For coaches to improve players’ scanning, hockey sense and knowledge within the game, it’s important to design practice plans that include game-like situations and decision making. Too many times, drills are used that take away these processing skills to focus on other ones.
“Think about the drills we do. We’ve stripped away all context of the game. Billy is told you skate here and do that – well, there’s no read, no decision, no adjustment,” Martel said. “And then we think that’s preparing them for a game.”
USA Hockey wants coaches to ask themselves, what does that game demand in the moment and does my practice activity have some of that? It is a player’s ability to perceive and be aware that allows them to play.
“They learn with knowledge within by being in the moment and having to perceive and adjust and react and adapt to what’s going on around them. And that’s where the awareness comes in. You only act on the information that you perceive,” Martel said.
For younger players at 12U and under, warmup is a great place to start. Martel give the example of adding in scanning assignments to a chaos puck-handling warmup.
“Maybe it’s everyone is stickhandling around with a puck and I have to keep track of a teammate. So now that teammate is sometimes behind me,” he said. “It’s more opportunity where I have to look up and find something in particular. That might be a situation from an offensive situation where the puck carrier is getting scanning reps.”
Small area games are another place where coaches can help their players developing scanning and hockey sense. USA Hockey has an online book of games with a number of situations that call for scanning, both offensively and defensively, to develop their game within skills.
“For the older players, it’s can I have a puck and can I find someone else up ice? It’s kind of one of those topics of, duh, good players look around more. But then you go watch your players play and they don’t look around,” Martel said.
And even though hockey sense and scanning are part of developing players’ knowledge within, it’s still important to expand their knowledge about (aka hockey IQ), so they understand the objective.
“Talk to them about it… are you seeing? Make it part of what you do.”
