Mariners and minor hockey team up on the ice

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

When it comes to team sports, the weekly practice is an important aspect to the season.

But since there isn’t always the time during these practices to concentrate on individual skills, the Yarmouth County Minor Hockey Association has teamed up with the Yarmouth Junior A Mariners to offer weekly skill development clinics for goalies, defencemen and forwards.

The clinics, held Mondays from 4-5 p.m., are for players in the novice and higher divisions. “It’s all about focusing on player development,” explains minor hockey association president Jeremy Kini, who says there isn’t enough ice time at team practices during the week for coaches to work on individual skills. “We only have the time to work on the team concept because of the lack of ice time . . . you have to do every practice as an incorporation of everything,” he says. “What these Monday development days have become is a chance to work on individual skills, your pivots, your shots, your stick handling, your footwork, your balance, every drill is very important to that set position.”

He says it makes sense to involve the Mariners in this initiative because the players and the coaching staff are an asset in the association’s backyard that it should be tapping into, and it has been doing that this year more so than ever before.

For their part, Mariners head coach Laurie Barron says the team’s players and coaches enjoy being involved with the kids in minor hockey. He says during the clinics the players are divided up and go through different stations, with each station focusing on a different skill. Helping him on the ice are assistant coaches Timothy Garden-Cole and Luke Beck, along with players from the Mariners. “Obviously we try to put some components in as far as skating, stick handling, quick feet, things like that,” Barron says. “We’re staying away from team-orientated skills and working more on individual skills. We get the chance to work on some things that you normally wouldn’t get to work on at practice. The players love it.”

The challenge, Barron says, not just from a time perspective – but also depending on how many kids you have on the ice – is to try and fit as much as you can in a 50-minute ice slot.

So far it seems to be working.

This season the clinics started up after Christmas. Next year it is hoped they will return, and that they can start earlier in the season. “I think we’ve definitely touched on something,” says Barron. “From an organizational standpoint we definitely want to be involved with minor hockey and we just want to make sure that it benefits both sides, and I think that’s it’s definitely a good partnership.”

QUICK GLANCE

The cost of the Monday clinics, which run 4-5 p.m., is $10 a week and they rotate each week between goalie, defence and forward skills.

The clinic’s February schedule is:

Feb. 1: goalie

Feb. 8: defense

Feb. 15: forward

Feb. 22: goalie