"Practice the way you want to play."

Who among us is guilty of over-coaching at times?

It’s easy to run the video sessions a couple minutes longer each day. We’ve all jammed one too many concepts into a practice or training camp session. When you place focus on multiple angles, ultimately they all get lost in the haze.

For former Ottawa 67's Head Coach Andre Tourigny, there are a select few key principles that build the foundation of playing the game the right way. Sure, these days hockey players come in all shapes, sizes, and moulds, but ultimately each individual serves a purpose: to help the team find success.

What does that process look like? What does it mean to play the game the right way? Tourigny has brought that philosophy with him to the NHL with the Arizona Coyotes and now the Utah Mammoth.

When Tourigny coached the Ottawa 67’s of the OHL he preached the value of getting the puck back as quickly as possible in order to transition from defence to offence. To do that, players have to win their battles – this is a pillar of playing the right way.

When a player goes into the corner, how often do they come out with the puck?

Playing the right way isn’t easy — if it was, everyone would do it and our game would be boring. For Tourigny, perfecting these concepts starts in practice. Without healthy practice habits, it’s nearly impossible to play the right way for an extended period of time.

And the great news for coaches is that you can teach these habits.

Ultimately it’s up to the player to buy in. And when they do, and they play the right way, everybody wins in the long run. For Tourigny, habits like stopping on pucks are how we hold players accountable. We have to continue hammering away at those habits every day if we want to maintain a consistent work ethic that will ultimately lead to wins. 

Noteworthy Timestamps:

• 0:30 Principles of playing the right way
• 4:10 Winning battles and races
• 6:15 Managing the puck
• 7:35 Creating time and space
• 11:35 Stopping on puck
• 16:25 Stick on puck/angling
• 20:05 Boxing out
• 21:25 Slow down opponent
• 24:05 Goalie presence/shooting mentality
• 29:00 Faceoff ready
• 32:20 Discipline/communication/change up
• 39:00 Summary