Mental Aspects of Youth Ice Hockey: A Basic Review of Rules and Such

Even when writing about the cognitive development of Peewees, I still forget. That might be a function of my cognitive decline. They are learning so much and trying to assimilate so much, that somethings get lost. My son was talking after practice with his coach. They were discussing icing. Alec was calling for icing during practice, off the coach's stick. Sounds good but it was a power play and the coach was on the penalty kill.

I joined the discussion and added basically he knows what icing is.. "he yells for it all the time watching the Caps games."

He actually didn't know the whole rule. He either forgot or it never really registered. He knew on the power play you should ice the puck and clear the zone. It his mind it was clear the zone. He didn't realize if you fully ice the puck that a penalty wouldn't be called. Maybe that is a function of his team never really fully icing the puck, so he never paid attention to the no icing call. I don't know. His team gets it out of the zone but not always over the opposing goal line. He was essentially trying to ice the puck on his shifts and he would clear the zone, he just never sent it fully down the ice to see the no call.

But after practicing something standard and talking with his coach, he can now improve his game a degree. He no longer has to worry about being called for a penalty during the penalty kill. His words, "well now I can smack it our of there."

It was a good lesson for me to realize that some things get missed.  Basic review of rules and such is a good way to help you child polish up their game.