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18

November

Summer Hockey Camp in Massachusetts

You made it through tryouts. You made it through the first few practices of the season. You’ve pulled the game jersey over your head. Now what?

We all know the saying that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. The question for youth hockey players is, how tough are you?

Toughness In Youth Hockey Players

We are not talking about physical toughness here, but instead mental toughness and the ability to fight through adversity. This season a friend’s daughter started her freshman year at a top Division I school. She came out of high school as a highly regarding player. Being handed a redshirt for her freshman year – and being told she would not see any game action – was not something she expected or was used to.

At this point, there are a few paths that this player could go down:

1. Frustration at the coach, program and fellow players that there would be zero game action for an entire year, again not something she was accustomed to since she started playing hockey in pre-school. It’s a long year when all you do is practice and frustration can set in!

2. Go with the flow, knowing she wasn’t going to be playing, hang in the shadow of the team for the season, and do just enough to get by until she had a chance to see some game action after her redshirt season.

3. Maintain her character, rely on what got her to that and even ratchet it up another notch, continuing to work as hard to harder than anyone on the team.

When the going gets tough, what would you do in this situation?

This player chose to shift into the next gear. Super positive attitude on and off the ice. First on and off the ice and practice. Always in the weight room. Always shooting pucks. Then more pucks. And when it was time to go, shooting a few more pucks.

Youth Hockey Lesson: Hard Work Always Pays Off

When the time came to fill an unexpected opening on the roster, guess who got the call into the coaches office. This player traded the redshirt for a game jersey, and the rest is history!

This season you are sure to experience disappointment and adversity, youth hockey is full of it. The important question is, how will you respond to it? Like this college hockey player, we hope that when the going gets tough, you too, will get going!

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful Thanksgiving next week. All of our 2022 Summer Hockey Camps are listed on our website and we once again invite you to train with us!

03

November

In a recent article we talked about Alex Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record and lessons youth hockey players can learn from watching this chase unfold over the next few years. After a dozen or so games this season, the excitement has only continued to build.

While scoring goals garner the headlines – and in the case of Ovechkin another notch closer the record – assists and great passes can be equally impressive and exciting. 

Great players know where teammates are on the ice and great passers have the ability to put the puck on their stick: stretch passes that spring players into the offensive zone to split the defensemen are just as exciting as the goal itself. Tic-tac-toe passes that force the goalie to move laterally across the goal crease allowing for an easy tap in are as pretty as it gets.

Saucer passes across a sprawling defenseman’s stick landing perfectly flat on a linemate’s stick should be an ESPN Top 10 every time. Full-stride tape-to-tape passes heading up ice that leave a defender spinning like a top, is just as fun to watch as the puck crossing the goal line.

Precision passing is a skill that just like any other, requires practice, practice, and more practice. Youth hockey players should focus on the fundamentals of passing such as keeping your head up and proper form and follow through. Mechanics are important to passing, but one of the greatest passers said it best ‘great passers don’t miss the tape, just like great goal scorers don’t miss the net.’ 

As your youth hockey season gets underway, focus on making great passes – precision passes – every time.  Too often practices and drills lose their flow because of errant passes. The drill stops, players get back in line and the opportunity is lost. A great coach once said that players need to work as hard as making a great pass as they do taking a great shot on a goal.

This season pass with purpose and pass with precision! 

Thanks for reading and good luck with the start of your season!  If you are starting to think about youth hockey schools for the Summer of 2022, so are we! Stay tuned HERE for dates and locations!

This article first appeared in the Massachusetts Hockey Newsletter.
Greg Carter Hockey School is a proud partner of Mass. Hockey, the governing body of youth hockey in Massachusetts.

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