W W W . WESTERN ELITE HOCKEY . C O M



Welcome to the Blog home of Western Elite Hockey. We will discuss upcoming events, training strategies, player bios, special interviews as well as general hockey talk. If you have off-ice training questions, ask away. Maybe the answer to your question will be the next article. If you are an elite level player and want to be featured, contact us.



Darryl Belfry

Darryl Belfry is currently working in development for the Los Angeles Kings (NHL). Darryl is a skill development professional who has developed his philosophy over the last 15 years and his use of video analysis and NHL role models in development makes his program among the most relevant and effective in the world. He is credited with influencing the careers of many current NHL players through the most formative ages in their development. Darryl lives in Ridgeway with his wife Ruth and daughter Ella.

NHI’s Philosophy of movement and training on ice by Darryl Belfry


Darryl Belfry loves the game of hockey. It consumes him. He lives and breathes hockey. When his own playing career ended early, he decided that he wanted to stay in hockey and become a teacher of the game. He attended countless coaching seminars and hockey programs, hearing a lot of people talk about teaching skating, stick handling and shooting skills. However, he grew disenchanted with the traditional approach to player development. He decided that there must be a better way, so he started to spend hours in research, glued to the front of his computer and TV, utilizing video and technology to better understand the skills of the top players in the NHL. He would look for little things that the great players did and started to document all their skills. He would watch these players frame by frame and study all aspects of a player’s game and detail what made this player special. He started a data base of players that he watched on a regular basis and recorded and graphed their progression. This became the staple of his teachings to his young protégés.

Skill development is in the midst of tremendous change thanks in large part to technological advances. The era of using technology to analyze and quantify player performance has arrived and the early returns offer a window of an entirely new realm of possibility. The greatest development opportunity for any player is to clearly understand their current performance level, the specific benchmarks of performance required to perform at the next level of competition and all the necessary development steps in-between. The communication mediums we can use to illustrate this process are much more sophisticated and have shown a greater opportunity to create measureable performance change in our athletes.

The 7 Habits


Performance quality for all players is reflected in their ability to consistently express skill in defining game situations. In order for a player to perform consistently they need a clear set of playing habits which serve as a performance compass guiding their decision-making. The disconnect for most players who struggle advancing to the next level of performance competition is the inconsistencies in their decision making. This may be because they don’t understand their “calling card” and need to understand how critical it is to develop a mindset, an attitude and a decision making compass which will separate you from everyone else. I have identified 7 Habits that reflect the decision making approach of the best players in the world which we can teach to you.

Relevance


The most exciting aspect of a research based approach to skill development is relevance. We can push past generic programming and outdated and irrelevant skills and into highly specific and current player development models which provide our athletes with translatable skills which will instantly separate them from their competition

The National Hockey Institute