While this is a special shout out to all goalies, the same principle applies to all players.

Between Period Snacks Hockey Parents Swear By: The Tip From the Book

Face-offs demand reaction speed and focus. Low energy = slower reactions.

This is different from the full pre-game meal in Part 1. That meal builds the tank. This is the top-up: a small, fast-digesting carb hit right before the game or between periods that keeps the tank from running empty in the third, when the game is usually decided. For a goalie, who never leaves the ice, the between-periods top-up isn’t optional. It’s the only refuel she gets. These between period snacks hockey teams actually use are built for exactly that thirty-second window.

And if you watched the Olympics earlier this year, you may have seen Hilary Knight, on her way to a gold medal with Team USA, squeezing an applesauce pouch between periods. That’s not a kids’ snack. That’s the best player of her generation doing exactly what this tip says: quick, natural carbs, nothing heavy, right when the game is about to be decided. If it’s good enough for the bench in Milan, it’s good enough for a Squirt goalie bag.

Between Period Snacks Hockey Players Actually Use (From the Book)

• 🟨 Banana
• 🟨 Applesauce
• 🟨 Granola bar
• 🟦➕ Small sports drink

Notice what’s not on the list: nothing heavy, nothing high in protein or fat, nothing that needs real digesting. These are the quick, natural-sugar carbs from the carbs post, in a portion small enough to be gone by the time the Zamboni is off the ice.

What’s Also Not on the List: Energy Drinks

This one comes up in every locker room by Bantams, so it’s worth saying plainly. The book’s appendix is clear that energy drinks are not recommended for kids or teens. They don’t create real energy, they only stimulate the nervous system, and the caffeine and sugar can disrupt sleep, increase anxiety, and hurt recovery. A kid who’s wired isn’t a kid who’s fueled. Real energy comes from food, water, and sleep. A banana between periods beats a can of anything, every time.

HealthyChildren.org, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, backs this up: avoiding caffeine is the best choice for kids, and there is no biological need for it in a young athlete’s diet.

What It Looks Like in Our House

A small “between-periods kit” lives in the goalie bag: a banana, an applesauce pouch, a aloha bar or a couple of the energy bites below, and a full water bottle with a long straw, because a goalie drinks through the mask without taking it off. Whatever gets used gets replaced after the game. Nobody has to remember anything on game day, and she reaches for it on her own once it’s always there. On tournament weekends, with three games in two days and a goalie who plays every minute of all three, that kit does more work than anything else in the bag.

Between Period Snacks Hockey Recipe: No-Bake Energy Bites

Make a batch on Sunday, grab two before every game. No oven. This is the one my girls have made for teammates, which is the highest compliment a recipe gets.

You need:

• 1 cup rolled oats 🟨
• ½ cup peanut butter (or sunflower seed butter if your team is nut-free) 🟧🟥
• ⅓ cup honey 🟨
• ¼ cup mini chocolate chips or raisins 🟨🟪
• Optional: 2 spoons ground flax or chia seeds 🟧
• A big bowl and a spoon

Steps:

1. Put everything in the bowl and stir until it’s one sticky mixture. Too dry, add a little more honey; too wet, add more oats.
2. Wash your hands, then roll the mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball. You’ll get 12–15.
3. Put them in a container with a lid and refrigerate 30 minutes so they firm up.
4. Keep them in the fridge. Two go in a zip bag in the hockey bag on game day.

Quick carbs from the oats and honey, a little fat and protein to hold you over, and easy to eat in thirty seconds between periods.

Quick rule for between period snacks hockey players need: fast energy fuels fast reactions.

FIND. A. WAY.

Anika

Every week of the Hockey IQ book ends with a nutrition tip like this one, plus a full Nutrition IQ appendix at the back. Get the book · Back to Athlete Nutrition

The post Quick Energy and Focus: Fast Energy Fuels Fast Reactions first appeared on Grit Kore.

Breakfast Youth Hockey Players: The Tip From the Book

Skipping breakfast can hurt energy, focus, and reaction time. Breakfast refuels the body after sleep and prepares it to train or compete. This is breakfast youth hockey players cannot skate around: skip it, and the tank starts empty. HealthyChildren.org backs this up too, noting that kids who eat breakfast show better focus, memory, and energy through the morning. The book’s rule is blunt: No breakfast = lower energy later in the day. By morning a kid has gone ten to twelve hours without food. The energy stores are low and the brain hasn’t been fed. Send that player to school, then to practice at 4:00, on a snack of a bag of Goldfish grabbed on the way out the door, and the whole day is already running on fumes. Breakfast is the easiest place to hit two rules from earlier in this series at once: the big protein earlier rule and the steady, low-glycemic carbs from the carbs post. And if your kid is like mine and really doesn’t like to eat breakfast, try an ALOHA bar on the way to the school bus, or one of those fruit smoothies we talked about earlier.

Breakfast Examples for Hockey Players, From the Book

• 🟥🟨 Eggs + toast
• 🟨🟪 Oatmeal + fruit
• 🟥🟨 Yogurt + granola
• 🟨🟦 Smoothie

Each one pairs a carb for energy with a protein for staying power. None of them take more than five minutes.

Breakfast Youth Hockey Players Recipe: Two-Minute Microwave Egg Cup

Faster than cereal, and it’s real protein. All three of my girls can make this half asleep, which is the point. You need:

• 2 eggs 🟥🟧🟩
• A splash of milk 🟥🟩
• A pinch of salt and pepper
• A small handful of shredded cheese 🟥🟩
• Optional: a spoon of salsa, or a few spinach leaves torn up 🟩🟪
• 1 slice of whole-grain toast or half an English muffin 🟨
• A coffee mug

Steps:

1. Crack the eggs into the mug. Add the milk, salt, and pepper. Beat with a fork until yellow.
2. Stir in the cheese and spinach if using.
3. Microwave 45 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 30–45 seconds until the eggs are set (not runny).
4. Let it sit 30 seconds (the mug is hot), then eat with toast. Add fruit if there’s time.

Protein, carbs, a little healthy fat, and done before the car is warm. It also works in a dorm-room microwave. Quick rule for breakfast youth hockey players: no breakfast means lower energy later in the day. Every week of the Hockey IQ book ends with a nutrition tip like this one, plus a full Nutrition IQ appendix at the back. Get the book · Back to Athlete Nutrition

FIND. A. WAY.

Anika

The post Never Skip Breakfast: No Breakfast = Lower Energy Later first appeared on Grit Kore.

Post-Game Recovery Youth Hockey: The Tip From the Book

The first 30–60 minutes after a game is the best time to recover. Your muscles absorb nutrients faster after exercise. That’s post-game recovery youth hockey in one line: carbs and protein, together, in the first hour. Think of the muscles right after a hard game as a sponge that’s been wrung out. In that first hour they soak up whatever you give them: carbs to refill the energy stores, protein to start repairing. Give them nothing and they refill slowly, and tomorrow’s practice feels heavier than it should. Give them the right thing and the next day looks like a different kid. For an athlete who can’t add an hour of sleep, this window is the lever that’s actually available.

The Formula: Carbs + Protein, Together, Within 60 Minutes

Immediate after practice recovery examples from the book, and Nemours Children’s Health has similar guidance for young athletes on nutrition and recovery, including chocolate milk as a recovery blend:

• 🟨🟥 Chocolate milk
• 🟥🟩 Yogurt + fruit
• 🟥🟨 Turkey sandwich
• 🟥🟨 Smoothie with fruit and milk

The appendix rule is the one to remember: If it has carbs + protein, it works.

The Recovery Dinner

The real repair work happens at the recovery meal that follows, and post-game recovery youth hockey doesn’t stop after the first hour. After a game or a hard practice, dinner needs to be built around the foods that actually rebuild muscle:

• 🟥 Chicken, steak, or eggs for the protein that repairs the tissue she just broke down. Lean beef gets a spot on the list on purpose; it’s also one of the best sources of iron, which carries oxygen to the muscles and is something a lot of teenage girls run short on.
• 🟧🟩 Nuts on the side, in a salad, or a handful on the way out the door. Healthy fats for recovery and hormones, plus magnesium, which helps muscles relax.
• 🟪 Blueberries (or any dark berry) for antioxidants. The book’s line on this is the one I use: training creates stress, antioxidants help clean up after it.
• 🟨 Carbs on the plate, always. Rice, potatoes, pasta, or bread, because protein alone doesn’t refill the tank.

The appendix at the back of the book has a whole list of after-the-game options that hit carbs and protein together, and most of them can be a meal or a snack depending on how hungry she is.

Here’s the twist in our house: two of my daughters are at boarding school, so I’m not the one putting the plate in front of them anymore. The dining hall is. Which is exactly why this list matters more, not less. A kid who knows what she’s looking for can build a recovery plate out of almost any dining hall line: the grilled chicken instead of the pizza, eggs at the omelet station, rice or potatoes on the side, a handful of nuts from the salad bar, blueberries from the fruit bowl.

Post-Game Recovery Youth Hockey Recipe: The Locker Room Wrap (+ a Chocolate Milk)

No cooking. About 5 minutes. Make it before you leave for the rink, wrap it in foil, and put it in a small cooler bag with a chocolate milk. It’s ready the second she’s off the ice, and it survives the bottom of a hockey bag better than anything else we’ve tried. You need:

• 1 large flour tortilla 🟨
• 3–4 slices deli turkey or chicken 🟥
• 1 slice cheese, or a small handful of shredded 🟥🟩
• 2 spoons hummus or a thin spread of cream cheese 🟥🟧
• A handful of spinach leaves or a few cucumber slices 🟩
• 1 chocolate milk (the single-serve carton) 🟨🟥
• Foil

Steps:

1. Lay the tortilla flat and spread the hummus or cream cheese over the whole thing, edge to edge (it’s the glue).
2. Layer turkey, then cheese, then spinach or cucumber across the middle.
3. Fold the two sides in, then roll it up tight from the bottom.
4. Wrap in foil, cut in half through the foil, and put it in the cooler bag with the chocolate milk.

Eat both in the locker room or the car, inside the window. Carbs from the tortilla and the chocolate milk, protein from the turkey, cheese, and milk. And it goes down easy even when a kid says she isn’t hungry, which, after a hard game, is most of the time. Two swaps if you want them: a bagel with peanut butter and a banana does the same job for a kid who won’t touch a wrap, and on the mornings she has a 6:00 am ice time, the same wrap made the night before is breakfast in the car on the way to school. Quick rule for post-game recovery youth hockey: refuel early to recover faster.

FIND. A. WAY.

Anika

Every week of the Hockey IQ book ends with a nutrition tip like this one, plus a full Nutrition IQ appendix at the back. Get the book · Back to Athlete Nutrition

The post Recovery Matters: The 30–60 Minute Window After the Game first appeared on Grit Kore.

Carbs for Hockey Players: The Tip From the Book

Carbohydrates are your body’s main fuel for high-intensity sports like hockey. Carbs help you keep your energy up, keep your legs fast, and stay focused and sharp. That’s it. No fine print. For a growing athlete, carbs are the engine — and carbs for hockey players cover both the legs and the brain.

Not All Carbs Are the Same: Processed Sugar vs. Natural Sugar

Here’s where the bad rap actually comes from, and HealthyChildren.org’s guidance on carbohydrates for energy makes the same distinction. When people say “carbs,” they usually picture the processed kind: candy, soda, pastries, the sugary cereal, the snack-bar cookie at the rink. That’s sugar stripped of everything else, and it does exactly what you’d expect. A fast spike, then a crash, and a kid who’s wired for twenty minutes and flat for the next hour. Nothing about that helps a hockey game. Natural sugars are a different story. The sugar in a banana, an apple, or a bowl of berries arrives with fiber, water, vitamins, and minerals attached. It still gives quick energy, which is exactly what you want near puck drop, but it doesn’t hit like a candy bar and it doesn’t crash like one. So the first question is simple: is this carb coming from real food, or from a package?

Two Kinds of Carbs, Two Jobs: High-Glycemic and Low-Glycemic

The second question is how fast the carb turns into energy. This was the part I found most useful, because it turns “eat carbs” into “eat these carbs, at this time.” Steady energy (low-glycemic), best for meals and earlier in the day. These digest slowly and keep the tank full for hours:

• 🟨 Oatmeal, whole-grain bread, brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, beans, vegetables

Quick energy (high-glycemic), best close to and during games. These turn into usable energy fast:

• 🟨 White rice, pasta, white bread, potatoes, bananas, applesauce, fruit juice, sports drinks

Neither list is “bad.” They have different timing. The steady kind builds the tank through the day; the quick kind tops it off near puck drop. And notice that the quick list is still real food: a banana and applesauce, not a bag of gummies. Quick energy from natural sugar, not processed sugar, is the whole trick.

Carbs for Hockey Players: Carb-Rich Foods From the Book

• 🟨 Rice, pasta, or potatoes
• 🟨 Oatmeal
• 🟨 Fruit
• 🟨 Whole-grain bread

The daily guideline in the book for ages 11–15 is about 2–3 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight, higher on practice and game days. You don’t need to weigh anything. It just means the plate on a game day should look noticeably different from the plate on a Sunday off. That’s carbs for hockey players, boiled down to one number the whole season.

What It Looks Like in Our House

On game days the rice or pasta portion gets bigger at the pre-game meal, there’s fruit in the bag, and on early practice mornings a bagel goes in the car. On rest days the steady kind does more of the work: oats at breakfast, whole grains, beans. And the kids’ plate on a game night doesn’t have to match the adults’ plate. Two versions of the same dinner, one with a lot more rice, is not much extra work. That’s carbs for hockey players, in practice, not in theory.

Recipe Kids Can Make Themselves: Game-Day Rice Bowl

Uses microwave rice, so it’s ready in under ten minutes. This is the one all three of my girls make on their own before a late game. You need:

• 1 pouch of microwave rice, or leftover rice from dinner 🟨
• Leftover grilled chicken, or 2 scrambled eggs 🟥
• Frozen peas or corn, a handful 🟨🟩
• Soy sauce, teriyaki, or a squeeze of lime
• Optional: a few avocado slices 🟧

Steps:

1. Heat the rice as the pouch says (about 90 seconds).
2. Put the frozen veggies in a bowl with a splash of water and microwave 1–2 minutes.
3. Add the rice, the protein, and the veggies to one bowl. Stir in the sauce.
4. Eat it 2–3 hours before a game, or right after practice.

Big carbs, moderate protein, a little color. This is what “fuel up” actually looks like on a plate. Quick rule for carbs for hockey players: fuel up so you can skate fast and think faster. Every week of the Hockey IQ book ends with a nutrition tip like this one, plus a full Nutrition IQ appendix at the back. Get the book · Back to Athlete Nutrition

FIND. A. WAY.

Anika

The post Carbs Are the Engine: Fuel Up to Skate Fast and Think Faster first appeared on Grit Kore.

I never played hockey. I was a competitive swimmer, and swimmers are wildly aware of nutrition, because you learn it the hard way at about age twelve: you can’t win a race with a steak and fries in your belly. So I thought I’d carry that over automatically when my daughters started playing. I didn’t.

I can tell you exactly when I finally connected the dots and understood that it’s about the pre-game fuel in hockey, too. It was a Squirt tournament weekend in Providence, two games in one day, and between them we did what everyone does: piled into the closest place with a table for a full team plus siblings and parents, and ordered chicken fingers and fries all around. The kids were happy. We were happy. An hour after lunch, my two oldest daughters, on the same Squirt team that year, were on the ice looking like they were skating through wet cement. Not lazy, not tired, just heavy. Slow first step, late to every puck.

It had probably happened at every tournament before that day and I’d missed it. Nobody at that table was doing anything wrong. The kids were hungry, and this was the quickest fix on a time crunch between games. Nobody thought about the timing of protein, or the digestion that needs to happen before the body can turn a plate of food into accessible energy. Three daughters and many seasons later, one starting her senior year at the Hill School, one entering her junior year at Choate, and my youngest just on her way to high school, I wish someone had reminded me at that first tournament how important athlete nutrition really is.

The tip from the book

A strong pre-game meal for a young athlete should be mostly carbs for energy, with moderate protein for muscle support, eaten about 2–3 hours before puck drop. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends this same carbs-first approach for young athletes.

The book puts it in one line I still repeat in the car: If your stomach feels “full,” your legs usually feel “slow.”

The Formula: What to Eat Before a Hockey Game

• 🟨 Mostly carbs (rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, fruit) for energy
• 🟥 Moderate protein (chicken, turkey, eggs, yogurt) for muscle support
• 🟩 Some veggies or fruit
• 🟦 Water with the meal, and keep sipping until warm-up

What to Eat Before a Hockey Game: 5 Meal Ideas (2–3 Hours Before)

• 🟥🟨🟩 Grilled chicken + pasta or rice + steamed veggies
• 🟥🟨🟩 Turkey sandwich on whole-grain bread + fruit
• 🟥🟨🟩 Salmon + sweet potato + veggies
• 🟥🟨🟩 Eggs + toast + fruit
• 🟥🟨🟪 Greek yogurt + granola + berries

Notice that chicken fingers aren’t really the villain here. Grilled chicken and rice is on the list. The difference is the fried coating and the fries sitting in the stomach, and the timing: an hour is not enough, and a plate that size needs closer to three hours.

What actually changed for us

The meal moved earlier and got a little smaller. On a two-game day, the “big” meal happens right after game one, which gives it the full window before game two. If the gap is short, it’s a sandwich and fruit from the cooler, not a restaurant. And we stopped experimenting on game day. Whatever works, we repeat. My youngest daughter now made it a ritual to eat a banana before every game.

The book says it better than I do: keep it simple, familiar, and repeatable. For us, that’s the real answer to what to eat before a hockey game, week after week.

Recipe kids can make themselves: The Turkey Stack

No stove needed. About 5 minutes. Pretty much all ages. And let them clean up as well :-).

Getting my kids involved in the food making process made them try new things on their own.

You need:

• 2 slices whole-grain bread 🟨
• 3–4 slices deli turkey 🟥
• 1 slice cheese 🟥🟩
• Lettuce or a few cucumber slices 🟩
• A little mustard or mayo
• 1 apple or banana on the side 🟨🟩🟪

Steps:

1. Lay out both slices of bread. Spread a thin layer of mustard or mayo.
2. Stack turkey, then cheese, then lettuce or cucumber.
3. Close it, cut it in half, and put it on a plate with the fruit.
4. Fill your water bottle and drink a full glass with the meal.

Eat it 2–3 hours before the game. Wrap it in foil and it travels to the rink lobby just fine.

Quick rule: Keep it simple, familiar, and repeatable.

FIND. A. WAY.

Anika

Every week of the Hockey IQ book answers a question like what to eat before a hockey game, plus a full Nutrition IQ appendix at the back. Get the book · Back to Athlete Nutrition

The post Pre-Game Fuel Basics: What to Eat 2–3 Hours Before Puck Drop first appeared on Grit Kore.

Why are some children naturally fast?

Why do some seem exceptionally coordinated?

Why do others appear to learn movement almost effortlessly?

The easy answer is usually:

“Look at their parents.”

Or simply,

“It’s genetics.”

While genetics are undeniably important, the story is far more interesting than that.

What Actually Builds Athletic Capacity: The Roots of Athletic Development

In Mismatch: Why Our World No Longer Fits Our Bodies, Peter Gluckman and Mark Hanson describe how our biology develops through a continuous interaction between genetics, epigenetics, and the environment.

That idea resonated with us.

Athletic capacity isn’t simply inherited—it emerges over time through the interaction of biology and early life experiences. Genetics matter. So do prenatal development, nutrition, health, sleep, early movement experiences, and other environmental influences.

One way to visualize that interaction is shown below.

The Story of Two Brothers

So what happens after athletic capacity begins to develop?

Consider two brothers born one year apart.

They grow up in the same home, with similar opportunities, similar nutrition, and similar encouragement. In fact, both become the fastest runners in their elementary school by fifth grade.

On paper, they appear remarkably similar.

But one discovers a passion for hockey.

The other discovers a passion for academics.

Over the next few years, their athletic journeys diverge—not necessarily because their athletic capacity changed dramatically, but because one chose to invest far more time, energy, and deliberate practice into sport.

This led us to an idea that has become central to our thinking.

Athletic performance is not simply a reflection of athletic capacity. It is the realization of that capacity.

Introducing the Development Gap

The space between an athlete’s capacity and their realization is what we call the Development Gap.

A coach cannot change an athlete’s genetics.

But a coach can profoundly influence how much of that athlete’s potential is ultimately realized.

Why Athletic Development Matters for Hockey Parents

If you’re raising a young hockey player, it’s easy to fall into one of two traps: assuming a naturally gifted skater is destined for greatness, or assuming a late-blooming, less coordinated kid has already been left behind.

Neither is true. Athletic capacity sets the ceiling, but coaching, environment, practice quality, sleep, nutrition, and mindset determine how much of that ceiling a young athlete actually reaches. That’s the Development Gap in action—and it’s also where Hockey IQ training, deliberate practice, and good coaching do their real work.

You can read more about how we teach it in Stop Saying You Can’t Teach Hockey IQ.

What’s Next: Can Late Bloomers Catch Up?

Next week we’ll take this idea one step further by exploring a question every parent eventually asks:

Can an exceptionally gifted athlete who starts later eventually overtake a slightly less gifted athlete who specialized early?

The answer may change how we think about talent, specialization, and long-term athletic development.

Common Questions Hockey Parents Ask About Athletic Development

Is athletic ability genetic, or can it be trained?

Both. Genetics set a starting point, but athletic capacity develops through the ongoing interaction of genetics, epigenetics, and environment—including prenatal development, nutrition, sleep, health, and early movement experiences.

What is the “Development Gap” in youth sports?

The Development Gap is the space between an athlete’s natural capacity (their ceiling) and their realization (how much of that capacity actually shows up in performance). Two athletes with similar capacity can end up with very different results depending on practice, coaching, and environment.

Can a coach really change how good an athlete becomes?

A coach can’t change an athlete’s genetics. But great coaching—paired with Hockey IQ training, deliberate practice, and the right environment—can close the Development Gap and help a young player realize far more of their natural potential.

Find. A. Way.

Greg

This article is Part 1 of our Athletic Development series. Part 2 tackles specialization, late bloomers, and long-term athletic development in hockey. We’re happy to share the resources and frameworks referenced here—reach out anytime at orders@gritkore.com, browse our Hockey Parents resource hub, and check out our Hockey IQ books and training tools in the Grit Kore shop.

The post Athletic Development: Why Talent Alone Doesn’t Predict Success in Hockey first appeared on Grit Kore.

Can you teach Hockey IQ?

We believe the answer is an emphatic yes—with one important caveat.

Like every other human ability, cognitive ability varies from person to person. Some athletes process information more quickly, some have greater working memory, and some recognize patterns faster than others.

Research supports this. A recent paper by Kirby, Jones, Campbell, Fickling, and D’Arcy, Objective Neurophysiological Measures of Cognitive Performance in Elite Ice Hockey Players, found measurable cognitive differences among elite hockey players. In other words, elite players possess different cognitive strengths that may influence how they process the game.

But different starting points do not mean Hockey IQ is fixed.

Think about algebra. Some students understand a new concept almost immediately, while others require more instruction and practice. Their rate of learning differs, but both can improve because the underlying principles can be taught.

We believe Hockey IQ is no different.

In an earlier post and our book, we defined Hockey IQ as the interaction of objective, flow, context, and individual ability. Every player has a different cognitive ceiling, but nearly every player can improve their Hockey IQ relative to where they begin.

So We Decided to Test Our Framework

Working alongside Coach Matt Moulson, we created a weekly Hockey IQ clinic that followed the progression outlined in the book. A typical session included:

• 5–10 minutes discussing nutrition and recovery.
• 20–30 minutes of video analysis focused on that week’s Hockey IQ concept.
• 60 minutes of on-ice drills designed to reinforce the lesson.

What Happened Surprised Us

The players didn’t just complete the drills—they began speaking a different language.

One day my son came home and said,

“Dad, the boys are talking about the Flow Line while they’re playing NHL. They’re calling each other out when someone breaks the flow.”

That was the moment we realized something had changed.

The players weren’t simply memorizing concepts. They had developed a shared framework for seeing the game. They were recognizing patterns, discussing decisions, and coaching one another without an adult standing beside them.

If you’ve played enough men’s league hockey, you’ve probably seen the opposite.

You’ve seen the incredibly skilled player who repeatedly attacks three defenders, pulls up on every zone entry, passes only as a last resort, or unknowingly kills offensive flow. His hands are exceptional, but he struggles to solve the game.

Those players can execute.

They can dazzle.

But skill alone isn’t Hockey IQ.

Hockey is about solving problems with five teammates in a constantly changing environment.

That’s Hockey IQ.

If youth hockey focuses exclusively on technical skill while neglecting decision-making, pattern recognition, and game understanding, we risk developing more skilled players who don’t necessarily play the game better.

We’re not suggesting every player has the same cognitive ceiling.

They don’t.

We’re suggesting that nearly every player can become a better hockey thinker than they were yesterday—and helping them do that is the responsibility of great coaching.

If we want to get serious about developing Hockey IQ, we need to become just as intentional about teaching players how to think as we are about teaching them how to skate, shoot, and pass.

Find. A. Way.

Greg

This workbook is available for coaches, teams, and individual players. We’re happy to share the email templates and resources we used to run these clinics—so any team can put this into practice. Reach out anytime. You can reach us at orders@gritkore.com, and browse the books available for purchase on our website.

This article is part of our Hockey IQ: Complete Guide.

The post Stop Saying You Can’t Teach Hockey IQ first appeared on Grit Kore.

U.S. hockey development is at a crossroads.

With the NCAA now allowing more CHL players into college hockey, many coaches worry that Canadian players will increasingly earn spots that once went to Americans.

But this isn’t really a CHL story.

It’s a U.S. hockey development story.

The numbers make the question hard to ignore. The United States and Canada have nearly the same number of registered hockey players, yet Canada consistently produces significantly more NHL players.

If the talent pool is similar, why is the output so different?

The Real Problem Isn’t Ice Time

Many assume American players simply need more ice time, more private lessons, more skills clinics, or more elite tournaments.

But what if that’s not the problem?

As seven-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Barry Smith put it:

“The kids are competing, but they’re not getting better.”

American youth players often spend more hours in structured training than their Canadian counterparts. If quantity alone determined success, the U.S. should have the advantage.

Instead, the question becomes:

Are we practicing the right way?

Why Hockey IQ Matters More Than Repetition

Every USA Hockey coach learns that game-like environments matter. But understanding why requires looking deeper into how athletes actually learn.

One of the most influential voices in this area is Rob Gray, author of How We Learn to Move. His research suggests that players improve most when they’re forced to solve problems in realistic, game-like situations—not by repeating isolated skills without context.

What Constraint-Based Training Teaches Players

Not everyone loves Gray’s presentation style.

A recently retired NHL player, now coaching youth hockey, joked:

“The guy’s such a dweeb, it’s hard to listen to him.”

Then he paused and added something interesting.

“The place I learned the most was playing in a mini rink.”

Ironically, that’s exactly the type of constrained environment Gray argues accelerates decision-making, adaptability, and Hockey IQ.

So the question isn’t whether players need more repetitions.

It’s whether they need better repetitions.

Repetitions that require scanning, anticipation, decision-making, and problem-solving under pressure.

That’s how Hockey IQ is developed.

An Additive Perspective on Modern Player Development

We decided not to simply criticize the current development model—we wanted to test an alternative. This summer, in partnership with The Moulson Mindset, we’ve combined on-ice instruction with the GRIT KORE Hockey IQ Workbook & Journal, guiding players through one Hockey IQ concept each week. The early results are promising. Players are arriving at the rink thinking about the game differently, recognizing patterns, asking better questions, and applying concepts they’ve learned off the ice. Developing Hockey IQ isn’t about adding more reps—it’s about making every rep more meaningful.

A Better Path for U.S. Hockey

If American hockey wants to close the development gap, we may not need more ice time.

We may need to rethink what we’re doing with the ice time we already have.

Find. A. Way.

— Greg

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Canada produce more NHL players than the United States?

While both countries have similar participation numbers, Canada consistently develops more NHL players. Many coaches believe the difference lies in player development methods, game understanding, and Hockey IQ—not simply the number of hours spent on the ice.

What is Hockey IQ?

Hockey IQ is a player’s ability to read the game, anticipate plays, make decisions under pressure, and adapt to changing situations on the ice.

What is constraint-based training in hockey?

Constraint-based training uses game-like environments and decision-making challenges to help players develop skills that transfer directly into competition.

How can youth hockey players improve Hockey IQ?

Players improve Hockey IQ by practicing in realistic game situations, studying video, learning tactical concepts, and developing the ability to recognize patterns and probabilities during play.

This article is part of our Hockey IQ: Complete Guide.

The post The Widening Gap in U.S. Hockey Development—and How We Can Fix It first appeared on Grit Kore.

We’re excited to announce that we’re hosting our very first Grit Kore Hockey IQ Camp, built directly on the framework from our Hockey IQ – Four Attributes of Hockey workbook. This camp takes the same four key ideas from the book — the Basic Objective, Flow, Context, and Self-Awareness — and puts them into action on the ice, helping Pewee and Bantam players stop just playing the game and start seeing it.

This camp is held in cooperation with Matt Moulson and the Moulson Mindset. Matt is leading the Hockey IQ workshop and on-ice sessions, bringing his NHL experience directly to our players.

And just like the book, this camp is about more than hockey IQ. It’s built to develop the whole athlete: sharper decision-making and pattern recognition, the mental strength to play with confidence under pressure, and the daily habits — including athlete nutrition — that carry into real game situations. Grit, on and off the ice.

The Hockey IQ workbook is endorsed by NHL coaches and active/former NHL players, with a foreword from Matt Deschamps (USHL/NCAA Division 1) and research input from a PhD Research Fellow at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences on visual perception and scanning in elite ice hockey.

Want to get a head start before the season? Grab your copy of the Hockey IQ workbook and start building these habits now: Buy the Hockey IQ Book →

Hockey IQ with Coach Moulson: Your Hockey Card

Hockey IQ Clinic 

We started with your “hockey card.” Take an honest look at yourself as a player and ask:

• What type of player are you?
• What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?
• How do you see yourself on the ice?

If you’re not sure what type of player you are yet, don’t worry — you’ve got plenty of time to figure it out. Coach Moulson admitted it took him a long time to understand his own strengths and weaknesses, and how to be the best player he could be with the skill set he had. The most important thing isn’t having all the answers right now — it’s the thought process: being aware of who you are as a player and where you fit best on your team.

Nutrition: Fuel Your Engine

Self-awareness matters here too. Nobody can tell you when you’re hungry — the only person who knows what your body feels is you. Learn to listen to your body’s cues. Pay attention to timing: eat protein to recover and rebuild your muscles, and reach for energizing high-carb foods when you need fuel.

Some of the world’s top athletes eat as much as 6,000 calories a day to keep up with their training demands. Every athlete is different, but here’s roughly what fueling looks like for a growing hockey player:

• A normal day for an average 13-year-old hockey player is about 2,700–3,000 calories. That’s already way more than a kid the same age who doesn’t play sports (they need around 2,250). Why? You’re building muscle AND still growing.
• Each hockey game burns about 400–700 calories — you’re basically doing sprints for a full hour. Pro players burn 1,500+ in a single game; you’re smaller and get fewer shifts, but it adds up fast.
• A two-game day can hit 3,500–4,400 calories — your normal 2,700–3,000, plus roughly 800–1,400 for the two games on top. That’s a lot of extra fuel you have to actually put back in.

Think of it this way: your body is the car, and food is the gas. The bigger the engine, the more gas it needs — and a growing hockey player has a big engine. Only you know when your tank is running empty, so listen to your body!

Watch: Nutrition Inspration →

Breathwork: Nose Breathing

Practice nose breathing. Nose breathing is much healthier than mouth breathing — mouth breathing actually adds to your stress.

Watch: Nose Breathing Inspiration→

This Week’s Challenge: Cook Your Family Breakfast

Make your family breakfast this week — your favorite eggs, any style. Because only when you prepare and cook your own food do you really know what you’re eating.

See you next week!

Train your body. Train your mind. Find a Way.

 The Daily Gap: Teaching Kids to Live Inside the Growth Gap and Earn Their Confidence

This article is part of our Hockey IQ: Complete Guide.

The post Announcing Our First Grit Kore Hockey IQ Camp first appeared on Grit Kore.

They punch well above their weight in NHL representation. And for years, USA Hockey has studied the Finnish model—trying to decode what people often label as “skill development.”

But here’s the reality check.

If Finnish players were simply more skilled individually, you’d expect them to dominate the NHL’s skills competitions. They don’t. In fact, only a small handful of Finns have ever been singled out as true outliers in those events—the most famous example being Teemu Selänne, who stood out in the 1998 Puck Control Relay.

So if it isn’t raw stickhandling trophies… what is it?

What separates Finland shows up somewhere else entirely: five‑man connection, trust under pressure, and structure that doesn’t break when the game gets hard.

And yet, there’s still something the Finns do that we don’t quite replicate.

I recently had a great conversation with Vladislav Bespomoshchnov (Norwegian School of Sport Sciences) who half‑jokingly said:

“You know you’re watching Team Finland because you see all five players in the picture frame.”

That line stuck with me, because it says everything.

Sisu: The Mindset Behind the Five‑Man Game (why Finland punches above its weight in hockey)

🇫🇮 Finland plays a TEAM game, and that’s not accidental, it’s cultural. 

Finnish hockey is powered by a team mindset which can be captured in one word. sisu.

There is no direct translation in English. The closest comparison is grit, but even that falls short in some aspects. Sisu is a quiet, non‑wavering determination, the stubborn, unbreakable ability to keep going beyond perceived limits, especially when the odds aren’t in your favor. It isn’t loud. It isn’t flashy. It doesn’t need recognition. It’s about doing the work anyway and letting actions speak.

That mindset shows up every shift in Finnish hockey.

When Finland gets pinned in their zone, they don’t panic.

When they’re down a goal, they don’t freelance or cheat for offense.

They stay connected and focused as a team. They trust the next play. They keep coming, shift after shift. That’s what sisu looks like on skates.

Hockey Is the Ultimate Team Sport

I’ve always believed hockey is the ultimate team sport. You can’t hide. You can’t cherry‑pick. You can’t win without defending, supporting, and trusting the other four players on the ice.

I’m also an economist by training, which led me to ask a different question:

Are some countries naturally better aligned with team hockey, not just through coaching systems, but through how their societies function?

In other words, what if we copied the Finnish development model exactly, but dropped it into a different social environment? Would we still get Finnish‑style hockey?

Probably not.

Before asking what we should copy, we need to understand who we are.

A Quick Economics Detour (Stick With Me)

If you took economics at any point, you may remember the Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality.

Lower Gini → more equal societies

Higher Gini → larger income gaps

When we look at the countries competing at the World Juniors, a pattern emerges:

The United States stands out immediately.

Zoom in even further, to hockey hotbeds like the Gold Coast of Fairfield County, and estimated Gini coefficients approach 0.60. That’s extremely high.

Why This Matters for Hockey

Income inequality doesn’t just shape economies.

It shapes behavior.

In higher‑inequality environments, people can buy independence:

• Private coaches
• Private skills trainers
• Private solutions to shared problems

In lower‑inequality environments, people rely more on:

• Systems
• Teammates
• Shared responsibility

That difference shows up on the ice.

This isn’t a value judgment. It’s a structural reality, and like any experiment, you don’t get the same outcome unless you recreate the same environment.

The Leafs Problem (Yes, I’m Going There)

I’ll admit it, I love beating up on the Leafs.

During the Auston Matthews era, Toronto’s roster Gini hovered around 0.50.

By contrast, recent Stanley Cup champions typically sit in the 0.42–0.47 range.

In plain language:

Cup winners have a bigger middle class.

More role players.

More shared responsibility.

Less dependence on one star solving everything.

That’s team hockey.

So What Should Parents Take Away?

Hockey is hard.

It demands offense and defense.

It demands trust, sacrifice, and interdependence.

If we live in highly unequal environments, we shouldn’t be surprised when:

• Players struggle with defensive buy‑in
• Kids over‑prioritize individual skill
• Team concepts take longer to click

Maybe the answer isn’t copying Finland’s drills.

Maybe it’s:

• Teaching the Code
• Valuing systems over shortcuts
• Spending less time chasing private fixes
• Spending more time teaching kids how to rely on each other

Because at the end of the day, hockey doesn’t reward insulation. It rewards connection. 

“Sisu is something that can’t be bought or copied, it’s built through shared struggle, a mindset to show up when your team needs you most.”

Find. A. Way.

— Greg

Watch Jussi Ahokas (Kitchener Rangers (OHL)) In episode 238 of the Glass and Out Podcast share the Finnish concept of “Sisu,” why you’ll always get better results when people enjoy the enviornment and why positionless hockey is the future of the game. Click here.

This article is part of our Hockey IQ: Complete Guide.

The post World Juniors – Why Finland Plays Five‑Man Hockey (And Why That Matters for Our Kids) first appeared on Grit Kore.