Though often highest on coaches and scouts lists of desirable attributes, hockey sense remains a bit of an enigma.

It’s loosely defined and viewed as something that a player possesses or lacks.

However, hockey sense can be trained and a couple of successful Minnesota programs are leading the way.

Tom Vannelli has coached at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights for over 10 years. During this time the school has become one of the winningest in the state of Minnesota, and has had over 20 players go on to NCAA Division 1 programs. The former Minnesota Gophers player, who was schooled under the tutelage of the legendary Herb Brooks, knows a thing or two about hockey sense.

“Success in hockey is so tied to the mental side of the game,” says Vannelli. “Hockey sense is as important as any game specific skill or physical attribute.”

This year Vannelli and his team trying out a new program to help hone hockey sense, called Hockey IntelliGym.

With direction and oversight by USA Hockey, Hockey IntelliGym was created with the purpose of 'Training the Brain' for the entire athlete on and off the ice. The Hockey IntelliGym is a software-based cognitive training program designed to improve a player’s hockey sense while improving attention allocation and processing information more efficiently.

USA Hockey has had great success with the program since introducing it to the National Team Development Program (NTDP) in 2009. The team has medalled in 23 of the last 24 international tournaments, winning 16 gold medals, including six IIHF U18 World Championship titles since they began using IntelliGym.

“We’re always looking for an edge at St Thomas,”  says Vannelli. “One of the things we think IntelliGym will do is make our guys students of the game.”

Over in Chaska, MN, younger players at the Breakaway Academy are also using IntelliGym to hone the mental side of their games. The program works with kids between the fifth and eighth grade.

“We’re big on continuous improvement and are always on the lookout for ways to make our kids better players and better people. These are core values of our program and we see IntelliGym as a tool that reflects this ethos.” says Andy Brink, who founded the academy alongside former NHLer and current Chaska High School coach Dave Snuggerud.

“We believe you can teach hockey sense and that it is the key attribute in a player,” continued Brink.

Brink also underlined the fact that IntelliGym’s interface was very much in line with today’s youth, “It’s not that time consuming, and let’s face it, kids nowadays enjoy technology. So for them to do two sessions a week of 30 minutes is not a lot to ask for.”