It’s the heart of the hockey season, and if you find yourself merely going through the motions in practice or games, do you think you’re improving as a hockey player?
There are many ways to describe it, but to effectively play our sport, you need to compete with intensity. You need to learn to “bring it” every day. This is a skill that can be developed, just like stickhandling. Doing so requires a certain intensity of focus and self-evaluation, and it starts in practices.
As a player, to what performance level do you hold yourself accountable?
Do you strive to pass every puck right to the tape on your teammates stick? That requires an intense level of concentration on every pass.
If you mishandle a puck, do you stop on it? Or do you simply continue on skating, looking for a new one?
Do you battle hard for pucks and then doggedly stay on it if you don’t win the puck initially?
In practice, there are many situations where you can hone your intensity, but it’s up to the player to choose whether they are willing and committed to putting forth that extra level of concentration and hold themselves to a high standard of effort.
