How to Build a Hockey Team

Decide on a team philosophy. This is a matter of preference and many different philosophies have proven successful. The philosophy you choose will dictate how you proceed. Will your team be attack-oriented with star-caliber forwards and offensive defensemen or will you play the neutral zone trap and attack opportunistically? Determine a team strategy first and stick to your system.

Choose players based on your chosen philosophy. If you're attack-oriented, draft/pick your star forwards first. If you're defensive-oriented, consider picking up a pair of strong defensemen first. Keep in mind the rules of the league you play in as to how many of each type of player you need. Select a reliable, experienced goalie.

Pick your coaches. If you're coaching, former teammates are one place to start looking. Keep in mind that a good hockey player doesn't always make a good coach. Your coaches should be dependable, positive, detail-oriented and smart, along with knowing the game and the position. Higher-echelon leagues may have coaches, assistant coaches, development coaches, goalie coaches, forward coaches, defensemen coaches, equipment managers and trainers. Lower-level leagues may only have a coach or a coach and an assistant.

Use team-building exercises to help build chemistry before the season starts. Techniques vary by age, from games for children to team dinners or other sports matches for older players. Try to help your players build chemistry, especially within their lines. This can be accomplished by rooming linemates together on trips and encouraging them to team up in competitive games.

Practice your team often and efficiently. You may find it helpful to purchase a book on hockey drills if you're unfamiliar with current techniques and state-of-the-art training methods. Strive to make practice fun as you stress the importance of learning. The players should be encouraged not necessarily on their performance in practice, but on how hard they work. This will keep star players growing and will help encourage struggling players to keep trying.

Take care not to play game to game with an overly reactive mindset. Just because you lose one game, even if you get blown-out, doesn't mean you need to change your philosophy or players. By the same token, don't ignore results. Small changes, such as line changes or changing drills used in practice, can help revamp things gradually. The last thing you want is to have to use the time between games to change an entire hockey system. Examine patterns over time and make changes that you feel will produce long-term results.

Encourage fun as often as you encourage winning. Your team is more likely to have fun when winning; focus on playing good hockey without overworking the team. The fun will come on its own. Playing well is more fun than just about anything else in hockey. A team that loses every game will have fun if the players feel they're getting better and playing with teamwork and chemistry.