How to become a projectable scorer?

Workshop 52

The Hockey Tactics Newsletter is read by a number of high-level players looking to push their game to a higher level.

One of them is Sean Donaldson, a forward with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers who will be joining Cornell University’s NCAA D1 team next season.

As a 20 year old, Sean is currently scoring at an excellent 1.5 points per game pace with the Clippers. However, he will have a tough road ahead when it comes to translating his offensive production to the much tighter-checking college ranks.

Indeed, when looking at Sean’s meager USHL production (one goal & five points in 25 games), we can already see how his playing patterns may not lend themselves to a smooth transition to a higher level of play.

We have time on our side, however, and so it’s time to get to work.

Identifying the Stumbling Block

In terms of offensive projectability, Sean’s biggest weakness is actually his biggest strength.

Sean (in Orange) scores off the rush

Since his minor hockey days, Sean had always been a skilled player relative to his peers. As a result, he has become proficient at using his skating, stickhandling and shooting to create chances immediately following an entry.

Against Ds with poor gap and G with slow reaction times, Sean is highly effective.

Very few forwards make it to the junior, college and pro ranks without a strong rush game.

However, as Sean found out in the USHL, having only a rush game makes a player easy to shut down at higher levels.

Making a Technical Fix

In an effort to becoming a better in-zone scorer at 5v5 and on the power play, Sean invests time perfecting his one-timer.

Sean is physically strong and has good fundamentals, yet he initially struggles to shoot moving pucks.

Sean’s first shot rings off the crossbar, the next two do not get off the ice

One technical flaw I zero in on is how Sean cocks his wrists (thereby pointing his stick blade toward to the ice) as the puck arrives.

This hitch robs him of power, and he has to over-shoot the puck. This is why he can either shoots too high or too low off seemingly the same swing.