The Loudoun Knights Hockey Club is the Tier II Travel Hockey organization located at the Ion International Training Center (Ion ITC) in Leesburg, VA. The day-to-day operations of the Loudoun Knights are managed by Craig Desjarlais, Loudoun Knights Hockey Director and the leadership team of David Dixon (Registrar), Nikki Deicie (Lead Club Manager), and Carrie Drake (League Liaison, Scheduler, and Marketing Director). 

​

The Loudoun Knights are committed to player development and growing the game of hockey.  

Our coaches and players are proud members of USA Hockey, and we aspire to become an American Development Model (“ADM”) Model Club.  We adhere to the ADM and its principles of proper player development.  Developing hockey players, and good people, is our core mission.

We see a huge potential in the volume of players moving to this area and finding the game.   We will not promise that all of our players will play college hockey.  

 

We will promise this:

• Quality coaches and a commitment to player development.

• The opportunity to develop athletic excellence and solid hockey foundations.

• The ability for our players to advance when they are ready to advance, and support for that advancement.

• A complete long-term athletic development program modeled on the ADM.

• A program that emphasizes and supports academic excellence to promote the student-athlete.

• A state-of-the-art training facility with everything a young athlete needs to develop into a high-end athlete.

• A well-balanced lifestyle for our players, encouraging emotional well-being and personal growth.

• Community service to engage the players with our surrounding communities.  Hockey is a life-long sport and our players will learn the importance of giving back and supporting younger generations of hockey players.

• Our players will be better at the end of the season compared to when they started.

• Our players will have fun!​

 

What does it mean to be a Loudoun Knight?

​

Our coaches bring a wealth of different experience to our teams, but all of our coaches agree that developing and advancing our players is our first priority.   We examined our views of the modern game, our individual philosophies, and the lessons we learned throughout our playing and coaching careers, and agreed that great habits, high hockey-IQ, and skill are the building blocks of great hockey players.  But the Knights also strive to be something special, and our coaches have agreed that being a Loudoun Knight means having the following characteristics:

​

Passion for Hockey

Commitment

Discipline

Strength of Character

Compete, no matter what

​

Our coaches will emphasize those traits throughout the season, and educate and encourage our players make those traits the foundation of their game.   When you see a player demonstrating all of those characteristics, you’ll know you’re watching a Loudoun Knight.

How do we develop players?  

​

The ADM emphasizes age-appropriate training as part of long-term athletic development.  ADM-style practices utilize station-based drills and small area games to increase puck touches, player interactions, and decision-making all within the context of the game.  The game is, after all, the best possible teacher.   Players at ADM practices move more and do more in their practices.  As a result, ADM-style practices deliver more efficient skill development and produce more skilled players.  The ADM is a nationwide blueprint designed specifically to help kids reach their full potential.  We’re going to be part of that movement.  

​

Our youngest players, for example, will practice and play primarily in cross-ice format.  We do this to allow them to train in space proportionally relevant to their size and skill level so that training is transferrable as they advance.  Smaller players on small ice play the game with the same amount of time and space to make plays as they will when they are older players on full ice.  Let’s teach them the right way from the beginning.  If you’re interested in the data behind that philosophy, click HERE to watch the ADM in action.

​

The ADM is comprised of seven unique development stages describing age-appropriate training as players advance.  Each stage focuses on the type of activity players at the age group are mentally and physically in the best position to handle to promote proper development.  Each stage also includes USA Hockey’s recommendations for the type and frequency of practices and games aimed at maximizing player development for that age group.   Click HERE to view a summary of the ADM stages.

​

The ADM recommends a 3:1 practice-to-game ratio.  Our players will not be playing 80 hockey games per season, as is becoming increasingly popular in youth hockey organizations.  Players looking for more games than practices will have several choices available to pursue that development path.  

​

At the youngest ages, we do not teach position-specific concepts, we teach great hockey habits and fundamentals along with the decision-making skills that will help our players grow into great hockey players.  We’re not going to teach your son or daughter where to move.  We will teach them how to move, and how to figure out where to move. 

​

As our players get older, they can begin to specialize in one position or another.  The modern game is fast, and the concept of “interchangeable parts” is becoming a regular part of players’ skill sets.  Our players will learn to play all positions when they are young before they specialize in forward, defense, or goal.  When the time comes for them to be interchangeable, they will have the foundation to do so.

Our relationship as development partners with the Washington Little Capitals means our players will have the ability to train together.  The Little Caps welcome players from all area programs, but being in the same building and interacting daily with Little Caps coaches and staff means our players are exposed to unique training opportunities as the two clubs work together to develop great hockey players.

Do you want your son or daughter to be a champion at 12 or 20?  You can’t have both.

​

“Super teams.”  “Weekend models.”  These are the right choices for some, but you won’t find them here.  We are a true development program playing the long game.  We want to win, and wins will be the result of a development process aimed at making our players better at the end of the season then they were when they started.  We will measure our success by the number of players we advance to AAA hockey and beyond. 

​

Loudoun County is one of the fastest growing counties in the country, and we look forward to helping new players find the game, develop into great players, enjoy their career, then return to help the next generation.  Together we can build our future.  

Interested in becoming part of what we’re doing here?  Click HERE to get your journey started as a new Loudoun Knight.