The Ride To The Rink: Practice Like You Play

Mike Bonelli [0:08 - 4:26]: So for this week's ride to the rink, I really wanted to talk a little bit to players, specifically about how you practice is how you play. And you've heard that all the time. I'm sure you've heard it from every coach that you've had growing up. I'm sure mom and dad have probably told you this. You know, you've got to practice like you're going to play. And here's really some strategies around why we say that. And then what you can do to put yourself in a position so that people aren't asking you to do this all the time. I think practice is how you play. Philosophy is something that you can control. Sometimes we're in boring practices and flow drill practices and practices that don't inspire you in a game like situation, but this is something you can control totally. And I think looking at a practice and looking at how you approach practice first, just like a game is really starts getting you in the mindset. I talk to my players all the time. To me, a practice warmup and a game warm up are the same thing. A matter of fact, it's probably more important to warm up properly for practice because you're getting that many more reps that much quicker without a lot of rest. Like in a game, at least you get your shift rest here. You're just get. You're going right at it. You're in practice, you're going for the full 60 minutes. This is where you need to prepare the most. So when we talk about how you practice is how you play, how you prepare is how you're going to play. And if you prepare one way for a game and one way for a practice, it's really going to give you a hard time getting ready for the game or getting ready for the practice, depending on what kind of strategies you're using to get ready. So practice like you play, that means get out there, make sure you get your same warm up in, get your routine in, get your opportunity to get some touches, juggling, some stick handling in the hallway, anything like that you can do to prepare yourself for practice the same way as you do a game is going to help you. Now, first, when you get on the ice, when we say practice like you play, don't give up on pucks, don't give up on plays. Play to the whistle. Make sure you're competing against your linemates and your teammates just as hard as you would the competition. That's only going to make them better as well. So if you get a player that's like, hey, this is just practice. Say, listen, I'm trying to get in the lineup. I'm trying to play. I'm trying to get myself ready for a game situation. So make sure you're in a situation where you control your energy, your attitude and the way you're going to practice. Because in your mind you have to think about, I get these x amount of ships shifts in a game. I want to make sure that I'm taking all my shifts in practice and elevating my game so they begin the game becomes much easier. I think you can do a lot of that. Just about your mindset and how you set up for practice. Again, little drills like small area games. You've got a hound, pucks, you've got to be strong on pucks. You have to make sure when you're shooting, you're shooting deliberately. You're thinking about where you want to shoot, when you want to shoot, how you want to shoot. Do all those things in practice because that's what you want to replicate in the game. If you're not going to backcheck in practice ever, it's going to be really hard to turn that on when you need to do that in the game. When you want to have a great shot in front or a little tip in or a redirect or a quick release. If you don't practice that at the same intensity level and with the same timing in practice as you want to in a game, you're not going to be able to get there again. Practicing at the same speed at the same level with the same intensity is going to allow you to be in game shape. And then we don't have to talk about the negatives of how you practice is how you play. If you're a poor practice player, if you don't have a good attitude, if you don't put in a good effort, if you kind of go through the drills and tell your coach, I'm a gamer, coach, I'm a gamer, well, that eventually is going to really manifest itself into a place where you're not going to be able to compete in games. So remember, when you step on the ice, when you step in the rink, prepare like you're going to play a hockey game. Prepare like you're competing. Compare like you're getting ready to play competition. Make that practice, that time you have on the ice, a competitive high intensity and a great attitude hour and you're going to see that replicate itself into the game. Hope that helps and have a great practice.