Welcome to the The Hockey Edge NHL blog. The purpose of this blog is to examine some of the current trends in the NHL. Being a sport psychology consultant, coaching director at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State, and a former hockey director and coach, I plan to focus on the mental game of hockey and why teams are performing or not performing under pressure.
Tonight I'll be particularly interested in the Boston-Montreal rematch after the 8-6 Bruins bloodbath win. I believe there were 13 fighting majors in that game and the goalies also danced. Should be interesting. Will personal revenge rule over discipline. This is obviously a big game for both teams so I would expect cooler heads to prevail.
Also, will be following the Flyers to see if they can end their skid. There was an awesome article written by Dave Lozo at http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=555217 on Pronger's and Richard's reactions to why they are struggling. As good as they are there will be times when they aren't focused or fall into some bad habits. Happens to every great team I can think of; that is why it is so rare that a team accumulates more than 115 points. Tough to keep the focus over an 82 game schedule.
I will begin blogging about the NHL playoffs on April 6. Until then I will be posting information on the mental game of hockey including the Hockey Edge Newsletter.
I vote your first article is how a highly talented team can play below themselves when the talent could and should easily overrun their competitors. The mental structure begins to be nearly equal to the skill and abilities.
ReplyDeleteProven by the recent 4-1 lead loss by the Wings to the 'yotes.