP #1 Eat at least 30g of protein within 30 minutes of awakening to detoxify your body and feel much better. The liver uses the first 30g of protein ingested in the morning to detoxify its toxins. If not eliminated these toxins build up and can contribute to many diseases such as stroke and heart disease. Cereal and toast don’t hold the nutritional value to help with this process. Get your protein from eggs and meats. HEALTH TIP #2 Take extra fish oil to reduce inflammation and think clearly. Fish oil contains omega 3 fatty acids and these are responsible for brain health and to reduce inflammation HEALTH TIP #3 Sleep is the best way to improve body composition because this is when the muscle building growth hormone is released. Make sure to get a minimum of eight hours per night of good quality sleep.

That's Our Girl! Lauriane Rougeau Scores 3ot winner, featuring video!

Tiger Paw Elite summer Hockey Student and Former Lac St Louis tiger, Scores Winner for Cornell in Triple Overtime ITHACA, N.Y. – Fourteen goals were scored in three periods, both teams came back from three goals down, and neither of those facts were the craziest part of Saturday afternoon's NCAA women's hockey quarterfinal at Lynah Rink. In what was the longest game in program history – beating out the 2010 National Championship Game by 25 seconds -- Cornell defeated Boston University 8-7 with 10 seconds left in the third overtime thanks to a one-on-three goal by former Lac St Louis tiger defenseman Lauriane Rougeau. The goal, just her sixth of the season, clinched a trip to the NCAA Frozen Four in Duluth, Minn., next weekend. Cornell will play No. 2 seed Minnesota in the Frozen Four's early game. Rougeau's goal came as she picked up the puck in her own defensive zone, then stepped past one defender as she crossed the blue line. One more defender got in her way, but with time ticking down in the overtime period, Rougeau made the play of Cornell's season when she beat Terriers goalie Kerrin Sperry between the legs after blowing past that second defender. “I saw an opening and I went for it,” Rougeau said. “I knew there wasn't a lot of time left on the clock, and even though they were three and I was one, I'm just going for it. I just past her, and it just happened. I was behind the net, I found out I scored, and I was happy.” That goal set off a wild celebration, sparking the entire Big Red bench to empty and eliciting a joyous cheer from the season-high 2,143 fans in attendance. The game, which lasted 119 minutes and 50 seconds, was just 10 seconds shy of being two full games worth of hockey. See video of Lauriane's goal, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUc8zlf07ro

Kyle Hardy: Tiger Paw Instructor 's team wins France Cup

Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School Instructor Kyle Hardy is in his first season as a professional hockey player, plying his trade for the Ducs du Dijon of the Magnus League. Inside that group of Ducs, somewhere in the middle of the pack, is Kyle celebrating his team's championship victory of the All France Cup. The Ducs are presently in their playoffs and are up 2 games to nothing. Some of the foreign born players have returned home already, but Kyle is competing to win another championship. He is going to have some great material for his championship habits sessions. Good luck, Kyle!

Tiger Paw student PAul Gionis Strikes for 4 points v. Monteal Stars

The Lac St Louis Tigers visited the Etienne Desmarteau Arena to play an exhibition game against the reigning Clarkson Cup Champion Montreal Stars. The Stars lineup is filled with Olympians, former CIS and NCAA players. The Stars defeated the Tigers 8-7 in shootouts but a bright light for the Tigers was Paul Gionis who contributed 2 goals and 2 assist against the Montreal Stars. Paul followed that performance up with a goal versus the Filon d' Abitibi. you can see Paul's goal by following this link. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150715230398352

Three Tiger PAw Elite Summer Hockey students going to the Dodge Cup

The Lac St Louis Selects and Elites played their regional playoffs to determine who would represent Lac St Louis at the 2012 Dodge Cup. The Selects won the series 2 games to 0. They defeated the Elites 3-0 on Saturday and 2-1 on Sunday. Three members of the Selects attended the tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey school, Sierra Hannough, Ally CAlderone and Mikalya Morelli...Congratulations ladies! Go for Gold! Make the hard work pay off!