On this page we update you about recent news from the Partnership for Progress Program around the world.

HPK women’s team goes to Enontekio for Lapland Tour 2020

Also this year the HPK Hameenlinna women’s ice hockey team continued with their Lapland tour, and this year it was indeed was ‘extreme hockey’, as the team met with their partner club, the Tromso women’s team, in Enontekio to play ice hockey at -25° C. On the spot the format was changed to 4-vs-4, instead of 3-on-3, to have as many players active as possible, due to the extreme cold. HPK took the game with crunching ice under their blades home with a 7-2 win.

The game was followed by a penalty shot shoot-out, in which even the goaltenders participated, who showed that even with a goaltender stick outstanding goals can be scored.

Although the original limit for playing outdoors was set at -15° C, both teams decided in the morning to play, because that is what they came for to Enontekio, despite the thermometer showing -25° C. 

The program also included a Try Hockey event for the local kids.

Both teams enjoyed the ‘extreme hockey’ event, and gladly continue working and developing together through games, joined practices and performances, besides developing as players they promote female hockey, the only two female teams currently in the Partnership for Progress Program.

Seminar in Minsk during the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship I Group A

The IIHF Partnership for Progress Hockey Seminar was held on 11 December 2019 in conjunction with the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship I Group A.

The Hockey Seminar in Minsk provided the participants with insights on hockey tactics in offensive and power play, as well as strength and conditioning training programs for junior players in Minsk, as well as at the Red Bull Academy in Salzburg, player development and IIHF programs. 

Offensive play and power play tactics as implemented by the Head Coach of Dynamo Minsk, Craig Woodcroft, were supplemented with insights on the approach and the experiences with functional training for junior players by Adrian Valvo, Strength and Conditioning Coach at Dynamo Minsk.

The Red Bull Academy training concept was presented by Andrei Lavrov, Development Coach. The academy and training concept from the academy in Salzburg, Austria, left a deep impression on the participants of the Hockey Seminar. 

Slavomir Lener, Development Director of the Czech Ice Hockey Association, provided insights on the Czech hockey development program, which focuses on multi-sport participation and late specialization in ice hockey. Thanks to a well-structured and implemented hockey development program the Czech Federation has been able to increase the number of youth and junior hockey players from 92,000 to 152,000 over the past nine years.

Peter Briza, Chairman of the IIHF youth & Junior Development Committee and Council Member, presented the various IIHF ice hockey development program opportunities.

The full seminar (English/Russian) can be watched in this video:

IIHF Hockey Partnership for Progress Hockey Seminar in Vilnius during the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division II Group A

The Hockey Seminar was met with a great interest and it was attended by 30 youth hockey coaches and club managers from all over Lithuania. 

The participants had the chance to listen to Peter Briza, IIHF Council Member and Chair of the Youth & Junior Development Committee, Doug Boulanger, Head Coach the Lithuanian U20 and U18 National Teams and Teemu Poussa, Jokerit (Finland) Youth Skills Coach.

The main topics of the seminar were youth hockey development and individual skill 
development, as well as hockey development through participation in the IIHF Partnership for Progress cooperation opportunities with European Hockey Clubs and National Federations.

Following the success of the Vilnius event, Tomas Budrauskas, secretary general of “Hockey Lietuva”, believes that similar seminars should be organized in Lithuania each year.

Seminar in Sofia during the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division II Group B

IIHF Partnership for Progress Hockey Seminar in Sofia, Bulgaria, at the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division II Group B on December 6th and 7th 2019.

The seminar started with a cross-ice tournament and an on-ice jamboree for parents, which included a lecture for the parents on long-term player development, motor-skill development, fundamental motor skills, late specialization and multi-sport participation.

The second day of the hockey seminar included presentations by John Lind, the Education Manager for the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, and Stoian Batchvarov from the IIHF Youth and Junior Development Committee. John Lind talked about the Swedish experience in youth hockey as well as the development opportunities within women’s hockey. Stoian Batchvarov enlightened the attending coaches on the various IIHF Development Programs such as player recruitment, Learn to Play, the Player Development Guide and coach development.

The key topics of the Hockey seminar were a player-centred approach and quality coaching, which are achieved through long-term player development and coach development respectively.

HPK Hameenlinna Women (FIN) – Tromso Women (NOR)

The Finnish HPK Hameenlinna women’s league team and the Norwegian Tromso women’s team worked together during the 2018/2019 season and continued this fruitful cooperation during the 2019/2020 season. Last season HPK players went to train and play 3-on-3 games in Tromso, followed by a joined summer training camp in Kilpisjarvi, a border town in Finland, where the highlight was a competitive run between the players and teams up the Saana ‘fjell’ (hill), covering a distance of 4 km with a vertical ascent of about 500 metres.

The plan for the 2019/2020 season is to organize a 3-on-3 competition in February in Norway, as well as a promotional 3-on-3 game in Finnish Lapland on a frozen lake, weather permitting.

The main goal for the cooperation is to share expertise, develop the players’ skills and to promote female hockey.

A video from a joint practice and 3-on-3 game can be found here.

MAC Budapest (HUN) – Bjorninn Reykjavik (ISL), August 2019

Last year MAC Budapest sent players Botond Bedo and Tibor Marton to the ZSC Lions Zurich organization as part of the Partnership for Progress Program. This year they returned the favour to a club from a smaller hockey country. Head coach Gergely Majoross recently visited Iceland and now the club welcomed two players of the Bjorninn Reykjavik under-16 team, Hakon Orri Stefansson and Grettir Ingvi. They practised in Budapest with the U16 and U14 teams and also visited a pre-season game of MAC Budabest’s senior team against VSV Villach.

Seminar in Tallinn during the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B

Gathering sharp minds from near and far, the IIHF Partnership for Progress Program came together in central Tallinn during the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B.

With an eye-catching title ´Sports Will Save the World´, the Tallinn seminar had added star gloss with the participation of Alpo Suhonen, former NHL and Finnish National Team Head Coach and Tuomo Ruutu, a 2011 World Champion player for Finland and with 735 NHL-games under his belt.

Click here to read the full story from the seminar.

Learn to Play Seminar during WM18IIIA in Sofia, Bulgaria, 29-30 March 2019

The pilot projects of the IIHF Partnership for Progress Program continued when a Learn to Play Seminar was held in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Seminar, which was attended by over 40 people from seven countries, was facilitated by IIHF Experts Johan Bollue and Kalle Väliaho. 

Half a day on 29th March and a full day on the 30th included classroom sessions on recruitment, building a hockey development program, from teaching points to quality factors and learning through small area games. These were followed by an on-ice session in which the participants ran practices to each other that they had designed. In addition to the scheduled sessions, a Q & A session was held with the former NHL player Bobby Holik.

Coaching Symposium during WM20IA in Fussen, Germany, December 2018

During the 2018/2019 ice hockey season several Partnership for Progress Program events will be held during IIHF championships in all categories for men, women and juniors.

The 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division I Group A in Fussen, Germany, made the start with a successful Coaching Symposium.

Chapin Landvogt, a coach in Germany and regular IIHF.com contributor, was one of the participants and shared his impressions in this story.

SK Minsk (BLR) – Irbis-Skate Sofia (BUL), November 2018

Sport Club Minsk invited two Bulgarian coaches to Belarus from 19 to 25 November 2018, Dian Lilov and Yanaki Gatchev. The main topics were the planning and execution of practices for juniors and kids between the age of 8 and 12.

The first difference the coaches noticed: they were able to attend four practices a day and there were more players than they might be used to, at least 30 for each session. The kids were disciplined and there were exercises for the goaltenders. Off-ice training tools help the player development outside of the on-ice drills.

It was a good week for the coaches who outlined the five main positive points:

1. Motivated and disciplined kids
2. Efficient practices
3. Good coaching communication
4. Parents do not disturb the kids during practices
5. Very well structured games

Sparta Prague, Czech Republic, July 2018

End of July 2018 the Partnership for Progress Program had its first event in the Czech Republic. Sparta Prague, one of the country’s most famous clubs, hosted an event for Balkan countries where players and coaches from Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina were invited to the camp with other players coming from Hungary, Switzerland, Austria and Latvia.

“It was a good camp,” said female Bulgarian hockey player Yana Tumbeva. “We learned so many things, like how to shoot, and also good training habits.”

“Our goal was to improve our hockey and coaching skills during the summer hockey school,” said Bulgarian coach Martin Boyadjiev. “We look forward to passing on our newly acquired knowledge and experience to our officials in the Balkans. We very much appreciate the fact that we are here thanks to IIHF and Sparta, headed by Petr Briza.”

Watch the video below and read the full article here.