Confidence, composure and preparation are essential to success in any sport. A talented hockey player, who is physically fit and possesses great fundamentals, might find their skills useless when they get in trouble.

Being calm, centered, and ready for what might happen next can give a player with less basic skill the edge over their opponents. Here are some steps to help you prepare:

Experiment!

• Find what works for you and stick to it
• Create a ritual, regularity can be an asset

Former Colorado Avalanche player, Dan Hinote, found that a consistent pregame ritual helped to keep him focused and prepared. “When you tell your body that doing this, or that, helps you play at your highest level,” Hinote says, “your mind will believe you and increase your performance. It may be a kind of placebo effect, but it works.”

To Calm Pre Game Nerves

• Listening to your favorite music
• Take a moment for personal 'quiet time' to focus
• Create a personal goal
• Visualization

No matter what works for you, what is important is that when you get out there, you are in a state of confident, assured energy.

Visualize Your Ideal Performance
Go through specific scenarios in your mind in which you succeed.  Before each game, Dan Hinote finds an isolated room, sits down, puts his headphones on and goes through entire plays from net-to-net in his head. He imagines each movement of his skates, each flick of his wrists and a perfectly executed play. Once he's done with this meditative moment, he is ready to go out into the arena and make these visualizations a reality.

When you've succeeded in your mind, half the battle is won.

Physical Confidence Is Mental Confidence
Your body is the instrument of success.

• Know what your weak points are in terms of skills, form and physicality
• Know your opponent 
• Be well rested
• 15-20 minutes warm up including stretching

In the NHL, coaches require their athletes to watch game tapes to learn about their weaknesses, mistakes and their opponents.  They also often require their players to take naps, or at the very least get a good night's sleep, which allows their bodies to recharge before the game.

When your body is relaxed, strong, and ready to move, your mind will follow suit.   

Be Here Now!
Always remember that being and staying prepared means up to the moment the warm ups start straight through to the end of the game. 

• Focus: Only concern yourself with the tasks immediately at hand
• Move On: If a mistake is made, don't waste your emotional energy beating yourself up
• Get Excited: After a good play, take that positive emotion and apply it to the next play

What works for you can only be discovered on your own terms, but the framework for that discovery can be boiled down to this:

• Experiment with different preparation methods
• Analyze your mental/physical state
• Define your weak points
• Use visualization

"Remember, if you prep your mind for victory, victory will surely follow." Dan Hinote