Keep your eye on the puck

Simple plays executed well will often out produce many overly complex plays. Working on a handful of situations and responses to those situations that are simple but effective give your team a better understanding of how to read where the opportunities are, and how to defend against situations that develop on the ice. Focus on skills, but also work on making decisions on the ice. You need to look around to see where everyone is and where the puck is. You need to know where your teammate should be, and where he is. They may not be the same. A lot of this comes from balance on the ice, and playing your position. If you lose sight of the puck, you chance missing an opportunity, and may find that losing sight of the puck produces negative results. Keep looking around and read the situation. Look for opportunities to advance the puck up the ice. Look for the best option, but have a second option in case the situation changes. If you work on these things in practice you learn where to move or where to move the puck. If you don’t, you end up disorganized on the ice. It all boils down to practice working together as a team. You need skills, and smart hockey should be one of them. You’re using your physical abilities, and you need to use your mental abilities. Mental toughness and quick thinking are part of a team’s arsenal. Goalies often know what this means more so than forwards. The mental side of net tending can make or break a goalie’s game. It also can change the way a team plays. Practice your game at practice. Games aren’t practice. You need to break down your game for your team on and off the ice. Your players will learn a lot in game situations, but an effective practice gives everyone the opportunity to develop and refine their role on the ice. Make sure everyone understands the play and gets a chance to practice it as much as possible. Part of learning the play is to learn it well. Break things down into small steps that add up to the total play. This will make it easier for the players to understand what they need to do, rather than throwing everything at them at once. Treat each season as a step forward in the team and player’s development. There are things you work on this season that will build a foundation for the next. Build from the bottom up, not from the top down.