In this episode of Private School Guidance, Brad D'Arco speaks with Chadd Cassidy, Head Coach of Boys' Junior Hockey at Northwood School, about the impact of the pandemic on the teams and sports programs in the Spring of 2020, preparing for the 2021 season, the development of the players who may have lost training time due to COVID, and misconceptions that parents and players may have about what it takes to be successful.
Episode 003 - Boys' Hockey (Audio Only)
Brad: Crazy that we're still, however many months now, still dealing with the pandemic. I certainly didn't think... Well, last March, I didn't think we'd be sitting here talking about this. In August, I wasn't sure we'd be sitting here at all, but it is. It's bizarre to me that we're still trying to manage this. What was the impact of the pandemic on the tail end of last season for our teams and programs here?
Chadd: Yeah, it was obviously a huge blow to end the season the way that we did. Literally three days before our state championships is when we finally made the decision as a school to send the kids home, which turned out to be the best decision possible for us to do. It was difficult for our seniors obviously, to end that way. On the flip side of that, I think that it made the rest of us that returned here, our underclassmen and our coaches kind of appreciate the things that we had had in the past, the certainty of knowing what was going to happen all the time, which is something that I think that we have to keep in mind now is that literally, we talk about all the time as a hockey program, a daily process of getting better and that's never been more true than right now because we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. We still really don't know for the most part. So we got to take advantage of the opportunities that we have right now. So I think it taught us a lot of lessons about stuff like that.
Brad: Yeah. What was your message to, not only the Northwood players, but obviously, you're dealing with a lot of hockey players and their families in kind of April or May when at that point, it looked like, "Okay. This is not a two or three week problem," in terms of what they should be thinking about developmentally from call it March until we got back here, what were you telling the players?
Chadd: Well, the difficult part of that was, is in our country, everybody's in such a different situation depending on where you are. So we were dealing with some kids that were literally on the ice in May, which was up here for us, that was crazy to think that kids would be on the ice. So that message was kind of different to every kid under the premise that do what you can do and that's all you can worry about right now.
If you don't have ice available to you and you can't go to a weight room, we've got to figure out how to continue to get better and prepare ourselves for inevitably, the season starting at some point in 2021, but that was different for every kid. So mentally, I think it was more of a challenge for those of us who were in full kind of quarantine lock down. I think that depending on where you were in the country or even the world, it was way different, but the message was, do what you can do under the circumstances that we have because that's all you can do. We can't control the other stuff.
Brad: Well, it's got to be so hard because I think sometimes, particularly with our kids here, or I think any kids at this age who are playing at high level, it's easy to forget that a huge part of that experience for them is the social engagement and being in the rink and with your friends. So right, the idea of okay. You need to stay engaged in your process just purely from the development side, even when you're not getting all of the other benefits of life as being a part of a team in the rink.
Chadd: Yeah. You hit on it, and that was one of the biggest things I think was the challenge for not just us as coaches, but even the kids, was the social part of it because none of us were used to that and hopefully, we never have to get used to it again. But the reality was is we were all separated and isolated and we made a conscious effort, as a program and as a group, weekly Zoom calls and making sure that our leadership group was reaching out to incoming players, making sure our leadership group was reaching out to incoming or returning players because it's so easy to feel distant and disconnected under those circumstances.
I will say that as a school, not just our program, as a school, I think we did a phenomenal job with that because that's the thing is we could have all gone in cocoons and just kind of waited to see what was going to happen. I think we did a really good job at communicating, keeping in touch. Even though we didn't know what was going to go on from day to day, at least we felt like we were still connected with those around us.
Brad: Yeah, and I certainly felt that even being outside of the hockey program specifically here, but I know in my role, I was really worried coming into this year with what we were going to have to do with quarantine and all of that and needing to separate our students in the way we needed to separate them. Our kids are still young when they move in here. You're really worried about that transition and their ability to make connection, but I think not just, I think we're, as a school, reaping the benefits within our hockey cohort, but broadly, I think the efforts that were made. I was surprised at how well our students felt they were connected and how potentially, less issues than I can ever remember with homesickness than when we got here this year, which was the things I was kind of worried most about.
Chadd: Yeah, and that goes back to what we were saying before just about the difference between, depending on where you're at, because every school was handling this different, every program's handling this different. I've spoken to a lot of my colleagues that are heads of programs of teams that we play against, St. Andrews, and there are places literally, where kids don't have the ability to interact with the kids from any other cohort.
So our size and our location has certainly been a huge advantage in that way of having relatively few to no COVID cases up here and having the ability to control our 190 students here in a way that we feel, as long as we're doing it the right way, that they can still interact with kids from the soccer program, the girls hockey program, whatever it might be. That's something that, to me, that's what makes us a little bit different, makes us more connected here.
Brad: So with the Bazaar off season or a break as now we're getting going, you're getting going, how are you thinking about the start of the season or the development of your players differently? Because, yeah, they lost that time. However big it was, all of them lost something significant, but how has it changed your thinking here at kind of the start of the season?
Chadd: Yeah. It's made us, maybe not my best strength, but taught me to be a little bit more patient because coming in here, you hit on it perfectly, is that we've had kids literally, that started here when we start on the ice September, whatever, it was, 15th that hadn't been on the ice since March. We have other kids that skated all summer. So it's really hard to kind of balance that out and figure out who's at what spot when they get here. Plus, everybody went through two week quarantine. So even though the kids were on the ice all summer, we came here and we were all off the ice for a couple of weeks before we got back on. So it's really kind of given us, as a coaching staff, a really good feel for, let's not get over excited about what happens in September or October and maybe even into November.
Let's get everybody on the same page and the same program, really train our kids to get them in good shape, get them back to being somewhat sharp as our season is upon us because we don't really don't know when the official start of the season is going to be. We still don't know if hockey still isn't being played here in New York. We are allowed to play in other places on a limited basis. That really is just kind of, for me, the cherry right now, it's about the development of our players and every day, being in a situation where we can work on some things to get better and do things to get everybody up to speed because everybody's coming in here in a different spot.
Brad: Have you adjusted the messaging to the players around their development or things they should be focused on? I think about that broadly. If I'm 14, 15, 17 year old kid, I know at my age, I had never been in a six, whenever it is, six month window without actively training. So I'd be really scared. I would imagine as a kid, I'm like, "Well, how do I go from here? Because I've lost half a year." So what have you been telling them about? What they should be focused on or where their mindset should be?
Chadd: Great question. And really the focus, I think, for every kid, and this is really every year, but even, especially this year is don't worry about where you're at today because this is a process. I think a lot of the kids, and this is I think really important is that they think, "Well, I was off the ice for six months. I got to play catch up." The reality, for me, to be quite honest with you is I think sometimes less is more. I think that this pandemic, if you're looking for a silver lining, is going to allow our students to really come back hungry and excited about playing hockey again. You and I have talked a lot about this over the years that we've been here together, that there's a point where you play too much and you lose some of your development because you lose your passion to play. When you and I grew up playing, it was not a 12 month season. It was more closer to a six to eight month season.
You played baseball and you did other things. Certainly understand that it's more specialized now, but I still do think you need time away from the game to work on your body, to work on other skills away from the rink. So when you get on the ice, you're going to be excited about playing, you're going to be excited about you're developing, you're going to be full energy. It's a process of building up because I think that now, we expect kids to some extent, to be in game mode mid-season year round, and you just physically can't do that. There's no sport that can do that and there's no person that can do that. I think that this is going to provide us to see the most gains from our students and our players because of the fact that they have been away from the game and they're coming back and they're really excited about training, especially training with each other because they've been able to train alone. I think that that's going to really have some dividends down the road for us.
Brad: So in knowing all that, trying to force yourself to be patient and understanding our kids are out of different timeline as you're... Even now, we're getting underway and we're starting to play games. Inevitably, at some point, there's an evaluation process you and the other coaches are going to go through. You're going to make decisions. So has the pandemic impacted your thinking about how you're evaluating players at this point, then some of those decisions that there's no way around it, right? We would love to have a window of here to gain back the six months and then make decisions. That's not reality. So how are you doing it?
Chadd: As you know, we've always had fluid rosters signatures and moving players around, but it's going to be even more so this year. When we talked to the coaching staff about the early season, we've played one game so far at both our prep and junior level. We put those kids on those teams because we felt that was their starting point, but we certainly don't feel like that's going to be the end point because as we've talked about, kids came in here at such different stages of their training and how ready they worked for the season. So I can foresee tons of moving back and forth, and we've already had a lot of that. We have a lot of kids that are practicing with both teams, so they can feel like they're getting up to speed and have the best opportunity to play against the best players and played at appropriate level. For us, that's going to be a process that probably goes throughout the entire season.
Brad: Yeah. When you're talking to now, either potential Northwood students would be here a year from now or other families you talk about who are in the hockey world and have sons who are playing, given the uncertainty of what the hockey landscape looks like right now, who's playing games, what's practice look like, what are the things that you're telling them they should be focused on because it's no longer that clear-cut decision of, "Well, this team is going to practice X number of days and play this many games." It's all uncertain. So what are the things that they should be thinking about?
Chadd: Well, with all the uncertainty, and this is really the same message that I would give a family without a pandemic, the number one thing for it, because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow, we've all been taught that through this whole thing, put yourself in an environment that is going to be beneficial for your development. You want to be around really good people. You want to have a really good culture while you're there and you want to be supported in. That's the most important thing because who knows how many games anybody's going to play this year and all of that sort of stuff? You want to make sure that you have the right training and you have the right people around you that are going to continue to push you all the time because that's the one thing that we do know that we can do right now.
So for me, that is probably the biggest strength of our program here is the culture that we have of kids that have bought into pushing each other to do better. Everybody, it's somewhat competitive within the program, but it's also a situation where we need you to be good, so our program can be good. I think that if you can put your child or yourself in that type of situation, both academically and athletically, that they are going to benefit from that long-term, despite what's happening in the outside world. If they're in a position where they're being pushed every day by the kids that they're around and the coaches that they're around and the teachers that are around, that's the best environment that you can have. You want to be in a place with a growth mindset where kids can actually get better all the time.
Brad: Yeah, for sure. I think that the key for us, as you said, I think a lot of those values we preach or we'd love to have or even in some cases, hold ourselves to around that. How much of that can we carry through or outside of past this pandemic because they're the right things and shifting into that model? One of those, I think, at this level, and you and I talk a lot about this, is that the number of games played. So for years ago when I was coaching in the early on at this level, at the prep level or high school level, we were not playing enough games. Then the movement came for lots of games, and you and I have talked about that. Where is that tipping point too of, when the dust does settle, whenever that is, do you think that this helps us get better balance around that issue of development versus games or practice versus games?
Chadd: Yeah, it's going to be interesting because I think that this year is going to be different because certainly early in the season, we're going to play less games. We already have, which has been the right thing to do and has put more of that emphasis on development. It's going to be interesting to see how that follows suit down the road. Actually, to be honest with you, I think that we've done a really good job. We're not a program that packs games in. There's teams at our level that play a hundred plus games over the course of the year. We're steady in our regular season around 55, which is a commitment towards not playing multiple games in a day because we don't think that's in the best interest of our players. Sometimes you have to do it, but for the most part, we don't.
I think that more teams are going to follow that suit where it's going to be more about practice time, development time and then the games are supposed to be the cherry on the cake where you showcase what you've learned in your practice or games, not the other way around. A lot of programs, and that's what kind of separates us in a lot of ways is how much practice time we have, how much time in the weight room that we have. Most programs can't and don't offer that. I think that through this pandemic, hopefully, people are going to learn that really is the way to go in terms of, if you want to become a better player, prepare yourself to get onto the next level is more of your process of practice time and the games are something that really is just the cherry on top of that.
Brad: I think you're right. From our end, as we've talked about, I think we have, certainly the last couple of years, had that really good balance. As some of those other programs out there started to play at 75 and 80 game schedules, having to educate our families here about why that's something we didn't feel was right. I think on the other end of it, what I think is going to be really interesting too, is you're seeing the adjustments that sort of the NEPSAC, or the New England Boarding School Athletic Association now, are making around their winter sports, not just hockey obviously, but also what they're doing with their fall sports to see... I think it is going to be really...
I'm going to be curious to see how many schools coming out of this fall closer into our model than maybe there have been. I think in some ways, to me, there's validation in that. If we're in this having to make less adjustments than others and we're coming out of it and the model looks... Well, now their models look more closely to what we have been doing for years... Yeah, I don't know. To me, there's a validation in that.
Chadd: Yeah. For sure. Like you said, we felt like, and this is kind of a, not a slow process, but since then the time that I've been here, going on six years now, we used to have our kids play a fall sport and it was a six week soccer for most of our kids. Then we started on the ice in the middle of October, late October, and then we playing games in November. I think that that was the evolution that we made. We, as a group, decided that these kids are here to play hockey, we should be committed to that part of their development.
We want them to do other things and we can actually provide them opportunity to do other things if we can lengthen our seasons. So we're not having to squish so many games into it from November until February. Now, we can play from September all the way into April, more time off for rest and recovery and other experiences here at the school, and it is a little bit of a validation to see kind of that change with a lot of programs that are counterparts to ours, that we have great relationships with and they're kind of looking at our program saying, "That kind of more fits in line of what we should probably be doing."
Brad: Yeah, for sure. Okay. So the big topic I would imagine that you guys have right in front of you and our students here is the college recruiting and college admissions. So I guess starting with, how are you talking, or what's your messaging to your older players, your 12th graders or 11th graders and also for what should the ninth and 10th graders here thinking about?
Chadd: Well, I think in the short term, the big thing is the word we talked about for us, patience, because with this pandemic in all of hockey at the division three level looking like it's going to be delayed for at least half year, maybe even the whole year for a lot of these programs and even the division one level, kids going back to junior to not use a year of eligibility, that puts a monkey wrench in the entire process because what it's basically going to do is shrink it even small pool of kids that are going to be able to go play college hockey next year. You have a group of freshmen that were expecting to matriculate to the college level this year that are probably staying back.
You've got kids that were in college that are going to go back and play junior because the NCAA has let them do that, the long and short of it is that it's going to be... The next couple of years, there's going to be a log jam and for kids, the word is going to be patience because there just aren't going to be a lot of opportunities out there in the next couple of years. We've preached this from the beginning, delay your path as long as you can because you want to make sure there's good opportunity and you're ready for it. It's going to be even more important with that now because there's going to be shrinking number of opportunities at the college level for the next couple of years until these kids kind of matriculate through when we get back on a little bit normal course.
Brad: Do you think there's longer terms... And I know with hockey, the recruiting process has always been unique unto itself at the NCAA level, and I know they've tried to adjust some things in the last couple of years to avoid the 14 year old commitment and all those things that were being... How does this impact at longer-term? Obviously, we've got to go through a cycle here of just players moving and starting this, but is there a longer term impact on how recruiting happens?
Chadd: Yeah, there definitely is going to be. You see it now. The NHL draft is going to be here in a couple of days and that was supposed to happen back in June. Then you jump right into the next NHL draft, and that all trickles down because that's how you basically make your decisions is the kids at the top level get drafted and then you figure out who's going to college and all the other things. There's going to be a long impact on this. And I think that, or at least my hope is, is that the NCAA looks at this and says, "We need to adjust some things that we do here because of this log jam that's going to happen, and these kids kind of be in caught in limbo because there just isn't going to be opportunity for them." The younger that the commitments are, the more that log jam becomes. Hopefully, that process is going to get delayed a little bit.
Brad: Yeah. At the college level, one of the things the last couple of years that's been up there, and obviously, this is more opinion. You're not working in that level anymore, but do you see the game growing at that level over the next couple of years; more programs, either division one or division three level popping up? I know it was Long Island had a team this year?
Chadd: Brett Riley's taken over down there and that's a huge step for college hockey just because there was no division one program on Long Island, which has been a great producer of talent level. As a matter of fact, Kevin Shaq from that area who just won the Stanley Cup and the guy that we both coach. So that's huge. You hear constantly and consistently about the PAC 10 possibly having, or PAC 12, possibly having some teams. Then the Midwest, you'd have to think that there's going to be more big 10 schools that are out there. I know there's a lot of talk of it and I think there's a few programs that are close. I think that there are going to be, in the next five years, a lot of growth in college hockey in terms of programs coming up and that's going to be great for the game because I don't think there are enough opportunities out there right now. I think that people see that and it's a matter of getting these other programs going.
Brad: Yeah. The reason I asked that is because I could see, as you mentioned, that log jam of players. Now, I don't think that's a 12 month problem. That's a 24, 36, how many year problem of now this backlog being created that... I know one of the issues always with college hockey was, "Well, to start a program, is there enough players for us to be reasonably competitive in some timeframe?" But now, the potential exists for that because you do have, at both the division one and division three level, a lot of players who probably in any other year, might be able to be there who aren't and looking for opportunities to play well.
Chadd: Well, that along with the fact that I think you've seen the last of years, too, how many more international kids are turning over to play junior hockey and prep school hockey in the US. So the pool of players in the US is continuing to grow for hockey. Canada is always going to have a lot of players that both go major junior in college. Now, we're getting more kids in.... You see it all the time of kids playing in the USHL or prep that are from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, and how many more of those kids are going to college hockey? So that expands the number of players out there, plus this backlog of players that are going to be out there. There's going to be a need for more programs to fit all these players in. There certainly is the talent level to have them.
Then you think from a geographic standpoint where it makes the most sense for those programs to happen. Hockey has gotten huge out on the West Coast. There's really no college hockey west of Arizona State. The need for college hockey out there for players to stay closer to home, we now have a program in Metro New York, which is great. The big 10 certainly could field more teams out there with our biggest junior league in the country being based out in the Midwest. So there certainly is a lot of opportunity out there for programs pop up.
Brad: Yeah. That's great. I know a lot of hockey guys, but I was thinking about this the other day. One of the few people I know who, in a relatively short amount of time, coached that kind of college pro, development team level, and now prep school. Over that time, what are the biggest changes you've seen in either the thinking around player development or what players are looking like? How has it evolved? Because I know for me, when I was that age, it was really about you go to a good prep school and if you're good enough to play at that level, you probably have an opportunity to play college hockey. But now, the work that I think students, kids have to do and families have to do to navigate that path is way different.
Chadd: Yeah. As we talked, we've talked many times, it was pretty, relatively simple when you and I were playing because there was limited number of options. You played played high school or prep, and then you went to college. That was it. And very few players back then went to junior hockey. The issue now is, and this is what is very difficult for families and what we try to advise them the best that we can, is what's the next step? What do you do now? There are so many options out there, and there's so many people telling you that their option is better than this option and it's so competitive that I think the water gets very muddy at times for people to understand how to navigate it. Our message, and I've said this three times already, but is be patient with your process because I think what you find now is families are eager to jump at the next thing before they finish the thing that they're at.
Really, development is a long term. It is not something that overnight and you don't want to change gears until you're ready to make that change. You have to master the level you're at before you get to the next level because if you don't, you're playing catch up and you can only do that for so long and it's going to be a real detriment to your game, into your development, into your long-term success. So we try to work with our families on finding the right next step for our players when they're ready for that step. As soon as they're ready, we're willing to move them off in that direction, but we want to make sure that we do the best job for preparing to make that step from here.
Brad: Yeah. This will be my last one. If you had... Maybe this isn't going to be a one. Maybe there's not one simple answer to this, but if there's one misconception that parents or players at this age have about either getting to the next step or what it takes to be successful at this step and you could correct it, what is one of those misconceptions you think that you hear or see the most? Obviously, we're working to try and educate people in that area, but could you try and help them better.
Chadd: Yeah. Make your decisions based on development, not exposure because [crosstalk] You and I both know that there are no top players that slip through the cracks. It just doesn't happen anymore. With social media, the internet, all the things that are out there, as many college programs with full-time coaches back when you and I were playing college programs have maybe one coach and a part-time coach. Now, there's two to three assistants at every division one team. There's multiple assistants at the division three level. They're out there. They're seeing kids play. Nobody slips through the cracks. So when you make your decision on the next step, it's got to be about your development because every kid is going to get exposure. It's got to be about where you're going to have success, you're going to be around good people, and you're going to be able to get better because at the end of the day, someone somewhere along the way is going to see you play. It just doesn't happen where somebody slips through the cracks anymore. It's got to be all about development, not about exposure.
Brad: Great. Thanks.
Chadd: Yeah, no problem.