TCS Live 2025: Why I'm looking forward to another year of coaching school
Always one of my favorite things to attend is back in Ann Arbor this week.
Each offseason I try to learn a little bit more about hockey, take the time to dive into something that, honestly, I probably should have known more about before.
It’s part of an ethos I personally adopted a few years back, when I realized that most people that cover this sport — myself included — don’t understand nearly enough of what they’re covering.
It’s one of those things that feels most pressing when consuming coverage of other sports. It’s pretty common in the NBA or NFL to find main stream coverage of how the game is played, same goes for football and soccer, while you really have to dig to find mainstream game coverage of how hockey is actually played.
Think about watching the Stanley Cup Final right now. We hear lots of blanket adjectives in coverage, but rarely do we get the mainstream1 breakdown of why the Florida Panthers are now up 2-1 in there series against the Edmonton Oilers.
I have a small slice of the hockey world, I’m well aware of that, but I think I owe it to my readership, no matter the size, to put in the effort to better understand the game.
That’s why I’ve attended, The Coaches Site Live, a three-day coaching conference in Ann Arbor each of the past two Junes and I’m heading out there again later this week.
You can too, if you are interested in registering and learning from this impressive speaker list that includes coaches from across the hockey world.
At this conference in recent years I’ve learned a ton, from how teams intentionally hunt picks on the power play to how defenders roll from man to zone coverage in the defensive zone.
These are all things that, honestly, I should have known more about years ago, but only gained better understanding by attending conferences like this and asking questions of coaches throughout the season with some new base knowledge.
Aaron Wilbur founded The Coaches Site, he’s the organizer and head honcho that brings this all together.
We chatted earlier this week about building the conference, and one of the things I’ve like about the conference if how Aaron’s team creates presentations I never knew I needed to hear.
For example, two years ago I was really impressed learning from current Czechia National Team and Ottawa Charge coach Carla MacLeod on how she built unity within her national team.
“I think it’s important to have such a connection to storytelling, it’s one of my favorite parts of the event,” Wilbur said. “We try to find presenters that can bring things back to a lived experience, where an audience member can say ‘I connect with that, and I see how I can steal part of that for myself.’”
For an immediate example of that, one of my recent favorite pieces I worked on, how goalies have lost the art of acting pucks, actually came from me stealing that note from a TCS podcast with upcoming presenter Bill Ranford.
The other thing TCS does really well is showing how great hockey ideas come from everywhere, not just those at the professional level.
For example, one presentation I’m looking forward to most is from Derrick Henderson, who is an assistant coach for the Columbus Mavericks titled: “10 SECONDS: HOW TIME AFFECTS GOAL SCORING.”
I wouldn’t have any idea who Henderson is without this conference, and now I get the chance to learn from a hockey mind I never knew existed.
Pretty cool.
So again, if you are interested, you can check out the conference yourself here.
Mainstream is the key word here. There are lots of people who are doing the work in the NHL, but so many live on the fringes, not on the algorithm-pleasing mainstream platforms. They exist, but you have to find them.
The fact that you are always willing to continue to learn to bring better product to your readers, is why I'm here and supporting you. Keep up the amazing work Sean!