Off the Ice
Underneath all five layers
Not a layer of play, but every layer above depends on it: kit, conditioning, practice and finding more ice, the mental side, culture, and how to watch.
The 7 documents in this section
EquipmentHockey gear does two separate jobs: it keeps you out of hospital, and it decides what your body is able to do on the ice.Conditioning and RecoveryEverything here follows from one demand: repeated near-maximal efforts of thirty to eighty seconds, separated by two to five minutes on the bench, for sixty minutes of clock time.Practice and DevelopmentPractice works when every rep has a goal and feedback. Without an outside eye you rehearse your errors rather than removing them.Finding More IceMost players get far less ice than they need to improve, and most of the extra ice is found by asking, not searching.The Mental GameThe mental side closes the gap between your worst game and your best. It does not raise your best.Team Play and CultureHockey changes players during live play, out of a roster you did not pick. Almost everything you do depends on somebody you cannot see doing what you expected.How to Watch HockeyAlmost everything that decides a hockey game happens away from the puck, and the camera that follows the puck trains you to miss it. So give your eyes one narrow job at a time.