Control What You Can Control

Control What You Can Control

There are always things outside your control in hockey. The coach's decisions. The scout who didn't show up. The ice time you didn't get. You can drive yourself crazy focusing on all of it, or you can lock in on what you actually own. Your habits. Your preparation. Your attitude. That's where players separate themselves.

Train at Home Every Day

Stickhandling at home, shooting at home, strength and conditioning at home, strengthening your core at home. You don't need a rink to get better. The players who make it are the ones who find a way to work when nobody is watching and nobody is telling them to. A shooting pad in the garage and a roll of tape costs almost nothing. The work you put in there shows up on the ice in ways that are hard to explain until you've done it.

Build Your Hockey IQ Off the Ice

Study your favorite NHL and college players on online platforms and televised games. Learn from them. Watching them is improving your own hockey IQ. Pay attention to their positioning, their decisions before they get the puck, the way they move without it. Most young players watch highlights. The serious ones watch the full game and notice what's happening away from the play.

Take Care of Your Body Like It's Your Job

Prioritize sleep, hydrate, and pay more attention to your nutrition as athletic fuel for your body. This isn't soft advice. This is the stuff that keeps you sharp in the third period when everyone else is fading. A tired, dehydrated athlete makes bad decisions. You can out-skill somebody at practice and still lose to them in a game if they're better conditioned and better rested.

Build an Outdoor Rink If You Can

Ask your parents if you can build an outdoor rink, even a small one, at home. You can go to Home Depot and buy the supplies or order a rink kit online and build one together over the holiday break. Some of the best stickhandlers and puck handlers in the game grew up skating in their backyard every chance they got. Extra reps on your own time, at your own pace, build a comfort with the puck that you just can't replicate in a structured practice. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to exist.

If You're in Your Recruiting Years

If you are in your recruiting years, reach out to coaches and people you trust for help. Many times the right people advocating on behalf of your player will be the difference maker. He or she has already done their job, for many years. The player can't always do this part alone, and there's no shame in that. Coaches talk to each other. A respected voice calling on your behalf carries weight that a highlight reel alone cannot.

My Story with the Penguins

When I made the Penguins, I was in my tenth year pro. It was the first time in my life I was invited to training camp without a contract. I attended their rookie camp with eighteen year olds. Think about that for a second. Ten years into a professional career and I was starting from scratch, competing against kids who were just getting started. Hockey is humbling for all of us at times. It builds character and armor, makes you hungrier and grittier. A better player. I never would have gotten that opportunity if I had stopped working during the hard stretches.

The Hockey Community Looks Out for Its Own

One thing for sure is that the hockey community is tight and we are all willing to help each other. If you put in the work and carry yourself the right way, people notice. The game has a long memory for both the players who gave everything and the ones who didn't. Build relationships. Be someone worth advocating for.

--

Frequently Asked Questions

What can a hockey player actually control during the off-season?

You control your habits and nothing else. Skill work at home, conditioning, sleep, nutrition, film study, and the effort you bring every single day. That's a long list when you write it out. Players who stay focused on those things come back to the ice sharper than the ones who went dormant and waited for the season to start.

How should parents help with the recruiting process?

Get informed and get involved early. Reach out to coaches, connect with people who know the hockey world, and don't be afraid to ask for guidance from someone who has been through it. The player has spent years putting in the work. The recruiting piece is a different skill set, and it's okay to lean on people who understand that process. Your job is to make sure the right people know your player exists.

Is it worth building a backyard rink for youth hockey development?

If you have the space and the climate for it, absolutely worth it. The extra ice time you get on your own terms, working on what you want to work on, adds up over a season. It also changes your relationship with skating. It stops being something you do at scheduled practices and becomes something you do because you want to. That shift in mindset matters more than the ice itself.

How do you handle the mental side of setbacks in hockey?

You acknowledge it and you move forward. Every player at every level has been cut, passed over, or told they weren't good enough at some point. What separates the ones who make it is a short memory for the setback and a long memory for the work. You don't have to pretend it doesn't hurt. You just can't let it stop you.