A Puckhandler’s Field of Vision
Q: Megan B. thanks the old coach for answering her previous question (but hey, that’s what I’m here for). Then she goes on, “I’m wondering now about how to develop better vision on the ice when I’m handling the puck… I tend to get tunnel vision when I try to break the puck out of the zone, which — frankly — drives me, my coaches, and my teammates nuts. The problem only shows up when I have the puck on my stick. Otherwise I play quite well… There’s just something about the puck that narrows my field of vision. Advice?
A: Actually, Megan, you can put yourself in with countless other players I see in my rink travels, including guys playing at some fairly high levels. What I’m talking about are players who can skate like the wind and play good defense, but their game slows almost to a halt once they have a puck on their stick.
Now, I’m going to once again refer to my Building Blocks view of offensive skills, suggesting that puckhandling is the Number Two skill, right after skating. For, how else can a puckcarrier control that little black thing and at the same time scan the ice for enemy checkers and open teammates?
Next, this brief aside… To begin, try to remember your first time driving a car. In all likelihood your hands were squeezing the juice out of the steering wheel, your eyes were glued straight ahead, and your body was so rigid you could hardly stand it. Remember too, trying to recall where everything was — I mean the brake, the turn signal switch, the…? (Got you giggling, Megan?) Next, fast-forward to today… For, you likely tune your radio, check your hair in the mirror, take a sip of coffee and fish for something in your briefcase or pocketbook without even thinking about driving the car. Why so? It’s because you’ve driven a car so many times that the movements and reactions are almost on automatic — they’ve almost become involuntary movements akin to breathing.
Of course, you’ve probably already guessed where I’m going with this… For, right now I’m suggesting that you’re puckhandling skills are pretty close to where you were as a rookie driver. Chances are your puck movements aren’t anywhere near involuntary status yet; in fact, my guess is that you have to look down at the puck a lot, and you probably panic a bit as soon as a rival checker comes your way.
Okay, so how do we fix all that? For sure, experience with the puck is going to solve a lot of your problems — just like experience behind the wheel ultimately helped with your driving skills. Better yet, the Incredible Stickhandling course is aimed at taking you from beginner to advanced over the summer months (so that you’ll be more than comfortable with a puck next fall). I suspect that course will be fun for you (as it should be). And trust The Old Coach by doing things his way, like not rushing to get through the exercises. Then, there is ultimately going to be a series of exercises in that course that are going to deal specifically with the vision issue. (They’re so easy a lot of folks are going to wonder why they hadn’t thought of them!)
Honest to goodness, that course will solve anyone’s puckhandling problems. It’s likely to make a patient follower extremely strong with the puck, and it’s surely going to make fall’s games more fun. (I promise, Megan!)
