Eastern Ontario Wild AAA Association
Development Program
  
Since the introduction of the OEMHL AAA league, the Wild has strived to provide their players the best possible opportunity to realize the dream of playing elite hockey beyond the minor hockey level. We are proud to see our players selected in the OHL Priority Selection Draft and the CHL Tier 1 Junior Draft, and receive NCAA scholarships and ultimately play the game of hockey professionally.
 
As an association dedicated to developing elite hockey players, we believe that there are 3 major components required for success:
 

1. First and foremost, we believe that to be the best, our elite players have to play against the best players, be challenged by the best players and ultimately succeed against the best players in the province and beyond. There is no disputing the quality of hockey that is played in the top tier of minor hockey in Ontario. It is possibly the best in the world and top-tier teams from across North America and the world attend tournaments in Ontario for that reason. Wild teams are gaining a reputation as a competitive organization and our successes in league play, tournaments and provincial rankings reflect that.

 

1. We also recognize that our coaches have a huge impact on the development of our players – good players become great teams thanks to great coaches. For this reason, the Wild dedicate a great deal of effort in selecting the best possible coaches for our 3 teams. Coaches are selected based on their level of coaching certification, their coaching experience, as well as their personal attributes such as leadership, discipline, motivational and communication skills. We give our coaches a great deal of control regarding the development of their teams. This allows them to tailor the most effective development plan depending on the needs of the team.

 In accordance with Hockey Canada guidelines, our coaches work on the following individual and team skills and tactics:
 

1. Basic Individual skills, such as skating, puck control, passing, shooting and checking;
2. Individual Tactics, such as 1 on 1 skills, net drive, gap control, angling, puck protection, face-offs, shot blocking, etc…;
3. Offensive Team Tactics, such as passing support, give and go, 2 on 1, 3 on 1, 3 on 2 skills, attack triangle, drive and delay, cycling, neutral zone transitions, offensive zone entries, etc…;
4. Defensive Team Tactics, such as puck pursuit, attack vs contain, zone coverage, forechecking, backchecking, etc…;
5. Team Systems, such as team breakouts, team forecheck, faceoffs, powerplay, penalty kill, powerplay breakouts, etc…

 Our teams also supplement their on-ice skill development with the following :

1. Off-ice Training, which includes stretching, agility and balance, power, strength training, endurance and conditioning;
2. Sports Nutrition and Hydration, which involves reinforcing the importance of pre, during, and post workout nutrition and hydration requirements for optimum performance of elite athletes;
3. Sports Psychology and Mental Toughness, which involves discussions and training on self-discipline, positive attitude, work ethic, commitment, determination, perseverance, focus, respect, sportsmanship, goal-setting, visualization, etc…
4. Sleep Pathology and FMS(Functional movement screening), which are analyzed to ultimately give an edge on performance and improvement, with an emphasis on education that will carry through the years. 

 

1. We also believe that in order to call ourselves an elite hockey organization, we have to support our coaches’ efforts to develop our young athletes so they can focus the day-to-day responsibilities of coaching the team. With this goal in mind, the Wild Association has instituted a supplementary Development Program that provides our teams with specialized skill development and mentoring. We have aligned ourselves with some of the best and most experienced technical hockey instructors in Eastern Ontario. The program includes the following components:

 

1. TECHNICAL DIRECTOR (Coach Mentor)

Mike Ruest is the Technical Director (Coach Mentor) for the Wild Association. Coach Ruest comes with an extensive background in hockey. The Technical Director is an important resource to the Wild Coaches. In essence, he supports the hockey development program provided by the Coaches, and works closely with the coaching staffs and the Wild Vice-President of Hockey Operations.
 
The Technical Director will regularly attend games of our 3 Wild teams and provide a comprehensive game report to the coaches, including for example player evaluations as well as team tactic and team system analysis, which will help coaches make any necessary adjustments to their development plans and strategies. The Technical Director is available to participate in team practices to teach certain team tactics or systems, work with individual players on certain skills, or even run the entire practice. The Technical Director is also available to provide or facilitate team presentations regarding the OHL, CJHL, CIS, and NCAA, and what it takes to make it to the next level in hockey. The Technical Director will also promote Wild players to scouts and agents as the opportunities present themselves. http://www.wildaaa.ca/files/bio_mike_ruest2.docx
 

1. POWERSKATING AND INSTRUCTION

 
Derek Switzer of Amped Sports Lab will be providing Wild hockey players with power and technical skating as well as skills development instruction. Derek's team  will deliver their positional based development program to assist Wild players with areas such as edge control, balance, agility, quick feet, stickhandling, evasive maneuvers, explosiveness, mobility, stride, strength, and endurance.

You can reach Derek and his team at Pat Foget by email at hockey@ampedsportslab.com and you can follow them on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.


For further information on the Eastern Ontario Wild Development Program, please contact the VP, Hockey Operations.