Hockey Drills for Scoring (Hockey Drills)

From his boyhood involvement at Huron Hockey School camps to a coaching career in the NHL, Newell Brown has seemed destined for success in hockey. Prior to the 1996-97 NHL season, the then 33-year-old Brown was named an assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks.

His appointment came on the heels of a sterling coaching career in the Detroit Red Wings organization. From 1992 to 1996 Brown coached the top development team for the parent organization, the Adirondack Red Wings of Glen Falls, New York. In four seasons his teams won or tied 58 percent of their games and three times finished first or second in the North Division of the American Hockey League.

From 1990 to 1992, Brown was head coach at Michigan Tech University in Houghton, Michigan. In 1991 he was runner-up in Coach of the Year voting within the Western Canadian Hockey Association.

Brown learned about coaching from one of the best while serving as an assistant coach and chief recruiter for Ron Mason at Michigan State University from 1987 to 1990. Brown names Mason and Dave King, the former Canadian Olympic and Calgary Flames NHL coach, as his major coaching influences in the game.

Brown was no less successful as a player. A native of Cornwall, Ontario, Brown played Major Junior for two seasons, helping Cornwall to a Memorial Cup title in 1980. He turned in a brilliant collegiate hockey career at Michigan State, serving as team captain during his senior year in 1983-84, when the squad reached the NCAA final four. For his play and leadership he received the Outstanding Senior Award.

He went on to play for Muskegon of the International Hockey League and Fredericton of the American Hockey League in 1985. The following year Brown was named team captain of the Canadian National Olympic team.

Vern Stenlund is one of the world's leading hockey instructors. He has played professional hockey and has coached the sport at all levels. He is Head Coach of the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League and Director, Program Development for Huron Hockey School.

A first-round choice of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, Stenlund led the team in scoring with 119 points during the 1975-76 season. A second-round pick by the NHL's California Golden Seals in 1976, Stenlund eventually played for the Cleveland Barons of the NHL as well as for the Central Hockey League's Phoenix Roadrunners and Salt Lake City Eagles.

Stenlund began his coaching career directing the London Southwest Midgets of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association to a provincial championship in 1981-82. He has also coached at both the university and junior levels in Canada. He was twice voted Coach of the Year in the Western Junior B League.

Stenlund is an assistant professor of education at the University of Windsor. He received an EdD from the University of Michigan in 1994. A former area scout for the NHL's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Stenlund is a consultant for Vitality Alliance, formerly the Praxis Group of Provo, Utah.