skip navigation
Players

"It's Like a Video Game" - Improving Hockey Sense at Home

By Hockey IntelliGym, 03/25/21, 1:30PM EDT

Share

Increasing difficulty and challenges as players progress

We've all become accustomed to living in a digital world. We learn online, shop online, play games virtually. When it comes to hockey there are parts of the game that can also be learned on a screen.

For over 10 years in North America, Hockey IntelliGym has been the at-home software tool used by thousands of players to hone important hockey sense. One of the common themes among player analysis is superior game anticipation and on-ice awareness as part of the hockey skill set.

“It’s pretty impressive. It’s hard at first to grasp the connection between the system and what the transfer is to on-ice. I think once (my son) started to play the game and he started to really understand the hand-eye and reaction time and how it relates to when he gets on the ice,” said Kyle M, a Hockey Dad. “Overall, I think it’s pretty intuitive the way that it’s built and understanding the background behind it was pretty neat to see the multiple applications of it to hockey.”

Play Smarter with the Hockey IntelliGym

The Hockey IntelliGym is a breakthrough cognitive training technology that hones hockey sense and has been scientifically proven to improve player safety, heighten spatial awareness and foster better anticipation of the play. Download the program now.

Improving “decision making skills” in game situations is a key feature of IntelliGym. The laptop-focused training brings the player through a variety of challenging exercises to maximize situations that along with repetitive learning, trains the athletes brain to be better prepared when they return to the ice. Scientifically verified software develops skills like game transitioning, focus, on-ice positioning, peripheral vision, movement anticipation, and ultimately, decision making under pressure.

“From the standpoint of the way it’s set up, it’s like he’s playing a video game. He’s not even thinking when he’s using Intelligym at all about how it transfers to him playing hockey. I think the way its training his brain to think and react and to act, its subconsciously helping him on the ice. It’s a matter of staying engaged with the program.”

Like in any game, users will start at the beginning level and work their way up. Each of the progressive steps along the way offers a different skill set on how it would transfer on the ice - teamwork, protecting the puck, etc. As players get better scores, the difficulty and challenges increase.

Using the Hockey IntelliGym software year-round keeps players engaged in the sport through customized, interactive drills while continually working on the already mentioned benefits of awareness, anticipation and important decision making skills. Hybrid training is all the rage in sports today and all-levels of players can take advantage of improvements by “relying on science and machine learning” to help as an additional training resource.

“I think hockey sense is one of those terms that floats around. What this program does it start to make sense of the idea of training that intuition and reaction that are the matter of milliseconds on the ice. If you can train that on the ice so that it becomes seconds nature, that’s great.”

Hockey development today is more than just shot accuracy and stickwork. It's a hybrid approach that balances time on-the-ice and time off-the-ice training the hockey brain.

THE HOCKEY INTELLIGYM BENEFITS

On-Ice Benefits

  • Read the game faster and react to plays quicker
  • Improved off-puck movement
  • Better and more accurate passing
  • Improved positioning and communication
  • Be faster in the transition game

Cognitive Benefits

  • Improved decision-making under pressure
  • Sharpened focus and improved situational awareness
  • Increased anticipation and faster reaction time
  • Better divided attention and working memory

Like this article?

Share with your friends on Facebook and join the largest network of hockey parents.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Hockey IntelliGym is a breakthrough and patented cognitive training technology that develops hockey sense and has been scientifically proven to improve player safety. IntelliGym has been used by thousands of players - from OHL teams to OMHA U16 champions - to heighten spatial awareness, recognize better anticipation of the play, and ultimately make better decisions under pressure. The software, which can be used on any computer or laptop, can be purchased here.

you may also like

Podcast
Championships
Parents
Players
Admin