Deception in Hockey

Most of the time, when you hear the word “deception,” it’s related to something bad. In hockey, however, it’s a very good and even necessary thing, including for young players.

Deception is the art of making an opponent think that a player is going to make a move that he is not. This can easily throw the opponent off his game and set the deceptive player up for success.

As such, this is an important skill to develop,and it’s important to start developing it early.Kids who practice deception in hockey and who become good at it often grow up to become amazing offensive players, which is why it’s wise to start teaching this to your players now.

Try Puck Touches

One way to help young hockey players develop their deception skills is through puck touches. Set up forechecks with your players and also have them practice real, live play with the pucks available. This will teach young players a lot about the art of deception.

One good technique to try is to ask each player to use one act of deception on the ice while playing a game. Then, check in with your players and see who noticed whose deceptions,who got fooled by them, and what they learned. This is a great exercise to teach deception and its importance.

Drills and Games

Just as puck touches are a good drill for teaching deception, really any drill or game that involves real puck handling can be useful for teaching deception. Remember, too, that the more practice kids can get with the puck, the better they will get at deception and at puck handling in general, which is truly a fundamental and necessary skill.

So, even if you feel like you’re spending too much time on these types of drills and games, you really can’t overdo them!

Remember, It’s All a Learning Experience

As young hockey players learn and practice the art of deception, they are undoubtedly going to make some mistakes here and there. That’s okay and is to be expected. Don’t get angry with players when they try something new and fail. Instead, talk to them about what did and didn’t work with their strategy and use it as a learning experience.

After all, that is what hockey is all about!