If you were wondering, Mr Bob Mancini is the gentleman in the photo 2nd on the right (the guy that is not blue). This photo was taken at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft with Edmonton Oilers first round pick, Devan Dubnuk.

Bob will be in South Africa late January to assist Mens head coach Ronnie wood with the preparation with the national team & will be hosting the Level 1 and Level 2 coaching course as described below:

Coaching Education Program - South African Ice Hockey Association

Level 1 - (6-8 hours)
A) Welcome/South African Hockey Coaching Program
B) Introduction/Overview/Level 1 Coaching (15 min)
C) Role of the Coach – Leadership & Positive Coaching (60 min)
D) Communication - Knowing Your Audience (60 min)
E) Creating a World Class Hockey Program at 8u – Building the Foundation (75 min)
F) Ice Utilization - Station Based Practice Planning and Organization (60 min)
G) Question & Answer/Open Discussion (60 Min)

Level 2 - (6-8 hours)
A) Welcome/South African Hockey Coaching Program
B) Introduction/Overview/Level 2 Coaching (15 min)
C) Role of the Coach - Season Planning/Practice Planning/Drill Planning (60 min)
D) Creating a World Class Hockey Program at 10u/12u - The Golden Age of Skill Development (75 min)
E) Goaltending - Creating a Productive environment for young goaltenders (60 min)
F) Checking - Safety & Ethics (45 min)
G) Checking the Right Way - Off-Ice Training (45 min)
H) Checking – On-Ice Teaching Progression (45 min)
I) Teaching through Small Area Games (60 min)
J) Question & Answer/Open Discussion

A little about Bob:
Bob Mancini is a regional manager for the American Development Model. This is Bob’s second stint with USA Hockey. He previously served as one of the architects for the National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. Bob has worked at all levels of the game, from youth to college hockey, and recently spent two seasons as the player development coach for the Edmonton Oilers. (taken from the USA hockey website)

Updated: Monday, 27 January 2012

This past weekend head coach of the Mens National Team, Ronnie Wood, implemented the first of the teams systems as he explained in detail to the squad based in Cape Town yesterday morning and then flew up to the Gauteng squad practice where the system was then explained and run through during their evening training session.

We are pleased with the direction the team is heading and their next two months will entails countless hours of repetition ensuring that they know how to play as a team, with discipline.

With clear focus in mind, players have been given game dvd's of teams they will be encountering allowing them to study their style of play, along with video clips of they systems they will be executing during the upcoming World Championships.

In approximately 9 weeks time Team SA will be leaving for Romania where they will have 2 warm up games before their opening against Bulgaria at the Winter Sports Palace in Sofia.

Updated: Monday, 16 January 2012

Senior National Team have today confirmed that they will be playing two warmup games against Romanian Elite division team Steau Rangers.

The games will be played on 29th and 30th March 2012 and will give our boys the chance to get geared up for the openng World Championship game against hosts Bulgaria on 2nd April.
Management and coaching staff are delighted to have secured this opportunity for the first time on a World Championship tour.

Coach Ronnie Wood says "In four years we have always wanted proper warm-up games against serious opposition and finally we get it. Our delegates to the IIHF conference established a great rapport with the Romanian President and it has proved very useful indeed. Now we can get a measure of where we are at before our opening game and not just hope that we have hit the mark.

It is imperative that we secure at least two wins in the Tournament which should secure our place in that division. I have said many times that we have the potential to be a decent National Team who punches way above our weight and now is the chance to make the statement to the other countries we are up against."

Last year we played in Division 3 and were unfortunate to lose the Gold medal in overtime to Israel. We prepared well, but without meaningful practice games we are always going to be left wondering. There is no way any of us want to go back to Division 3 and we must give ourselvels every chance to consolidate our place in the higher division. Romania are a Division one country and the Rangers have a few National players on their roster plus three 'imports' from Ukraine, Canada and Sweden. This should provide a real step up in class for South Africa.

Updated: Wednesday, 11 January 2012

"Sweden ends 31-year drought", that was the title of the article on the IIHF's website upon the overtime win for Sweden over Russia at the World Junior Championships. Mika Zibanejad (#20) scores the winning goal in overtime on Russia's Andrei Makarov, giving Sweden its first World Junior gold since 1981.

From the IIHF website:
At 10:09 of the extra frame, Zibanejad exploded off right wing, taking advantage of a Nikita Kucherov giveaway, cutting past the Russian defence and knifing a high backhand past goalie Andrei Makarov. Set up by Patrik Nemeth, this was the fourth goal of the tournament for the 18-year-old Djurgården Stockholm forward, and he celebrated with ecstasy, casting away his gloves in the corner as his yellow-and-blue teammates mobbed him...

Click here to view the rest of the article

The IceBoks team playing in the CMHC went on to win the tournament as they faced Korea in the finals. They beat them with a last minute goal from Macky Reineke, 4 - 3.

The team was joined by Western Province player Jade Johnson as he furthers his hockey career in Canada and a great way to start. This is the first time that a South African team has entered the Canadian Multicultural Hockey Championships and a very well done for their performance.

This December the under 18 South African squad met up for a training camp and final selection stage in Gauteng.

Details of this camp are busy being processed but the final traveling team has been officially announced by the SAIHA. Click here to view via PDF.

Hi To All,
 
Thank you for your patience with regards to the above but as you all know things have been dragging on and I was unable to finalise preparation plans and am in fact still busy with them.
 
The situation is as follows:
 
I have discussed and negotiated with Bob Mancini [USA Hockey] who has agreed in principle to assist not only with the preparation of the National Team but also to accompany us to the warm-up games in Romania and also assist in coaching the games in the Tournament... read more

The IceBoks is a team made up of South Africans living in Toronto, playing in the annual Multi-Cultural hockey championships being held in Toronto from December 27th – 30th.  This tournament is held every year and consists of teams made up of people living in Canada but playing for their heritage nation.  Everyone playing for their respective country has some sort of connection/heritage to that nation.

The level of play is extremely high with some ex-NHLers and professionals playing in the tournament every year.  This is the first time a SA team will be playing in the championships and we hope to be pretty successful.  Some other teams playing in the tournament (just to name a few) are:

Russia
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Macedonia
China
Korea
Japan
Poland

(Article complements of Gareth Macky Reineke)

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Yesterday, Thursday 1 December 2011, saw the ladies national squad depart for the Kollonade ice arena situated in Pretoria for their 2nd training camp in preparation for their upcoming World Championships early 2012.

The camp takes place over this weekend and head coach Kieren Edge has an action packed weekend up ahead for both him and his squad. The previous camp was held in Cape Town at the Grand West ice arena with the focus being on "basics".

Coach Edge made use of 2 local player/coaches for the ladies midnight skating session, Marc Giot who worked on power skating and edges, & Mich Joubert who worked on puck control. This camp however Edge will be flying solo as he takes their training to the next level working on various "plays", zone coverage and systems.

We wish them all the best in their preparation and good luck to their coach for final selections.