Eyal Azimov Returns to Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School

Former Lac St Louis Tiger Eyal Azimov returns to the Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School for another summer. For those of you who know Eyal, you know that his work with the Tiger Paw students is filled with positive reinforcement, self esteem building and self confidence building.

Students remark at how positive Eyal is and share his favorite words "That's awesome!" and "Phenomenal!"

We are pleased to have Eyal return as he plays an integral part of the Tiger Paw Experience!

Instructor Nutkevitch Names to All Rookie Team

Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School instructor has been selected to the All Rookie team for the Central Hockey League.

Sy Nutkevitch, Forward (Fort Worth Brahmas):
Nutkevitch is third among rookies in scoring with 45 points (13-32=45) and is maybe the most dangerous special teams player among the rookie class.  The 6-0, 172-pound forward is tied for third among first-year players with five power play goals and is tied for the lead among all freshmen with nine power play assists.  He is a +16 on the season, highest among all rookies, and has been a key component for the Brahmas who have stayed in the hunt at the top of the conference all season long

Commitment from players, what does that really mean?

A lesson from Baseball

We want commitment from our players but what does that really mean?
I have had a lot of players who have said they eat, drink, and sleep baseball, which is their declaration of how much they love and are committed to the game. Many of those same players, although committed in thought, are less than committed when it comes to the work needed to be great. We talk a lot about commitment in sports even going so far as to mention total commitment. If you are committed to something aren’t you already totally committed? Is there an in-between when it comes to being committed? In my book you either are or you are not. I want a player who is not committed to the sport but who is committed to himself. Give me a player who understands that the real commitment he needs to find is to himself. I want a player who is dedicated to creating a quality individual, who takes care of his responsibilities, is loyal to his family, friends, and teammates, is attentive to those around him, and wishes to excel both physically and mentally on the field. I want players who will not settle for mediocre in any aspect of their life; to me that is a committed individual. As a coach my job is to never let my players settle for average and to push them beyond what they think possible, again in all aspects of their lives. Commitment is deep and personal. Help foster your players to find the passion needed to be “totally committed” in all that they do.
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Luz Commits to Holderness

Former Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School student Ben Luz has decided to pursue the prep school route and has elected to commit to The Holderness School for the coming school year.

Ben had been accepted to the four prep schools of his choice and decided on Holderness. At Holderness, he will join former Lac St Louis Tiger Alex Spina.

Ben came to the Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School in the summer of  2011 following his second year of Bantam where he had played Bantam BB for the Dollard Pirates. following the six weeks of training, Ben flourished in the Lac St Louis Tiger try outs and earned a spot with the midget espoir team.
This season Luz played for the Kuper Varsity team where he was seen by a number of prep schools. The work he had completed with the Tiger Paw experience and that with the Tigers caught the attention of every school and he was allowed the opportunity to select the option that best suited his interests.

What Role Did Insider the Actor's Studio Play in the Development of Championship Habits Program

For those of you who are familiar with the Bravo series, Inside the Actor's studio, you will know that it is a television show that operates as a craft seminar. Actors, producers, Directors, Screenplay writers and even musicians, are invited to PACE University and converse on their careers, their triumphs, setbacks and the road to get there...things they have learned along the way...and, this is part of a 3 year Master of Fine Arts program. http://theactorsstudio.org/actors-studio-drama-school/

So, as we were designing the program at the Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School, we talked about the prospect of helping our students learn from others than were further along in their development. Players that have made it to College Hockey, been drafted in the NHL, or have played Major Junior , gone to the Memorial Cup or Junior AAA (or equivalent), players who played in championship games at older levels.

We discussed the prospects of having hockey personnel, ( Coaches , General Managers, Player Personnel Directors)  from higher levels talking about what they are looking for in players at their level. Bring in sports nutirition people to discuss how to fuel the students body as an elite athlete.

Have sports psychology people discuss the different aspects of mental focus, recovering from mental setbacks due to mistakes, lack of utilization, team discipline.

And, so with the Inside The Actor's Studio program as a template we built Championship Habits. Its a different approach that help the students prepare better for their next level.

Tiger Paw Philosophy

Many parents want to develop their young hockey players, enhance their skills, speed , hockey iq, game playing (tactics) and they often seek hockey schools for that development.

As most of you who read this blog know, each age level should be treated a bit differently. Yes, all of these skills need to be addressed but at Midget more teaching in the requirements of training to compete, mental focus and on the ice, the need for more emphasis on the physical game.

True, at Peewee and Bantam, the physical game is introduced and implemented but I think that we can all agree that more is required at Midget. More puck protection, more learning to take a hit and give a hit while minimizing th risk of injury, how to identify situations where you may be making yourself vulnerable to the risk of injury.

So, what separates one  hockey school from another  and how do you decide the right hockey school for your child?

Some hockey schools are led by former NHL hockey players that bring their knowledge and experience to the rink for their students. They, often have 25-30 kids on the ice with them and a helper and teach aspects of the game they think the kids need to learn based on their knowledge as a former professional hockey player.

Some hockey schools ar skill gurus. These schools teach skills that are akin to the skills the Harlem Globetrotters display in their games versus what you might see from an NBA or College game. (Understand, this is simply an analogy, no hockey school is teaching basketball, lol!)

Some of these hockey schools offer off ice training. Some of those are hockey particular training and some are conducted by fitness gurus. 

Some hockey schools operate as glorified day care, with hockey as a theme...again, this is what some parents are looking for in the summer.

Our philosophy is different.

Instructors developed through our methods
We have a group of instructors who have developed through our methods, use our methods now as they prepare each off season to compete at the Junior and Pro level. Like the saying goes, "We drink our own koolaid!"

Low Student to Instructor Ratio

We have 5 or 6 instructors on the ice and a goaltending instructor. Our goaltending instructor never has more than four students to work with in a session and often it is two.

Our on ice  groups range from 20-30 students per session and that provides our students with a 5 to 6 student to instructor ratio. Our instructors don't just watch the students do the drills, they participate in the drills with the students. That creates a better environment between the student the instructor but also helps the instructors to take the student out of a comfort zone and have the student skate faster, stick handle quicker while maintaining control of the puck and turn around cones with better balance and body weight shifting on the turns, as opposed to repeating the drill wrong and moving on to the next exercise.

Our off ice has two instructors, groups are stuctured in such a way that individual attention and encouragement is delivered to each and every student, each session! Our approach here is in line with the goals and objectives of the LONG TERM ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT plan accepted and implemented by all Olympic nations. This is not sport particular but deals with the students physical development needs as age specific.

Our championship habits program is setup where our weekly host instructor introduces themselves to the students, explains their particular background and experience and delves into some of the challenges that they have faced along the way to where they are now.

Each weekly instructor invites guest speakers to address the group. Whether that is Hockey Operations people at the NHL level, General Managers at the Junior level, professional/college players, motivational speakers.

My favorite question from the Championship Habits surfaced last summer when one of the students asked the speaker, Mark Barberio, the most outstanding defensemen in the American Hockey League last season. "Have you always played at the highest level? Have you ever been released from a team?" Mark's response, "Well, Tampa Bay has released me each of the last four years"

Encouragement versus Intolerance

With the environment that we create in all three aspects of our program, we focus on encouragement, building confidence and self esteem. There is no elling at students. There is encouragement, correction and the development of tools to build confidence and self esteem.

"Our championship habits program teaches students how to deal with adversity, deal with change, deal with recovering from making a mistake on the ice, introducing the students to players that are further down the road of development and learning their stories to understand that development isn't just staright up...there are setbacks every once and a while and we provide lessons and tools to deal with those," stated Chris Sides Director of Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School.

The on ice side is the same. If the students could do every drill without correction or without making a mistake, they wouldn't need to come to the hockey school. Mistakes are expected and our group encourages the students to work their corrections and get confidence from that process. 

And, this process is in place with the off ice training as well. Students come with varying degrees of strength, stamina and dexterity. Some off ice exercises will demand from students things they are not necessarily equipped to do day 1, but by day 18 they are absolutely amazed at how far they have come.


One lesson we learned in our first summer, the students don't mind working hard and being tired when they leave...in fact, they enjoy that! It allows them to know that they are developing and not just spending time in a hockey themed day care.

Our Philosophy in a Nutshell

Our group tries to put ourseleves in the shoes of the parent, what do I want for my hockey playing child from this experience. And, then, we go about executing that. The student enjoys the experience because they get to know the instructor well, feel that the instructor cares about the student and focuses on making it fun to learn. The student improves in all aspects of the game, improves the strength, stamina, dexterity, improves the confidence and self esteem level.

Our program might not be for everyone, but you now know our approach and you can decide, what do I want for my hockey playing child?

Guest Instructor Barberio Continues to Prepare for the Leap to NHL

For those of us that know Mark, it is not really a surprise that he is succeeding at the American Hockey League level. He has been goal oriented, a team first guy and has always worked on the parts of his game that need attending.
This season he has scored 37 points, 8 goals and 29 assists. He plays the quarterback on the Syracuse Crunch powerplay, makes precise passes, gets his pucks to the net...he is applying his knowledge and skills to the game well.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been watching his development and see that Mark's confidence continues to build and he is getting ready for the next step, to don the Tampa Bay Lightning jersey on a full time basis.

With the Lightning having to reduce their payroll, as does every NHL team to meet the $64.4 million salary for next season, his entry level contract will help in that manner versus some of the more expensive veteran options that the Lightning have today on their depth chart.

Former Tiger Paw Student/Guest Speaker reaches frozen four

Former Tiger Paw student and then, guest speaker Lauriane Rougeau and her Cornell Big Red team mates have won the ECAC championship and will be going to the frozen four.

Lauriane, a senior (4th year student), has gone to the ECAC championship game each and every year she has been at Cornell.

A three time second team all american, a second consecutive selection as best defensive defefemen of the year in the ECAC, a member of the wrold champion Canadian Women's National team and the lone female to ever play for the Lac St Louis Tigers, it isn't a coincidence that Cornell has made it to the championshiop game each year.

Oh, and , of course, Lauriane is the Cornell captain...she knows a thing or two about championship habits!

A Tiger Paw Instructor Getting the troops ready for battle

Hockey is about fun and thats what keeps kids in the game!  And this Tiger Paw instructor, who is a member of the Lac St Louis coaching staff understands that first and foremost!

Watch this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDgZ3wQQZEA&feature=youtu.be

Lac St Louis Loses to Centre Quebec but Qualifies for medal competition

The Lac st Louis girls team at the jeux du quebec played centre Quebec today and though there were periods of dominance by Lac St Louis, they were unable to beat the Centre Quebec goalie and lost 2-0.

Despite the loss, the Lac St Louis girls, powered by our five Tiger paw students, play again today at 17h00 to continue in their pursuit of gold.

From Hockeysfuture.com on Tiger Paw Guest Instructor

The Tampa Bay Lightning have a deep and talented affiliate in their AHL squad, the Syracuse Crunch. Several players have filtered through the Crunch recently to make it on the NHL ice with the Lightning, including: Cory Conacher, Alex Killorn, and Richard Panik. Currently, their offensive talent at the professional level is deeper than their defensive talent. 

Mark Barberio, D, 22

A 2008 draftee of the Lightning, Barberio has been with their AHL affiliate since the 2010-11 season. The defenseman from Montreal has shown an offensive propensity with the organization. In 68 games with the Norfolk Admirals in 2010-11, Barberio had 31 points. The following season saw him earn .82 points per game with the Admirals in notching 13 goals and 48 assists in 74 games. 

He has had a strong 2012-13 campaign with the Syracuse Crunch, continuing to be a force on the power play with his accurate passing and shooting. Currently he has eight goals and 28 assists through 56 games.

Five Tiger Paw Girls

Our five Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School students representing Lac st Louis at the girls hockey tournament in the Jeux du Quebec up in Saguenay won 5-0 over Montreal today. Tomorrow they face Centre du Quebec.Go Lac St Louis Go!

Nutkevitch returning to Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School

Former Potsdam State captain Sy Nutkevitch will be returning to the Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School for a third summer. Sy plays this season in the Central Hockey league for the Texas Brahamas where he sits third in team scoring with 12 goals, 31 assists for 43 points but more impressive is his +12 on the plus/minus indicator.

" We are very happy to have Sy back for another summer. He works really well with the kids, he is very knowledgeable about the game and his skill set is such that he is able to demonstrate the drills and show the younger students exactly the right way to execute the drill", said Tiger Paw Director Chris Sides.

Lessard returns to work with Tiger Paw goalies

Vinny Lessard will return for a second summer working with the Tiger Paw Elite Summer Hockey School goaltenders. Vinny, a local boy, who came up through the Lakeshore system and then, played for the Lac St Louis Lions Midget AAA team as a 15 year old, also attended St Andrew's College in Aurora, Ontario.

Upon graduation from St Andrew's, Vinny played three seasons for the Surrey Eagles of the BCHL.

"We are very pleased to have Vinny return to work with our goalies again this summer. Vinny's approach is based in the fundamentals and he nurtures the goalies in their technique and confidence," commented Tiger Paw director Chris Sides.