Cougars give minor hockey coaches the floor during inaugural Hotstove

The Prince George Cougars took another step towards investing in minor hockey Tuesday night when they invited coaches from the local Minor Hockey Association to interact with the coaching and management staff in an open forum.

It took place at the Westwood Pub and topics of discussion ranged from, nutrition, drills, player, management and coaching scenarios to past experiences from their playing and coaching days at other levels.

Among the participants were Head Coach Richard Matvichuk, General Manager Todd Harkins, along with Assistants Steve O’Rourke and Shawn Chambers.

Matvichuk believes the session was invaluable. “You know for me, my two boys Dalton and Dillon are in the program so it means a lot to me. We went through philosophies to dealing with parents in certain situations and making sure the kids are having fun and basically the more they can skate and have the puck the better they are going to be. Don’t worry so much about structured systems, make sure you are doing the things that are going to make your team better.”

Matvichuk adds parents also play a major role in keeping their child’s goals realistic.

“Sometimes it’s unfortunate the pressure parents put on their kids to play the game thinking they are the next NHL player. It’s a time where the kids have to enjoy it and you don’t want to burn them out and get frustrated that they don’t come back to the rink.”

Associate Coach, Steve O’Rourke spoke mostly on nutrition as well as the need to play other sports in different seasons.

“We have to make nutrition simple and not too elaborate. Let’s start by making a commitment on game-day and not 7 days a week where it will completely change your lifestyle, sometimes we sit here and say you have to have 10 grams of protein. Well, what is 10 grams of protein? Your better off just starting with a peanut butter and jam sandwich and even at our level we have to make it simple for them to understand it.”

“In Canada, we get so much press about playing hockey year-round and its like that in other sports like gymnastics and soccer and for me I am proponent of playing different sports and I wish Hockey Canada would implement a scheduled season of 8 months and that’s it. The spring hockey is so unsanctioned that anyone can start up a team, charge fees and run it how they want without any minor hockey repercussions and if a kid is not getting treated very well where do you go.”

O’Rourke’s son Ethan is currently a member of the Prince George Cougars and has preached that same message to him at a young age.

“I let him play soccer, basketball and everything else to try and make him a well-rounded athlete and working with Brent Sutter he is a huge proponent of that by doing it with his own son Brandon. He also talked about it with the World Juniors where the kids don’t even know how to throw a football or baseball because they have been so programmed to play one sport and I know for sure if they play another sport they would be better athletes.”