Episode Description
Summary
Three days of coaching courses. Power plays, penalty kills, structure. Not one minute on how to build a kid’s confidence.
The Hockey Lab Podcast is back for the 2026-27 season — and there are now three chairs at the table. Coach A and Coach Gards welcome Liam Ham, Player Development Coach with the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads, as the newest host of the pod.
Liam’s path runs through the York Simcoe Express, the Niagara IceDogs, the Mississauga Steelheads, NHL camps and the University of Guelph — and now he’s on the other side of the glass. In this episode we cover his story, recap a GRP summer full of Hall of Famers, and dig into the one thing every level of hockey keeps repeating: puck management.
Chapters
00:00 The Hockey Lab is back — meet Coach Ham
01:10 Liam’s story: Newmarket & the York Simcoe Express
02:03 Drafted by Niagara, traded to Mississauga, NHL camps, Guelph
03:22 U SPORTS vs NCAA Division I — where the gap really is
05:31 What a Player Development Coach actually does
07:56 Off-season vs in-season: why the emotional load climbs
09:39 Warmups set the tone for the whole session
10:28 The coaches you remember are the ones who made you feel something
11:19 The coaching course nobody is forced to take
12:10 Small area games to start practice
13:16 Babcock’s 46-minute practices & efficiency over hours
14:10 Summer recap: Liam’s first year on the GRP floor
15:09 Training with Sergio — loyalty & trust
16:31 Food, familiar faces, Stamkos & Hall of Famers on the ice
18:12 First-year contact hockey: running around vs playing the puck
18:43 Puck management — the message at every level
20:02 Too much skill footage, not enough game footage
20:55 Creativity vs predictability — structure first, fun zone second
21:48 Your leash gets shorter at every level
22:51 How OHL staffs pre-scout
24:25 Impose your game or react to theirs
25:47 Grumpy Gards & the grade 8 brain
26:38 Wrap-up — see you next week
If you’re a player trying to level up… A parent navigating the minor hockey world… Or a coach balancing development with results…
This one’s for you.
The Hosts
Coach Adrian (A) @championshiplifestyle — Head Strength Coach at Gary Roberts Performance. Fun Fact – Fought professionally in MMA for nearly a decade.
Coach Ryan (Gards) — On-Ice Coach at Gary Roberts Performance. Veteran of over 1000 NLA (Switzerland’s Top League) games, 5 Spengler Cups, 3 World Championships, and 1 Olympics. Fun Fact – His grandfather Cal is a “Top 100 Leaf of All Time.”
Coach Liam (Ham) — Player Development Coach with the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads and GRP On-Ice Coach. Drafted to the OHL by the Niagara IceDogs, played his overage year with the Mississauga Steelheads, attended multiple NHL camps, and played three seasons at the University of Guelph while earning his degree. Fun Fact – Played up with Robert Thomas for six years at York Simcoe Express.
Gary Roberts Performance hosts this podcast. If you’re looking to take your game to the next level, GRP offers comprehensive training programs for elite hockey players.
👉 Book a Call with a GR Coach: https://www.garyrobertsperformance.com/programs/get-started
IG: @garyrobertshpt