Keeping it Simple Gets it Done
By Scott Lowe - DMVProspects.comUs hockey guys talk about keeping it simple all the time.
We do it to the point that there’s no doubt young players get sick of hearing it. Yet, at times there seems to be a resistance from players at all levels – squirts right up to the NHL – to doing just that.
How many times have you seen an NHL team in a slump or down two games in a playoff series and a frazzled coach tells the media, “We just have to get back to playing our game. We need to keep it simple?”
Then there is the sweaty player during an intermission interview after his team looked like a bunch of squirts for the previous 20 minutes telling the fans, “We just gotta keep it simple. Pucks in deep. Hard on pucks. Pucks to the net.”
You hear it often enough that it would be logical to think there is a book that all NHL players and coaches are given that covers what they should tell the media when they don’t really want to tell them anything. Come to think of it, perhaps John Tortorella already has written that book.
You hear it often enough that it would be logical to think there is a book that all NHL players and coaches are given that covers what they should tell the media when they don’t really want to tell them anything. Come to think of it, perhaps John Tortorella already has written that book.
In all seriousness, the reality is that to compete successfully in a sport that gets faster with each passing year and in which the skill level is at an all-time high, most players have no choice but to keep it simple. And that means for young players who want to show off their fancy toe drags, crazy shootout moves and Michigan-style lacrosse goals, keeping it simple is paramount if they want to show coaches and scouts that they have what it takes to play at a higher level.
Hockey sense is one of the first things coaches talk about when asked what they look for in young players, and in such a fast-paced and fluid sport, keeping it simple most times is the best approach.
Hockey averages more than six changes of possession per minute – or one turnover every 8.6 seconds – at the highest levels, and there are studies estimating that 40 percent of all scoring chances are created off of stolen pucks. So making the quick and safe play is almost always better than taking unnecessary risks. Some of this thinking can be altered in response to different situations that arise during the course of games and seasons, but for the most part keeping it simple is a pretty good plan.
That fancy toe-drag move in the neutral zone by a 14-year-old that draws oohs and ahhs from the spectators certainly will get a player noticed, but not always for the right reasons.
If that type of play works over and over against a team that fails to make any adjustments, it’s likely that the opponent that day is simply inferior. And if the player tries the move five times, but it only works once – even if the time that it works produces the prettiest play or goal ever seen – that player is likely to get marked down for selfish play and a lack of hockey sense.
Every time a player moves up a level or an age group, the likelihood of those types of plays being executed successfully lessens. Players are bigger, faster, stronger and smarter with each jump in level, so the player who gets away with those moves at the lower or younger levels will find them much harder to complete successfully as her or she moves up the ladder.
With each new level of play, mistakes are magnified and more likely to be capitalized on by the opposition. Mistakes that hurt a player’s team often lead to reduced playing time, and at the junior or college level those types of mistakes can force a coach to leave a player out of the lineup altogether.
Keeping that in mind, if a player repeats the same mistakes despite a successful play here and there, that might lead a scout to question whether the seemingly skilled player has developed bad habits that will be very hard to break as his or her career progresses. If the player can’t make those skilled plays consistently at the next level with even more time and space being taken away, then what happens?
Will that player be good enough to produce consistently enough to counteract those mistakes? Will the player adjust and eventually stop making the mistakes? How costly will those mistakes be to the team during the adaptation process? What if the player’s skills simply don’t translate to the next level? Will that player, who hasn’t shown much hockey sense to this point, be able and willing to adapt to a lesser or bottom-six role in the lineup?
Will that player be good enough to produce consistently enough to counteract those mistakes? Will the player adjust and eventually stop making the mistakes? How costly will those mistakes be to the team during the adaptation process? What if the player’s skills simply don’t translate to the next level? Will that player, who hasn’t shown much hockey sense to this point, be able and willing to adapt to a lesser or bottom-six role in the lineup?
“Many kids don’t want to change their roles to be able to play in the best leagues,” said Lennie Childs, an assistant coach for the Janesville Jets of the Tier 2 North American Hockey League. “Last year we brought in two kids who were {NCAA} Division I commits – one kid had 99 points playing U16 for the Colorado Thunderbirds, and the other played for the top-ranked Chicago Mission and was committed to RPI. They were used to being on the No. 1 line, power play, PK and playing in the last minute of close games. We needed them to be third- or fourth-line guys for us. One did it and one didn’t.”
There is a belief among many young players – especially defensemen – that in a showcase setting, with a lot of higher-level coaches and scouts in the stands, they need to make flashy, highly skilled plays to stand out. Players also think that scoring a lot of goals during a showcase or short tryout will guarantee them attention and maybe a spot on a higher-level team.
Not so fast.
“If a player is scoring goals or putting up a lot of points but cheating the game to do it, that eventually will be exposed at the higher levels,” said Bob Shattell, assistant coach for NCAA Division III SUNY Morrisville. “We see it all the time in juniors where a player will put up over 100 points in one Tier 3 league and it might translate to 12 points in a higher-level league.”
Making a skilled play within the flow of the game that creates an advantage or a scoring opportunity for a player or the team will definitely get a player noticed. A coach might even circle the player’s number and make a mental note to watch more closely throughout the game.
Continually forcing a skilled play in a low-percentage situation – such as a 1-on-3 rush or toe-dragging a forechecker in the defensive zone when a teammate is open farther up the ice – may have the opposite effect, even if the move works.
Likewise, scoring a goal or two on breakaways because maybe your D-zone effort wasn’t great and you were able to beat everyone up the ice or tapping in a goal while standing alone in the crease after a great play by a teammate doesn’t guarantee anything.
Once a player has caught the eye of a scout – for better or worse – the scout will begin scrutinizing that player’s game even more closely.
The kid who made the skilled play within the natural framework of the game – we call that letting the game come to you – already has a plus next to his or her name, while the players who pulled off the skilled plays, but made bad decisions, are merely curiosities to the assembled coaches and scouts.
At this point, as the scouts take a closer look at these players, the criteria for whether higher-level teams are willing to give them an opportunity becomes the same. Hockey is a fast, flowing sport that requires a series of quick decisions while opposing players are doing everything in their power to shut off as many options as possible.
Under those conditions, even the best young players will make mistakes, which is understandable given that the top players in the world also make mistakes. One mistake or bad decision won’t be held against a player, but an unwillingness or inability to adapt and not make that mistake consistently likely will prove to be a death blow to a player’s chances.
On the flip side, maybe the player who scored on the tap-in or breakaway keeps showing up around the puck. The player is hard on pucks in the corners and never gives up on a play.
That first goal might have been because of a lucky bounce or the result of some defensive laziness on the player’s part, but since then the player consistently is the first forward to enter the d-zone on the backcheck, and the feet never stop moving even if the player is the second or third person coming back into the defensive zone. The player is finishing checks, driving the net on odd-man rushes and generally getting under the goalie’s skin with screens and a consistent crease presence.
That could just as easily be the player who forced the 1-on-3, or perhaps the kid who tried the questionable d-zone toe drag and since has skated hard on every defensive-zone puck retrieval and shown that he or she can turn and use his or her speed to get the puck up the ice in a hurry or see the open forward and hit that player in stride with a pass at speed leaving the zone.
The player skates with head and eyes up and the puck on his or her stick in the proper position to make a quick pass at a moment’s notice. And then there are the physical sacrifices the player is willing to make by blocking shots, battling in the corners and boxing out opposing forwards in front of the net.
These are things that, upon further review of a player’s performance, coaches and scouts want to see if they are going to recruit kids to play at their team’s level.
There is way more to being a good hockey player than scoring goals and making flashy plays. If a player can make those types of plays within the context of the game while also displaying a consistency of effort that translates into many of the intangibles coaches like their players to possess, it may be a no-brainer for a team to give that player an opportunity.
Maybe it wasn’t the player’s best day offensively, but he or she responded the way coaches want players to react to adversity. The puck isn’t always going to bounce favorably for a player, but if he or she shows a positive attitude on the ice along with a consistency of effort and a willingness to do all the little things that often go unnoticed but are necessary to help a team win, a scout can’t help but be impressed.
Those little things include giving 100 percent on every shift, competing hard in all three zones, maintaining a positive attitude with good body language and making simple, smart plays with the puck – especially if the puck luck has not been favorable throughout the game.
If hockey sense is what coaches and scouts say they most like to see when it comes to the attributes they look for in young prospects, compete level usually is a close second.
“If I see a kid who is giving everything he’s got on every shift, competing and playing the right way out here in a summer showcase game, I know that he’s going to give me the same effort in a weeknight non-conference game in January,” Jim Madigan, the head coach at NCAA Division I Northeastern, once said while watching a game at the Chowder Cup summer showcase in Massachusetts. “I don’t care how talented a player is, if he’s being lazy and acting up during these games – or showing bad body language toward his teammates or the officials – I’m not going to want anything to do with him.”
These essential attributes are just as important for goalies to understand. High-level coaches want to see a complete portrait of the players they are going to recruit for their program, not just the glamour shots.
“We get videos from goalies all the time with the spectacular saves that basically are nothing but highlights,” Worcester Railers EHL assistant coach Brian Addessa said. “You see the kid make a great glove save, and the scoreboard in the background says his team is losing 4-0. I want to see how those four goals went in and how the goalie responded.”
Many young players will point out – and it certainly can be true – that at a big exposure event where there are hundreds of teams competing it can be hard for a player who is simply trying to play the game the “right way” to get noticed. With so much going on and so many players to watch, a coach or scout who shows up randomly looking for talent is more likely to see the kids who stand out one way or another.
That’s why it’s imperative for a young player with high-level junior or college aspirations to work year-round at building relationships with coaches and scouts at the levels to which they aspire.
Building a relationship isn’t sending a few emails two days prior to an event telling coaches that you are playing in their area and including your schedule for that weekend. It involves sending an introductory email during the offseason that tells coaches who you are, where you play, some of your accomplishments and why you are interested in their program.
The introductory email should include video clips of the player competing in all situations – not just goals, assists and other highlight-reel plays – as well as all of a player’s shifts for a few games. Coaches don’t expect young players to be perfect, so showing them only highlights or good plays is going to force them to search for more video that may not be quite as flattering.
By sending a coach all of the shifts from a particular game, the player can at least make sure the video is from one of his or her better all-around performances. And making it easier on the coaches by providing exactly what they are looking for saves them time and makes it more likely that they will give the videos a good look and provide an honest appraisal.
Players also shouldn’t be afraid to point out what they believe to be their strengths and weaknesses or to ask for feedback from coaches about what they need to improve upon to play at a particular team’s level.
“We know that players at this age aren’t perfect, and that they all have things they need to work on,” Connecticut Jr. Rangers NCDC coach Jim Henkel said. “It says something when they let me know the areas where they think they need to improve in addition to the things they consider strengths. We like a confident player who will advocate for himself, but it’s also important that he is self-aware and knows there is always work to be done.”
Establishing relationships with coaches and scouts and then following up with them on a regular basis to maintain and grow those relationships, stay on their radar and continue to show genuine interest in their program is perhaps the most important part of the process as players navigate their way from youth hockey through juniors and hopefully to college.
Persistence shows a coach that the player sincerely is interested in playing for that team and is driven. It also gives the coach a chance to get to know the player and a glimpse into the player’s personality.
Establishing that type of two-way relationship often will cause a coach to develop a genuine affinity for a player and to take an interest in his or her future – whether it turns out to be with that coach’s team or another program that the coach might think is a better fit. Hockey is a small community. Many junior and college coaches know each other well, talk frequently and are willing to help each other – and to help likable, hard-working kids find good homes.
The more of these relationships a player builds over time, the more likely it becomes that there will be coaches and scouts in the stands specifically to watch him or her play instead of just showing up looking for random players at a huge showcase event. That’s how the player who keeps it simple and plays the right way gets noticed over the flashy kids who make the standout plays but don’t follow them up with consistent effort or by exhibiting some of the other qualities high-level coaches and scouts want to see in their players.
Those attributes will be readily apparent to scouts who have come to the rink to watch a specific player. And those attributes can’t be faked, because a scout or coach who truly is interested in a player may show up at a game unannounced – or send another coach or scout to watch the player without warning – to ensure that the consistency of effort and attention to the detail is always present in his or her game.
“You never know who is watching,” John Burgess, assistant coach for the NCAA Division III program at Suffolk University said. “If there’s one piece of advice I can give to every kid who wants to play at our level it would be to always try and play the right way because you never know who’s out there.”
Build relationships and keep it simple.
That’s often all it takes for a young player to find a good home.