Oct 11: Celebrate The Small Victories

Why Small Victories Matter in Hockey

When I was playing, I learned to celebrate the small victories. This is a principle I've applied throughout my entire coaching career. Most players only measure themselves by the scoreboard or their stats at the end of a season. That's a mistake. If you wait that long for validation, you'll spend most of your time feeling stuck. The players who develop fastest are the ones who find fuel in the small wins every single day.

The science backs this up too. Acknowledging small wins sparks the reward circuits of our brains and releases chemicals that give us a feeling of pride and a happiness factor, making us want to go further towards our next achievement. Your journey of achievement is sometimes more important than the end goal. Build the habit of noticing your progress and you build the habit of making progress.

Set Small Goals Every Single Week

Make a list of small short-term goals for the week and celebrate the small victory in achieving each one. Write them down. Putting them on paper makes them real and makes you accountable. At the end of each day, check in with yourself honestly and ask whether you did what you said you were going to do.

Here are the kinds of goals I give my players:

On-Ice Competitive Goals

• ▸Keep track of your one v one battles at practice all week and write down how many you won
  - Make a goal of beating everyone to the puck in practice all week
  - Make a goal of being the first and last one on the ice all week in practice

Tracking your one-on-one battles is one of the most underrated things a young player can do. It forces you to compete with intention instead of just going through the motions. When you start writing down those wins, you also start noticing the habits that lead to them.

Off-Ice Skill Goals

• ▸Make a goal of using your Mr. Assist at home for thirty minutes a day all week
  - Make a goal of shooting 500 shots this week at home

Off-ice training is where most games are won before they even start. Five hundred shots in a week sounds like a lot until you break it down to seventy or eighty a day. That's twenty minutes of focused work. Any player serious about improving can find twenty minutes.

Recovery and Lifestyle Goals

• ▸Make a goal of getting to bed by 9pm every night this week
  - Make a goal of drinking more water this week

I know some players roll their eyes at this stuff. Don't. Sleep and hydration are not soft topics. They directly affect your speed, your decision-making, and your ability to recover between practices. The elite players I've been around understand this. The ones who ignore it wonder why they feel flat on the ice.

Academic Goals

• ▸Make a goal of using your study halls in school wisely and making a big dent in getting homework done in school

Your job as a student athlete is to manage your time better than everyone else. If you can knock out homework during study hall, you protect your evenings for training, sleep, and recovery. That discipline in the classroom carries over to the rink. I've seen it consistently over the years.

See How It Pays Off on Game Day

At the end of the week after doing all of this, see how you play in your game over the weekend. Bet you will have a great game. When you've put in focused, intentional work all week, you step onto that ice with a different kind of confidence. It's not arrogance. It's earned. You know what you did when nobody was watching.

Celebrating little wins is critical to monitoring and tracking incremental accomplishments and achievements as it allows you to notice and pay attention to the present moment. Don't skip that step. After a good week, take a moment to recognize it. Then reset and go do it again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it important to celebrate small wins in hockey?

Because development is a long process and most players quit or plateau when they only chase big results. Small wins give you constant feedback that your work is paying off. They keep you motivated through the grind of a long season, and they reinforce the habits that lead to real improvement over time.

How do I set good weekly goals as a youth hockey player?

Keep them specific and measurable. "Be better at practice" is not a goal. "Win more than half my one-on-one battles this week" is a goal. Write them down at the start of the week, check in with yourself each day, and do an honest review at the end. You should be able to look at each goal and say clearly whether you hit it or not.

My kid doesn't seem motivated to set goals. How do I help them without pushing too hard?

Start small and make it their idea as much as possible. Ask them one thing they want to improve this week, not five things. When they hit that one goal, make sure you recognize it without overdoing it. Players respond to genuine acknowledgment. They shut down when they feel like they're doing it for someone else. Give them ownership of the process and the motivation tends to follow.

Does this goal-setting approach work for players of all ages?

Yes, but the goals should match the age and level. A ten-year-old might focus on simple things like getting to bed on time and working on stickhandling every day. An older player working toward higher levels should be tracking more competitive details like battles won, shot repetitions, and study time managed. The principle is the same at every level. Focus on what you can control today, do it consistently, and celebrate when you deliver.