In an effort to help our team focus on the moment a great coach once said that the season is going to fly by and that before you know it, it will be over. The days may grow long, but the weeks and months are short. And wow, the past season is gone and here we are facing the start of summer!

If you are like many hockey families, the final decision on summer hockey training and where and when to attend hockey school may still be a lingering conversation around the dinner table.

While we have talked in past articles that the early bird gets the worm and spring is commitment time, we are happy to let you know that most hockey schools we offer still have limited space!

We have also written articles about not letting FOMA drive your hockey training decisions and that players should evaluate their season and set goals. We hope that when you finally do make this all-important decision that you choose our hockey camp. 

Why choose our hockey camp?

Our family owned and operated camp has nearly three decades of experience running summer hockey schools. We love the game of hockey and we understand what it takes to develop the fundamental skills to elevate your game to the next level. 

We talk a lot about training “The CARTER Method” which is all about Control, Agility, Reflex, Technique, Edge and Retention. We offer the most on-ice instruction with the best results. 

As you countdown the final days of school and look forward to summer, we invite you to train with us at one of our hockey schools located in 11 states. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions. We are happy to answer any questions about skills, safety and your success!

Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing you at the rink!

The ‘instant classic’ five overtime NCAA playoff game between North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth ended with a dramatic goal from UMD’s fourth line. This line hadn’t seen much ice time in overtime, but these players stayed focused and kept their head in the game. And when they got their opportunity, they capitalized.

When your name is called, will you be ready?

Mental toughness is a big part of hockey. And at no time is it more important than tournament time when the season is on the line.

Championship teams are comprised of players who don’t focus on themselves, but instead keep their eye on the big prize and winning a championship for the team.

Both as a player and coach I’ve been a part of teams that have hoisted championship hardware. In each of these years there was a great mix of players who understood their role on the team. And perhaps more importantly, they accepted their role on the team!

Players work extremely hard during the off season at summer hockey schools to prepare for the big moments during the season. The endless hours of practice time during the season also prepares players to be at their peak when the championship is on the line.

The best players know that both will and skill combine to win big games. While it can be easy to lose focus when playing time gets reduced or one line sees more ice than another, it takes a team to win a championship.

This was never more evident than when UMD’s fourth line got put on the ice in a fifth overtime. With the season and a birth to the Frozen Four on the line. These players were locked and loaded and hit the ice with the energy and intensity as if they had been playing a regular shift all a game!

The next time the game is on the line, stay positive and stay focused. Keep your eye on the big prize because when your name is called and the puck is on your stick, you need to be ready to score that big goal!

Thanks for reading and good luck in your end of the season tournaments. We invite you to train with us this summer at one of our summer hockey camps located in 11 states. Click here for dates and locations!

While prep and older players are making commitments on junior and college teams next year, younger players should be making commitments of their own, to their development this spring and summer!

Decisions can be difficult to make, especially when it comes to hockey development and the path to success. The best players make a decision, commit to it, and that is when the work, and progress, really begins! 

Over the past 27 years of running summer hockey schools we have experienced some very interesting trends. There were years when registrations for our spring leagues and summer hockey camps happened so quickly that we were nearly sold out within weeks of opening registrations. We have also experienced years when some of took a ‘wait and see’ approach, such as last summer during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With the development path of hockey players constantly evolving, this season we are back to a more traditional season. Players are setting goals and making commitments early regarding how and where they are going to spend their spring and summer training months.

We are very proud of the fact that training “the CARTER method” has become a tradition for many families and groups of players that refer one another to our spring leagues and summer hockey schools. It’s rewarding to watch registrations come in with recognizable names from previous seasons. It’s exciting to look forward to working with players that we have trained in the past, and continue to help them in their pursuit of hockey excellence.

If you are a serious hockey player and are striving to take your game to the next level, we invite you to participate in both our spring leagues as well as our summer hockey schools located in 11 states during the summer of 2021. 

Our Pro Staff focuses on development and working with each player to evaluate their current strengths, identify areas of improvement, and ultimately help them achieve their development goals. 

Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions about your path to success. Hockey is who we are and we look forward to the opportunity to help you develop the skills necessary to achieve your goals. 

For dates, locations and details for our spring leagues click here. More information about our summer hockey camps can be found here. Good luck with the final weeks of your season and we look forward to seeing you at the rink! 

Social media is full of skill videos featuring hockey players making incredible dekes and dangles and then finishing with a storybook goal. Watching this talent leaves everyone on the edge of their seat wondering ‘how’d they do that’? The answer is really quite simple: practice!

This summer we enter our 27th year of summer hockey camps in 11 states. It never ceases to amaze our pro staff how much the talent of young hockey players increases with each passing season.   

The level of play from peewees to preps has gotten to a point where each and every year the discussion in the coaches room is whether the level of play can continue to improve. Amazingly enough, each year skills do improve and the level of play does get better.

Last year at summer hockey school after watching a player make a move that literally brought the coaches to applaud, we asked the player where he learned the move. The answer, not surprisingly, was by practicing it. Over and over and over again. 

Like so many do, this player saw a goal scored on social media and immediately tried it. Then again at practice, and then again at home, in the basement and in the driveway. Everywhere and anytime this player had a stick and a puck, ball or anything else, he was practicing the same move.

Repetition and muscle memory are key to athletic success and within a relatively short period of time the player became successful with this move. After several more hours of practice he became great. Soon, he would ready to try it in a game!

There is an old saying in sports and life that “The great ones make it look easy” and when it comes to hockey skills this is definitely true. However, as we have talked about in past articles, the great ones only become great after spending hundreds or even thousands of hours honing their craft. 

We encourage you to become great! Start by identifying an area of your game that needs improvement and dedicating yourself to working on it until it becomes natural. Find a great deke or dangle on the internet and work on it until you become great!

Thank you for reading. We invite you to train with us this summer at one of our hockey camps located in 11 states. For dates, locations and to register, click here.

As forecasted, we got walloped by a Nor’easter this week. Were you ready? What is your forecast for your hockey season? Are you ready?

Winter is finally upon us, as is the hockey season! As both came blowing in it’s a great reminder about the importance of being prepared. Just as you need that shovel or snow blower ready to clear the driveway and ten inches of snow, so too do you need to be prepared as you head to practice or your next game.

In our last article we talked about “The Early Bird Gets The Worm”. We’ve also covered The Six P’s: Proper, Prior, Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.  The huge snowfall this week is just another great reminder that when you get dumped on, you better be prepared to dig yourself out.

Heading into the season there was plenty of time to get ready and be prepared to hit the ice. So now that we are closing in on a regular routine again, is it all paying off?

The best hockey players are prepared. The best hockey players used the time away from the rink to shoot pucks, train and be ready when the buzzer sounds and the whistle blows. Those are the players making the plays and scoring goals. 

We hope you don’t get caught in the snowstorm this week, or in the flurry of a start of this season. Keep planning, prepping and doing all the little things because it’s all those little things that add up to really big things!

Thanks for reading! Our entire staff wishes you all the best this season. We also invite you to train with us this summer at one of our summer hockey schools located in 11 states. Registration is now open and space is already filling fast!  

Coaches like the players who show up early to games. However, coaches love players that show up early to practice. Like in life, the early bird gets the worm, and in hockey, they also get the win!

We’ve all seen the stories of how the best players are typically the first to the arena, the first on the ice and also the last to leave. Why is this the case? Because preparation is a huge part of success.

Preparation can be defined as the action or process of making ready or being made ready for use or consideration. In sports this is huge. On the flip side of this, we also know the players that are seemingly always in a rush on their way into the rink, frantically putting on their gear, hastily tying their skates only to make it onto the ice just as the practice or game is starting.

Performance is directly correlated to preparation. It’s no secret that the player with the most accurate shot also owns the shooting tarp with most puck marks.  The player with the best stride is also the one who has worked hardest on power skating.

As the 2021 season starts to play out, are you prepared for the season ahead? Are you evaluating your performance and ready to improve for next season? If you are, then we’ve got a great opportunity!

Our summer of 2021 hockey camp Early Bird Special is designed for those players who want to get a jump start on their development over the summer! 

Through the end of January our camps have special pricing for all dates and locations. We want to reward those who are ‘up and at it’ and want to take their game to the next level.  The Early Birds! Check out our Summer 2021 Hockey School page for all of the details! 

Thanks for reading and best wishes for a successful season! 

Each year the top talent in the world comes together for the World Junior Championship. This year’s tournament was inspiring to watch as we restart our own seasons! Hopefully youth hockey players tuned in for these 5 important lessons! 

You Gotta Want It

In the Gold Medal game the favored team from Canada came out fast. It would have been easy for the US to be intimidated (more on that in a minute). However, the US survived the first ten minutes and then things changed.  The US started to dominante the zone, managing the puck and got a goal. No intimidation whatsoever. They continued to grind it out in a tight first period and put Canada behind for the first time in the entire tournament. In fact the goal was the first five-on-five goal Canada had given up in the entire tournament, against the top talent in the world nonetheless! Plain and simple, the US wanted this game! 

Get To The Net 

With less than a minute gone in the second period the US got a huge goal. It’s always big to get a goal in the first or final two minutes of a period, and this goal was all tenacity. Alex Turcotte got to the front of the net and tipped in a great shot from the point. Too often players get ‘around’ the net but they aren’t ‘at’ the net. In this case the player was perfectly positioned to tip a shot from the point because he was at the net. 

Confidence

Canada was the favored team heading into the game and with the two goal ‘toughest lead in hockey’ it would have been easy for the US team to question it against such a formidable opponent. The US didn’t waver and played with confidence from the forward to the defence and especially between the pipes. They were confident in their play and it showed!

Carry the Momentum

Much like confidence, momentum is huge in hockey, and once you have it, it’s important to ride the wave. Canada had many good spurts of play but when the pendulum swung back to the US they rode the momentum and looked like the better team for much of the game. When you have the momentum, work even harder and keep it! 

Play All 60 Minutes

I like to tell the story about a round of golf. A friend started out really well, was up by several strokes and clearly started to take things for granted, lost focus and over the last few holes coughed it up and ultimately lost the match by several strokes. There are 18 holes in golf and they all count the same. There are 60 minutes in hockey and they all count the same. The US played the third period with the poise and confidence that this game was theirs and when the final buzzer sounded it was!

Play each second of each shift, each minute of every period and all 60 minutes. If you do, good things will happen, as it did for the US celebrating their 2-0 shutout victory over Canada on their home soil!

Thanks for reading at good luck resuming play and your season. We are excited for our summer hockey schools and invite you to train with us this summer. Our early bird special runs in January! For dates, times and locations click here!