Hockey Coaching Bible

Featuring the insights, strategies, and experiences of the sport’s top coaches, The Hockey Coaching Bible sets a new standard for those who teach the game, develop the players, and dominate the ice. Whether head coach or assistant, at the youth level or professional, you will find a wealth of information to improve performance and strengthen your program.

You’ll go inside the game with 16 of hockey’s most respected teachers:

• Joe Bertagna

• Bill Cleary

• Tom Anastos

• Guy Gadowsky

• Mike Schafer

• Marty Palma

• Hal Tearse

• Mike Cavanaugh

• Jack Parker

• Rick Comley

• Mark Dennehy

• Ben Smith

• E.J. McGuire

• George Gwozdecky

• Nate Leaman

• Mike Eaves

Every facet of coaching is covered. The book features the most effective drills for developing players at each position and in-game strategies for various game situations, including offensive, defensive, and neutral-zone play and power plays and penalty kills.

In addition to on-ice Xs and Os, you’ll find sage advice for building a program from the ground up, furthering your professional development as a coach, and gaining community and parental support for projecting a positive image and earning the respect of your players and supporters.

Never has there been a more comprehensive coaching resource on the game. With The Hockey Coaching Bible, you’ll build your program into a powerhouse.

Joe Bertagna has been a collegiate hockey administrator for more than 30 years. Since 1997, he has served as commissioner of Hockey East, the preeminent conference in college hockey, whose member schools have earned seven NCAA championships under his leadership. Before his move to Hockey East, Bertagna served 15 years with the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), where he held the positions of tournament director, executive director, and commissioner. Both with ECAC and Hockey East, Bertagna has been a champion of women’s hockey, having initiated ECAC Division I and Division III league play and led the formation of the Women’s Hockey East Association, whose championship trophy is named in Bertagna’s honor.

In addition to his commissionership of Hockey East, Bertagna is executive director of the American Hockey Coaches Association, a position he has held since 1991. He also serves on the board of directors of both USA Hockey and the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation. For 40 years Bertagna has operated his own clinics for thousands of goalies of all ages.

Bertagna began his professional coaching career in 1985 with the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Boston Bruins, where he was goaltender coach until 1991, and then again for the 1994-95 season. He also was assistant coach for the U.S. men’s national team at the 1991 Canada Cup, the U.S. Olympic men’s ice hockey team at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, and the International Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals from 1994 to 1996.

As a player, Bertagna was a standout goaltender for Harvard University. After graduating in 1973, he played professionally for the Milwaukee Admirals and in Cortina, Italy, where the team won the Italian Ice Hockey Championship in 1975.

Bertagna and his wife, Kathy, reside in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with their three children.

“For those of us who were fortunate to play college hockey, the lessons we learned there, on and off the ice, have never gone away. The Hockey Coaching Bible presents the best of these lessons from an array of coaches, some still active and some retired. The messages collected in this book are sure to help hockey coaches and players at all levels of the game.”

Mike Eruzione-- Captain, 1980 U.S. Olympic Team

“The hockey world is full of colorful, passionate characters. Joe Bertagna has culled some of the best and brightest from this world to collaborate on a range of coaching topics. These guys know the game intimately and deliver insightful perspectives to current or aspiring coaches. Better—and cheaper—than any coaching clinic you can find!”

Mike Milbury-- NBC Sports Network Analyst and Former NHL Player and Coach

“Some of the great coaching minds from college hockey have come together in one place to give young coaches all they need for success. They cover every aspect from building a program to setting an example for honest behavior. This is a must-read for any young hockey coach.”

Bobby Orr-- NHL Hall of Fame Defenseman

“Hockey coaching really is several vocations rolled into one—a process that combines constant teaching, communication, and counseling with full-time study of the sport. Every time a coach runs a practice, coaches a game, or watches a game, he or she sees something new. The Hockey Coaching Bible gathers many of those observations into one volume that is sure to be useful for coaches, players, parents, and fans of our great sport.”

Gary Bettman-- Commissioner National Hockey League