VISION CAPABILITY AND PASSING IN HOCKEY
PASSING. In our opinion, passing is one of the most underrated of all skills. We firmly believe that passing is among the least emphasized skills, and in reality, is one of the most important. The No. 1 attribute of a great passer is VISION. In our previous article we discussed the critical need for a player to stickhandle with their eyes up. The best players can see the entire “situation” they face. An important factor in assessing a situation in hockey includes the ability to see all teammates and opponents on the ice and how they are moving. We call this “Vision Capability”. The following shows the different levels of situational awareness.
We start with the poor player (or beginner) and progress to the elite player. A poor player can see only 1-2 other players on the ice. The average player sees 3-4, etc.
LEVEL OF PLAYER / VISION CAPABILITY
Poor Player — 1-2 Players
Average Player — 3-4 Players
Good Player — 5-6 Players
Excellent Player — 7-8 Players
Elite Player — 9-10 Players
For a player to be a great playmaker and passer they must first be able to see all available options and obstacles that are presented to them while under duress. Similar to a quarterback in football, the player with the puck on the ice is the quarterback. The player that receives the puck is the next quarterback. We have all seen quarterbacks in the NFL that were drafted very high and never played well. We believe the reason these players never worked out is because they lacked vision and processing speed. The game became too fast for them at the next level.
At Pro Performance Hockey we believe hockey players must be taught how to read the entire “situation” and not just 3 or 4 other players on the ice. If a players vision capability is on the lower end of the scale than they have little chance of success in this game.
PASSING SPEED. It is our opinion that very few players have received the proper training in passing speed. Most players pass the puck entirely too slow. There are certainly times when a pass should have some pace taken off of it but this is the exception and not the rule. Most passes should be very very hard. Using the football analogy again, if a quarterback passes the ball to a receiver slowly the defense has more time to react. If the ball gets there with great velocity the receiver has more space and time to make a play. The same holds true in hockey. A slow pass across the ice allows the defense to take away space which takes away the pass receivers time. In our clinics we tell the passer to “try to knock the stick out of the pass receivers hands”. This assures a strong pass.
PASSING ACCURACY. It goes without saying that it is very important for a pass to be accurate. The fact is that an inaccurate pass causes a multitude of problems. Winning or losing in hockey often comes down to the amount of possessions a team has. The pass that is missed completely is typically a turnover in hockey which allows for another possession by the opposing team. I have personally taken stats in games and tracked the amount of turnovers by a team. It is not uncommon to see over 100 turnovers in a single game. Most of these turnovers can be attributed to poor passing accuracy.
The other most common issue with passing accuracy is the pass that is catchable but not where the receiver needs it. We often see passes that are behind a player, in the players skates, on their backhand when it should have been on the forehand, etc. When a pass is catchable but off target the receiver must now take the time to reposition the puck before they can make a play. Of course this takes time, and as we now know, anything that takes away time takes away space.
The good news about the act of passing in hockey is that you don’t need to be an exceptional athlete to be a great passer. What you do need is the proper training and emphasis on the importance of this skill.
Thank you,
PRO PERFORMANCE HOCKEY STAFF