Veteran coaches and speakers passed their knowledge and coaches discussed about trends and methods.

Among the speakers were long-time NHL coach and current Hockey Canada President Tom Renney, Melody Davidson and Alpo Suhonen about long-term player development and leadership.

275 participants came to the symposium. Many were of course from the host country Germany but there were participants from as many as 39 countries. While some like Switzerland sent huge contingents with 50 coaches, there were also coaches to learn in Cologne from as far away as Nepal.

A highlight for the local coaches was the presentation of former German national team coach and world-class player Uwe Krupp. The current head coach of Eisbaren Berlin currently experiences the home-ice Worlds from another perspective. At the last IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Germany in 2010 he was behind the bench and sensationally led the team to a fourth-place finish.

The Cologne native had a presentation headlined “Players as Leadership Role Models”. An idol for thousands of hockey fans, the two-time Stanley Cup winner (1996 with Colorado, 2002 with Detroit) knows well what it takes to become a leader.

In his presentation Uwe Krupp explained how important it is to have leaders on your team. „What matters is what the player talks when the coach has left the room,” he said.

Furthermore Krupp showed that there is a difference between intrinsically and extrinsically motivated players. „When I came to the NHL, I definitely was an extrinsically motivated player. I tried to do everything my coach told me to do,” he said.

After winning the awards for the most improved player and the unsung hero award, Krupp’s motivation changed to intrinsic motivation. Coaches need to know whether they work with a player who is intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. These players have to be handled differently and coaches must keep that in mind.

Another important point of his presentation was the fact that coaches can’t put too much pressure on player. “When you ask a player whether he wants to be the captain the next season, almost every player will say yes. During the season you might lose some games and then your captain will feel under pressure. The important thing is, that you have a strong group at any time. Then your team will be successful,” he said.

The way how coaches speak with their players, especially after a lost game, was another point Krupp talked about.

„After I had made a huge mistake during an NHL game for the New York Islanders, I felt horrible. My coach Al Arbour came to me. He said I should go home and drink a glass of wine and I shouldn’t think too much about that loss. This way of motivation helped me a lot, this was strong leadership,” Krupp explained and mentioned that it is important to separate between the players and the persons.

For his presentation Krupp got a lot of applause from the audience. A great coaching symposium came to an end and all of the participants went back home with a lot of new ideas and tricks for their teams.

To find out more about the symposium and speakers, click here. The IIHF International Coaching Symposium is traditionally held every year during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.