THE finale of a three-part Q&A with well-spoken Bill Houlder concludes as the former long-time NHL defenceman offers insight on those from the Lakehead who have competed in the league, advice of advancing in hockey and his Steel Toe Rookie YouTube videos.
NET SHOTS: Any thoughts on Thunder Bay producing so many NHLers?
BILL HOULDER: I’ve wondered if other minor hockey programs look at Thunder Bay to see what they are doing with their success of producing NHL players and see if they can replicate that.
For myself when I grew up, Mike Tomlak, Tony Hrkac, Pete Bakovic and myself all lived within six blocks of each other approximately and all played in the league.
NS: Any advice for players looking to take their game to the next level?
BH: I would tell them to enjoy the game, work hard and self evaluate.
Enjoy the game at the level you are at. You can push to go to the next level, but enjoy where you are at.
There is so much pressure on kids now to make it than in my era. I feel like some of these kids have become an investment because of all of the money that is poured into their hockey. It’s hard for me to believe kids don’t feel some kind of pressure to preform due to that.
So many things have to go right to have a career in hockey. You need to have elite skating, elite skills, proper nutrition, proper training, a level of toughness and the list goes on.
If you have all of that, you still need to understand the game and be able to process it at a very high level at a fast speed.
I try to tell our young defencemen with North Bay in the OHL that the game is never just the puck. We are the last players back as the play is coming at you.
You need to look beyond the puck. Where are the other players? What is the puck carrier’s options? How do you continue to angle this player, yet still put yourself in a position to respond?
Some will not be able to do it. Not because they aren’t trying but because they cannot process the game at the speed it is happening. We as coaches will try to show them on video so they recognize it for the next time.
Showing video, the player will often recognize the error right away. So, it’s not that he cannot identify the play, it’s just that he can’t see the play at game speed with everything else going on.
The higher level of hockey you play the faster the game happens, so the player may have been able to process the game at one level, but be unable to process it at the higher level.
Some things are out of your control. Enjoy the game at the level you are at as you strive to move to the next level.
You also have to give yourself a chance by working hard.
Work ethic is a skill, just like any other. If you are not willing to push to get to the next level, it will not happen. Work hard. Give yourself a chance.
This is not only physical work, but mental work. I had a coach once tell me to watch what the other players are doing on the ice when you are on the bench.
Watch what they are doing and why they are successful. Maybe you cannot do all of what that player is doing, but perhaps you can do some of what that player is accomplishing. The way to learn is by doing and watching.
When it comes to physical work, I’m not sure that some understand what their ceiling is and they stop before they reach it. There is no substitute for hard work. You can have all the other skills in the world but if you do not couple that with hard work it’s hard to move to the next level.
Also, self evaluate. When something happens that you consider negative, self evaluate, take ownership of your role and grow from it. Most things in athletics are opportunities to grow.
Step back from the situation, look at it and see what part of the situation is, either your responsibility, or you can change. It’s not meant to be a negative either. Looking at the scenario and evaluating your role will allow you to change the part that you played in it next time.
I suggest players try to take an objective look at situations, evaluate it and use that to get better. He or she may have to work on certain areas, look at video to raise their awareness of what the team is trying to do, etc.
For example, a goal gets scored and I will ask the player what happened. Sometimes the player will answer with what someone else did wrong on the ice. I will always respond that I am not concerned about what others did, I am concerned about what you can do differently next time to produce a better outcome.
Players can only control themselves, and the only way to get better, is to improve on what you can do better. Nothing is learned if you cannot self evaluate.
NS: Talk about your Steel Toe Rookie videos on YouTube?
BH: I have a friend with Hard Hat Hunter that wanted to put together some videos to support and promote trades.
Seeing as I have very little experience in the trades, I was asked if I would be interested in helping them with the videos because I would probably have some simple questions that other people may ask and so it went.