Cooperalls and The Mullet

There is nothing more satisfying than educating the youth of today.

The other day I am getting my seven year old son ready for hockey and I mistakenly asked him where his garter belt was. I had to then explain to him that prior to Velcro, his old man and all hockey players used garter belts to hold up their hockey socks. A barrage of seven year old insults and mockery ensued. (there actually was some pretty good lines…one about hot ladies on skates, but some things always stay in the dressing room……)
But the garter belt thing wasn’t always the case and it got me once again thinking of days gone by. I told him when I was young, a good portion of the time we wore long pants instead of hockey socks and that they were called Cooperalls. I got from him a dazed and confused look on his face much like the time I told him McDonalds was going out of business. So thank god for the Internet! We did a little research and this is what we found.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cooperalls are a type of discontinued ice hockey equipment, which were made by hockey manufacturer Cooper. They consisted of a girdle with built in pads that wore snug to the body. Over the girdle is a shell, which came in two sizes: a traditional looking hockey pant (down to the knee) or a long pant (down to the ankle). The long pants became synonymous with the name Cooperalls and were worn in place of hockey shorts and did not require leggings. Cooperalls were the standard for youth hockey players in the early 80s. Cooperalls were first used professionally by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1981–82 NHL season. The Hartford Whalers wore them for the 1982–83 NHL season. Following considerable criticism^[1] and concern for player safety, the NHL banned the use of long pants.^[2] However, the girdle and short shell design is still available from some hockey manufacturers.

So that took care of that issue. But then comes this zinger of a question, “Dad, way back then did you have one of those real goofy haircuts, a Mallet????”
Being a good father I quickly corrected him and told him that I indeed did have a Mullet back in the day. I also told him that he should be respectful of the Mullet and that it was one of the greatest hairstyles in history.....  ‘Business in the front, Party in the back!’ I also educated the young lad on some of the other aliases for the legendary hockey haircut, such as:
Nebraska Neckwarmer
Kentucky Curtain
Arkansas Ape Drape
Schlong (short/long)
West Virginia Waterfall
The Cyrus Virus
By this point we were travelling well down memory lane. He then said to me, “Dad, those must have been great times, what was your favorite car back then???”
“The Camaro IROC.” I responded.
Again with the stunned look he inquired, “What does IROC stand for???”
Once more, being a good dad, it was time to be honest and teach the boy…., “Italian reject out cruising……”

Needless to say, Mom is not impressed……J

Long live Cooperalls, The Mullet and Muscle Cars!!!!



Good Insight into the Recruiting Process-D1

Follow us on Twitter at Platinumhockey.

I came across this article on the recruiting process through the eyes of the UVM D1 coaching staff. Really good insight from the other side of the process. Enjoy!

http://bit.ly/kNbDIB

NHL Alumni Members to help in tracking former player brain injuries

This article was good to see in light of what is going on in pro hockey today. Sad to see it getting as serious as it is but hopefully the good people that played the game can help fix it. Great job!

http://nyti.ms/lenJgV

And finally this week, congratulations and thank you to our Armed Forces on a great week! Heroes that allow us to live the way we do! The world is a better place this week.



Twenty, not Fifteen

This is the time of year in the hockey world when young players and parents get really worked up. With the major junior drafts approaching as well as the USHL Futures draft and even the NHL draft, everyone gets overheated about when and where they will be selected. It is a very exciting time but also a time when people put way too much stock in the selection process. Many players and families become very disappointed when they are not selected as high as they thought they would be and it really is a shame.
When we talk and advise young players and families, we try to stress that although the bulk of the selection process begins at age fifteen, their future success will depend on how they develop up to the age of twenty, not fifteen.   So much growth can take place in those years and it is the complete exception that a player is ready to play professionally at age eighteen.
To make my point, take a look at this list of over 100 players who have signed professional contracts coming out of college this season alone, many of whom were undrafted to junior or the NHL. These players simply developed and grew as players over time.
http://www.collegehockeyinc.com/view/ncaa/in-the-nhl/pro-signings 
It is the same in the NHL. There are so many good players that just weren't that high a prospect at age seventeen or eighteen.
When the Detroit Red Wings were scouting Tomas Holmstrom, they liked his fire and his aggressiveness around the net. No one else noticed him because he was so small that he got knocked around a lot. He was 165 pounds at the time. They drafted him anyway and when he returned in the winter he weighed in at 210 pounds. They talked to his coach and the coach said he'd planned to cut him, until he showed up at training camp so much bigger.

“A lot of things come down to genetics and you might be a late bloomer or grow a little bit later — it all comes down to the commitment of that player,” said Hockey Manitoba executive director Peter Woods. “Sometimes kids get labels, as an A1 or a AA player or whatever it may be. Players can interpret that in a number of ways. The kid that is maybe not playing at the elite level right now needs to enjoy what he’s getting out of the game and those opportunities might come along down the road. Jarome Iginla wasn’t taken in the bantam draft and it worked out pretty well for him.

“You have to use some of those examples as motivation.”

Check out this list of NHL players and how late they were drafted and remember, come draft time, keep everything in perspective and focus on age twenty, not fifteen.....

Player	Pick	Year	Drafted By
Jaroslav Halak	271st	2003	Montreal
Mark Streit	262nd	2004	Montreal
Pekka Rinne	258th	2004	Nashville
Dustin Byfuglien	245th	2003	Chicago
Dan McGillis	238th	1992	Detroit
Pavol Demitra	227th	1993	Ottawa
Vladimir Konstantinov	221st	1989	Detroit
Anson Carter	220th	1992	Quebec
Johan Hedberg	218th	1994	Philadelphia
Cristobal Huet	214th	2001	Los Angeles
Dave Taylor	210th	1975	Los Angeles
Dominik Hasek	207th	1983	Chicago
Henrik Lundqvist	205th	2000	New York Rangers
Joe Pavelski	205th	2003	San Jose
Sergei Kostitsyn	200th	2005	Montreal
Arturs Irbe	196th	1989	Minnesota
Brooks Laich	193rd	2001	Ottawa
Vladimir Malakhov	191st	1989	NY Islanders
Matt D'Agostini	190th	2005	Montreal
Ryane Clowe	175th	2001	San Jose
Trevor Letowski	174th	1996	Phoenix
Luc Robitaille	171st	1984	Los Angeles
Roman Cechmanek	171st	2000	Philadelphia
Theoren Fleury	166th	1987	Calgary
John-Michael Liles	159th	2000	Colorado
Peter Bondra	156th	1990	Washington
Doug Gilmour	134th	1982	St. Louis
Kris Versteeg	134th	2004	Boston
Kyle Wellwood	134th	2001	Toronto
Daniel Alfredsson	133rd	1994	Ottawa
Steve Larmer	120th	1980	Chicago
Brett Hull	117th	1984	Calgary
Johan Franzen	97th	2004	Detroit
Valtteri Filppula	95th	2002	Detroit
Jonathan Quick	72nd	2005	Los Angeles
Cal Clutterbuck	72nd	2006	Minnesota
Steve Mason	69th	2006	Columbus