Little Caesars girls’ combine features training, testing and a visit from Olympian Anne Schleper

By @MichaelCaples –

DETROIT – The Little Caesars AAA hockey program brought all of their girls’ teams together for on and off-ice testing and training combine at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday.

The Little Caesars brass also brought in some special guests.

Total Package Hockey was on hand to run on-ice testing for the girls teams, while fitness training software company iAthlete – along with U.S. Olympian and professional hockey player Anne Schleper – was there to help off the ice.

For Darren Eliot, LC’s director of minor hockey operations, the girls’ combine was the first step towards more organization-wide events for Little Caesars players as they prepare for their new home within Little Caesars Arena next fall.

“Let’s call it a soft launch as we have our eyes on Little Caesars Arena and the practice facility and all the things that’ll afford us as a program,” Eliot said. “On the girls’ side, it is more important that the teams are connected. You have a double birth year at each level, 12, 14, 16 and 19, so you have to make sure they’re connected – the teams are not four standalone teams.

“This is the first step – to have all the teams here together, have Anne Schleper here from Team USA as a role model and spokesperson, do some off-ice testing and some on-ice testing and build some camaraderie.”

The star of the event was Schleper, who came along with her silver medal from the 2014 Winter Olympics. A native of St. Cloud, Minn., Schleper came to Detroit as a representative of iAthlete, but more importantly, an ambassador for girls’ hockey.

“I hope the girls leave inspired – inspired and determined are the two words that come to mind,” Schleper told MiHockey. “I did travel here with my silver medal and so I’m hoping just to see it in person kind of sparks a little dream and an Olympic dream at that, or even if it’s a professional dream or even a college dream or small, just to make the next elite team that they have. I think those two words are definitely what come to mind. I hope that they leave inspired and certainly determined.”

Schleper held a question-and-answer session with the LC girls’ teams before joining them in both on and off-ice training. The iAthlete company, for which Schleper is a spokesperson, offers a smartphone app that provides easy-to-use training and nutrition assistance for hockey players and teams.

“iAthlete partnered with Little Caesars and basically what iAthlete does is it has an off-ice training component along with a nutrition component, which are probably the most important resources for the youth – really anyone,” Schleper said. “In even my level, it’s very important, so we saw that need and they contacted me and I’m just very happy I can be out here representing iAthlete but also being a role model for these Little Caesars girls, and I don’t take that role lightly. It’s been very fun; I got to do an off-ice component with them today, got to do a little Q&A session with them, lots of questions today, which is exciting. And then I was able to jump on the ice with them; were doing some on-ice testing.

“All the off-ice training, it’s really bodyweight exercises really and just to get the kids moving, which is very important at that age and to build a foundation. I kind of challenged the parents today to do it with their kids, see if you can hang. It’ll probably be difficult for some of them. I know some of the head guys in iAthlete do it with their kids and say, ‘Hey, it’s a pretty good workout,’ so I just kind of challenged them today, which I think it’ll be cool once they really see the setup. It’s all on your mobile device, which is super handy, so once they see the information and resources that are on there, I think they’ll be pretty amazed.”

For Total Package Hockey, the goal was to give the Little Caesars girls and their coaches information to use for improving on the ice.

“Total Package Testing is all about identifying strengths and weaknesses in an individual player’s game,” said Brandon Naurato, director of hockey for TPH Detroit. “This will help support the girls and their coaches to create a development plan for each player on their team going forward.

“The Sport Testing technology is also used by the OHL Combine and NHL teams to rank and compare players stats on and off the ice. Each player will be set up with their own profile so they can compare themselves against peers across North America to see exactly where they stand.”