palm desert california – Game day starts early for the Coachella Valley Firebirds coaching staff of the American Hockey League. Head coach Derek Laxdal was the first to arrive at the Berger Foundation Iceplex next to Acrisure Arena at 6:30 a.m. He will soon be followed by assistant coaches Brennan Sonne, Stu Bickel and Colin Zunianello, as well as video coach Peter Thome.
The Kraken AHL affiliate's first meeting of the day began at 7:45, with coaches spending about 10 minutes discussing plans for the day's power play, faceoffs and defensive zone breaks (including morning skate drills and game strategy). Larksdale and his fellow coaches prefer to meet with players for similar lengths of time throughout the day. They make their points through quick video clips, and the chance of players losing their attention is next to zero.
During the first week of December, through two practices (Monday and Wednesday) and two games (Tuesday and Thursday), Larksdale provided an opportunity to connect with the Firebirds coaches and staff and gain an inside look at Seattle. And the Coachella Valley Hockey Operations team develops Kraken's prospects, making sure any number of CVF players are ready to be drafted as soon as possible and, yes, constantly working to win games and attract fans. The Firebirds swept Pacific Division rival Calgary in two games over the weekend and currently have a record of 13 wins, 8 draws and 1 loss. Calgary has the highest winning percentage in the entire AHL.
Game preparation begins shortly after the last game
Purposeful use of video during team meetings and one-on-one meetings between coaches and players is a team effort. Laxdal said he produces 130 to 200 videos per game, with Bickel editing certain plays by the Firebirds' defensemen and Zulianello relying on video coach Thome to edit goaltender video, with the two working on headsets during games. touch. Thome, a former professional goalkeeper himself, said he edits about 130 to 150 videos per game to meet the various needs of the coaching staff and players. But the CVF head coach didn’t slack off when it came to film.
“I will try to finish it for a while after the game. [and finish early the next morning],” Laksdal said. “A lot of coaches do it differently. I have to watch the game because little things happen defensively. I have to know what the defenders are doing, I want to know what all 12 forwards are doing.
“I've done it before Just for scoring chances and anticipation, but you always go back and see what happened at certain points in the game, right? when i finished [checking back and forth]I thought, 'Well, I could have cut the whole game. I learned that early on. What I want to do now is cut out the entire game. I knew “Buecks” was covering the D man, but when he showed a piece of film to our team, I knew I'd seen that play instead of saying, “Hey, play it again.”
morning, game day
After the usual 7:45 meeting, Sonne is busy working on a video that he will present for a power meeting in about 90 minutes. He was seated attentively at his desk, which was arranged somewhat separate from the L-shaped desks of the other three coaches. Zulianello and Tomei had their backs to Sonne, and Bickell, who had known Larksdale for the first year, sat on the third wall (the hockey coach's office had no windows) but was able to look in any direction. Bickell focused on clips that will be used for individual meetings with the defensive players he oversees, as well as 5 minutes and 20 seconds of team meetings where he will discuss defensive strategies before Larksdale talks about the offense and overall team mentality. .
These guys are serious about winning games and developing players, rookies and AHL veterans alike, rather than prioritizing one task over another. The ideal is to grow prospects while building a winning culture. Bickell and Zulianello have been doing well so far, and they were part of Dan Bylsma's staff that won back-to-back Western Conference titles. Laksdal and Sonne themselves come from award-winning projects. By early December, the group of five had clearly gelled, and the team was once again among the league leaders as they adjusted to a new head coach. But just three years later, the seriousness and determination to continue as the AHL's top team is undermined by the ease and mutual care we all dream of finding in our working lives.
Work in the Assistant Coach's Room
There was banter in the assistant coaches' room all morning (8 to 9:15, when the room was occupied by 10 players from Sonne's power game unit that night, and then to 9:30, until every coach tied up in the morning) Good skate straps) skating, more lively conversation in the 11am to 1pm range): Topics include Laxdal helping Bickel fix a car, the head coach/enthusiastic mechanic offering to replace a needed engine part himself. Thome, who advanced to the NCAA and ECHL, something tens of thousands of people in our so-called goalie league can only dream of, downplayed his goaltending skills while talking about his opponent that night, Henderson (Nevada). . Zulianello and Brathwaite were friends.
On Thursday's match morning, Sonne was clearly keen to get his message across to his players, and he's also a hugely successful youth coach in his first professional role, carefully and expertly (don't laugh at resume coaching) ) drew a Nutcracker almost wearing a black suit, which the players and coaches had to do by Laxdal (also part of the Firebirds holiday program). The attractive black matte Nutcracker got everyone talking about car paint jobs, with “Zuli”, “Bicks” and “Lax” all agreeing that it looks great on some cars. Later, Zulianello, Bickel and Thome (“Pete” for short) are asking each other for nicknames for teams in more obscure professional leagues, including the Federal Prospects Hockey League: Danville (Ill.) Dashers, Elmira (N.Y.) Oh, No, they were Manmouth, good guess, but now it's the River Sharks. Baton Rouge (Louisiana)? New team, don't tell me, right, Zydeco.
Let’s be clear: These jokes fill the cracks in the stonewall of coaching responsibilities, such as watching/preparing for video, meeting with players in side-by-side tutorials on coaching laptops, and discussing practice drills (Zulianello and Bickell talked about A warm-up shot suggested by rookie goalie Nikke Kokko).
Larksdale, for his part, has an office on the corner closest to the rink, where he can watch players entering and exiting the practice field, and one level up to Brandon, a state-of-the-art, spacious training room overseen by the strength and conditioning department. ·Coach Wickett. Larksdale holds individual meetings with rookies and veterans on game day mornings, and on practice days he sometimes holds forward line meetings with three players. Laxdal makes a point of documenting his one-on-one meetings and first-team player meetings, so when Kraken executives call him to ask how a particular player or prospect is doing, he answers succinctly.
Before game, afternoon
The coaches return after a few hours of rest and decompression. Bickell's home game ritual involves walking with his dog, which in Coachella Valley weather can be done all winter long. The coaches were back with Laxdal by 3 p.m. There was no ongoing game preparation agenda before the 5:20 locker room team meeting. As with Tuesday and Thursday's game days, the Kraken are playing a road game on the East Coast, kicking off at four o'clock. Thom installed large-screen TVs and benches on the walls of rooms without coaches for intermittent viewing. Laxdale walked in and out watching.
Thorne paused his video study to watch the recent conversions of Firebirds players Mitchell Stephens and Ryan Winterton, one of five players who started the season at CVF but also played for Seattle. one. Larxdale credited Stephens for holding off Carolina's opponents and keeping the ball in the offensive zone, leading to the ensuing scoring opportunity. On Tuesday morning, Laxdal talked about how veterans like Stephens and soon-to-be Thursday's game hero Ben Meyers may need 25 games to fully adapt to Kraken's system, which is reinforced by CVF's.
The game continued and Winterton earned his first NHL score on a crucial insurance goal from Brandon Tanev. The Kraken fan favorite worked hard to recover the puck as a memento of Winterton. “I got goosebumps,” said Thorne, who has worked with Winterton since training camp (except for NHL call-ups).
Pregame, team meeting, 5:20 p.m.
All the players' eyes are focused on the large-screen monitor at the open end of the U-shaped locker. Most of their teammates stayed in their seats, while NHL-tested defensemen Cale Fleury and Gustav Olafsson spent both game nights this week All sitting in the same reclining position on the floor in the center of the room, next to each other. Thome conducted intensive, detailed pre-scouting of the night's opponents; Bickell took a calling role as he reviewed the Firebirds' defensive strategies and some positive reinforcement plays (rookie Ty Nelson heard his teammates' “eats” or the sound of a blocked shot).
At the end of the meeting, Laxdal presented his carefully curated film. On Tuesday, he made a point of limiting turnovers at the opponent's blue line and at the top of the scrimmage circle. On Thursday, reflecting on Tuesday's tough game in which AHL Henderson had the better first period to take a 2-1 lead and lose 4-3, Laxdal said, “We have to fight in this There's no need to dip your toe in the water to start this game.
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