I've talked with Martin St. Louis, the Canadiens head coach, a few times, and one line stuck with me. He wasn't always the best, he was just great at getting better. Undersized, undrafted, cut along the way, and he kept working on his own game focusing on the process of getting better until he was one of the smartest players in the league.

My first week at the University of Maine, Shawn Walsh sat us down for our freshman meeting and said something I still coach by. You go from a good player to a great player when you start thinking like a coach. He won two national championships, so he knew exactly where that line was.

You will go from a good to a great player when you start thinking like a coach! 

                                        - Shawn Walsh (Legendary Univ. of Maine Head Coach)

Here's the problem. Most players grade themselves by points. Did I score, did I get an assist, did we win. A coach doesn't watch the game that way. A coach watches the decisions, the reads, the plays that never show up on the scoresheet.

That's the gap the Puck Carrier Scorecard closes. It's a free tool that lets a player grade their own game after it's over, every play green, yellow, or red. 

• Green is the right play for the situation, 
• Yellow is ok,
• Red is not ideal, and the target is 80% Greens. 

Up a goal with 40 seconds left?  Chipping it off the glass is a Green nobody stands up for. Forcing a low-percentage pass through the middle in that same moment is a red. When a player can see that difference himself, he stops waiting for you to point it out. He's coaching himself on the bench.

Help Parents and Players with the Car Ride Home

The Scorecard was built for the player, but it turns into the best seat in the house for a parent. A parent grades the game on their phone during the game and they start to see what a right play for the team looks like instead of only watching who scored. Now the car ride home changes. Instead of rehashing the result, a parent can pump up the player by telling them they saw the player Create a Green or bring up another play that happened and work it together...How does this red become a yellow? How does that yellow become a green? and how does a green become a great green? the one nobody saw coming. He's back inside the game, problem solving it...just like a good coach would...instead of reliving the score.

That's the kind of player you want in your room. One who grades the plays, not the points, and comes off a shift already knowing whether that was a green. Your job on the bench turns from correcting to confirming.

Have your players start with the free Puck Carrier Scorecard at hockeyiqprogram.com. Give it a week and listen to the questions they start asking you.

Grade the plays, not the points.

About The Hockey IQ Program

The Hockey IQ Program trains the Head, the fourth H almost nobody coaches. It's 59 short video lessons over about 30 weeks, built around one idea, Create Green, the right play for the situation. Players learn the reads, the roles, and the thought process that decides who keeps advancing when the game speeds up. Coaches get a road map that loads the thinking off the ice, so practice time stays for skating and skills and the whole room is speaking one language by November. Parents get the words to help on the car ride home instead of turning it into a second practice. One plan, $49.99 a month per player, cancel anytime, and when 15 players from one team sign up, that team's coach gets a free license for a year.