Mike Weaver always put a strong emphasis on practice and preparation throughout his 13 seasons in the NHL. Since retiring, Weaver has developed a way to bring these philosophies to coaches at all levels of hockey.

Weaver’s new web app, CoachThem, gives coaches a streamlined and efficient way to create drills and plays on their computer. No more clipboards or binders – Weaver has designed CoachThem to work on all platforms so coaches can design practice drills on their desktop and then easily bring them up on a phone or tablet to show their team on the ice.

“I’ve had my hockey school, Defense First, for 12 years and it took a lot of time to prepare for my camps,” the Brampton, Ont., native said. “I used to have a binder that had all these drills on pieces of paper and I would have to cut and paste to go about my daily routine. If I wanted to change a drill I’d have to rip it up and re-do it … So I thought there’s got to be a better way.”

While Weaver played for the Florida Panthers from 2010-2014, goalie coach Robb Tallas expressed to Weaver similar frustrations over the limitations of the program the team was using for practice drills. Tallas and Weaver recognized that with their experience in hockey and Weaver’s degree in telecommunications with a minor in virtual reality software development and web design, the skills were there to create something that would make hockey coaches’ lives easier.

Weaver wanted to make sure he was creating something that could be quick and user-friendly for coaches of all skill levels, from the father coaching in a youth hockey league all the way to the pros.

“Going ahead and allowing advanced coaches to create their own drills in our sketchpad or the amateur coach that doesn’t know a whole lot to see a catalogue of drills and easily create a practice in seven minutes … [CoachThem can do that],” Weaver said. “I look at it that time is money and I’ve heard too many times that ‘I ran out of time’ or ‘I didn’t have time to do that’ so [CoachThem] is going to allow our coaches to create practices efficiently and in a way that challenges their players.”

Weaver and Tallas have already reached out to coaches from pro hockey circles, including former Panthers’ head coach Gerard Gallant, to provide some pre-made drills for CoachThem’s Marketplace – a feature on the website where coaches can post and share their drills for any other users to download. The idea is that coaches can help each other run more efficient and effective practices.

Working tirelessly to get better was the story of Weaver’s career. An undrafted free agent who started his pro career with the Orlando Solar Bears of the International Hockey League, Weaver also had stops with the Chicago Wolves and Manchester Monarchs in the American Hockey League. He would eventually play in 633 games with the Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens.

“I think I’ve always wanted to go ahead and improve and the only way to improve is to look at your mistakes and know you don’t want to make the same mistakes again,” Weaver said. “I would continually watch video and find solutions to problems. As coaches, that’s what you’re supposed to do with your team. With our platform, whether you’re a beginner coach or an advanced coach, [CoachThem] evens the playing field.”

CoachThem is still in its early stages and was only released to the public in October, but Weaver has big plans for the web app.

“CoachThem is phase one – this is the ground level,” Weaver said. “We wanted to get a solid platform and then there’s a lot of different ways to evolve from that, from tracking on the ice to speakers in the helmet for coaches to communicate to their entire team on-ice to review of entire practices via video combined with audio. So there are a lot of things on the horizon that we’re going to be implementing.”

Coaches can sign up for CoachThem online at http://coachthem.com/ for $5 per month. The site also offers a plan for hockey associations. For teams of 10 or more, the association can pay $100 per year that provides three coaches per team access to the web app. More information can be found on CoachThem's Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.