On-Ice Development


The Prep Camps high-intensity on-ice curriculum is designed & implemented each day by our professional staff. Drawing from their countless years of coaching and scouting the NHL, NCAA, USHL and NAHL Junior Leagues, these coaches are able to design a program that will best prepare each player for Junior and college hockey.
 
The Prep Camp is treated like an overall skill development and team camp, and as such the Prep Camp staff view the program as a training camp focusing on speed, intensity, systems, puck movement, small zone games, battles, and competitions. In addition, we include individual skill development to better allow our players the ability to incorporate their individual skills into the overall development and game situations created in the camp. Proper player development, through the proper development of individual skills and an in-depth understanding of tactical team situations, is the goal of every USJDP Junior Prep Camp.
 
Both the technical, and the tactical, aspects of each position could be covered in-depth during the camp as outlined below.

Offensive Skills


Technical:Puck control, puck protection, skating with speed & power, passing, shooting, shot tipping, puckhandling, dekes and fakes.
 
Tactical: Cycling, systems, positioning, movement, playing away from the puck, support, offensive attacks, communication, down low play, breakouts, power play theory and penalty kill theory.


Defensive Skills


Technical:Puck control, puck protection, body play, skating with speed & power, lateral movement, and shooting.
 
Tactical: Positioning, systems, offensive attacks against, playing odd-man rushes, pinching, breakouts, dumping the puck, proper gap control, joining the rush, angling, communication.


Goaltending Sessions


We will run a one-hour per day (Mon-Fri) Goaltender Sessions provided we receive 10 goaltender registrations for either week of the Prep Camp. If we do not have the needed 10 goaltenders, we will conduct all goalie sessions during the regularly schedule ice sessions. 
 
We will cover both the technical aspects of goaltending (movement, positioning, rebound control, playing the puck, and recovery), as well as the tactical aspects (movement in the crease, save selection, and game situations).



USJDP Cup Showcase Games


Each week the players will participate in the USJDP Cup Showcase game series. These games are a chance for the players to showcase their skills to the coaches and scouts on hand and allow each athlete to better compare themselves against their peers. As these games are scheduled at the latter part of the week, and on the weekend, this allows additional scouts and coaches to attend for player recruiting and placement purposes. All games are 60-minute contests in a standard 3-period game format, with referees, and are played against the opposing team within their group. These games are held during the Specialty Ice sessions on Wednesday night, as well as the scheduled game slots on Friday night Saturday am.



Specialty Ice Sessions


Each night, all players will take part in a 1-hour specialty ice session. These sessions have become very popular with the players as they focus on specific skills each player wants to work on and are a chance for each athlete to work one-on-one with the coaches on individual skills such as skating, shooting, goaltending, movement, face-offs, etc.



Weekly Groupings:


All Prep Camp participants are evaluated during the Sunday night evaluation skate and placed into three different groups based on their age and ability to ensure proper competition and development levels within the groups. Each group will be comprised of two teams and preliminary groupings will be posted on Monday morning prior to the days' first on-ice session. These teams will practice with each other during every activity throughout the week, and will compete against each other on the week ending games Thursday-Saturday.
 
PLEASE NOTE: These groups ARE NOT FINAL and all players are subject to movement within the groups based on their on-ice performance at ANY TIME throughout the week. In fact, many players do get moved from group to group as the Sunday night evaluations are based on a 60-minute performance and are therefore very preliminary in nature. However, this is a necessary precaution to ensure the physical safety of each player in camp.