HabsCast Hockey Blog

As many players say, you have to take any chance you have. Jani Kiviharju (a retired player who has been 5 times in the finals of the Finnish Elite League) had a good way to describe the importance of determination in an interview of the Finnish hockey magazine, Jääkiekkolehti;

“If you avoid the play once or don’t dare to go get the puck, any opponent will then know that’ he is a coward’. You can’t think about whether you dare or not to make the play. You just have to go to the corner under that crosscheck if you have to, even if it hurts. Same thing for the goal, somebody has to go there….”

Many coaches in Finland stress that “players have to lead by example” in order to make a change in the game. There are different types of leaders, as Mr. Westerlund states:

“There are some players that lead by example, some that are leaders during practices, there are the players that lead the team in the changing rooms and there are the leaders during the games. Saku Koivu has been a good leader not only leading by example but leading in all the areas. That’s why he has been the captain of Team Finland for a while…Jere Lehtinen and Teppo Numminen are other examples of players that have a good leadership”

Veterans use their experience to react to any sudden situations and new players have to use their desire to play. However, this desire is not enough,…you have to prove yourself worthy of playing more minutes in the game. Young players and veteran players have to have a good communication between each other. The trust within then team has to be over 100% for it to succeed. For the coming World Championship in Moscow, Westerlund will group:

“A team that will be hard-working, disciplined and have mentally strong players. The team has to mentally strong…”

With this team, he will hope to go as far as possible in the World Championships. Many experts say that the best leadership is the leadership that gives good results. The captain or any player has to be able to resist to the pressure caused by many factors in or out the rink (the media, fans, expectations of the coach, relatives…). All emotions disturbing the concentration have to be held in control. The emotions like confusion and feeling pressure should be minimized and the playing capacity maximized. Of course, pressure will be always present in the life of a professional athlete, so it’s a condition like another which the athlete has to adapt to.

“Depending on the personality of the individual players, each of them has developed his own way to react to pressure. Players usually decide to react by themselves on the ice during the game when a play is about to be done. The player who has the puck in defence leads the defence. The player who has the puck going on offence leads the team on offence.” (Erkka Westerlund)

Mental training has become more and more popular in Europe in professional sport and in Ice Hockey specifically. Many coaches and players have taken a mentor for themselves. Jörgen Jönssön have hired a specialist with whom he has attempted to get back the desire and interest in hockey he had before in his younger days. There are still people being sceptic mental training, but you cannot ignore the importance of maintaining your concentration when you are going to make a crucial move that might change everything in the game.

“In Finland we have the tradition to motivate the players, putting them into a positive way of thinking before the games. This is done in order to make players improve and be ready. We do this more in practices than we do in games. In other countries, there are probably different strategies. In North America, players are sometimes lowered psychologically in order to motivate them. This is mostly done during the games.”

There are many different ways to prepare oneself mentally. Of course, mental training should not go to the state of ridicule where players all lie down on the floor listening to the sound of waves before a match. The mental training cannot succeed if the players do not believe it is helpful. Mental training does not work with everybody but is rather individual. The most important is that the players have a common target before they enter the playoffs or any tournament, attempting to give their maximum. Westerlund concludes:

“Players have different ways to train themselves. In order to succeed, they have to force themselves and take responsibility on their own preparations for the coming challenges”

Leadership will always be a needed factor in any team-sport, especially in Ice Hockey where leaders keep the team together, making it play at its maximum. Creating and increasing mental strength of the team is something the coaches are looking during any tournament and very often it happens that the team develops this strength itself. The team that is able to find the spirit to fight very often succeeds beyond the wildest expectations. This spirit is something that any coach is looking for and when suddenly it appears he tries to enforce it and keep it ongoing during the whole tournament. The ability to lead the team in this kind of situations makes the difference between coaches.

Mental training using external people is one of the means that is now making inroads to Ice Hockey. It remains to be seen if it really is something that makes the difference….

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