skip navigation

The Hockey Player's Pizza

By Minnesota Hockey, 05/26/15, 9:00AM CDT

Share

When you want to bake a frozen pizza, the directions call for it to be in the oven at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes. You can’t crank up the heat to 600 degrees and cook it for 10 minutes — unless of course, you want to ruin the pizza with a burnt crust and partially frozen layer of cheese.

The same goes for the development of hockey players — it’s something that can’t be rushed. An individual’s progress has to mature in his or her own time.

Often times, it’s easy to get caught up in the story of the prodigy, the youth who was seemingly destined for greatness at a young age. However, there are so very few of these outliers. The child-hockey geniuses are as rare as a 200-level IQ.

“Those guys don’t grow on trees,” Wild defenseman Christian Folin laughed. “There are 23 guys on a team and you’ve got to fill all those spots. Just because you’re not on the first line of the team doesn’t mean you can’t contribute and have a great career.”

Late Blooming and Belief

Folin’s path to the National Hockey League was much more the norm, although unique in its own way. The self-proclaimed “late bloomer” came to North America from Sweden to play junior hockey at 19. After being traded from the Fargo Force of the USHL to the Austin Bruins of the North American Hockey League, only a couple of months into his foray in the States, the Austin team bus picked him up at a gas station with all his gear and a couple of suitcases in tow.     

Playing junior hockey, the big blueliner wasn’t highly recruited and decided on UMass-Lowell, one of the few teams to offer him a scholarship. Regardless, he kept his belief and kept working on his game.

“It was tough, especially when guys around you commit,” Folin said. “You have to rely on yourself and believe in yourself. Even if you commit right away it doesn’t mean you’re going to have a good college career. You can commit late and have a great career. It’s a lot about burying your head and keep on working on your game.”

Trusting the process of development is even more accurate for Squirts, Peewees, 10U, 12U, 14U, etc. who have several more years of critical physical, emotional and cognitive development ahead of them. 

Kids have a tendency to look at the best players at their age level and think they’ll never be that good.  The best thing parents can do is to remind them that every player develops and matures at their own pace. Keep working hard, and most importantly, remember to have fun and enjoy the game at every level.

Be Patient

For a young player with sights on college or professional hockey, it can be difficult to stay patient. Mike Snee, Executive Director of College Hockey Inc., believes it’s crucial for players to understand how much time it can take to develop. Part of his job is to meet with high school, junior and college hockey coaches around the United States in Canada, and they understand better than anyone that it is a process.

“Almost all coaches say to slow things down,” Snee said. “Coaches believe there’s a mindset amongst parents that you need to speed things up. In reality, they should be looking at ways they can slow themselves down and find more time to develop, not less.”

The average age of a college hockey freshman is 20. So, even if a player isn’t getting recruited as a freshman or sophomore in high school, there’s plenty of time to grow.

“Fifteen is a long ways away from 20,” Snee said. “So you have a lot of time to continue to develop until you’re noticed.”

Long-Term Development

Once in college, the development is more profound. More than 73 percent of the 285 former college players in the NHL this season spent at least three years at school, with 40 percent playing four years.  

Folin was 21 in his first year at UMass-Lowell. For Folin, the extra time paid off. The defenseman signed an entry-level contract with the Wild after two years, going from virtual obscurity as a college recruit to the NHL.

“Everyone is in a rush to move forward. It doesn’t hurt to take a few years to settle down; let your body grow, too. I think that was really big for my development,” Folin said. “Going to college late, I had those two years to really get stronger and get myself ready for the next level. You’ve got to have a lot of patience and try not to rush things too much.”

That means there’s no need to rush into year-round hockey or sign up for summer teams. In fact, the break is much needed for recovery, both mentally and physically, from the game we love.

So, before getting caught up in the stories of this summer’s projected top picks in the NHL Entry Draft like Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. Remember the path of guys like Folin, who took a little more time to get cooking.

“The reason Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel are where they are isn’t because of any forced early development. It’s because they are absolute freak athletes, who are so far outliers, you can’t even comprehend it,” Snee said. “There were 900 plus players in the NHL this year. You can count the John Tavares’s and Jonathan Toews’s on yours and my hands combined.

“For every Jonathan Toews there are 10 Christian Folin’s.”

 

 

 

Most Popular