David Tanabe

As a former NHL player, I have some great memories and some classic stories, and I am really looking forward to sharing these. I can remember one night in Raleigh, North Carolina playing for the Carolina Hurricanes when Paul Coffey looked over to me and said, “Kid, watch this. I am going to score from the red line.”He hopped on the ice for a power play and in classic Paul Coffey fashion went back to get the puck behind the net by taking two strides and shuffling his skates the rest of the way. Rounding the net I had never seen anything like it, world class speed and a world class skater. He got to the red line and took a half slapper over the shoulder of the goalie. The crowd erupted. I sat there in amazement as he came back to the bench and winked at me. I was nineteen years old at the time.

Today, I appreciate it more than I did then. I was too busy back then trying to do whatever it took to “be a player”. This idea of “being a player” was something infused in me by Jeff Jackson at the National Development Team just two years before. As a member of the inaugural season in Ann Arbor, we were taught to do whatever it took to become better at hockey. I can remember the reason I went in the first place was because the current manager of the USA Hockey American Development Model, Bob Mancini, challenged me. He looked me in the eyes and said, “You think you are better than you are.” I made it my mission to prove him wrong. One statement by one coach, talk about knowing how to motivate. I left home and my social life behind to prove that I could play the game. That program did not disappoint. Only today do I realize that the level of practice, attention to detail, and coaching in Ann Arbor was NHL level.

In that first year we played seemingly everyone including the USHL, NAHL, Eastern Junior Hockey League, and the Ontario Hockey League.In a four year span, I would go from playing in a Minnesota State High School Tournament, several junior leagues, the University of Wisconsin, the minors (IHL) and the NHL. Talk about a whirlwind! Things didn’t slow down for me in the National Hockey League over eight seasons. I played with several Hall of Fame players, competed in a Youngstars NHL All-star game, went through many contract negotiations and the 2004-05 NHL lockout. Perhaps the greatest gift was getting paid to be a student of the game. I spent countless hours watching game tape, training, practicing, and playing.

In 2008, my career was ended by a concussion. This hot topic has been something that I never really wanted to talk about simply because I always wanted to be remembered as a player even if it was for deficiencies in my game, but I will touch on this subject because it will help to advance the game. That is my goal of this column, to do whatever it takes to give back to the game. While I would love to simply be politically correct, I don’t believe that doing so is always the best thing. I will write about hockey tactics, life in the various leagues, coaching, and about hot topic issues. Thank you for taking time to read and I look forward to sharing with you!

The post A Prelude appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

David Tanabe

I recently was invited to step behind the bench for a 2001 birth year AAA team. Playing in one of the premier spring tournaments, I thought this would be an interesting learning experience for me being that I have spent my entire coaching career behind the bench teaching high school age players. What I found were things I already knew about AAA hockey, but I also walked away with some new insights on a couple of subjects.

As we all know parity in AAA hockey is completely laughable. I had never lost a game in my life by more than seven goals but on this day we lost two games with the scores being 21-1 and 17-0. I tried to observe the morale of the players on my team as the scores climbed up. What I found interesting is that these players did not get too discouraged on the bench. While the players did not seem demoralized, my intuition told me that the parents were the ones feeling uncomfortable, in particularly the mother of one of the goalies.

I have long wondered if there was a way to balance out these lopsided scores. One idea I had in the past was to call the game after an 8 goal margin. At which point, the game would be played out by the teams after players had been traded from one team to another to create even sides. As I stood behind the bench, I realized that this didn’t feel plausible in these games. The other team’s 12 year old players who had traveled from Canada would hardly feel comfortable to come onto our bench with coaches and players they did not know. This was my grand idea to have a similar situation that used to occur when I was a kid playing at the outdoor rink. I am sure many can remember the ritual of putting the sticks in the big pile to pick teams. In this situation as kids we always hoped the teams would be even, but if they were not players would be swapped from one team to another to create parity. Funny how a group of kids at outdoor rinks can create an even game but a horde of AAA teams run by adults can’t even come close to creating even games.

With this said, I am not sure if even games are really a virtue worth seeking. As a youth player, I used AAA hockey as a measuring stick. I always wanted to know how good I was compared to the other players. It was about competition. Getting beat up by some Canadian team would add fuel to my competitive fire. I could train for months as a 12 year old just off the distain I had from getting humiliated in an AAA tournament. For the ultracompetitive players, like I was, this fits our needs perfectly. The routine for the competitive, gifted player is perfect: go to some tournament and see better players, then when the tournament is over work to become as good as those players.

The most important insight I drew from the day is that checking is really uncalled for with 12 year olds. I most have witnessed at least a dozen times in two games when players came to the bench crying because they had taken a solid body check. Some of these checks looked extremely dangerous being that these young kids cannot absorb force the way mature players can. I am really not sure why this culture of checking at this age still pervades. I can deal with lopsided games between teams but a player being put in unsafe situations really bothers me.

The post Behind the Bench of AAA Hockey appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

David Tanabe

For Wild fans that have not seen much of his play, they have been pleasantly introduced to a player that does so many things well. While some stars take nights off, Parise brings an unrelenting work ethic every game. Not only is his on-ice performance impressive, it is his off-ice demeanor and commitment that gains the respect of his peers. He is a consummate professional and team leader.

For younger players who want to learn how to play the wing position they should take note of Parise’s strengths.

First, he has high-level skating skills. Wings need to be able to stop and start quickly and be strong on their skates. Parise is blessed with somewhat of a bowed-leg stance, similar to Pavel Datsyuk. They are both incredibly hard to knock off the puck. This is complemented by his ability to keep his feet moving and shield the puck from the opposition.

Second, he pursues the puck with maximum effort at all times. When in reach, Parise has an uncanny ability to strip the puck off of players without taking a penalty.

Third, he is not afraid to drive to the net. This is a product of having detail in his positioning on the ice and a willingness to compete.

Lastly, Parise knows where his teammates are during a shift. He plays mentally in front of the game by constantly surveying the playing surface without the puck.

Those around Parise on a daily basis are impressed by his humility and unrelenting work ethic. I trained with Parise in the summer of 2007. The first time I was on the ice with him was in a private skating lesson with Diane Ness. In that session, his willingness to correct and openness to try new things was impressive.

Parise represents a slew of National Hockey League players who have come out of Shattuck St. Mary’s. In 2007, I drove down to Faribault every day for a month to train with Parise and the rest of the players there. Partly, I was curious to learn why players like Sydney Crosby, Drew Stafford, and Patrick Eaves had chosen to attend a school in rural Minnesota. Mostly, my motive was to train hard, and knew that prepping for the season with Parise would not disappoint. While Parise is unassuming physically, he works hard in the weight room. On the ice, he pays attention to details even in the scrimmages. The commitment to the game in Faribault was a pleasure to be a part of.

There is no doubt that the General Manager of the New Jersey Devils, Lou Lamoriello, lost sleep when Parise departed. For Lou, Parise represents another player who came through their scouting and development system and elected to leave. For any GM, acquiring prized draft picks from the Devils is an intelligent move. New Jersey has a skill for finding and developing smart, quality players. With Parise wearing a Wild jersey, it is difficult to remember that just last year he was playing in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. There is no doubt that there is still some fatigue from going that deep in the playoffs, but knowing Parise, he will not make excuses.

What is exciting for Wild fans is that his play could escalate even further as this playoff hangover subsides.

MinnesotaHockeyMagazine.com columnist Dave Tanabe played nine seasons in the NHL with the Carolina Hurricanes, Phoenix Coyotes and Boston Bruins.

The post TANABE’S TIDBITS: What Makes Parise Special appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

David Tanabe

International hockey has always provided an opportunity to gauge the effectiveness of respective nations to develop their top players. It is also a chance to observe the style differences between the way countries play. I recently sat down to watch the World Junior Championship semi-final game between Russia and Sweden. As I watched the game I asked myself, is the style of hockey that Russia plays today different than the way they used to play as the Soviet Union?

Every nation has a stereotype of how they play the game. The Canadians have always been known for the most physical brand of hockey. The Czechs and Slovaks are known for their counterattacks bred from stacking their own blueline. Swedes have the reputation of being the smartest players and the Fins are known as the Europeans who play most like North Americans.

While these stereotypes have held true for the most part there are some countries that have evolved. For any country to reach into the elite levels of play they must at some point learn to engage the physical battles for the puck. One country that is in the process of accomplishing this is the Swiss. Shockingly, with a population of roughly 6 million this country is beginning to understand how to play championship hockey.

The Russians are a team that seems to have lost the identity it had as the Soviet Union. The Soviets were known for sharing the puck, puck possession, and attacking with numbers. The team at the World Junior Championship plays like every other Russian team in recent history, one-dimensional. Rather than attacking in waves like they once did they seem to have a barrage of 1 against 3 line rushes. With a street basketball mentality, the fans in Ufa begin to cheer as another talented young Russian winds up alone to try and make a highlight reel goal. Time after time it doesn’t work. Only when they actually have support on the attack or an isolated one-on-one is it effective. I wonder where this change comes from. Is it from trying to emulate players like Malkin or Ovechkin? Or did something change in the ways players are developed in the country?

Whatever the reason my hope is not to wake a sleeping giant or put myself on some hit list but to engage in critical thinking. In particular with self-reflection, what are we known for as American hockey players? Has our stereotype evolved? Do we coach our players to be one-dimensional? I would hope we are known as hard-working, smart talented players who have a multi-dimensional attack. It would be interesting to hear what other countries think of us as a hockey nation.

The post The Evolution of Russian Hockey: What it means for us. appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.