New Video Software to Launch September 1st 2011
A long and tiring process is about to come to an end soon! No I am not going to stop writing these blogs, at least not until I get someone else to do them but the long awaited re- engineering of our video software.
We started building this video product for all the youth coaches out there who want to help the players they are coaching with development. We looked at making an affordable product and a useful product. We have had a lot of feedback from teams who have helped us test our ideas over the last year and a half and a tentative launch date is here. As of today we are looking at a launch September 1st 2011 just in time for the start of the fall hockey season. The video program is based on our popular stats program with the ability to take a feed from a streaming video and tag each stat that is entered into our program.
What we set out to do was take the effect that the big time video editing programs have and produce one that a youth coach and teams can use. In our beta testing and research we also found that our program became a great tool for goalie coaches and skill coaches to use to help develop the players for specific skill sets.
I believe heavily in the use of video and have talked around the world on the benefits, I use an editing program daily in my coaching career and now because of the costs that these type of programs demand, I felt was a perfect time to build a program that everyone could afford and use. The cost for our product will be $299.99 a year. In doing an affordable program I took a lot of factors into consideration on our pricing. First by doing a yearly price it allows coaches to decide year to year if they would like to continue using our software, no long- term commitment. Secondly it allows teams to add a small fee to each player to have this ability for the players. Thirdly it is build for a laptop or PC so that anyone with a camera and laptop can use our software.
We have really held to our principles with this product and I truly believe will be a must have product for any coach who wants to make his or her team better. Of course we have programs in place for associations who would like to use a video program with multiple teams within the association. Discounts are available to associations on all SPA software products.
We set out to make useful products, easy to operate and of course affordable products. You can pre register for a test copy at our website www.hockeysoftware.ca or sign up for a free online demo, the start date for demos is still being set but get on board today and get the latest coaching tool when it launches!!
Talk to you soon,
Mike
Getting ready for next season.
As coaches the dog days of summer do not roll on they drag on, yea fishing and golfing fun but if I wanted to do that full time I would have tried to get on that circuit or at the very least improved my putting.
For me I spend the time looking back at what we can improve on going forward and one of the ways is a recurring theme every year and that’s face offs and possession off a draw. This becomes very important these days because of the defensive native of the game.
I discuss all the time with coaches and other spectators how important these draws are now and in the future. In a special teams situation such as a power play, they are giving you a draw in the offensive zone, you need to take advantage of this. Many coaches do not try and have a scoring play right off the draw, to me there are times for possession and then there are times to take a scoring chance. Many games and power play opportunities that do not try and score from face offs fizzle out and never get another chance the entire two minutes. Take a gift from the opposition and use it to create a scoring chance.
Face offs are real important we all know that but do you know when to use “your guy” and when to trust your other centers? Every team has a go to guy and knows when to use them. You my be surprised to know that the top 5 draw guys from last season NHL playoffs we separated by 13%. Seems like a lot to me, it is an art and skill that you need to work on with your players. In fact the top 30 draws guys in last years play offs were separated by 22%. Also a neat fact that with Boston winning the cup, the leading draw man was Bergeron at 60.2%. On the other side of the battle was Vancouver who lost and there best draw man was Kesler and he sat 12th on the list at 54.1%. That is roughly a 6% percentage difference, which as it turns out was a big difference.
For me my goal for my centers is to get them at the 60-65% range and having them win more draws then lost, the other is team possession, get your wingers in on the draws and jumping to get lose pucks, to many times I see teams lose possession because the wingers are sleeping, wake them up and get them in the habit of jumping on lose pucks.
To me there is no better tool to track this type of stats then the SPA-Dual stats program, if you want to see how you can measure your face off success this year contact one of the great sales staff at High Tech Hockey Software, Inc for a free online demo. This program can help you develop better players by showing them the facts.
Talk to you soon,
Mike
Believe Draft Statistics or In Yourself
Like every other hockey fan and lover I have been watching all the pre-draft hype that all the networks are showing daily, and I love it but I really just keep going back to one thing each time after I watch the programs. I have a few friends that are on these shows and I truly respect their opinions but come on man, let the player decide if he will play in the NHL.
As a person who is passionate about stats I am of course draw to all the percentages of players that make the “show” vs. players that don’t make it as well as players that started playing at the date that these players first started blah blah blah…..
Players fall the by the wayside every year in hockey at every level. I was there once and so were most of you reading this blog. It happens, we all don’t reach the top of the mountain but if you at least enjoyed the journey then it was worth it.
These young players can have the stats work for them or against them, it doesn’t matter and it shouldn’t matter, if they want to play in the NHL they will have to earn it and that is a great lesson one way or the other, sometimes you succeed in this game or in life and sometimes you fail, it doesn’t define anybody it just helps shape them or you.
At this time in their young careers they have a great stat working in their favor, as of right now they have a %50 chance of playing in the show! I would take that stat any day.
Congrats to all the drafted players this weekend, you are the ones that will determine if you play or not, not the stats.
Talk you soon.
Mike
On the Trade Show Trail
Hey everyone, I know I am a day late and a dollar short as my pops would say but I am out on the road promoting the great software of High Tech Hockey. This weekend I was in Richmond Hill, ON. I guess you would say it was part of Toronto but it may not be, I just know I got lost a few times but as luck would have it I always give myself enough time to reach my destination. You are right if your thinking hey high tech guy where is your gps? Didn’t bring it go figure.
The OMHA show was very success for us, we had a lot of interest at our both, helps when you have a huge project image that says free, just kidding but we did have our sign up for our free online white board which coaches really liked.
Check back on Monday by the way on tweeter or our site and sell what product you will want to buy! FYI…..
Met some real neat people with great products that I am going to link up to my other sports site www.redgoatsports.com and a few that we be doing some cross promotion with here on hockeysoftware.com.
Check out these cool sites for yourself and your players.
Stickheads-www.stickheads.ca (really winter hats, hoodies)
The Hockey Source- www.thehockeysource.tv
She plays Hockey- www.sheplayshockey.com (female clothing based on hockey)
Hockey Opportunity Camp- www.learnhockey.com (summer hockey camp)
Framed by Design- www.jerseyframing.ca (jersey framing)
SportzGuardz- www.sportzguardz.ca (custom mouth guards)
It always refreshing to exposure your products to new coaches but it was also good to talk to clients we picked up last year and here how they made out with our software, by the way they loved it!
Talk you soon.
Mike
What a great way to wrap up the hockey season!
For many of you out there you may or may not write a blog, I never thought I would but a weekly blog is a great way to talk about what is on my mind from a business prospective, hockey perspective and of course a coaching perspective. When you have a lot of interests you have a lot to talk about, usually but this week I really only want to talk about the great way to end a hockey season.
So you may be thinking, he’s talking about the Memorial Cup. Well yes but not really, when you are a coach on a team that each years goal is to reach that final, you watch but it really ticks you off more than you can sit and enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, I was pulling for Kootenay all the way (even though they punted us out of the first round 4 games to 2) but it really just burns inside because we did not get there! I was happy for Chris and Jeff and the rest of the staff, Chris did a great job all year long coaching his team and Jeff put together a very good hockey team, but I am competitive person and I don’t like losing.
So if it’s not that then it must be the Stanley Cup finals? Umm, no. Although I would love to see Vancouver win there first ever cup, and my brother Darek has cheered for Boston for a long time so to make him happy that would be cool. I watched the game and thought it was a great game very entertaining even though there was only one goal scored. It seems like it will be a very good final no matter who wins or how long the series goes. As I coach I would love to talk more about the game break down and what I thought was cool and I will next week, but I have to tell what makes me so pumped about this season’s year end…..
It has to be Winnipeg getting an NHL team back! You are correct sir!! Although I have lived and work in a lot of different places and many have heard that I love living in Saskatchewan, which is a huge rival with Manitoba for some reason, I was born and raised in southwest Manitoba and a good majority of family still lives there. I just think that for all of us prairie born and raised it brings back a sense of pride and joy that we have a “home” team to cheer for. People here in Saskatchewan are also talking of supporting this team, I personally know people that are buying season tickets and will drive to watch the games, Regina to Winnipeg is only 5 hours 30 minutes on a good day and during a snow storm 6 hours will do. I hope they call it the Jets, I hope they have success, the owners seem like they love the city and people so that will help. I do not think the players that will be lucky enough to play in Winnipeg will experience anything like it. It will also make some of my prairie friends get off the Calgary or Edmonton band wagons and get back and cheer for the greatest team yet to get heckled by the fans…until then we can all love the Jets!!!!
Thank you to the Hockey God’s it just shows when you do things right the big D-men in the sky will shine down on you.
Talk you soon.
Mike
100% designed by coaches for coaches!
New Look Products Coming Summer 2011
Everyone involved with High Tech Hockey Software, Inc is excited about the re-vamped products that we are putting out this coming summer. A new version of SPA-Stats with an upgraded roster management, easier operation of the program and a cool new vibe to the software.
We will also be putting out our much anticipated SPA-Video version, this program will allow youth teams to capture video through our stats program. We are excited to be able to give teams the ability to help develop their players through the teaching tool of video.
Join our list of 271 coaches that want to try out our video version when it’s launched. Just register through our website and we will add you to the list, of course there will be demo’s and trials for you to watch or try as well.
When we started this project, which has now become a business, we set out to make software products that would help coaches develop players and them selves, we wanted to be cost effective and the kicker because us coaches are not the biggest computer or tech geeks, it had to be easy to use. I truly believe we have managed after 4 years to stick to those statements and continue on.
We have stated all along that our programs are built by coaches for coaches and they are, but lets not kid ourselves here I don’t know where to start building software the smart people do that. Therefore our new statement is 100% designed by coaches for coaches. That’s a statement we can really sink our teeth into. We have been taking advice from coaches for four years and we will continue to do so, we can’t use every idea we are given but we do use them in a general way. It always has to make sense. The input we get from AHL, WHL and youth coaches are all the same and every coach we talk with all have the same goal in mind to make a great product that helps other coaches. The longer I am in the coaching game the more I realize that coaches are very giving people and love to help each other out and this is exactly what we do here at High Tech Hockey Software, Inc and with our Sports Performance Analyzer programs.
100% designed by coaches for coaches, we hope you like the new programs as much we do, and we are taking the software to a new level so you can take your team’s game to a new level.
Talk to you soon,
Mike
The Long Off Season
Although it seems at High Tech Hockey we have already been off for a few months since we haven’t posted a blog entry lately we have not been. We are back in full mode working on software updates and our newest software that will be out in August 2011. Stayed tuned for that.
The off-season I am talking about is the hockey off-season. I know there are still a few teams in the hunt for Lord Stanley’s cup but I really lost interest when the Predators lost out. Now I know there are still good teams involved but my viewing interest has dropped. Don’t get me wrong I am still watching and taping any game I can, I use the video for teaching younger players, but I have a hard time saying any of the remaining teams names followed by Stanley Cup Champs.
As a coach this is the worst time of year, the new season seems so far away and the past seasons playoff disappointment isn’t far enough away. I personally use this time to make myself better, I hope. Some of the things I do to get better is to review my year and the progress of the players I worked with, study a lot of film not only of our season but from all sorts of games to see what other coaches are doing. I have built a very nice video library that I use in teaching younger players and I actually do share with other coaches. Using the off-season to pick up new knowledge through conferences or seminars is always refreshing. This off-season I am only speaking at one conference due to time restrictions but I know it will be a great event where I will also learn a few things. The other great thing you can do for you self as a coach is get back into workout routine, it really helps your focus and gets that endurance for the upcoming season.
It really is to long in between season end and start but that makes us coaches appreciate the season a lot more. I think by me being home everyday makes my wife appreciate the day the season starts again as well!
Talk you soon.
Mike
Time on Ice Integration with HockeyShare.com
We are pleased to announce that we have partnered with HockeyShare.com to provide TOI stats for their coaches. HockeyShare.com is a fantastic site that allows coaches, players and parents to track stats, schedule practices and general player information.
Now you're able to track Time on Ice with our software, and easily import it into your HockeyShare.com account so that you can display TOI stats for your team. Take a peek at the HockeyShare blog here for a full explanation, and definitely sign up for an account on their site and take it for a spin!
Edmonton Oilers vs. Calgary Flames
Alright! We did the Canucks vs. Kings last night, and tonight we're going to do some faceoff tracking and some shots on goal tracking for the Oilers. As always we're using our statistics software to do it. I'm using a spotter to help again tonight, as it's tough to do it on TV, but hopefully we can post some useful stats for everyone to debate!
Update: End of 1st Period
Here's some shots from the first period. Some interesting faceoff stats are (NOTE: we did miss a few faceoffs, we're at the mercy of the tele):
Edmonton is operating at 41% for faceoffs overall.
20% of the time when they lose the faceoffs they still gain possession.
They are 43% overall in their defensive zone on faceoffs.
I'm sure we could juggle the stats some more, but here are some screenshots of the shots, for reference missed shots are black, saved shots are blue, shots blocked by the other team are green and red shots are goals.
Edmonton Oilers - 1st Period Shots
Edmonton Oilers - 1st Period Shots
I circled where Edmonton took most of their shots on the ice.
Update: Edmonton Oilers 2nd Period
So Edmonton was 29% (roughly, again through TV) in the faceoff circle, and here are the shots we tracked.
Edmonton Oilers - 2nd Period Shots
Edmonton Oilers - 2nd Period Shots
And here's a picture of all shots so far on the net. Tough thing is that we can't show pictures of when the puck goes off a defensemen's face. Might be something we'll have to put in version 3.0!
Edmonton Oilers - All Shots So Far
We'll post some final shots when the game is over.
Update: End of Game
So the oilers improved a little in the faceoff circle for the 3rd period at 33%. Their total game faceoff win percentage was 34% by our count (again tough because we missed a few faceoffs each period). Here's what their full game shot coverage looked like:
Edmonton Oilers - All Shots
Edmonton Oilers - All Shots
Just at first glance you can see a lot of their shots were low on Kiprusoff, not a ton of shots in the top corners. You can also see a lot of their shots were close to the blueline. Again, we didn't catch every shot as we are at the mercy of the camera angles but still some interesting stats. Let us know if there's a game you'd like us to cover and we'll do our best! If you're interested in doing some games for your own blog shoot us an email at blog@hightechhockey.com and we can send you a copy of our software.
Vancouver Canucks vs Los Angeles Kings
While it's not entirely easy to do it via the TV, we're spending some time relaxing on a Friday night tracking the Canucks vs. Kings game. We're tracking the Canucks and most likely we'll pick a different stat per period, or we'll just track one stat throughout the game. We'll try to post some screenshots in between periods and keep updating this blog throughout the game. Keep checking back!
Update 1:
By the way, we're using NHL Gamecenter to get the live feed as there's nothing being televised in our area. It's definitely worth looking into Gamecenter if you're a big NHL fan. Check it out here.
Update - End of First Period:
End of first period. It's definitely tough to do it through television as opposed to live, but I have a buddy calling out stats to help. The NHL counted 10 shots, I counted 8, but hopefully we'll get it a little closer next period. Here's some screenshots.
Shots on Goal - 1st Period
Shots on Goal - 1st Period
Missed Shots - 1st Period
Update: End of Second Period
Here's some more shot breakdowns. Still trying to get them all, and it also makes me wonder if the NHL statisticians would start tracking shot attempts instead of just shots on goal. It's interesting to me to see the number of total shots taken, and where they're missing, or getting blocked.
Second Period - Missed Shots
Second Period - Shots on Goal
Second Period - Shots on Goal
Update: Game Over!
So here's some shots summaries from the game. It's getting late here in Saskatchewan, but we're definitely looking for some feedback from any of you bloggers out there.
All Missed Shots
All Saved Shots
All Saves
If I get time tomorrow I'd like to feed all of their TOI into our software and just see what it all looks like. I'll keep you posted! Have a good night hockey fans.