The feeling of dread of entering the locker room after your team loses yet another game, you look around the locker room and can see the somber look of all your players staring back you. Your players are all looking at you and even though they say nothing, the glum stares tell all and no words are needed. Every player is asking you, “Coach how can we get out of this losing streak?”
Once you enter a losing streak, team morale is of course one of the biggest factors that you need work on to ensure your team stays positive & motivated. If the team morale falls down to a level where your players do not see any chance of redemption and do not believe in their abilities anymore as Hockey players, then your team is in danger of crumbling completely against any opposition. Your first plan as coach needs to be identifying the key problem with the team. Is the issue a defensive problem or is it an attacking issue? Is it a stamina? Communication?
Evaluate the Game Closely
Identifying the problem will help ensure you can start planning your coaching sessions to resolve the right things. From that point, you can present the team with goals assuring them that if they achieve them, then the improvements will be seen. By giving the team a clear vision on how they can improve and what to work on, this will help them stay motivated, thus bringing forward a more positive attitude which will help your players stay focused & determined that they can overcome this losing streak.
Communication
Teams that lack good communication skills, will ultimately end up on a losing streak. Players need to be able to count on each other to be successful, which requires constant communication throughout the entire game. There are 3 main types of communication to remember.1. Verbal – e.g. Calling out for the puck. 2. Sounds – e.g. Taping the stick on the ice or boards/glass. 3. Eye Contact – e.g. Showing your teammate that you are ready to receive the puck by making eye contact.
Help your team get re-connected and practice their communication skills during practices. This is vital to winning any game!
Stamina
If you are noticing that your players are tiring too early during the games & practices, the issue may be stamina. Practice exercises and drills may need to be changed with more focus on endurance exercises.
You can incorporate skating exercises from goal line to the red line & back, then from the goal line to the blue line & back, then from the goal line to the opposing goal line & back. If you time these exercises to show your players they are getting faster & progressing, then they will believe that they can do it during games and thus potentially helping to end the losing streak.
In the Moment
The worst thing that can happen to your team is that they enter the next game with a losing mindset, thinking “Oh No, here we go again…”, just going through the motions and resigning themselves to defeat before the game has even started. One way to overcome this is to coach your team to stay focused on the present, on the next play & not to think about what’s happened in the past or what could happen for the rest of the game. Remind your players to just think of the next face-off, to execute your strategic play that you have trained for during your practice sessions. Remind your players about their strengths and how they can be used to overcome opponents. Do not let your team buy in to the thought that they are cursed or that they are always doomed to lose.
Your team’s future is wide open and the players need to know you believe in them & that they can overcome any opponent!