There were two new faces behind the bench at the Devils development camp this summer. Tara Watchorn, head coach of Boston University’s women’s ice hockey team, and Venla Hovi, an assistant coach for Harvard University’s women’s ice hockey team, are members of the NHL Coaching Association’s Female Coaches Program and through this joined the Devils' summer camp as guest coaches. The experience gave both coaches the opportunity to learn more about how teams like the Devils support their younger players, and a first-hand look at plenty of on-ice programming to bring back to their respective college programs.
“I’m a pretty curious person, I love learning,” Hovi said about the opportunity. “Learning obviously is the major point of the experience. I was really interested and excited to see the practices and how they’re structured, some of the pre-practice routines that the coaches are running, and I’ve met more people than I ever imagine I would of so that’s another bonus along the way.”
“Aside from all the drills,” Watchorn joked about what she wanted to learn from the camp. “I’m a newer head coach and I think it’s helpful to see how to utilize your staff. I think that’s what’s really cool when you come to this level you have amazing people who are experts in their field at every area and how do you really utilize that and bring everyone together under your vision. Just watching the group of coaches and how they delegate, how they lean on each other’s strengths, and how they work with the players.”
Over four days the guest coaches saw everything from on-ice drills and coaching to off-ice nutrition counseling. The off-ice programming is a significant area of development camp and also is something that both coaches have experience with from their own coaching careers.
“It’s so cool,” Watchorn shared. “It just shows that it’s everything in terms of supporting your athletes to be the best people and athletes they can be. I’ve been exposed to it a lot with Hockey Canada too and there’s a lot of similarities there, it’s just cool. I think the biggest thing at these camps is getting athletes exposed to it all. This is what it’s like, this is what it will be like, and give them all the resources they need to have success.”
“There’s a lot of structural things I can bring back to Harvard,” Hovi explained. “And think about our team and preparing for the season and even camps. Some things we can utilize and for practice planning as well.
“We’re running our Harvard Crimson camp for some of our prospects this summer,” Hovi also shared. “It’s coming up soon and we’re also doing nutrition, mental skills, strength and conditioning so it’s a lot of similarities in that regard.”
Having the exposure provided from this camp also gave Watchorn the ability to observe the other coaches at work and see how they present the same lessons and information in a different light.
“So many different takeaways, all the similarities in our game,” Watchorn explained. “Also some subtleties and differences. When you get amazing coaches in the room and athletes it’s just different ways of saying things. It’s the same concepts and similar things but different ways to sell it, different ways to work with athletes and have them understand what you’re trying to say so it’s been really cool to be ingrained in it all.”
Development Camp is just the start of this program for both coaches. They will stay connected with Devils staff throughout the next two years and even attend upcoming camps for New Jersey.
“I’m just excited to continue to build relationships,” Watchorn shared about what’s next for her and this program. “Having that dialogue and being able to lean on each other and talk through things and I’m just so excited for what the opportunities are ahead.”
“I would love to coach in the NHL one day,” Hovi explained. “That’s a big goal and dream of mine. Being here and being able to connect with these people is one step closer to that. I want to be able to coach the best players in the world and I think just learning from every aspect of the game.”
