Preparing for Junior Hockey, Step 3 - Showcasing Yourself at Showcases

Step 3: Showcasing yourself at showcases!

Its springtime and seasons are finally over. You have already begun emailing coaches making initial points of contact…but you are always looking for more exposure. In the last 5 years or so, Showcases have fermented to become the new norm.  Essentially, a showcase aspires to have roughly 200-300 young men show up to be scouted by multiple teams, all in one house. The concept being that instead of attending 12-30 tryouts over the summer, why not just show up to one showcase and be seen by them all at once?

Regardless of which Showcase you choose, there are some things I have noticed over the years and want you to be aware of. First off, do your research and find out exactly who will be there and from what teams. Granted, most coaching staffs cannot attend every Showcase out there, so many times they send a Scout to do some bird dogging for them. While this is great and so forth, in MY Opinion, having an actual coach from a team there carries more weight. The coach will have a better idea in terms of talent as to what he is looking for. As a bonus to you, they are there to communicate with. YOU can ask them any question you want and actually get a feel for them to help you decide if it’s the best choice for you (Nothing is worse than playing for someone you have a personality conflict with). Granted, in defense of the teams that do send Scouts, depending upon the time frame of the showcase the team may be in Playoffs and Coaches are unable to attend in person.

Showcases pretty much contact every team on the planet to attend, because in the end it makes them look good in your eyes and offers exposure to you. Last year, I attended 4 showcases…one of which I had the most clout in the building, another I was low man on the totem pole. Please keep in mind, they are a business and depend on the amount of kids that attend. Now, in all fairness to them, they also depend on the level of talent that attends, if the Showcase is a dud one year, the odds of many high level coaches showing back up is slim to none.  You also need to remember, showcases provide you with an opportunity for exposure.

As a coach attending a Showcase, it gives me a healthy sample of talent out there. But you need to remember I am also competing against every other team in the building for the top talent. The one thing I consistently see with showcases is that goalies (along with everyone else) get bombarded with tryout offers and such from teams. I hear people actually complain about this and think teams are just blind mailing everyone to attend their tryouts. Essentially, in the end, that is the reason you attended the showcase to begin with isn’t it? Lets be honest…had myself or other teams not been there, how would we have been able to contact you about our tryouts to begin with? At the very least, you now know the team has seen you play and not just some open mystery invite. That fact alone makes Showcases worth it!

At one particular showcase, I had a particular goalie that I really liked, ask me why I didn’t flat out offer him a spot on the team or at least a tender. He was curious as to why I wanted him to attend my tryout after just watching him for a weekend. His father questioned my motives and wondered if it was purely a “fundraiser” invite and if I was just trying to fill our camps. A legitimate question, and one that I gave an honest answer to, ”For one, I need to see you come in a battle for the spot, at the end of the day we cut kids we tendered for those that work harder and play better. Second, I literally just saw you stop pucks from the Sisters of the Broken and Poor…I need to see you face consistent actual talent from our level of play.” For those wondering what I meant by that last sentence, at the showcase the goalie was facing kids who were aspiring to play at our level (and many of them have no chance). I need to see him against our veteran returning players and such to truly gauge his talent, after all you are trying to prove to me that you can play on my team. In my eyes, the only way to actually verify that is to throw you to the wolves so to speak and have you face my actual team!

The first part of that answer is simple to understand as well. I have the ability to invite 24 goalies to tryouts…I am refining the system (Considering I probably met and scouted over 150 at various showcases on top of the 60+ I saw over the season). Once you get to my barn, the system will continue to refine from that point until I get down to 3 or 4 for our training camp. I need to see you compete against others of your level to get a side-by-side comparison and make the best decisions. Granted, I am aware my tryouts are a little different than most as we do 4 hours of goalie only training, two of which are purely skating. Call it bag skating, call it endurance testing…I am going to push you to the limits to determine who is going to give me the best odds on the season. I will find the best-conditioned athlete and more importantly, the hungriest wolf in the pact. (More on this in coming in Mays article!)

So again, do your research (remember we talked about be honest with your talent level and where you want to play?) and figure out which Showcases will give you the best odds for exposure. Also, keep in mind that because a certain person is advertised as being there don’t forget to contact them directly and make sure. Many times, coaches commit to a showcase back in Dec, and then playoff schedules are released and their attendance is very unlikely. Another nice thing about contacting that coach ahead of time, is more often than not he will remember your name and pay extra attention to you, after all you did just tip him off before the show began. Figure out which coaches at the showcase are on the top of your list, email them directly and make sure to establish contact with them. Nine out of ten times any coach worth is salt is going to take advantage of this because you are essentially making his job easier.

Here is a list of 10 Rules you should follow when participating in a showcase:

1. 1. BE PROFESIONAL! From the time you get out of the car to hitting the ice to going home. Guys like me are notorious for hanging around the check in table seeing you walk in the door. Ahead of time, coaches get lists from the Showcases, and begin our refinement process. Believe it or not, but the minute you walk in the doors you are being scouted!

1. 2. DRESS APPOPRIATE! Seriously, nothing makes me scratch names faster than seeing some kid with goofy hair in his face, flat brimmed hat on sideways, and his Boxers showing. I’m not saying you have to walk in with a suit, but at check in a Polo and Khakis sends one hell of an impression at first glance. The rest of the weekend, rock your gym shorts and Under Armour…I realize you are an athlete. First impressions are lasting ones, dress as if you were on a campus visit and meeting the coaching staff of the Division 1 school you aspire to play for.

1. 3. COMPANY: Ever heard the phrase “don’t bring your kids to an interview”? Same applies to your Girlfriend and family. Personally, if you are getting a ride to the event…have your parents drop you off at the door and walk in. Let them come in afterwards. I am all about meeting the family and such, but Junior hockey is essentially about independence, tell Mom to let the chain loose for that weekend.

1. 4. YOU talk to Coaches: Please please please do NOT have your mother work the room figuring out who the coaches and scouts are. There is no quicker way to get the snip than having Mommy do the damage. Think about it, if she is doing it there, what is to make me believe she wont be calling me after every game inquiring about your playing time?

1. 5. BATTLE! Wise words posted in every locker room at our tryouts, “You have no friends here, you are competing against each other for very few spots on our team…battle.” Don’t just float through the motions. As a goalie, I want to see you playing pucks, literally attacking rebounds and covering them, barking to your Dmen, cast that Poke Check like a fly fisherman, do it all baby. Remember, its your time to shine…Don’t let someone else steal that light.

1. 6. YES SIR: Not dude, bro, boss, chief, pops, or anything else of the sort. Show respect to coaches when they address you. And for that matter, YES not yeah…nothing sounds more insulting to a question than hearing a kid pipe off “Yeah”. And when asked a question, please do not say “Uh-huh”, drives our friends to the north crazy.

1. 7. CONFIDENCE: Truth is every coach there will at least look at EVERY player and goalie once. And the first day or two the issue isn’t so much as figuring out who the best is but rather figuring out who the worst are. From that point, if our list is weeded down from 250 to 25 (or in the case of goalies, 24 to 4) it makes life easier for us. How do you stay on that list? Confidence. Do you shake your head when scored on? Do you just breath moxy and intimidation? Are you walking around scared in the halls or do you have that determined look that could make a lion hide behind a rock at the zoo?

1. 8. RESPECT: This is a big one and I mean big one. In #7 we talked about the Sir effect and what not, but teams you may not be interested in at showcases will approach you. Still, take the time and listen to them and say thank you. If you are a little egotistical snot to that coach, he is going to walk back into the Green Room where the rest of us sit and just throw you under a bus. Simultaneously, 20-30 pens will make the same 2 inch scratch on the same piece of paper and you will have just wasted a weekend. A lot of times, lower teams feed off others (Tier 3 of Tier 2, and so forth) so relationships are there. We know each other and trust one another…they might be the guy that hypes you up the ladder so to speak. Something to keep in mind, don’t be insulted by teams talking to you that are not the level you are shooting for, if they are the only ones talking to you, its says something doesn’t it?

1. 9. TALK to coaches: Do not be afraid of them, ask them anything you want. In theory, if you make their team they are in your life for the next 6-9 months. From a goaltending perspective, find out whom they have moved on and what is returning. Who have they tendered or drafted? Do not be scared off by this either, remember if anything, you get a ball park idea of what they have. Maybe its kid in your league that you know you are better than, battle him for that spot. Do not think just because they have someone all odds are off. Put it this way, and I will use outskaters as an example, last year of the 11 players we tendered and drafted only 3 made the team. All other spots were filled with kids from tryouts including one of my goalies (who to date has played over 20 games this season and had two NHL scouts come to watch him exclusively). Anything can happen!

1. 10. PROMOTE yourself: Take the a few copies of the DVD from last article with you. If you went ahead and made a Folder with your information, pictures, and articles…bring some of those with you as well. When you figure out who the coaches attending are the ones from teams you aspire to play for, give them copies! Also, try to arrange a time when you can sit down and talk with them…if anything for feedback. Always keep in mind, just because one particular coach/team cannot use your services does not mean they wont pass your information along.

At the end of the day, remember it’s all about you and your future. Ten years from now you do not want to be sitting there thinking, “if only I had done this better” while watching someone you used to play against currently play in the NHL. Make sure you take a positive professional approach to marketing yourself!

Good luck this spring, and as always…keep your chest square to the puck and stick on the ice!

Coach Power