Players need to prepare for the next level ahead of time, so they have the tools necessary to succeed.

Every driven hockey player wants to play at the highest level possible. In order to accomplish that goal, players need to prepare for the next level ahead of time, so they have the tools necessary to succeed.

When boiling down the differences between the lower and higher levels there are three key areas:

1. Physical speed increases: The most obvious, players must get physically stronger. The less obvious is having better technique to extract more speed and power from increased physical strength.
2. Space shrinks: Players are larger, they can cover more ground, and they understand how to close off space better. The mental space/time to think decreases and decisions must be quicker.
3. Better puck management: All players are better at retaining possession and knowing when to takes risks. How players receive pucks also changes drastically the further up the pyramid they play.

While the traditional bigger, faster, stronger holds true, there are technical differences that must be prepared for and are why certain player skill-sets transfer better from level to level up the hockey pyramid.

In this article we are going to dive into all three differences and what that means for players and the type of game they will be asked to play as they increase their level of competition.

1. Physical speed increases

Each player’s physical development is further along. This includes increased strength and conditioning. That fitness and strength leads to greater physical capabilities, whether that be skating speed or ability to use strength in order to win puck battles.

Time away from the rink in the gym becomes a larger and larger factor in enabling players to perform on the rink.

Technique

As players increase their strength and fitness, they need to translate their physical improvement into on-ice performance. Extracting the most from their increased strength comes down to their technique. For example, are they dropping their weight when shooting? Is their runner angles digging into the ice properly?

Poor technique is often easy to spot. A great example is when comparing on-ice to off-ice performance. One season we had a player who was the fastest 40-yard sprint time off the ice, but one of the slowest from goal-line to red-line. This was a huge flag that we needed to work on technique with that player.

By the end of the season he was one of the fastest and understood how to translate his strength into speed.

2. Space shrinks

As the opposition becomes better physically, they can naturally cover more space through their size and speed. The opposition also has a better understanding of how to close off space.

Puck handling and puck protection skills become more and more valuable for players to possess as physical space to execute within becomes smaller and smaller.

Mental space

Mentally, players must process and execute on decisions quicker. They don’t have the mental space/time to think what the possibilities could be. A player’s processing speed because the most critical element of their game. Progressions, ice awareness, and understanding of the opposition’s tendencies must increase to meet the demands of play.

3. Better puck management

How the game is played is drastically different from the lowest levels compared with the highest levels. Players’ fundamental skills are night and day. High-level players can retain possession with ease.

Retaining possession

Puck protection skills of players is better and they are less prone to turning the puck over when pressured. All players are better at retaining possession and knowing when and where to takes risks (ie. puck management).

This ability to retain the puck and minimize easy turnovers leads to much different puck acquisitions.

Gaining possession

The types of puck acquisition change as there are fewer loose pucks and 50/50 pucks available for players to easily recover. Players will find that there are a greater share of pucks acquired off the pass and by intercepting passes.

Players that thrived on picking up loose pucks and pressing the opposition often find themselves struggling to get their puck touches at the next level. Meanwhile, players that are able to think ahead and position themselves well often find the transition much easier.