Keep Your Head Up

You've probably heard the phrase, 'Keep Your Head Up' a hundred times, but it's so important, it never gets old.

It's so easy to focus on the puck to make sure it's on your stick. But doing so means you miss out on what else is happening on the ice:

• What Teammates are open?
• Who's coming at you?
• What is the goalie giving you?

When stick handling, it's O.k. to glance at the puck, but that's all you need to do. Keeping the puck in your peripheral vision should be enough to maintain control. You may find that faster stick handling makes it easier to see the puck while your head is up.

Keeping your head up can also prevent you from shooting the puck at a ref, or even running into one: