It's one thing to perform a skill during practice. It's another to do it in a game.

There’s a lot that goes into becoming a skilled hockey player.

It’s one thing to perfect a move in practice, it’s another thing to be able to do it in a game.

Speaking at our Virtual Hockey Summit in September, longtime Vancouver Canucks skills coach Glenn Carnegie shared some insight into what goes into perfecting a skill, and then making it game-ready.

For Carnegie, a game-ready skill can be defined as being able to perform skills unconsciously in a game environment.

“That could be the difference between NHL and AHL,” Carnegie said.

The process begins with analyzing the skill, and breaking it down into parts.

“I want them to see what’s involved, and break it down into simple skills,” he said.

From there, it’s all about practice and repetitions, with the coach providing feedback to master the simple skills. Once that is achieved, players should link the simple skills together, before increasing speed and resistance to simulate a game environment.

“When we’ve done all those steps, there’s a good chance we’ll have developed those skills to be game-ready,” said Carnegie. “If we skip steps and cut corners, it’s going to catch up to you at one point. We really need to hammer home the fundamentals of skills.

“When you do that, then you’re going to have the ability to be creative on the ice.”