Just as we must learn 5 years in elementary, and 7 years in secondary school to be prepared for post-secondary education, so too is Hockey Development. There is simply NO "Magic Bullet" or "Quick Fix" in true Hockey Development, Preparation for Try-outs, and/or Conditioning Training, but there is in attaining "bad habits and attitudes". It is essential to develop a player in hockey, as in life, to achieve short term success but LONG TERM goals. This simply takes as long as it takes.

Hockey Players must be able to "multi-task" more, and at higher speeds, than in any other team sport. It is therefore IMPERATIVE that the Learning Curve start early and proper. The execution of each individual component of each Individual Skill must be taught, demonstrated and explained properly, to be able to combine them in learning the Team Skills needed to play the very complex and highly difficult "Multi-tasking" sport of Hockey. This must be done through "muscle memory".

Muscle Memory training, contrary to popular belief, can be done improperly and actually be counter productive in attaining "good habits". It is a proven fact that people, especially children, can only concentrate and perform at maximum capacity in learning environments, for short amounts of time. Therefore, doing a component or Individual hockey skill repeatedly for an extended period of time is counter active to producing "good habits" since it is impossible to execute a skill properly with 100% concentration and effort over that time. The player’s body and mind will automatically shut down, become lazy and learn to "cheat" in order to accomplish the goal of "finishing the drill". This "shut down" mode is devastating to muscle memory training since the majority of the skill training time, goes to reinforcing "cheating" or "bad habits" in executing a skill. In other words, PROPERLY executing a component or Skill for 5 minutes with proper work to rest ratio, and reinforcing it alone or through multi-tasking of skill sets weekly, monthly and yearly, is simply more effective than wasting 20 minutes doing the same skill everyday. Thus, having the last 15 minutes of less than 100% proper execution, concentration and energy override any "good habits" obtained in the first 5 minutes.

Playing the Game constantly and regularly whether on the road, pond or in the rink is absolutely imperative. A Hockey Players brain is like a data/memory bank on a computer. In order to access any information on the computer data bank, you must first collect and insert this information into it. The same holds true for a Hockey Player, and although training sessions are designed with "Game like Situations", it is impossible in a practice to create the unpredictability, intensity, drama, excitement or situation variations that are all part of the experience of an actual game. This game "experience" combined with practice sessions, of the constant changing situations and opponent variations, is the Data from which the Player can draw from. This Data though, must first be inserted. When asked the question of what made Gretzky so good, if not the best ever, the very highly respected GM of the New Jersey Devils, Lou Lamouirello, said ..." he wasn't the fastest skater, didn't have the hardest shot, wasn't the biggest or toughest player, BUT he, better than anyone else, almost always made the right decision in a split second". Choosing the right options/decisions in a split second, comes from drawing on the Data in a players memory bank to first recognize the situation and options, compute what the outcome would/could be for each option, and finally executing the option chosen. It is probably the toughest thing to learn/do as a player, and most people categorize it as "God given Hockey Talent/Sense". No doubt some players are "blessed" with maybe more athleticism than others, but these "Decision Making" Skills can be trained and improved on through "Chaos" Drills which force the player to think and react. He will make wrong decisions in practices and games, which will be filed away in his memory bank until a similar situation arises, and then he will be better equipped and prepared to handle the task of making the right one, eventually.

Synthetic Ice utilization is, in my opinion, an imperative "tool" which must be used in order to better utilize the scarce and expensive "Real" Ice. The "Friction Factor" itself, delivers unquestionably better and quicker Conditioning and Skating Technique results, and allows the overall learning curve to be accelerated. It allows a player to train any and all Hockey Skills multi-dimensionally with the ability to be on their skates, wear full gear, create "Game Like" situations and Skills Training, and do everything the same as "Real" Ice, but with the constant conditioning element built in. It allows a player/team to learn proper individual skill execution, in a normal, full equipment hockey playing environment, which enables all "Real" Ice sessions to be utilized for all important "Team Skill" development i.e. timing, flow, systems, tactics, 1-1/2-1/3-2 odd man rushes/execution, all zone face-off and coverage positioning etc. Synthetic Ice is simply the most inexpensive way to obtain the much needed supplementary multi-dimensional training that is required to accelerate the Learning Curve of a young hockey player.

"No Player is bigger than the Team" whether in Hockey or in Life. Players must learn this, the earlier the better, in order to function effectively in a team environment. Those who do, wear the "C" in hockey, and in life.

Although doing "something" is important, it is much more crucial in young development, to do the "RIGHT THING".