The Ride to The Rink: Scott Howes on Hockey IQ, Video Review & Smarter Hockey Habits

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Hello, hockey skaters and goalies around the world, and welcome to another edition of The Ride to the Rink. It's Lee Christie and Mike with you with our friend Scott Howes here. Uh Scott does a lot in hockey. He played pro hockey. He's a playoff MVP. He had one of the greatest uh or part of one of the greatest goals in history. You guys watch our channel this week, we'll share that, but make sure the highlights are not the only thing that you watch. Make sure you watch this whole episode. Uh, he's also a youth coach today, hockey person, hockey life. Uh, and he has some great knowledge that he dropped on our big episode this week. So, kids, it's actually one I'm going to recommend you if you have the time to listen to that. But it's the ride to the rank. You've only got a short amount of time. So, I'm going to throw it to my friend Christy to start the question.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Scott, thank you for joining us. We got a lot of really good, hardworking kids listening right now, and they all want to get better. Um, and you're such a great example of how far you can take hockey. What do you think is a good habit kids should start right now if they if they want to improve their hockey skills?

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Uh Christian, I think that it's it's the the biggest thing for me is that we touched on it earlier. We let's get them watching the game. Let's get them watching the game and understanding the hockey IQ piece, uh, the extra skill training, the extra skates, the extra uh time in the ice. It it's beneficial, sure, but something that's that's cost effective and something that's again, it costs you time. Watch the game. Don't watch the highlights, as Lee, you kind of said on your uh our little intro there. I let's not watch highlights. Let's make sure we're watching the game itself. Pick a player out that you like and watch away. And again, I think that'll help tremendously on the way the game kind of goes and the way that you're able to envision things and sort of read and react rather than just kind of reacting to things. You know, you'll be able to kind of see things come come to itself.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

You know, Scott, you know, one of the one of the famous watching the game uh stories probably is like Wayne Greske, right? And talking about how he would just like draw where the puck was gonna go. And and and and can you talk a little bit about just not and you just you know hit on the fact don't just watch the highlights, but watch the game and maybe what are some strategies you would give a 12-year-old to say, well, watch the game and then like maybe take some notes or maybe take even if it's just mental, like figure out like why is the player going here when and why, right? And I think that's like just not just watching the game, but watching it with deliberate, you know, intentions to kind of come could to kind of help yourself understand, you know, why those high-level players are doing what they're doing.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Yeah, uh Mike, I I think I would I would again the drawing of Wayne Gretzky, yes, you could you can outline different things. It's he was uh ahead of everybody else for sure in the the hockey IQ aspect and the way he did things, he simplified it. One thing that stands out that he said earlier on was he broke everything down on the offensive side into two-on-ones. So again, that's one thing to do. If you're looking at the game or you're watching a game, break everything down into two-on-one offensively, right? You're looking for your player, you're looking for support. If your player has the puck, get over and get into an area where you can kind of get the puck back. Um, but one thing, if we want to take it a step further, watching the game, and it's sometimes it's hard to pick out one player. Like again, the NHL games or W or uh the PWHL games, they're they're fast, it's hard to find one player. We talk like maybe go watch yourself, have your parent break down a shift. And if you're watching yourself, you can remember what you were thinking, right? You can remember on, you know, why did I do this? What did I do? And it's a little bit easier, and it might trigger a little bit more of that mindset of why, how, when, where, um, what else did I see? What were my other options? Um, I think, and it's it's your speed, it's rather than watching a you know the NHL and professional levels, it's a little bit farther advanced. So I think that watching yourself and your teammates even it'd be a little bit easier to dissect and realize that you're not you're not far off from these decisions. Um, so the more you break your own video down, the better it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Yeah, and I'll add in here too like look, kids, it's not wrong for you to want to go to your video and watch your goal or watch your big play. I'm not against that. If it's gonna build your confidence to see the great play that you made, go watch that play. But you you gotta watch more than just that. So if you're gonna take the time to go access your own video, right, and watch your highlights, that's fine. Watch some of the the rest of the game too. I I one of my favorite phrases, kids, and I and I coach this is great questions demand great answers. Okay, and that's look for me as a podcast host, like we try and create really great questions in our episodes because we know it's going to create good answers, right? So I think another thing, and Scott, I want your thoughts on this too, is when you're going to watch this video, come away with some great questions that you can ask your coach, or if you've got a hockey player in the family, you can ask them too, right? And and the questions don't just have to be about the decisions you made. You should also maybe be watching your teammates, the opponent, seeing the flow of the game. You can learn a tremendous amount from the 360 view of the game, as much as just hyper-focusing on yourself. There's a lot of decisions made, probably more importantly, not made in the game that you'll be able to see. So, Scott, my question to you is, you know, what should kids be looking for in their own highlights? And then maybe we can like talk about some more. What are those great questions, right?

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Yeah, highlights. I again, we the end piece, the end goal is is your goal, right? It's the goal score. Whether it's a teammate, whether it's yourself, that's the end. But usually there's something I'm gonna say, usually 95% of the time, it is something that led up to that goal, you know. So let's look at the the three or four things that contributed to the goal. Maybe it's a and you can look on both sides, maybe it's a turnover puck on on the the defensive team, stripped it, and that that's what did it, and maybe the the place of the turnover, that's something we want to look at. Maybe it's a little bit more dangerous, let's not do things there, or let's not and off the offensive side is where and how did we we get there? Was it a block shot? Was there something else that kind of came out? Was it a a simple chip puck? Was it a good outlet pass? Like there's there's lots. So again, the the end result is always the thing that most will focus on. Take that out, go back about three or four steps and see how did we get there? I can almost guarantee that the paths go to the guy that scored the goal or the or the girl that scored the goal. Let's make sure that you're understanding how and what. Was it a big save? Maybe your goalie stood in his head and and made a big save and kicked out or played it, or was it a defensive with a good outlet pass? There's so much more to it. And I think if we take two, three steps back, four steps back, you're gonna be in such a better spot on understanding how little those things are, but how big they are, right? Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Yeah, I'll say too, you know, I I I had some great coaches growing up that really showed me what you're talking about, like the the three to four steps before a goal. And for the kids listening, if you can start to see those trends and start to understand what especially the other positions and the other players on your team and the other team are doing, you're gonna start to develop some pretty important skills. And I I remember my coaches saying, look for this play in our defensive zone, because it's gonna result in an offensive play. The awareness of that kids was huge to me, right? Not just the oh, I gotta get it running and gun, get to the other end. Like that, that is not hockey, right? I mean, and if you're really young and you're doing that, hey, good for you, don't get me wrong, right? That you're gonna have end-end plays every once in a while, especially if you're an offensive player, but that's not the game, it's not like how the game plays. All right, so so Scott, just fantastic advice on you know how to look for things, what to look for. And and kids, we always say, look, you have access to videos. Trust me, even if your parents didn't tell you, they have access to your videos. You you you you can find them, okay. But kids, at the end of the day, it it should be coming from you, not from your parents, right? If you're interested, again, if you're listening to this show, you're interested, if you're interested in becoming a better player, you know, watch your video. Maybe watch it alone. And if you've got someone in your house or you got a coach that can really help you, create some great questions. Hey, coach, what should I do here? Or hey, coach, I didn't understand why this player made this play. Learn. That is such a good key, right? Scott, any any uh final thoughts for the kids before we close this out?

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Have fun, work, it's not a job yet. So when you're on the way to the lake, again, you're it's it's a it's supposed to be your safe, your safe haven, you're supposed to be able to just be yourself, enjoy it. It it goes by fast, and uh yeah, the the amount of time that I wish I would still get my skates on and you know playing for a meaningful, you know, uh January hockey game, let's say, in you know, the the middle of the season, I I miss it. So enjoy it, have fun, and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

I love it, and I'll say this too, kids. We've had a lot of guests over the last six years, and they have all said just that. Make sure you're having fun and enjoying your time out there because if you're not, we're not doing this right. All right, kids. Listen, we're wishing you the best. Remember, wherever you're at on your hockey journey, we believe in you. You should too. Have fun, skate hard, go learn something. We'll see you on the next drive to the ring.