Bounces R Way
Registered User
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?
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?