Final Post for the summer!

So the summer is over and all the boys have gone home. It was a great summer with a lot of positives and growth on the part of the young gentlemen who I had the privilege to work with. Hopefully the guys gained some valuable insight towards life and hockey.

They endured 7 long weeks of relentless training and pushing from yours-truly. I can imagine it’s not an easy task to be held to the standard I tried to hold them to all summer but they made it through and I can honestly say that they all excelled and grew both as players and people.

There were a lot of smiles and laughs but mostly there was a ton of sweat, some toilet cleaning, a little bit of sarcasm, and a lot of hard prodding with the stick. I tried to teach them as much about hockey and life that I could in seven short weeks. We often discussed a measuring stick they were trying to achieve – a measuring stick of excellence and not just mediocrity. I asked them only to be as perfect as they could be. They have such lofty goals and have put in a lot of honest work towards achieving their heart’s desire.

This work included: trying to keep their rooms clean (which they failed miserably at), working hard at their ice and dry-land sessions, and to make me proud of them as people around the camp. They succeeded on so many levels and all the management and elder staff at Teen Ranch commented as to the high quality of their characters. I guess this makes me happiest.

I’d now like to offer an official thank you to the guys for behaving so well, for not smashing my Buick Rendezvous (nick-named the “Mazerati” which I entrusted them with for the summer), for working so hard, and being a credit to their parents is the best compliment I can give. To say they’re from good stock must be an understatement because they definitely represented their family names and their home country very well.

So: Jade, Rocko, Bully, Nortz, Soarz, Wardy, Hadgi, Callum, Will, and Stevie – thanks for making it a great summer in 2010 and it would be my pleasure to host you again next summer!

Hill Sprints

As promised!

Charity NHL game and camp finito!!!

Hi everybody Callum Bowley and Tom Norton here, this will be our final post for the camp blog.

On Wednesday night a friend of Corey's managed to get a hold of some tickets in Collingwood which featured NHL stars such as, Kris Draper (Detroit Red Wings), Chris Neil (Ottawa Senators), Steve Ott (Dallas Stars), Trevor Daley (Dallas Stars), Mike Komisarek (Toronto Maple Leafs), Mike Weber (Buffalo Sabres), Kevin Klein (Nashvile Predators), Retired NHL stars such as Aaron Downey and Brad May, They played against a select team from around the area Collingwood of past and present players, the score ended up 5-4 to the House 9 team which was the NHL players but the collingwood team won the penalty shoot out with some brilliant goal tending from the Collingwood goalie. It was quite an adventure getting to the arena, we had a native Canadian friend (Ben Clarke) who we thought would know the roads and the directions to the arena, but boy was we wrong we ended up driving past our turning and going 54 Km in the wrong direction, we stopped and asked an old lady for direction which we let our native Canadian handle again which took 15 minutes and all he got out of her was "You wont get there going in this direction" but in the end we found someone who knew the way and we got there safely for the start of the game.

This morning was our final session on the ice and it was a up tempo session with flow drills and lots off battling games, we had a little bag skate at the end having to push the nets from one end of the rink to the other, then we played Stick and Puck Boy and for the 4th time running Will "sharpshooter" Weldon to the prize hahaha. Then after the session we did our last off ice session.

We would just like to say thank you to teen ranch for allowing us to come and use the great facility's and stay at the ranch, would also like to thank Neil Black for the flight tickets and Corey for giving us the opportunity again and again to our families who this couldn't of been done without with. Thank You

Bi Bi xxx Nortz and Callum

Stair Jumps for explosive Power!

Here's 3 examples of the stair jump routine we do weekly. There are around 20-25 different exercises we do on the stairs (it takes approx. 25 mins to complete). Then we get to walk over to the hill to do the sprints which I will upload tomorrow...

Powerskating!

Here's a video of the boys demonstrating some edge control drills for the campers and having a little fun whilst doing it...

Lacho and Wardy on the Swiss Balls

This is pretty impressive...

Jade's ready...

Well folks. Jade means business! This is a focused, powerful athlete. I know - I'm shocked I'm saying it too but he's been a work-out machine for 4 weeks now...

C

ABC

Hello from all the guys!
Its Tuesday, the final week, and what a great summer its been for all so far. This morning, we coached the hockey campers on ice, and began by concentrating on skating technique and cross-overs. After having been taught the detailed aspects of areas within hockey by Corey this summer, we now are able to pass on the same teaching points and so we guided the kids through a few warm up drills, developing their skating balance and skating position. The session then progressed onto some attacking play, where the ABC concept of attack was concentrated on. This is broken down into three roles: 1) A-ttack - where the puck carrier takes a wide position on the ice and attacks the offensive zone and drives toward the goal, this causes the defending puck carrier to have to pivot and change position. 2) B-ust - the closest non-puck carrying forward takes a supporting role to the puck carrier, skating within close proximity yet driving through the middle of the ice. This splits the defensemen, and causes them to make a decision. If they allow him to continue his path through the middle a passing option or shot-rebound option is available. However, if the second defenseman chooses to lock onto this forward, the third offensive forward now is available. 3) C-ut - the third forward driving on the weak side wing stays wide to maintain width, making it more difficult for the defensemen to keep visible contact on the offense. When reaching the blue-line he cuts across and acquires a high central role in the offensive zone. This creates depth, making it difficult for the defense to cover all three offensive players.
All the guys did a great job of understanding their roles as forwards when attacking the offensive zone, and the instructors passed on some very good teaching pointers that we've personally been taught this summer.
Many thanks,
All the guys!

"I don't know if you noticed... but I did over a thousand"

Monday was a tough day! Here's a couple of the men demonstrating two of our 6 exercises from our afternoon workout. We worked some on serious core strength today.

Bed-time... we're bushed!

Final Week!!!

Hi Tom Norton and Callum Bowley here, we have just currently come off the ice after beating a team made up of NCAA players and junior A and B players 12-6. In this game we used a lot of the tactics practiced in training like the ABC with a guy taking the puck wide on the attack, a guy busting to the net and a late guy who goes hiding and then appears at the top of the slot for a shot, this play was very affective as there was a lot of 3 on 2s and quick breaks. we also used a neutral zone trap which was executed really well through the games but it required the wingers to do a lot of stepping up on the red lines so the other team could not enter the zone easily. There was also a lot of net presence during the game which made a lot of tip ins and rebounds during the game this is what Corey has being drilling into the forwards through out the whole summer as that is were most of the goals are scored.

We are now into our last week and at this present moment welcoming the new group of campers that are arriving at the ranch for the last week of summer.

speak again soon Nortz and Callum

Good afternoon,

Today, we had a major super workout for dryland, and went back to basics to develop our muscular power along with endurance and maintaining our focus. The dryland consisted on a continuous circuit of three exercises - the first was to flip the infamous tractor tyre 5 times uphill, the second which followed directly after was to run up the hill to the top and back down, and the third was to run 100m'ish backwards and then run forwards back to hill where you started the cycle again. Each person did the cycle 8 times, however debates developed when Soarsy argued he'd finished his 8 cycles, contrasting to Corey who tried to explain to Soarsy that he had one more cycle. As the discussion swayed back and forth, it ended with one winner..Yes, Soarsy flipping a tyre.

Everybody did a great job, and its great to see everyone working together, and supporting one another in our workouts and on ice sessions, the improvement made by all since each persons arrival has been fantastic.

Many Thanks,

Wardo

Fun with Judo Fred!

Well folks. After our Judo session the fellas had a little fun and the above clip here is just a little bit of that...

During the judo session however I was pleasantly, and embarassingly, over-powered but the alpha-male. I never claimed to be tough - EVER - but I'm still pretty strong for an old guy. Weapon-X, however, is in a whole different league of "wrestling" strong. I almost feel sorry for the guys he's going to face this year...

C

Bye Stephen

We just wanted to wish you a good flight Daddy! Don't forget to write...

With love:

"Red Rocket" and "Herbert"

Hockey Night in Orangeville

Jade here

The day started off with a bang, the space connects which consists of corey, corey's brother, jaybird, robo and myself started off with a game at 12pm. We ended up wining the game 13 - 10. Then we played again at 5pm, and came out victorious again. Our steller defencive play was complimented with timely goals and we held off the late charge that the oppistion gave us..

The newly acquired tough guy Alex Penner made his precence felt right off the bat with no one wanting to even look at the monster of a man. Alex will definatly be loved in Nottingham thats for sure... Anyway we play the semi finals tomorrow and hopefully we will prevail victorously.

cheers

I love wings.

This weekend, we are participating in a tournament, held at the ranch. After the first two days, and group of games, Coreys team which consists of primarily retired players, Jade and Coreys brother, Dr. Shane.

After scoring 19 goals in two games, we are yet to win a game.

Weapon X (Alex Penner) has already made his mark on the tournament, being the leader in penalty minutes after two games.

We currently have a game in 7 minutes, so short and sweet.

Ciao.

Penner Arrives to Camp

Hey Fans,
Penner here to give you the daily updates on the events since I've landed here in good old Orangeville, Ontario. The 4-on-4 tournament has started and I was able to see our coach Corey Neilson hard at work taking a 46 minute shift that last the entire game. Is he is shape? I would like to think so, no body like mine which I owe to the Gods. Ha ha.
My team played later in the night, even though we were a young team there was a lot of effort from the young guns. In the end we came up short in a 10-9 loss but that was due to the lack of hitting and fighting that this tournament doesn't allow (lol).
Corey had to come to the penalty box to tell me to stop trying to hurt people, he was laughing due to how entertaining I was to watch though. Saying that I am exciting to coming to Nottingham and entertaining the fans obviously but also get to experience the amazing city of Nottingham and meet the people on England. Heard many good things and I hope Nottingham lives up to there reputations, as I know I will live up to Weapon-X reputation.
Today is the big boys event My team vs Coach Corey's team. We'll see who the Alpha Male is. Ha ha.

Nortzy and Lacho

Hey guys,

This was the first oppertunity to get on to the blog after having just completed our first 5 days at the ranch.

The training has been tough, especially being back on the ice as we havnt been on since the end of the season! After 3 solid days of hard work, quite a few of the guys started to feel tired and tight, especially the guys that have already been here for 5 weeks now! Thursday was the toughest day which we had to run up and down mount everest 5 times! After that in the late morning we had the rest of the day off with a progressive muscle relaxation in the evening to try and help us relax as we are playing in a 4 on 4 tournament this weekend which is being held on the ranch, starting friday, with the final being played on sunday! Most of the guys will be on the same team with Mr. Weapon X! with me and nortz playin on team Spare Tyres!

The ranch has been enjoyable in our spare time, our beds have been turned into SuperBed (picture to follow hopefully) which holds myself norts stevie haywood and Kyle, but we think we could squeeze up to 10 in at any one time! Also, it leaves so much more room for activities! Such as Yoga, which we took part in on Weds evening with Barb the chef, this was our first time doing this as we only arrived this week! We were greeted by a pet on our arrival, a pet crab (Herbert) that the boys had bought to occupy themselves, only to find out that the second crab (Rocket) had escaped from Wardys cardboard cage, and was loose in the room! But no worries, when assembling Superbed, Rocket was found safe and sound in the corner of the room and placed into the new plastic fishbowl with his brother Herbert!

We are looking forward to the new season and are confident that its going to be a good one!

Salut, Robert and Tom xx

This morning, we were rudely awakened by Stevie Lee, who felt it necessary to burst through our bathroom door yelling "Wake up time! Wake up time!". Some players decided to turn over and grab a couple more minutes sleep, others chose to feed to Steve with some abusive comments. Quite an entertaining start to the day!

The session on ice was very good quality from all the guys. It involved many small battle drills, where 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 situations were practiced, and the positional principals were developed and improved upon. We had the added benefit of having two Netminders on the session, as we welcomed a young American goalie to practice with us.

Looking at the general news around the camp, Jade Galbraith today had a hair cut and Callum Bowleys facial bruises are now going down.

This evening we have our weekly yoga class, so tune in for tomorrows blog update where I'm sure somebody will be telling some interesting stories.

Ciao for now,

Josh Ward

Quick Feet Ladder

Corey is in Blue, Josh Ward next in White, Tom Norton in Red, Robert Lachowicz in Yellow

Note: All summer camp kids fit in and do exercises behind the instructors as we try to lead and teach by example. Cade Neilson is the little guy following Lacho... Jade was doing the play-by-play - he doesn't have the same polished vocabulary as Boss Gary Moran by any stretch but he's trying! The guys (and campers) do about 15 different drills and after all is done the campers get a good stretch and the instructors get to go through the same drills again but this time backwards.

Hello there..

Hey,
Its Will here. Just finished another intense afternoon work out session ran by the juice monkey. We've focused a lot on power this summer something vital in becoming better skaters which in turn can only make us better hockey players.
Yesterdays game went well, we played against a team made up of most Junior A guys with a few from the OHL. We pumped them something silly, like 27-11 and as I'm sure you can tell with that scoreline defence doesn't seem to be the most important thing in these games.
Lacho, Norton and Haywood arived yesterday and will be staying for the final three weeks. Apart from Haywoods belly, they all seem to be in good shape.
Our Goalie is on vacation at the moment so we worked alot on systems and skills today. I personally took a bit of time to adjust to these new systems having played the same systems for the past 8 years. I feel comftable with them now however so today was beneficial.
The weather is stupidly warm so I'm gonna head off out for a swim with dusty (soarsy).
Thanks to my parents for this oppurtunity (and for keeping the bank balance/phone bill out of the red) haha. Also thanks to corey for his help in making me a better player, and I'm sure he would point out making me a better person.
Byeee

Big Game

Hello there Hockey fans..

Its jade here after a little game. The Ranch played some locals and did pretty well. The boys all looked very good and have improved alot since i have been here. Stevie Lee was his dominate self and looked like an EIHL allstar today. Wardo was flyin around the ice scoring goals and getting his feet dirty as well. The midget twins Callum and Will played great together as they usually do, backdoor passes and tucks. Corey was sucking air the whole game i think he is getting in worse shape by playing with us HAHA just kidding he was the best player out there as usual.

As for me i have been working hard and feel great right now. Gonna be nice to see how good i feel after another 3 weeks of hard training. Anyways it was a good day. Take care everyone ..

Peace

Jade..

Stride frequency drill by Callum...

The drill starts with about 20 sticks about a foot apart. Players are required to run through as fast as possible only placing one foot between each stick. After each time through the coach takes away two sticks from random places. So... he has to build up enough speed to make the long jumps and have quick enough feet (and good enough coordination) to make sure his foot placement gets him through the course. A really fun and challenging drill!

Hi there sports fans this is Thomas Soar.

As the weeks roll on, waking up at 6am for our on ice sessions is getting slightly tougher. However we are still going strong, with everyone working hard on and off the ice.

Yesterday was a pretty unique day. Bas Gohar (sports psychologist) held a talk for us to improve our mental skills for keeping our cool (Wardy paid special attention to this) on the ice, visualising what we're going to do and also logging what we ate and how we slept before games.

The evening brought us a Yoga session held by Barb (Head of Kitchen at the ranch). The objective was to lengthen muscles to reduce chance of injury with stretches, also to strengthen our core, which is key in order to be a strong, explosive hockey player. The session was quite surreal at times, having sweat dripping and burning abs, to being totally relaxed and dry of sweat just two minutes after her cool down. Many thanks to Barb for running the session as we all enjoyed it (i'm sure the boys will agree).

It's back to routine today with our coaching sessions and upper body workout this afternoon.

Thankyou to my Dad and Corey who have both given me this fantastic opportunity to progress in hockey.

Keep following! Thanks, Soarsy.

This afternoon, all of us participated in a talk given by a sports psychologist, graduating in PHD. He has had past experience competing in boxing, achieving national status within Canada, he has also worked within various other sports, and with a number of sporting atmospheres.

The presentation consisted of an introduction to sports psychology, and then followed with information regarding other aspects of the mental game and mental approach to hockey, that is required around a professional regime. Soarsy (Dumb ass Dino-Soar) felt it was a respectable question to ask whether stick tape colour had an affect on his on ice performance. (Quote Steve Lee - "What an IDIOT!")

However, after delving into a question answer session, we all felt that we benefited greatly, and learnt much more about the mental side of being a professional, not only in the sporting world, but specifically within ice hockey.

Many Thanks to Bas Gohar for his efforts and time.

Callum 'hamster-cheek' Bowley this week made payment to the Canadian Medical services, who suggested after a $50 bill that he is to 'rest', after sharp shooter Soarsy smoked him in the head with the Puck.

Thanks from all the guys!

P.S. We all miss you Daggsy.

Any questions for the guys or coach?

Power by SOARZY!

Tom Soar is a pretty big guy, approx 6'3". Not only can he score goals but he is a pretty strong dude with some power. A great prospect!

Here he is demo'ing our box jump. It's a big jump. He loads his legs and powers out 5-7 reps. There is no pause at the bottom or the top so he bounds up and down with no break.

Lastly, I forgot to mention that these jumps are preceded by 5-7 jump squats with the bar (pictured behind him). So squats... Jumps... rest!

Steve Lee thought that everyone would benefit from photos from all angles - hence, the last photo. Enjoy!

Walking Lunges

Here is Steve performing the walking lunge. The bar is approx 135 lbs. From a stand up position he lunges forward bending his front leg and powering up from it. The next step will be with his opposite leg (8 each side). The rotation is: forward lunges, diagonal lunges (pretty self explanatory), cross-over lunges, and finally backward lunges). Pretty tough...

Hello Everybody! :)

Hi there I'm Callum Bowley. It's Saturday morning all of us boy are feeling tired after a hard, intense week of hockey and workouts, workouts down to Steve putting us through our paces. Theirs two pictures one above and one below of me performing one of our workouts, this exercise is called the dumbbell clean. However, this exercise was all based on power as this was our workout theme for the week and probably the whole summer. The exercise is performed by having your knee's slightly bent, with your chest over the weight and back straight as demonstrated in the picture above. From there you would have to explode up through your legs allowing the momentum to take the weight up to just above your shoulder, you didn't have to use any arm muscle or even put any strain on your arms as it's just down to pure power in the legs.

During the week all of us managed to go out Wednesday night to watch a Canadian Football game, now that was definately interesting and a great thing to watch. Most of us had never watched one before, apart from on television which is the NFL but watching the CFL was still great fun. Especially as they were losing with two minutes to go and got a touchdown from the interception they made to win the game. From their the crowd was insane, even Soarzy was up standing on his seat with the J's optional (shirt off, it's a Corey phrase).

I would like to thank my parents for making the opportunity to come out to teen ranch possible as well as Corey for letting me come and teaching me as much as he can about hockey.

Thanks, see you soon,
Callum

Hello Everybody!!!!

Hi there..

Jade here just got in from another hellish flight.. HAHA

I am looking forward to an extra couple weeks more then last summer to get ready for a special year. I have talked with most of the new players and i am as confident as i have ever been for a start of a season begin. With all the talent we have, we also have the workers and i feel like this year will be something very special.

With that all said i got in around 1pm today and got to get a workout and a skate in. Its great to see all the guys again, and we are all ready to work hard and get ready for the new season. I am super excited this summer as i am in better shape right now then i was at the start of last season, and with 4 weeks of corey breaking my back i am ready to help the panthers to the top.

Talk to you all soon,

Cheers Jade....

Will Weldon doing some training...

Sorry folks, we're having some trouble with our internet at the Ranch so I'm having to post Will's exercise from my house here in Canada. We rotated four stations yesterday and I took some pics (don't worry - the coach participated as well...). I'll get the other two up in the next couple of days...

The exercise below is pretty self explanatory. Will has to pull 95 lbs of weight by a rope whilst in his skating position. He hops side to side diagonally and forward as explosively as possible for about 30 yards.

Good times...

Coach

Hello Sports Fans...

This blog update is from Josh Ward, tuning in to provide our followers in Nottingham the latest Teen Ranch events from the last 24 hours.

On a personal level, I felt this morning's skate was an incredibly proud moment... After completing a 6-puck shoot-out I finished on top - the winner with 4 goals in total. A couple of others got 3, including coach Neilson (although I feel he allowed me the victory as a pleasant moral boost), but I took the title.

Moving on through the days course of events, a challenging leg workout was next in the morning. We focused on explosive leg power (for skating) and the pictures below help to show exactly what one of the drills looked like.

First of all, the tire is huge - and very, very heavy! In the pic above I start in a low squat position, which is paramount in order to create enough power and force to push the tractor tyre up, weighing in at around 180 kgs. I try to force the tyre up solely with my legs, exploding and breathing out as I go... this movement helps to develop a quick start in hockey.
In step 2, once I get the tyre up on it's side I must take a quick powerful stride forward and extend my arms as hard as I can in order to smash the tyre back down to the floor. This movement helps with good leg drive in the hockey stride and also helps develop upper body power to push players about in the corners and in front of the net.
Stage 3 is a quick series of jumps in and out of the tyre. We have to jump quick and high in order not to catch our feet on the tyre. Again, with this movement we're working on explosive leg power as well as speed - there is a element of coordination and agility as well. After completing the jumps I must run around and complete the three steps for another 4-9 repetitions.

Well, time to depart. I hope this info provides a sneak-peak into the development physically of an ice hockey player.

Many thanks,

Josh Ward

Stevie

Hi all, hope everybody is looking forward to the upcoming season with the panthers.

My teen ranch experience so far has been very beneficial, the guys are doing great, working hard and preparing for the season that follows. It is really good to see how much everybody has developed from the start of last years teen ranch camp, both on and off the ice everyday we are getting that extra step towards our career goals.

As to what we have been doing with our spare time, we all took a trip too Toronto last Saturday and spent the day there, we took a walk down the beach looking out into lake Ontario in the blistering heat this gave us all chance to top up the sun tan. We also walked around the Eatons centre, for a spot of shopping so the guys could extend their wardrobes. Then as the sun was setting a handful of the hockey guys took a trip to the Toronto Island and looked upon the very large skyline of city. Some good pictures where taken and will be uploaded very soon.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon, and hopefully it will be another very successful year for the players and fans that wear the black and gold strips.

thanks guys Stevie

Hey all, Sam Bullas aka Bully here...

Just a quick blog to let you know some of the many things I have been getting up to in my first few days here at Teen Ranch . After arriving at the ranch on Friday the 2nd after a boring 8 hour flight, I was rushed into the dressing room and geared up for my first training session just 20 minuets after arriving! It is great to see all the old friends and everyone is so welcoming as always. The hockey standard this year is much higher than last year. Callum bowley, Josh ward, Will Weldon and Tom Soar have improved leaps and bounds since last year. And with Steve Lee here too helping with workouts, spirit in the camp is high. The hockey atmosphere this year is much more intense which is perfect for pre-season training. Most of you have probably heard I have signed with Brucy up in Scotland and Im already excited about my first encounter with panthers on the 11th of september.

Blog soon,

Bully

Brief outline

Hey,

Will Weldon and Thomas soar here. Everyone is settled in at Teen Ranch now including the late arrivals Stevie and Bully. The first week was busy with workouts, on ice training and coaching. A standard day includes getting up at 6am for a 7.am on-ice start, we get off at 8.50 and then have 10 minutes to eat breakfast and get ready to coach a session, this session will last for an hour and a half. At around 11 we then help run and participate in a dry land session prior to lunch. We then coach again at 2 for an hour and a half before our own personal workout, then its shower time before heading back up the ranch for dinner.

It's not all been work however as we have spent our free time doing numerous activities including swimming and a round of golf kindly paid for by a friends parent Steve Crooks, so we would like to thank him for that.

We'll keep you updated with what's going on.

Thanks.

Summer of 2010

Hello All,

The boys are back for another season at Teen Ranch! 4 guys (Tom Soar, Callum Bowley, Will Weldon, and Josh Ward) arrived on the 28th of June and had a good first week of training. There is marked improvement in their strength and conditioning from last summer so it looks like they have stuck to the plan pretty well throughout the season. Sam Bullas (now Braehead player) and Stevie Lee got here last weekend and they both look very fit as well.

I will get the boys to check in and tell you their stories tomorrow. Enjoy and feel free to make comments or ask questions,

Corey