Shoulder check before retrieving the puck. Find pressure, teammates, and open ice. Check again before you touch it.

Look around before the pass arrives and have an idea of your next play. You can still change your mind.

Find your best play and a backup before you receive the puck.

Study someone you keep facing. Notice a pattern, remember it, then use it later.

Find moments when everyone looks rushed but you actually have time. Use the space.

If the same play keeps failing, change the answer.

Notice something during the game Dad probably cannot see from the stands. Explain it after.

Use your eyes, shoulders, stick, puck position, or speed to make a defender move, then attack the space he leaves.

If you have time, let the opponent commit first. Then use the space his decision creates.

Carry toward a defender on purpose. When he commits to you, move the puck into the space you created.

Slow down, speed up, hesitate, or change direction. Don't attack every defender at one speed.

If nobody challenges you, take the open ice until somebody has to stop you.

Beat the first forechecker with your feet, edges, cutback, the net, a pass, or deception instead of throwing it away.

Before going up the wall, check middle, D partner, reverse, weak side, and carry.

If the right pass is already there, make it before pressure arrives.

If there's open ice, take it. If a teammate is in a better spot, move it.

The instant you win possession, change your thinking from defend to attack.

After a good breakout pass, move your feet immediately. Try to beat an opponent up the ice and become another option.

When your team clearly controls the puck, find safe opportunities to join as the next attacking layer.

Green: we clearly have it. Yellow: puck is uncertain. Red: they have it.

Let defenders follow the first attackers and arrive into the space that opens behind them.

As the play moves to one side, look for open ice or a teammate away from everyone's attention.

Stay close enough to challenge the attacker. Try to stop the rush before it gets deep into your zone.

You don't always need to steal the puck. First take away the dangerous middle.

Turnover? No frustration. Immediately become the hardest player trying to recover possession.

Use position, skating, and your stick to control the attacker's choices instead of chasing the puck.

After every pass, immediately find useful space and become an option again.

Create at least three deliberate give-and-go opportunities.

Create dangerous chances for teammates. They don't have to score for it to count.

Look away from the puck and find the player or space everyone else has forgotten.

Create separation with timing and changes of pace, not only by skating faster.

Pick one teammate before the game. Help that player succeed with good passes, support, communication, and space.

Give useful information before teammates receive the puck: TIME, MAN, MIDDLE, WHEEL, or your team's words.

Instead of only asking how you can score, look for ways to put teammates into dangerous positions.

Don't try to fix every mistake by doing everyone's job. Play correctly, support teammates, and trust them.

Your mistake or a teammate's mistake: no head drop, stick slam, glare, or complaining. Get into the next play.

If the team is struggling, create momentum without trying to score by yourself.

Ignore the scoreboard. Every time you come over the boards, make the next shift good.

When things aren't going well, communicate confidence: We're good. Let's get one. Next shift.

Mistakes happen. Measure the next five seconds, not the mistake.