Hockey Sense

Using The Middle Lane to Create Offence and Mismatches

Generating speed, creating time and space, as well as creating mismatches are all crucial when looking to produce offence. More and more, teams are looking to attack the ice behind the defenders, put them under pressure and create breakdowns. These require honing cognitive skills such as split-second pattern recognition, and anticipation of the play.

How Can You Build Your Hockey Confidence?

Confidence is a player’s bullet-proof vest. What is confidence? Well, it’s a feeling. It’s about trust and belief in your abilities and decisions and expressing those beliefs and decisions in challenging circumstances. You know the feeling of confidence – you’re playing great and everything is going right for you. There is an easy belief in what you are doing and you know you can do it. You also know the other feeling…

The Benefit of the Early Pass

Skilled plays and players are often noticed by the ability to make difficult plays though sticks and feet and having the patience to hold onto the puck under pressure. While this is true, there are also times when a simple, early pass makes sense – creating clean plays that make time and space for your teammates.

7 Ways To Improve Focus On The Ice

Focus is a big buzzword today… in everything. Because of the infinite number of distractions around us, including advancements in technology, our attention spans seem to be shrinking to the point where it is difficult for people to keep their minds on a task for more than a few seconds. So what causes you to lose focus?

Watch The Leafs Use Two Indirect Passes to Create Offence

It can be tough to find open space against a tough defence but these two creative little plays we show you below can help lead to more scoring chances.

‘Puck possession’ and ‘Managing the puck’ are two common concepts used by coaches in today’s game. In the clip below, we look at how the Toronto Maple Leafs use two different indirect passes to maintain possession, create time and space, and drive an offensive opportunity.

6 Fundamental Steps to Building Your Hockey Mind

A big problem I see with young hockey players is that most players understand the importance of the mental and emotional game to performance, but don’t know how to develop it. There’s a lot of work required to build the necessary mental skills, just like there’s a lot of work that goes into being a good skater or positional player.

Use the Think Box and Play Box to Play Your Best

If you are a hockey player, you know that overthinking on the ice causes problems. Too many thoughts lead to hesitation, confusion and a lack of uncertainty in your abilities on the ice. So, I’d like to introduce you to a strategy that might help you get into a nice playing frame of mind.

Controlling and Rolling on Your Edges to Create Deception

Skating has always been a foundational skill in the game of hockey. The game is faster than ever, however, the ability to use and control your edges provides the opportunity to create deception and confusion for your opponents. Combining that with unpredictable changes of direction, however so slightly, can give players the ability to get around defenders.