What can be done to help players develop hockey sense? In Part 2 we made the case that a coach’s natural instinct to control the training environment can actually hold back players’ hockey sense and, further, that coaches need to “get out of the way” at times so players can learn the natural way, by trial and error.  Here, we expand upon that concept to consider strengths and weaknesses of certain methods of improving hockey sense.

This article (https://www.wired.com/2007/05/ff-mindgames/ - this is a pretty long but interesting read FYI) shows some scientific basis for creating an ability for the brain to automatically interpret visual stimuli accurately so an athlete can get their body into an “action mode” faster in a “read and react” scenario.

This is key. A common method that a coach uses to help players do the right thing and the right time is to say “in situation ‘a’, you need to do ‘b.’” But the player may not have the ability to tell when they are in situation “a.” Or, they simply take too long to make that determination. 

So, one of the things that gets missed in hockey sense is not learning what to do when, but instead to learn how to determine what situation you are in.

We see this a lot when players go from Mite hockey to Squirt hockey. In Mite hockey, it is common for players who find the puck on their stick to simply try to figure out the shortest path from where they are to the other team’s net for a quality scoring chance.

Toward the end of Mites and into the beginning of Squirts, players start getting their first exposure to team structure, how to use their teammates, and how to anticipate opposition structure so they can better defend. That is a lot of thinking for a kid who isn’t used to it.

As a result, we see lots of these players just standing around while they try to decide what to do. Some players who used to be aggressive puck hounds experience paralysis by analysis in this new, more complicated version of the game.

The Mite-to-Squirt transition is the most extreme case of seeing players fail to act as they try to figure out what to do. But the same effect happens at every level, it is just that things happen faster and faster at each level, so it only takes a fraction of a second of delayed recognition at a High School level, for example, to give the advantage to an opponent who reacts faster.

The point is, the secret sauce in hockey sense may be understanding what to look for so you can get the “read” part of “read and react” done faster. Once you understand what to look for, then you need to train it until it's automatic and super fast to ensure a great advantage.

Yet, the most tried and true way for players to learn how to recognize a situation and what to do is in competition (as opposed to controlled practice scenarios).  Some of the best places to learn this are in real live hockey games, in informal games at the park, and in small area games (“SAGs”) in practice.

• Hockey Games - Hockey games tend to feature higher pressure from coach to not experiment so these may be the least valuable of the three.
• Park Hockey - The park may be the best for creativity and experimentation because the stakes are lowest.
• Small Area Games - SAGs limit some of the creativity because the smaller area reduces time and space.  However, SAGs foster creative, open-ended, competition with the addition of some coach control in the form of unique rule sets that force passing or other tactical plays. These rule sets allow the coach to create teaching points and make SAGs a unique asset for teaching hockey sense.

One underrated hockey sense development tool is televised games. Watching a lot of hockey and really paying attention allows young players to see how choices within different types of scenarios play out and lead to good or bad outcomes.

It isn’t the same thing as trying to recognize those scenarios at ice level, but it still can create a lot of understanding for a young player which is then easier to apply at ice level later as opposed to learning scenarios and options from scratch.

A final thing to consider is that even within a game, a player can affect their own time and space. There are strategies one can use to buy time and space which then allows them to see more options and to choose the best one more often because they are not hurried.

The fourth and final part of this article will be about some common strategies to buy time and space within game situations.