This message is for 2009/2010 families, but we are sharing it widely so that the entire community is aware of plans for our 14U level.
Here is an update to HHA’s plans for the Bantam/U14 program for next year. As many of you know, we have been hard at work assessing our program offerings at this age group and planning both short and long term improvements to ensure we are offering the best program for our players at all levels across the age group.
Within the organization’s teams this year there exist more than sufficient numbers to form two co-ed teams and one girls team at the 14 and under level next year. In addition, we would welcome any local players who are excited by the program that we are offering and would be pleased to offer a third co-ed team should enrollment numbers allow. We anticipate that the top co-ed team would participate in the NH GSL at the Tier 2 or Tier 3 level and the lower team will participate at the Tier 4 or 5 level. Should there be a sufficient number of players to support three co-ed teams, we may be able to participate at the Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4/5 levels respectively.
The Program Goals, Development Plan, Coaching Staff and Tryout Information Follows below. It is also featured in the attached PDF for those who prefer a printed copy.
Please reach out to me, with questions or comments. If enough interest exists, we can host a Q&A at the rink or on zoom in the upcoming days.
Geoff Colla -14U Committee Chair geoff@ctrcapital.com
Program Goals
The players who choose to continue playing at this age group love to play hockey and have demonstrated a desire to further develop their skills and athleticism with the goal of continuing to play at the next level. Consistent with USA Hockey principals, our approach will focus on three key areas of development:
1. Technical skill development: Further refinement of individual hockey skills remains an essential focus at this age.
2. Tactical development: Development of basic team play is an important addition at the 14U level and is essential to players preparing to move on to the next stage.
3. Physical/athletic development: Athletic concepts such as strength/power, speed, agility and conditioning are all universal skills that athletes should begin to develop at this age.
Development Plan
Technical skills coaching:
o Consistent with past HHA practice and with USA Hockey’s American Development Model, players will participate in on-ice skills sessions designed to further develop their individual skills.
o Coaches will also incorporate skill development drills into their regular practice plans.
o In addition, the coaching staff will assess each player’s strengths and weaknesses at the beginning of the year and work with them to set goals for improvement over the course of the season.
Tactical development:
o The Program Director will consult with the head coaches of each team to advise on ways to develop and coach both individual and team tactical strategies.
o Coaches/program director will meet with teams before practice to discuss and illustrate tactical strategies prior to implementation in practice.
Optional offseason activities:
o Preparation for next season can start now, but does not need to conflict with other sports or summer plans.
o Following on the offseason skill work that Ben Lovejoy has developed with the younger age groups, the 14 and under group will be offered optional skills, strength and conditioning practice that can be done on their own over the summer without interfering with family or summer vacation plans.
o HHA is working with local high-performance athlete development coach, Wayne Burwell, to develop a plan for strength and conditioning work outs that can be done on their own and while on vacation.
Coaching Staff
Please meet our coaching staff for 2023-2024. We have identified head coaches for each of our teams and we are continuing to identify and recruit talented assistant coaches to the program.
Roger Demment, Program Director – After playing college hockey at Yale, Roger was a player-coach in France before moving full-time into coaching. Roger coached at Trinity-Pawling and St. Mark’s School before beginning a seven year coaching stint at Dartmouth College. After leaving Dartmouth’s hockey program Roger coached several HHA bantam teams, taking two of them all the way to Nationals. Roger will act as a coaching consultant to all three teams and will coordinate with high school coaches to help establish the basic team concepts consistent with those most relied on at the high school/U16/U18 level.
Ina Petkova, U14 Girls Head Coach – Coach Ina is returning to coach the U14 girls team after a successful stint in 2022-2023. Ina is a Professor of Mathematics at Dartmouth College and competed in the World Championships as a member of the Bulgarian team.
Marc Cote, 14U Green (Bantam) Co-Head Coach – Marc Cote grew up in the Upper Valley and played for HHA. Marc has been coaching with HHA, primarily at the Bantam level, since 2005 when he was fresh out of college. Marc has coached at multiple levels over the years, but prefers coaching Bantams where he can teach hockey IQ / team concepts to the more developed players.
Evan Cline, 14U Green (Bantam) Co-Head Coach – Evan hails from Freeland, Michigan is currently a Chemistry PhD student at Dartmouth. Evan is a graduate of Lawrence University where he was the four year starting goalie for the Lawrence hockey team. Evan has served as HHA’s goalie skills coach for the past two seasons.
Mark Lilienthal, 14U White (Bantam) Head Coach – Mark is also a product of HHA. Mark had a distinguished career at Hanover High School, scoring over 100 career points and serving as Assistant Captain for the state championship team in his senior season. Mark has coached at HHA since 2016 and most recently coached the 12U White team that was promoted from Tier V to Tier IV mid-season and finished third at the GSL state tournament.
James Baker, HHA Skills Coach – James will be back for his 3rd year with HHA. James is a strength and conditioning coach at Dartmouth and is responsible for Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey, Women’s Rugby, Women’s Volleyball and Men’s and Women’s Swimming. James played junior hockey in Connecticut and club ice hockey for Springfield College. In High School, James was an all-conference first team selection twice in ice hockey.
Wayne Burwell, Strength & Conditioning – Wayne graduated from Dartmouth where he played Football and was on the track team. Since then Wayne has worked as a strength and conditioning coach for local student athletes, high-performance college athletes and professional athletes including Ben Lovejoy, Gavin Bayreuther, and Tate Singleton just to name a few.
Registration & Tryouts
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Birth Year
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Team
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Registration Deadline
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Warm Up Session
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Evaluation Dates
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2009-2010
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14U (Bantam)
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4/03/2023
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4/04 5:50-6:50
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4/06 6:10-7:10
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4/07 8:40-9:40*
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Birth Year
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Team
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Registration Deadline
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ID Session
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2009-2010
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U14 Girls
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3/22/2023
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3/20 7:50-8:50
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3/22 7:20-8:20
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* Call back session
