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���Go to the rink and watch a Peewee hockey game. What a difference in terms of the level of play, and the number of plays the kids are trying to make.��� ���Ken Martel, ADM technical director Peewee-aged players are more willing to make plays with the puck without the fear of the big blow-up hit. ���Just go to the rink and watch a Peewee hockey game. What a difference in terms of the level of play, and the number of plays the kids are trying to make,��� Martel says. ���You put things side by side with where they were just a few years ago, the level of play has really elevated, along with the skill in the game.��� It���s All About Skill Development And that���s the ultimate goal of these programs. While USA Hockey has been proud of the nearly 250 American-born players now skating in the NHL, the next step is to create a new breed of creative player with better skills and the courage to use them in any competitive situation. ���In the future I expect to see a more technically developed player with better skill sets,��� McLaughlin says. ���We expect to see a player who still has passion, and hasn���t been 18 JANUARY. 2013 burned out. Somebody who loves the game, who competes, and plays the game the right way ��� just a more well-rounded player.��� Not that changing the culture has been without its struggles. While support for these programs has been great, there are still pockets of hold outs around the country who feel that Mites should play 80 games a year on a full sheet of ice using a black puck. ���We have this conversation a lot ��� is it worth it? Our kids are grown and they���ve been through it, so why do we keep doing it?��� McLaughlin asks. ���The answer is we have learned that there is a better way. We love the game and we love the kids who play it, and we want those kids to benefit from the information and the knowledge we have gained. That���s what keeps our flame burning and our motor running.��� Over the next several years, McLaughlin says, the ADM will have even great impact on other age groups, as key elements of long-term athlete development will become a staple in training regimens for players of all ages. Standing on the frontlines of ADM efforts is Roger Grillo, one of six highly motivated and passionate hockey people enlisted to serve as regional managers. A former college hockey coach with 17-years of experience, Grillo covers the entire northeast, from Maine to Massachusetts, logging thousands of miles as he preaches the ADM gospel to towns and associations where hockey is long woven into the fabric of New England life. ���I���ve seen in my region many pockets of ADM believers, and the culture change is certainly in full swing. It���s like anything, USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM change is not always easy and there���s going to be some push back,��� Grillo admits. If Grillo has one regret, it���s that the ADM wasn���t around when his 16-year-old son Dominic was getting started. ���It���s almost a jealousy thing, but I wish I could turn back time and have him starting Mite hockey right now,��� Grillo says. ���The kids coming into our game now and in the future are going to be in such a great spot.��� Wider The Base, Higher The Pyramid If the ADM is focused on improving the quality of an athlete���s skills, USA Hockey���s Membership Development Department has set its sights on expanding the ranks of tomorrow���s youth hockey players. When Pat Kelleher kicked USA Hockey���s membership drive into high gear back in June 2008, there were almost 90,000 kids starting hockey at the 8 & Under level. Last year, those ranks swelled to more than 107,387. Legendary coach Herb Brooks liked to say, ���the wider the base the higher the pyramid.��� The membership development efforts used the same strategy to improve the quantity and quality of USA Hockey���s ranks. ���In 2020, we���ll still be focusing on 8 & Under participation because there will always be new 6-year-olds looking to come into the game,��� Kelleher says. ���The moment we stop focusing on growth there will be some slippage in our membership.��� That���s why his department keeps coming up with new programs, such as the 2 & 2 Challenge, where local associations receive incentives to grow their ranks every year by recruiting at least two new players while retaining an additional two Photos from USA Hockey Magazine Archives