The Crosby Effect It’s Everywhere

The World Juniors were great, NHL is ready to go! – There was definitely some great hockey to watch over the Christmas break. I definitely witnessed the Crosby effect in full swing by many of the junior players.

Now we can gear up for the NHL to begin play. It’s so good to see that hockey is continuing to find a way to exist amongst all the craziness happening around the world.

If you happen to be in an unlucky area where minor hockey has been suspended like myself, maybe this is hope that play will start up again soon!

Off The Ice

Is Single Leg Better Than Bilateral Exercises for Increases in Strength?

Simplifaster

Every athlete regardless of the sport they play needs to improve lower body strength and stability. In the majority of sports like hockey, the athlete performs the majority of movements with a single leg.

The hockey example of this would be the skating stride. This makes Single leg strengthening exercises some of the most beneficial, right up there with core stability and plyos.

“In comparison to bilateral alternatives, single-leg exercises are generally heralded as being more “functional” and specific to sport, safer to perform, and better for injury prevention/reduction (among other benefits)”

You would be wise too add “The Big 3” single leg exercises to your workouts:

Single Leg Dead Lifts
Single Leg Squats
and Skater Squats

Remember regardless of your age, position, or skill level, every player can benefit from adding single leg exercises to their routine.

The Mind Game

Playing with Confidence

The Hockey Writers

Doubt, fear, feelings of being inferior, are just some examples of emotions that run through a hockey players mind when then step on the ice.

Improving one’s confidence can have a tremendous positive impact on a players mental toughness and can help them take their game to new heights!

How does a player gain this confidence:

Previous success
Preperation
Self-Talk
Imagery
Our ability to manage and understand our emotions.
Talk and encouragement from trusted teammates, coaches, and others in the hockey world.

We must be able to use experiences from our past and focus on what we can control if we want to play hockey at the higher levels.

On The Ice

The Crosby Effect At Work

National Post

There was definitely some great hockey to watch over the Christmas break. It was also good to see the organizers were able to get all the games in and no Covid issues other then during the initial week with Germany. The States really showed up against Canada in the final as well!

A couple things I noticed while watching the junior games was some of the individual skills that the majority of players from all teams possessed. The first skill was the ability to open up their hips in a “Crosby” while controlling the puck and assessing the situation. The Crosby is performed by a player opening up their hips, so that both feet are pointing in the opposite direction. This allowed the players to protect the puck and either look for a teammate to pass too or keep possession and attack the seam
in the Ozone.

The second skill another one attributed to Crosby was a ton of Crosby Curls which were performed after entering the opponents end. The Crosby Curl is performed by curling towards the boards sharply to protect the puck and then opening up to see the ice and potentially buy time until help arrives while maintaining possession of the puck.

I found both these skills were utilized by all teams as a way to maintain possession for as long as possible, which seems to be the philosophy of most higher level teams. The name of the game is puck possession.

These are definitely two skills that I would be emphasizing for all young hockey players!

Power Play

Bodyweight Exercises – The perfect way to improve hockey performance off the ice and when training facilities are at a premium.

Ultimate Hockey Domination – The perfectly designed hockey training program from one of the best strength and conditioning coaches in North America.

*This is sponsored advertising content.

Snap Shots

If you are always hitting the tendy in the chest in close, try this drill.
A true Canadian or northern State American watching the game in style!
Kessel taking full advantage of the flex.

Words of Wisdom

“If you make the effort to do the best of which you’re capable, I think that’s success.”

Coach John Wooden

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