10 Mental Toughness Strategies Every Hockey Player Should Know

Want to develop your hockey mental toughness? Then you are ready to take your game to the next level. 

While many players think mental toughness is something you are born with; this is not completely true. Yes, some players are more mentally tough just by their nature, but most develop their toughness over seasons of hockey. Mental toughness can be developed through your experiences. Furthermore, it can be learned by systematically training your mind to handle the pressures of hockey. 

What you need to know is that mental toughness is not a cure-all and is something you work on all the time. You do not master mental toughness and then never have to use mental skills again. Like communication, mental toughness is something to be mastered and continually worked on.

As I work with elite hockey players I am realizing that there are 10 keys every hockey player needs to know related to the mental game of hockey that are not talked about enough or at all. These skills or strategies you should use the rest of your hockey career.

1. Have a mental game plan
2. Avoid dwelling on guilt and embarrassment
3. Avoid negative outbursts just to save your pride
4. Venting is important, but do it in a positive way
5. You are not perfect; it’s about the bounce back
6. Before big games break a good sweat in warm ups
7. Set process goals for games
8. Train to play your game under pressure
9. Recovering your energy is as important as training the body
10. Develop mental weapons

Over the next five weeks I will post each one of these skills and provide details on how to develop it. Come back to the hockey edge blog to read some of the most important mental toughness strategies you will ever learn, and probably will not learn just by experience.

How to Make Certain Your Mental Training Program is Successful

As we watch high school hockey playoffs finish up, as well as clubs beginning to wind down their season, we see many instances where the brain is the biggest difference between winning and losing.

Even in the NHL you see how the mental game makes a huge difference as teams try to keep a playoff spot or get into position.

As a coach this may have you thinking about working with a sport psychology consultant. If so, good for you. Be mindful that it should be based on the benefit you think your team can derive from it based on their level of skill, age, and experience. However, what I have learned from years of working in sport psychology is that the mental skills and attributes that are taught can be beneficial to children or adults, to novices or experts, and to rookies and veterans. The key is how you approach it.

Dr. Sean McCann of the United States Olympic Committee's Sport Psychology Division has listed out 10 very important principles for successful mental training.

"USOC Sport Psychology's 'Top Ten' Guiding Principles for Mental Training"
By Sean McCann, USOC Sport Psychologist (Excerpt from Olympic Coach Magazine, Fall 2007)

Review these principles if you are thinking about bringing in sport psychology consultant. Your team will benefit from taking an appropriate approach to the mental game.