Hockey GM Course Testimonials

My participation in the SMWW Hockey GM and Scouting Course gave me an opportunity to learn about a side of the business not many people ever get to see. Michael Oke, Harry Sinden, and the guest speakers were very insightful about the business; yet it has been the networking via this course, which has allowed me to reach a new level in scouting and brought me closer to the game.

The Hockey General Manager course helped me to finish one year as assistance GM for the Soo Eagles In the NOJHL and the head of Operations and Fast Hockey this year with same. The Soo Eagles came under new management and my experience with SMWW helped me fit in the new program. New owners, coach, and GM all worked hard to win NOJHL, and go to Dudley Hewitt Cup. Thanks for your help and support.

Since taking the Hockey GM and Scouting Course, I am working with the Panthers and FS Florida doing stats for the Panthers and their broadcast team on game nights. I also work with visiting clubs as well, as I have worked with pretty much 2/3rds of the NHL teams doing stats. This will be my 3rd season doing this job. I am right in the press box TV booth, working side by side with the play by play announcers every game giving information as it occurs for use on radio and TV. Thanks SMWW!

The Hockey GM & Scouting Course offered by SMWW provided me with invaluable information, tools and contacts to help transition into a Amateur scouting position. The program & instructors were top shelf providing a nice mix of knowledge and support. In addition, I would highly recommend to anyone with a goal of pursuing a career in Professional Hockey that they give serious consideration in attending the NHL Draft Career Conference which is absolutely an incredible value for the return on the investment.

I took your Hockey GM course a couple summers ago. I just completed my first season as the Video Coordinator of the Los Angeles Kings. I spent 3 years as an intern to the Video Coordinator with the Columbus Blue Jackets before I got the job in LA last September. It was after my first season in the internship in Columbus that I took your course. I feel like I gained knowledge about the scouting and management side of the sport that I would otherwise not have known had I simply just gone through the Video Analysis side.

"The SMWW Hockey Management and Scouting course was a real boon for me. I learned a lot about scouting from the live audio chats and was able to parlay this knowledge into a full time career in hockey. Even if you already know a lot about the sport, this course can teach you something."

SMWW Hockey GM and Scouting, has added to my hockey career with an extensive, cutting edge information currently used in professional hockey. I was trained with up to date scouting and video practices and I am now using these tools in my job as Asst. GM with the Brockville Braves. This year I have reached the Junior A pinnacle as our team is in the RBC Cup! My success this year has been a great part to the Hockey GM and Scouting Course. Thank-you SMWW!

By having access to the CBA and learning what GM's have to go through in order to make sure they are within the guidelines in the CBA. Being able to interveiw the Director of Hockey Operations for the Calgary Flames was a great experience.

After completing the SMWW Hockey GM and Scouting Course, I attended a sports career fair. There, I met the Human Resources Coordinator for the Tampa Bay Lightning. We discussed the changes that the team had undergone during the off-season, and she mentioned that new General Manager Brian Lawton had hired two Hockey Operations interns upon his arrival. I immediately began discussing the training I'd received from SMWW and my strong interest in entering into Hockey Operations. I sent a copy of my final course paper to Tampa. Within a few days, the Hockey Operations Coordinator contacted me and learned about my background, including the scouting techniques and Collective Bargaining Agreement analysis that comprises the GM and Scouting Course. He was impressed, and I began a half-season internship in January 2009. Completing projects to assist the team in future preparations, as well as observing the GM, Assistant GM, and Hockey Staff every day, allowed me to gain phenomenal insight into the day-to-day operations of an NHL Front Office. I even got to assist the major decision-makers during the days leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline!

This was a great course. The weekly chats were helpful and its always nice to have some positive encouragement about following your dreams. The readings were very interesting and informative. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in hockey.

The Hockey GM Scouting Course was an unbelievable learning experience for me. Even though I have followed the sport since childhood and was already familiar with the business side of hockey, the course taught me several new things. For example, I never imagined that I would enjoy the scouting portion of the course as much as I did. As a result, I am currently pursuing a career in scouting and the course has already opened doors for me.

It was a great course for those who have a passion for the game. Very informative and user friendly. The staff and instructors were always willing to help and answer all questions presented to them. The scouting course is very descriptive and you learn with the greatest of ease. Great job SMWW!

In my eight weeks of taking the management and player scouting course it helped me to take what I knew from playing the game of hockey my whole life, and applying the skills I learned throughout the course and putting them into a package to help me enhance my trade into the scouting world of hockey. I like from week one how we started on the history of hockey and how the times have changed on to week eight where we able to apply what we learned right into the offices of pro-hockey teams. I recommend this course to anyone as it makes me feel more professional and I feel more confident in walking into any office and applying for a hockey scouting job. My favorite part was working with Rinknet and doing actual scouting reports. Thanks Sports Management Worldwide.

Having the chance to speak to an NHL GM was clearly the most gratifying aspect of this course. To get the impression that I might have a chance to live out my biggest dream. I love the sport of hockey! I want to be a scout. My goal will be that at the end of my military career (20 years) I will find a job in hockey doing something. Thanks!!

For anyone who is into hockey history, the business of hockey, or wants to be a scout, the Hockey General Manager and Scouting course offers all three. I enjoyed learning about the past as well as preparing myself for a future position in professional hockey. (After this course, Ryan started with the Oilers!)

I have taken two courses with SMWW, Hockey GM and Scouting and Sports Business Management. In addition, I have been able to attend a Career Conference, and NHL draft through SMWW. These are incredible networking opportunities, a nice bonus to having a relationship with SMWW.

The Hockey GM and Scouting Course taught me the business side of hockey, and trained me how to create scouting reports by using software from Rinknet. The courese also gave me the opportunity to meet and interview someone from an NHL organization on how to become a scout, as well as the tools to train for a scouting position in hockey. I want to thank the staff at SMWW for their professionalism and guidance throughout the course, I will recommend SMWW to anyone pursuing a career in sports.

The knowledge I have gained in the Hockey GM and Scouting fields of hockey is priceless. The new understanding I have about hockey has given me an opportunity to improve my hockey ventures as well as in my opinion made me a better coach. The SMWW course is offered in such away that I could still go about my daily life like normal. The staff at SMWW has been more than helpfull to me.

The Hockey General Manager and Scouting course provided me the information to be the ultimate fan of hockey and has opened many doors to my future to find a successful career in hockey.

I really enjoyed my course with SMWW, I felt that I was given a full insight on how hockey originated. I now look at hockey in a diferent way and look at the players in a different way.

The Hockey GM and Scouting course has taught me a lot about the developement of the NHL as well as how it got to be where it is today. It provided me with a great learning experience and helped me get possible avenues into working in professional hockey.

A great history into the future. The course gave me a foundation to build onto.

If you are someone who is looking to get your foot in the door and make some great contacts in the hockey industry, I highly recommend the Hockey GM Course. Having instructors and guest speakers who are actively working in the industry is an excellent networking system, and that's what this industry is all about.

Sports Management Worldwide opens your mind to what really goes on inside a sporting organization, and provides you with the tools to pursue a career in your chosen sport, while giving you access to some of the contacts you may need along the way.

I learned a lot from the Hockey GM and Scouting course and enjoyed connecting with people in the chats and my individual classroom. I learned what to look for in scouting players in various age groups and how to rate players in different areas. The Rinknet software was a wonderful thing to use and will continue to use. I really feel this course will guide me in the direction of becoming involved in my true passion, our national pastime -the game of hockey. Good luck to everyone who took their specific course.

The Hockey General Manager course gave me the opportunity to learn and explore the fundamentals of Pro-Hockey. Now, when I watch an NHL game I refer to as “a front stage,” because we admire those who have the ability to fill arenas. Most of us, rarely think about those individuals who work in the “back stage”. Those “back stage” individuals are responsible for bringing a premium production to the ice.

The discussion board was my favorite part of the course. It was nice to be evaluated by classmates. We all have a little something different to offer and I think we all encouraged each other and taught each other something. The career conference in Columbus was amazing and if SMWW goes to the draft in Ottawa next year I will attend. It was a great way to meet new people and network.

The GM and Scouting course is a great course to who ever has a passion for hockey. This course has given me the knowledge to step in and become an important part of an organization The rinknet scouting is great! I found it to be very easy to use and is a great tool for online scouting.

SMWW's Hockey General Manager and Scouting course has effectively provided me the knowledge and skills I need to pursue my dream of a career in the hockey business. Thanks, SMWW, for making me believe that there is no reason for not pursuing my passion from hockey!

The Hockey General Manager and Scouting Course was the stepping-stone into my hockey career. A big part of the business is networking and along with the knowledge you learn from the course you also get to know more people in the business. It is a great course and a good start to your future career.

The course onlin through SMWW really helped me understand not just hockey, but hockey as a business. The RinkNet scouting software was perfect to get introduced into for scouting and the reading assignments were really interesting.

The course was very interesting in that it showed alot of how the NHL was run in the past and how it has changed through the years, as the agents, players, and owners have all changed. The rinket website I found was very useful and interesting, and I will use it alot.

SMWW was a great choice for me. I am a university student and love sports. With alot of universities not having many programs around sports, this was great. My university approved the course and I earned credits. SMWW is very flexible to fit around whatever you are doing. Awesome experiance. If your a student or looking to get involveed in the business then this is the place for you.

Absolutely the best hockey educational experience I've ever had. Combine this information with my Sports business degree, it should be the missing piece of the puzzle to help me land a job in hockey.

The material was put together very well, it was a great and awesome experience, RinkNet is a awesome program that was utilized well. I have to give credit to all involved at Sports Management Worldwide and for giving us all opportunites to make a difference in the Sports Industry. Thanks SMWW

This is a course like I have never taken before. I have been in school almost six years, but this is by far the best class I have ever taken and the one class that I actually remember the information I have learned. Having the opportunity to talk with ISS scouts was a great opportunity and the RinkNet software gave me the chance to see how real scouts do their work. I would recommend this class to anyone interested in working in any aspect of the hockey world.

I thoroughly enjoyed my 8 weeks time in this course. I have a new respect for N.H.L General Managers as running a team with the Collective Bargaining Agreement certainly is a tough task. I have always been interested in becoming a scout and feel that what I have learned in this course will certainly help me. I am very happy that I took part in this.

My motivation to take this course was not to be a professional scout but to help with my future as a coach of the game. It gave me a solid look at what this part of the business needs to survive and how I can utilize this information with these contacts to my advantage in my career path in coaching.

The Hockey General Manager and Scouting course offered by Sports Management Worldwide was a stimulating adventure in sports management and scouting. I recommend this cousre to anyone who is involved in sports be it professional or amature.

This course has given me entry level and beyond knowledge on scouting and general manager duties. After playing professional hockey and coaching in Germany it has broaden my horizon of the operating a club.

The overall experience was amazing and you definitly learn a lot more than you came in with. Weekly chats were a great chance to get a feel where you should be going if you want a career in hockey.

This course is a must for anyone wanting to get into the hockey industry. The information you get is outstanding. The instructors from ISS help you with the fundamentals of scouting and provide great feedback on all of your work. The course is well known by hockey executives and is a great door opener for opportunities.

The Hockey GM and Scouting course was a fun course to be a part of. I enjoyed and learned a lot from the Sunday chats and using the RinkNet software. All of the instructors as well as my classmates were very friendly and a lot of fun to chat with.

In the Hockey General Manager and Scouting Course, I was able to learn the ins and outs of scouting for talent. Just being able to talk to Mike Oke and Dino Caputo really expanded my knowledge of the game of hockey from the business perspective. At the completion of this course, I feel confident and I know that I really could get a job in a hockey organization be it, volunteering, media relations or some other department. If you work hard enough and put your heart and soul into the course, great things will happen down the road.

The student service was very effective, each time I had a problem, they answered my questions and solved it fast. The Rinknet software used to scout players was a very useful tool to work with. The readings give you a very good look into what the business side of hockey looks like.

SMWW has provided me with the professional tools and information that has driven my initiatives forward! With the interaction of eArena and the accessibility of RinkNet, I can now take the next steps towards becoming involved in a higher level of sport!

I would recommend this course to anyone with a passion for hockey and would like to find a way to get "in the game". Whether it be the course material, the discussion boards, the weekly chats or the training on the rinknet software, there's something that everybody can get out of this course. My favorite part overall and what really made a difference for me, was being able to ask intellegent questions based on what we were learning, and getting real world answers from those in the game during the weekly chats. This gave the course that extra oomph that made you feel that you got real value for your money.

This course was truly incredible, if you love the game of hockey, whether it be the history of the game or the scouting aspect you will love it! Your eyes will be opened to happenings that went on in the Original Six Era that will shock you. The scouting part of the course is very in-depth and you will learn exactly how the ISS scouts/recruits players. Overall this course was saturated with information and a joy to attend. On my resume I"m sure this will help me out! Thankyou sincerely for everything it was a great eight weeks! Cheers!

I was a Pro Goalie for 21 years and had to retire suddenly due to an injury, without any direction concerning my future career. I was immediately impressed with the SMWW concept and felt that enrolling in their educational programs could be greatly beneficial to my professional future off the ice. SMWW online education is the way of the future bringing the sports world together. SMWW chats provide an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas and relating of experience, and networking with people from all over the globe. I have just completed the Agent Management Course and will stay with SMWW as an Agent Advisor. I have also enrolled in the Hockey General Manger Course and am looking forward to the guidance of SMWW and EJ Hradek. I wish I had come across SMWW 10 years ago. Dr. Lashbrook is a great mentor with impressive knowledge and leadership.

The Hockey Scouting and General Management course provided me with a strong foundation towards a career in the professional hockey business. In addition to working with the ISS and the accompanying RINKnet scouting software, I am now able to build a strong network with both current and future hockey professionals. Moreover, success with SMWW greatly improved the appeal of my resume and aided in 'getting my foot in the door' with a professional hockey organization.

Thanks to SMWW I have recently been named the scout for two provinces for a Jr. "A" Hockey Club!!! This course has helped me to broaden my horizons in a sport that I am so passionate about. Following the last two weeks of the course, I was promoted from a territory scout to the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island scout, thereby taking on the added challenge of scouting in two separate provinces for a Junior "A" Hockey team. I owe many thanks to SMWW.

I really had fun throughout the course. I feel that I gained some very valuable experience using the Rink Net software. Also, thanks to this course having the students approach somebody in a management position with a hockey team, I worked as a volunteer for the Ajax Attack OHA Jr. A hockey Team. I found this to be of great experience and will be sitting down with the team GM soon to discuss further opportunities with the team. Without this course I would not have had this opportunity.

For someone who has limited involvement in the business of hockey, yet has a passion for it, this course is a great first step. I was fortunate enough to speak with a member of both the Calgary Hitmen and Calgary Flames organization and the input they were able to give me on what the business involves at the NHL level and junior level gave me a better outlook on the game of hockey. In regards to the Rinknet software, this provide me with a great tool in being able to determine the strengths and flaws of players in a very organized manner.

This course has been both awakening and an inspiration for me. Since I am a European, I never knew the way they played this game overseas. I really was amazed at the amount of information about hockey that I hadn't known about. This course was one of my best experiences so far in the hockey world. I hope I can continue my journey after completing this course. This course introduced me to some new things and helped me to put the puzzle together, so to speak, on a number of issues. I gained a different outlook on the game and learned to train my eye much sharper than I ever did before. The weekly chats were invaluable. The Rink Net program was also enlightening. I was not aware there was a program that enabled you to follow every single player in the league. For the last eight weeks, I felt like a sponge who was soaking up every bit of information I could.

The RinkNet software has helped me immensely. This course cleared up a lot of confusion I had about the management side of hockey.

I was impressed with the interaction with the other students in the course as everyone had different backgrounds in hockey and we could learn from their previous experiences and I picked up some new contacts when I did my interview of a hockey professional.The audichat every week also gave us some good insight in to the inner workings of hockey.

I have had a busy and successful career in music for most of my adult life but I was always a huge hockey fan and began educating myself on the nuances of the game long before I knew I was doing it. When I stumbled across SMWW something clicked and I saw an opportunity to channel my passion for and knowledge of the game into a possible career. The SMWW course was amazing; I learned so much about the history of the game and about the events in hockey history which served to shape and define the landscape of the modern game and the labor issues which have confronted it recently. The weekly chats were also great and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with my fellow students and firing questions at the scouts who moderated the sessions. Their insights were invaluable in helping me to decide that I could be a successful scout. The SMWW course gave me the confidence to pursue a career in hockey and now I am the California/Western U.S. Regional Scout for the Kootenay Ice Hockey Club of the Western Hockey League.

Hockey has always been part of my life since I was 5 years old, but now being in my late 30's, I really wanted to start pursuing my dream of landed a job with a hockey club. I think this is just the start of something I have been dreaming about for years! Taking the on-line course at SMWW gave me the confidence to take the next step I REALLY needed !! Thanks.

I recently took the Hockey GM and Scouting course offered by SMWW and was extremely impressed with the knowledge I gained as well as the contacts that I have established in the hockey industry. The course does a tremendous job of allowing its students to get that "foot in the door" and connect with those of great influence in hockey. The hockey world is a tough industry to crack into, but the opportunity to make these initial connections will surely go a long way in my career pursuit.

The course was fun and very informative. The addition of ISS makes this course that much greater. The weekly chats are the key to the program, and are so very informative. I have a new approach the game I love, and it makes it that much better. Thanks SMWW!