If you don't pass, you don't play
Hockey is a team game, and passing is critical. When coaching younger kids, particularly Mites and Squirts, it is very difficult to get the kids to pass. There are many reasons for this:
They aren't playing check hockey yet, so they don't get creamed when they fail to pass.
Some of the kids are much better than the other kids and they can go around 4 kids and still score.
The coaches and parents tell them how great they are when they score, even if they didn't pass when they should have.
The coach keeps statistics on scoring and they want to be the top goal scorer
They haven't learned to look up yet, and may never have seen the other player at all..
It is a continuing battle to get the kids to look up, find their teammates, and pass when appropriate. However, if you fight the battle, and get your team to pass, not only do you improve each kid, but you can beat teams with much more talent. Here is a strategy that works for me:
I tell the kids in many of my 2 to 4 minute meetings how important passing is, and I stress how this will improve their individual play. I also point out that they will actually end up scoring more goals as a result of passing, not less.
Normally the kids ignore my passing mini-lecture, which is normal. So we do lots of drills in practice specifically to get their heads up, and pass when needed. I have some good drills, so if you need some, Email me at BarryBiegler2@Gmail.com
During a game or scrimmage, if a kid doesn't make a pass when he/she should have, I will wait till the end of the shift and ask the kid, "did you see Tommy over there on your right?". As the player answers I try to determine if he didn't see the other player, or if he saw the player and was just puck hogging.
I always give kids the benefit of the doubt the first 3-4 times they don't make the pass. Hey, let's not forget these are kids in the heat of battle! But, about the 5th time the same player fails to make the pass, he sits out a shift or two, or maybe an entire game. Even if he scored a goal.
I have found that you can talk to kids about passing, and do drills forever, and some kids just aren't going to pass until you take away the ice time. I learned this lesson 20 years ago. I was only 24 and coaching Junior AAA (17-20 years old). We were a good team, not great, but with some natural talent. The best player was a puck hog, and I couldn't get him to pass. There was another coach in our organization who took over the team towards the end of the year, as I was in way over my head. This fellow was an old time hockey player, about 65, no teeth, lots of scars, etc. I stayed on as an assistant coach.
The first game this old guy coached, the great player (the puck hog) scored a goal on his first shift. He went around several players, and had a teammate wide open at the goal mouth, weak side. However, the player didn't pass, and made an almost impossible shot to score anyway. When the player got back to the bench after the goal, the old coach looked him in the eye and said, "if you don't pass, you can't play for me. Go to the locker room, take off your uniform, and go home".
The puck hog player, as well as the entire team and the young assistant coach (me) were all flabbergasted. How could this old geezer throw the best player off the team right after scoring a goal? The bench was dead silent, and the puck hog looked this old guy in the eye, and we could all tell the old guy meant every word. Twas a moment I'll never forget. The puck hog left the ice in a big huff, telling us all he quit, dressed, and left the rink. To make a long story a little shorter, we ended up with the best passing team in the history of kid hockey, and won the national championship. The puck hog came back to the team after missing one game, and became the consummate team player, as well as getting tons of goals and assists. After the season the old coach ended up taking the puck hog to his home town in Canada to play for a local junior team, staying in the coaches house.
I learned a lesson that year, which is, "if you don't pass, you can't play for me, no matter how many goals you score". This is one of the toughest philosophies to enforce. We all love it when our good players skate around everybody and score. Some coaches may even think that "the end justifies the means", and since we scored, how could it be bad? Puck hog players only go so far in hockey, and puck hog teams can't win at the highest levels. You can talk about passing until you are blue in the face, and do every passing drill known to man, but I have always found actions speak louder than words. If you bench a kid who didn't pass but just scored, all the other kids get the message. It usually only takes a shift or two to fix the problem.