Defining Hockey IQ

[Bounces R Way]

The concept of hockey IQ isn't exactly a brand new revelation in the contemporary hockey world scheme, like say for instance Corsi and High Danger chances are. There have been comments decades back that remark on the importance of a player's ability to "think" the game. The consensus GOAT Wayne Gretzky was never the most physically imposing, fastest, or hardest shooting player in the league but rather distinguished himself from the crowd by being consistently smarter than his adversaries. Really when you look through much of the HoF and all time lists for skater positions, high hockey IQ seems to be one of the few constant attributes you could identify with these players.

Why then is this term lacking any solid definition? Could you quantify it if you wanted to?

My loose attempt at nailing the concept of hockey IQ down would be to summarize it as the speed in which a player is able to read and react to his/her surroundings on the ice, which results in impacting their ability to make a "good" or "bad" play. It's very much instinctual, and those instincts have been honed from the first time they lace up their skates and pick up a hockey stick. Hockey's like anything, you do it long enough and at a high enough level, the muscle memory auto pilot part takes over. Your brain weighs outcomes and makes decisions without basically any conscious thought. How well the brain does this is what would be my approximation of the elusive "Hockey IQ".

Is this definition satisfactory? Still too convoluted or is it too basic? What would yours be or what would you add?

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[El Travo]

Basically; it's the ability to think the game of hockey on the fly. That's all it really is.

 

[Ainec]

"speed in which a player is able to read and react"

i mean.. it just boils down to decision making

 

[Agent Zub]

If a player is able to think the game a couple of steps ahead.

 

[Maukkis]

There are players who can play at a high pace, and then there are players who dictate the pace of the game.

Decision making and the ability to think how plays are going to unfold in advance are key.

 

[93LEAFS]

It is an innate ability to understand how the play is developing and how to position yourself. It also factors in knowing when to use high-risk plays. So, its a combination of understanding how plays develop and having a great understanding of risk assessment.

I tend to separate vision and hockey-iq, but they are interconnected to an extent.

 

[DFF]

It's hard to come up with the exact definition. Most successful players have high IQ because the can make plays

It's easier to see when someone lacks IQ. Sam Bennett is a good example. The guy has some talent but he cant use his linemates thus produces much less for someone of his talent.

 

[DannyGallivan]

The concept of hockey IQ isn't exactly a brand new revelation in the contemporary hockey world scheme, like say for instance Corsi and High Danger chances are. There have been comments decades back that remark on the importance of a player's ability to "think" the game. The consensus GOAT Wayne Gretzky was never the most physically imposing, fastest, or hardest shooting player in the league but rather distinguished himself from the crowd by being consistently smarter than his adversaries. Really when you look through much of the HoF and all time lists for skater positions, high hockey IQ seems to be one of the few constant attributes you could identify with these players.

Why then is this term lacking any solid definition? Could you quantify it if you wanted to?

My loose attempt at nailing the concept of hockey IQ down would be to summarize it as the speed in which a player is able to read and react to his/her surroundings on the ice, which results in impacting their ability to make a "good" or "bad" play. It's very much instinctual, and those instincts have been honed from the first time they lace up their skates and pick up a hockey stick. Hockey's like anything, you do it long enough and at a high enough level, the muscle memory auto pilot part takes over. Your brain weighs outcomes and makes decisions without basically any conscious thought. How well the brain does this is what would be my approximation of the elusive "Hockey IQ".

Is this definition satisfactory? Still too convoluted or is it too basic? What would yours be or what would you add?

...to know where the puck is going to be two steps before it gets there, combined with knowing where your teammates are going to be two steps before they get there, combined with knowing where the opposition is going to be two steps before they get there.

I may be saying the same as you.

 

[tarheelhockey]

There's an almost identical thread already going on:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/do-general-iq-and-hockey-iq-correlate.2498791/

I'll leave this one open since the question is slightly different, but TBH I think your answers are already in the other thread.

 

[Derg12]

It's hard to put hard and fast rules to the term - but when you watch guys like Lemieux and Gretzky, obvious masters of the game, it's apparent that they see the game differently.

They just have an innate ability to read the play. It's a natural intuitive understanding of the game on top of having the physical skills to meet what the mind sees.

It's like the famous Jordan Shrug game... for those elite athletes, I don't think they even know what it is. It just happens.

Personally, I've been in athletic situations where you are "on". It's like time slows down and everything just works and it's almost as if you're not even thinking. It's an auto-pilot feeling in a way.

 

[ZenOil]

Guys with high I.Q process the game faster. Have the ability to slow it down and can see what is going to happen before it's does. I'm sure if they studied the brain of the best players while playing, the high I.Q. guys are humming at a completely different level then say that of a grinder or a spaz show like Nail Yakupov. In more of a flow state. More of a meditative way of playing, less emotional and jumpy. Smooth like butter with the quick strike of a shark

 

[Kranix]

I would define it as the opposite of Matt Lombardi.

 

[Bounces R Way]

There's an almost identical thread already going on:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/do-general-iq-and-hockey-iq-correlate.2498791/

I'll leave this one open since the question is slightly different, but TBH I think your answers are already in the other thread.

Yes, I was reading through that one and noticed there were a variety of opinions on what hockey IQ represents. Just find it interesting how two players as drastically different as Ovechkin and Gaudreau can also have totally distinct approaches to the game while playing the same position. It can be said there's a singular purpose in hockey (putting the puck in the net), but there's been many different methods of getting it there.

You can measure a player's speed, or how hard they shoot, even how well they pass and control the puck. Would there be a way to start to quantify hockey IQ, like a hockey IQ test?

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

It's easier to see when someone lacks IQ. Sam Bennett is a good example. The guy has some talent but he cant use his linemates thus produces much less for someone of his talent.

Sam Bennett is a terrible example. He has more than solid hockey IQ. He may not be Crosby or Point but his hockey IQ is right there with the next tier of guys like Stamkos, Kesler and Toews.

If anything Sam Bennett is a great example of how lazily evaluations of hockey IQ can be made based on boxcar statistics, raw shooting skill, linemate quality, and narratives rather than actual... hockey IQ.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Yes, I was reading through that one and noticed there were a variety of opinions on what hockey IQ represents. Just find it interesting how two players as drastically different as Ovechkin and Gaudreau can also have totally distinct approaches to the game while playing the same position. It can be said there's a singular purpose in hockey (putting the puck in the net), but there's been many different methods of getting it there.

You can measure a player's speed, or how hard they shoot, even how well they pass and control the puck. Would there be a way to start to quantify hockey IQ, like a hockey IQ test?

I think you could do something like showing a clip and then pausing it and asking, what’s the right play here?

TBH that would probably tell you more about a player’s hockey IQ than actually watching him play the game, since so much of NHL hockey is reflexive muscle memory rather than actual thought.

 

[Tofveve]

This calls for some Gretzky/Kurri magic. Before watching, though, one aspect about Gretzky's game that I don't hear a lot about (and it most certainly has to do with his hockey IQ), was his ability to use the entirety of the ice surface. The space behind the net was known as his "office" which, to be honest, I don't hear much of that today even when people are talking about him. But back in the day that was a constant refrain. He'd twist and turn back there, even holding up until someone got open. The only player I can recall who used the office almost to Gretzky's extent (not quite, obviously), was Doug Gilmour. But, and here's the thing that stuck out to me in the following video montage, was Gretzky's use of the width of the ice. This is basic hockey doctrine that you're taught at the lowest levels, but few maintain the discipline of skating wide down the boards, keeping close to them, so that, you open up the ice for your teammates to get open while separating the defenders from the other team (basically creating exploitable holes). Also, I do think Gretzky's speed was underrated. And finally, again connected to IQ, was Gretzky's ability to turn on a dime or stop - the shifty, quick movements similar, and again at a whole other level, to Johny Gaudreau's quick movements/turns, where he could lose a defenseman or backchecker instantly.

Anyway, some magic:

 

[DFF]

Sam Bennett is a terrible example. He has more than solid hockey IQ. He may not be Crosby or Point but his hockey IQ is right there with the next tier of guys like Stamkos, Kesler and Toews.

If anything Sam Bennett is a great example of how lazily evaluations of hockey IQ can be made based on boxcar statistics, raw shooting skill, linemate quality, and narratives rather than actual... hockey IQ.

So if his IQ is at the same level as Stamkos/Towes/Kesler

He is probably the dumbest hockey player I have seen

 

[613Leafer]

Decision making - whether it's positional play, reacting quickly and appropriately under pressure, not coughing up the puck with bad stretch passes, etc.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Basically; it's the ability to think the game of hockey on the fly. That's all it really is.

yup, its pretty simple to see as well.

the players that always seem to make the right play or somehow always are in the right place at the right time? that's hockey IQ