Training Formula To Sucees
To become a better player you must understand your strengths and weaknesses. The best training formula to success is training your biggest strength, your biggest weakness and the basic needs of the sport. So for hockey that’d be IQ, game situation, and quick decision making. Here are 4 ways you can instantly get better from the comfort of your own home. 1. Shooting 70 pucks and track your accuracy. 2. Stickhandle, do different patterns around obstacles then stickhandle with your head facing the middle (work on moving your hands super fast and out of your comfort zone). 3. Work on mindfulness, meditation (easy guided meditations on YouTube), cold showers and getting sunlight. 4. Push-ups, planks, skater jumps and standing on 1 leg (work on power, explosion and balance). You can get all this done in less than an hour, stay consistent with it and watch your game skyrocket.
How To Train
How you train is going to make a bigger impact than how much you train. Quantity is still important, but if one person trains with phenomenal focus, attention to detail, and effort they’re gonna get better faster than someone who trains a little more but doesn’t have that. You must be consistent and have passion for your goals. The key is to spend hours upon hours training and be super dialed in during all of it! There’s always ways to improve, so start becoming aware of your level of focus and attention to detail in your training, and see if you can become better at it. Awareness is key to getting better at anything. Another important point to emphasize when training is going out of your comfort zone. Many people are scared to fail so they don’t wanna train outside of their comfort zone. But think about anytime you got better at something, you usually went out of your comfort zone to do it. It was uncomfortable to skate, you worked on it, now it’s comfortable. It was uncomfortable to learn to lift the puck, you worked on it, now it’s comfortable. So as you get better it becomes harder to train outside of your comfort zone, because more skills are in your comfort zone. So if you want to get the edge, find 2 things that are out of your comfort zone each month and work on them until they become in your comfort zone. If you can do this you will become a much more complete player. Don’t be scared to fail a few times in the present, to be great in the future.
Goal Setting
It’s super important to have clear goals. You have your main goal (your mission) and break it down into small goals that lead you to that. For example let’s say winning the Stanley cup is your main goal. To acheive that you must win regular season games to make the playoffs, then playoff games to make the cup, then win 4 games to complete your mission. This applies to your individual goals too. So start off by writing down your mission. After you do that, write down 3 goals. Next write down how the goal will lead you towards your main goal. After that write down how you’re going to complete each goal. Within each goal we want a way to measure to see if we are getting closer to completing our goal or not. So write down how you will track the eye test and the number test. Lastly write down a deadline of when you must complete your goal by with a reward if you do it, and a punishment if you don’t.
Example: Mission: Make Varsity Hockey Team
Starting Day February 5th
Goal 1: Become a better skater
How will this help me make varsity: My speed is lacking, as the game is faster in varsity then JV, but I think my IQ is at a varsity level so if I get my speed up, there should be no reason I can’t make it.
How I’m going to complete: Work on power skating 3 days a week, work on speed in the gym 3 days a week.
How I’m going to track: Eye Test: Does my technique look better, do I look smoother?
How I’m going to track: Numbers Test: I will time myself skating goal line to red line, I’m at 6 seconds right now, I must be at 4.5 seconds by March 30th.
Reward: If my technique looks good, I look smooth, and I’m able to skate from goal line to red line in 4.5 seconds by March 30th I will reward myself with an amazing night out to eat at a great restaurant.
Punishment: If my technique does not look better, or I do not look smoother, or I cannot skate from the goal line to red line in 4.5 seconds by March 30th I will do 500 squats daily for a week straight.
Goal 2: Become a better shooter
How will this help me make varsity: I feel i’m great at getting open without the puck, so if I can get my shot better, I can score a lot of goals which is what the varsity coach is looking for.
How I’m gonna complete my goal: Shoot 100 shots daily
How I’m going to track: Eye Test: Video and see do my mechanics look good, does my shot look deceptive?
How I’m going to track: Numbers Test: How many times did I hurt low blocker out of 100 week 1, how many times did I hit low blocker out of 100 week 2. How many times did I hit low glove out of 100 week 3, how many times did I hit glove out of 100 week 4. I must be able to hit low blocker and low glove 85 out of 100 times by March 28th.
Reward: If I can hit low blocker and low glove 85 out of 100 times, my mechanics look good, and my shot looks deceptive by March 28th I will go 6 flags for a day.
Punishment: If I do not complete the eye and number test by March 28th I will do a minute plank everyday for 7 days.
Goal 3: Get Stronger Off The Ice
How this will help me make varsity: There are older players at the varsity level who are stronger than me. I feel I’m more skilled than some of them, but they can push me around, so if I use my strengths of my skills and IQ and am stronger then they won't be able to push me around and knock me off my game.
How I’m gonna complete my goal: Create a hockey specific training plan that has me training 6 days week.
How I’m going to track: Numbers Test: See how much more I can squat, split squat, bench by May 30th. Am I able to split squat 65 pounds, bench 200, and squat 300 by then. Am I able to do a plank for 3 minutes by then?
How I’m going to track: Eye Test: Am I more controlled in the gym, is it harder for people to knock me off the puck when watching myself play on film?
Reward: If I can hit all my weight marks, look more controlled in the gym, and look harder to knock off the puck in film by May 30th I will treat myself to spa day.
Punishment: If I cannot hit all my weight marks, or if I do not look more controlled or harder to knock ff the puck in film I will to 50 pull pull-ups everyday for a week.
Attention To Detail
I wanted to make this its own section. If you have amazing attention to detail you will get the edge in games, but also in development. First off start by becoming aware of how focused you are on details. Rate yourself 1-10. Then whatever your number is make sure the next week that number is higher. This is in your control. Focus on every detail in film, practice, games, when a coach says something to you, and in your training. Great players have great attention to detail. Coaches love players with attention detail, and it’s one of the most important characteristics a player can have to help the team win games.
Playing Without The Puck
First off be aware, ask yourself how good you are at playing without the puck and be honest. Then we start working on it. You always wanna be thinking how can I make it as easy as possible for my teammates. We also want to be getting in open passing lanes, if you are just open, but cannot get the pass it doesn’t matter much. 2 great examples of playing without the puck would be 1. Your teammate has the puck on a 2 on 2 and you cut as hard as possible between the D to push the D back which opens up space for your teammate to cut to the middle. 2. Your teammate is driving wide, instead of drifting closer to the net where the D is you stay high on the same side he drove, because the D went with him and it should be open. Another simple tip is that when the puck is at the point the half wall is almost always open, and when the puck is at the half wall the corner is usually always open. So these are some of the types of plays you need to be thinking about. Don’t let yourself get caught puck watching. Think a step ahead, where will the puck be, and how am I gonna be in a spot I can get the puck. Start working on this in training, practice and games.
Head to the middle
Anytime you have the puck on either side of the ice your head should be facing the middle. This is such an underrated skill that will make you a 5x better playmaker just by doing this 1 simple thing. It makes you see the whole ice, and focus on the most dangerous part of the ice with that has the most options. If you notice when you have your head middle the defense usually gives you more space, because you look more deceptive. Watch any great playmaker in the NHL they will have their head to the middle.
Communication
Talking on the ice will make you a better player instantly. There’s calling for passes, and there’s telling your teammate you got middle, there’s someone on him, the D is pinching ('“CHIP”!), or take the shooter I’m back. You get the point. There’s so many chances you have in games to talk, this makes you better and easier to play with, but also makes your teammates and coaches love you.
Playing For Your Team
Every coach wants players who will do what’s in the best interest of the team. When you’re on the ice start developing the mindset of “every decision I make is going to be what’s best for the team”. This will make you a much better individual player. There are so many situations where players can choose to look at the big picture in a game of what’s going to help the team win over trying to make an individual play that can cost them. We want to think about risk reward: if I try to make a move on my own blue line the risk is if it doesn’t work they have a odd man rush and if it does work I still have 4 other defenders in front of me, so its not really worth it. I must think about the team in that situation and move the puck up ice.