Plan For Success

Do you have a plan for your success?

I'm talking about an actual process that you want to stick to because you know it will give you the best opportunity to get where you want.

I'm going to say that most of you reading this don't.

That's not me being critical or negative, that's just the truth. 

It's easy to have dreams and visions for where we want to be and what we want to do. 

What gets tricky, however, is the process and path to actually get there. 

I'm a big believer in this because, like you, I'm on the same journey. The journey of figuring out the process and path to the things that I want. 

My own playing career is a perfect example of this. I knew from a young age that I wanted to play hockey as long as I could, play in college, and possibly beyond. And while I feel fortunate to have played for four years in college, if I'm being completely honest, I didn't have a plan. 

I just knew where I wanted to eventually be but never really mapped out a plan and process for how I was going to get there. 

Like I said earlier, luckily for me it worked out and I eventually worked my way into a great experience. But, if I could go back, I would definitely think about things a little different. 

That's not to say that I have regrets about my hockey career or experiences, but rather, getting older and having a different perspective makes you look at, and appreciate, things a little different. 

One example, would be my offseason training. 

Man, if only I knew then what I know now...

I trained really hard over the summer and in the offseason. Being a smaller guy, I was always trying to get as big as possible. But, if I'm being honest with myself, I had zero plan as to what I was trying to do. There was no method to my training. 

I guess I shouldn't say that there was no method... I trained really hard out of fear. Fear of losing my spot, fear of falling behind, fear of having someone say "sorry you're not good enough anymore and we don't need you." So while fear is an amazing motivator, and I have no regrets about feeling that way, I wish I would have had an actual plan for my training. 

I feel like a lot of players fall into this same trap. You train in the summer because you hear everyone say you need to be training in the summer. Same thing with skating. You skate in the summer because you hear everyone saying that you need to skate in the summer. 

But how much more productive, and valuable to your team, would you be if you had a plan that you were following and understood the purpose behind everything that you were doing? 

I think we all know the answer to that. 

If I could go back, I would have found a trainer that understood me as a player and person and really understood what I needed to work on to help make me the best version of myself. Someone that would have really helped build my foundation as an athlete and hockey player. 

The same thing when it came to on ice training. If I had to do it all over again, I would have skated with a purpose in the summer. My summer skating used to consist of a weekly drop in or adult league game. While fun, it didn't really help me get better and become a more complete player. 

I would have found a skill coach and skated with them instead (or in addition to the summer drop ins). Just working on those simple habits, and focusing on the repetition of handling and shooting the puck would have made a huge difference. 

Like I said earlier, I don't have any regrets. But, with experience and age comes perspective. 

It's also important to remember that we all have different dreams and desires and that's ok. So just because you, or your son or daughter, plays hockey doesn't mean that they should be training like that. We each need to find our own plan and process to help get us to where we want to be. 

The point of this is to not get so wrapped up in the end point that we forget to spend time on the plan to get there. Often times, the actual journey is where we are going to learn and grow the most. Having a plan is also the best way to set yourself up for success. It will help keep you accountable and pushing forward when obstacles come into your path. 

This way of thinking is not only something that we can bring with us to the rink, but, is a great way to think about life in general. Take the things that you want and instead of just hoping you get there, build a plan that ensures you'll make it.

Know your reason why, have a purpose, and work to create a plan to get the things you want. 

Now start planning...

Are You Still Grinding?

It's a simple question, but if I'm a betting man I'm going to say that a lot of you out there haven't asked yourself it yet.

As the season starts to wear down, I think it's always important to take a step back and reflect on how things have gone over the past few months. For most of us, we're getting into the end of the regular season with playoffs (hopefully for most) quickly approaching. 

To many, this becomes the 'grind' part of the season. The point in the year where you almost fall into a routine. You know what to expect from practices and it becomes more of a sense of fine tuning than learning new systems and styles. 

But the truth is, this becomes a dangerous way to think. Becoming satisfied is never a good thing for any competitor. As cliche as it may sound, if you're not pushing yourself to get better everyday, someone else out there is. 

I'm also a firm believer that this is one of the things that separates great teams from good ones. 

Luckily for me, I've been able to be a part of a couple really great teams that have accomplished a lot of amazing things. 

I'll never forgot my second year as a head coach and we were having our last practice of the season before we went to play in the state semifinal game. We were having a typical pregame skate where we'd go through a few flow drills to get our legs going, work on the powerplay...all of those types of things. 

Then about 30 minutes into practice our captain comes over to me while the second powerplay unit was working and said "bag us". It was one of those moments where I was listening to him but was actually watching the other powerplay unit. But, obviously that caught my attention and I turned and looked at him with a bit of a grin. (I mean to be honest, we weren't having a bad practice or anything like that.) And I kind of laughed it off and said what are you talking about. But he was insistent. He said he didn't like the vibe in the locker room before practice and he said that while the practice wasn't bad, it wasn't good enough either. 

I thought about it for a second... nodded my head, blew the whistle, and got everyone on the goal line. 

I went on to 'bag' the boys for the next 5 or 6 minutes.

It not only caught the team off guard and had them questioning what went wrong, but more importantly, it got them out of that stagnant routine and brought that focus to an even higher level. 

Like I said before, we weren't having a bad practice at all. But, the last 20 minutes were unbelievable. The team was passionate, fast, and confident. 

The next night we punched our ticket to the state championship game and then one night later won our first state title in school history. 

It was one of the first times that I had ever been a part of a group that never settled. We weren't satisfied. We all had the mindset of 'just getting there' wasn't good enough. 

Keeping things in perspective, remembering what you're ultimately working for, and reflecting on your own growth are great ways to make sure that you aren't just settling because the season is starting to wind down. 

Players should use this point in the season to do a little reality check. Take a step back and have some perspectiveand remember your 'Why' and what you and your team are ultimately working for. Don't let yourself get stuck in the monotony that lets yourself get stagnant and lose your edge. The players that can do this will be the ones that keep excelling and will be able to play their best hockey in the biggest moments.

Coaches need to be able to have a good pulse on the team and their players all the time, but especially during this time of year. Keep your players on their toes and keep driving home the goals of why you're working on the things you are and what the group is ultimately playing for. It's another great place to stress home the point of treating every day as an opportunity. Like I said above, practices can be stagnant and repetitive (which sometimes is necessary) but make sure that you're continually driving your players to get better everyday.

I'm a complete believer that the players and coaches that can keep this strong mindset are the ones who will be still be standing in the end.

So, naturally that begs the questions...

Are you still grinding everyday? Are you settling and staying inside your comfort zone?

Ask yourself those questions and let me know what you think.

Find The Opportunity

Ever have a tough hockey season?

I know I have. 

I had a few as a player where we only won a few games all season. That was tough. It was tough some days to find the motivation to come to the rink. It was tough during those seasons to stay positive and find the good in the situation. 

So naturally it begs the question of why when things get so tough does it become so easy to turn negative?

I think the answer is actually incredibly simple... it's easy. 

Think about it for a minute, it’s easy to find an excuse and blame someone or something when things aren’t going the way you want.

In hockey, when things are tough for a player it’s easy to blame the coach or your teammates.

In college, I remember thinking to myself at times, "if the coach only gave me more ice time, or if so and so player would work harder and be more committed then we'd win more games, or if the coach would switch the style that we were playing and try something else..."

Looking back at it now, that was trying to take the easy way out.

Luckily for me, I realized at a fairly young age that excuses won't get you very far in life and hockey. If you want things to change you had better be willing to work your way out of it. 

The only real way to make it through a tough season is to commit yourself even more to your cause and continue to scratch and claw until you get back to where you want to be. 

Find the positive in a situation. No matter how small and minuscule it may be, I'm convinced that theres always some sort of positive or learning lesson that can be taken out of every situation. If you start to focus on those instead of the negative, things can start to change. 

For me, one of my turning points came when I started to remember how fortunate I was to be playing NCAA hockey with an awesome group of players and getting a first class education and college experience in the process. When you look at it that way things could have definitely been a lot worse...

For me, the moral of this post is to find the opportunity in every situation. 

That's really something I have tried to embrace the past few years. I feel like every year I get a bit older and the more I realize that we are faced with different opportunities everyday and what we do with those opportunities is what ultimately will develop and define us. 

Everyday hockey presents itself with all sorts of opportunities. If things aren't going the way you want, don't dwell on the negative. Have some perspective and maturity to either find a positive or learn from the obstacles you're facing and commit to becoming better because of them.

As hockey players and people we always have a choice...we can be part of the problem or we can choose to be part of the solution. 

What will you choose?

What Makes A Great Hockey Leader?

Leadership.

It’s a word that gets thrown around and mentioned all the time.

Real leadership is hard to come by and tough to find. But when you do, it’s honestly one of the most amazing things to witness.

It’s probably one of the most common adjectives used in interviews. We’ve all either heard it, or been asked the question, what are some of your best qualities?

I ask my players from time to time what type of qualities they think they have and what they bring to the table. I ask them about it from a hockey standpoint and also from a ‘what type of human being are you’ standpoint.

I commonly get the answer that they are a leader, or they want to become a leader.

I usually follow up that question with a few more, such as: what does being a leader mean to you? and do you know what it means to lead and are you prepared for that amount of work?

Now, I usually get the same response from players that all say that they are indeed ready to take on the workload of being a leader… Talk is one thing, but actions always speak louder.

This isn’t to take anything away from these players as the intention is there. And I respect that they think they want to take that next step.

But real leaders don’t need to think about it, that’s just how they live their lives.  

Leadership can be taught and learned over time but I am a firm believer that leadership is something inside a person that either stays buried, or after time, training, sacrifice, and knowledge decides to show itself.

Everyone has the ability to become a leader, but few will take the necessary steps to actually become a great leader.

So do you think you have what it takes to be a leader?

Accountability, commitment, motivation, understanding, experience, vision, and an unrelenting work ethic are a few of the major characteristics that I believe all great leaders have.

Having a few of those characteristics is great, but real great leaders have nearly all of them.

You may have noticed that I didn’t list talent as a necessary quality to becoming a great leader.

Real leaders are those guys who refuse to miss a workout in the off season, or never skip a rep during the season because they don’t want to let themselves or the team down.

Real leaders push those around them to be better.

Real leaders stay the course when things get tough and push themselves and the rest of the team through those dark moments.

Real leaders are able to put petty issues behind them and unite a group towards a common goal or vision.

Real leaders are those guys that lay it all on the line everyday no matter what. Practice, game, sick, healthy, tired, or weak… they will be relentless in their pursuit of being the best.

Real leaders are those guys that instill confidence in their teammates by just being there.

Plain and simple, real leaders just do the right things. They always look out for others and keep the team and its needs in mind.

Being a real leader is one of the hardest things you can ever learn. It will take you stepping out of your comfort zone and completely committing to something bigger than yourself.

Do you have what it takes?

4 Ways To Know If You Are Coachable

We hear about being coachable all the time as players (and parents). 

The truth is most people want to believe, or tell themselves, that they're coachable. 

But what does it actually mean to be coachable?

Now, while every coach will have a unique interpretation of what that means to them and their coaching style, I want to give you a rundown of what it means to me.

Here are four items that play into my description of being coachable as a player:

1. What kind of attitude do you bring to the rink everyday? I've said it before on here, but your attitude is a great indicator for what state of mind you are in as a player. Are you excited, eager, and happy to be at the rink, or do you give off the feeling of being bored and uninterested? I'm a big believer that energy is infectious. If you're at the rink eager to get on the ice and excited for the opportunity, you (without even knowing it) are showing a coach that you're there ready to work on improving as a player. In other words, you're at the rink for the right reasons. 

2. What kind of teammate are you? This one tends to raise the most questions when I talk to players about being coachable, but I think it's a great indicator. In my eyes, hockey is the ultimate team game. Without teammates, you're nothing as a player. Even Crosby or McDavid couldn't beat a group of 4th liners if they had to play by themselves. I believe that part of being coachable is being engaged with what is going on enough to help make your teammates better. If you show up to practice with a good attitude, it wears off on your teammates. (The same can be said if you show up to the rink with a bad attitude...) If you're a good teammate, and doing your job to learn and run the systems of your team, then you're helping your team improve and continue to move in the right direction. That's being coachable.

3. Can you follow directions? Are you the player that only needs to be told, or shown, something once and then you can put it into action? Or, are you the player that after months of being into the season are still not running the systems correctly and are making the same mistakes over and over? We all have different learning styles and hockey knowledge. To be honest, some players naturally pick up on the nuances of the game quicker than others. And that's ok! But, as a player it's your responsibility to make sure that you're asking questions when you're unsure. Don't just hope and guess and say you understand when you don't. As a coach, most of us appreciate being asked questions of clarification. It shows that you care about what you're doing and that you want to make sure you're doing what's best for your team. 

4. Are you consistent? I talk a lot about consistency on this blog, and for good reason. As a coach, I think it is the most valuable asset any player can have. And that doesn't just mean in games. Are you consistent in practices, workouts, and meetings? There's no better feeling as a coach to know the players that you can count on day in and day out. That doesn't mean that you have the game, or practice, of your life everyday. But, it does mean that your coach can count on you showing up with all the intangibles listed above everyday. To put it simply, consistent players translates to good players and great teams. 

Like I said before, every coach out there might have a slightly different list. But, I think you would be hard pressed to find a coach out there who disagrees with any of the four items listed above. 

And just like nearly everything else we discuss on this blog, the beauty of this list is that it has nothing to do with talent or ability. All four items are in your control as a player. 

Taking care of the things that are in your power to control will take you a long way in your hockey career, and life.