October Hockey Is Not April Hockey

It’s a truism of the NHL season that the hockey gets better the longer the season goes.   In the fall, you’ll see egregious things like giveaways from players who ordinarily know better.  You’ll see goalies whose timing is off and who are letting up goals they won’t let up later in the year.  You’ll see the beginnings of systematized play, but you won’t see coherence as new linemates get used to each other’s tendencies.

As fall turns to winter, you’ll see better hockey, but it’s really when winter turns into spring and the snow disappears that the best hockey is played.   Oh, of course, that’s because only 16 teams make the playoffs.  But that’s also because the great irony of the NHL schedule is played out:  By spring—not naturally hockey season—the teams and players have been playing long enough that good hockey is played.

But October hockey?   For those like Hockey Consultant, who love the sport, October hockey is welcome.   But, as the shootout reminds, October hockey is early regular season hockey.   Even for teams that just competed for the Stanley Cup, they just took a few months away.    Fundamentally, the teams may have changed very little, yet, just as every Cup winner has to give the Cup back at the end of summer and earn it again, so, too, does every team have to rebuild, a little.  Rebuild the system.  Rebuild the trust.

So, remember.   What you’re seeing in October will not be what you see in April.   But the foundations laid in October are important for what you see in April.    

So October’s a time for learning how to win and figuring out how to improve.   But it’s a “process” time where performance counts (the points are the same in October as they are in March).

Hockey Consultant encourages you to remember this, though:   October is a “process” time for everyone.   So accept the process—and as the best teams do—and start the process in such a way that you’re building the foundation for the performance you want when April turns into May such that your results in May can turn into playing hockey in June.

But don’t forget:  It’s still a process.