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https://members.thecoachessite.com/video/tcs-live-how-to-build-and-capitalize-on-momentum-tara-watchorn

After an illustrious playing career, Tara Watchorn is back at her alma mater as Head Coach of the Boston Terriers Women’s Hockey Program. Watchorn is always preaching to her team the value of gaining momentum, and at TCS Live 2024 she discussed how to build and ultimately capitalize on those peaks and valleys in a game.

Watchorn’s biggest message to her players is not to be bigger than the person next to you. A simple way to do this is line changes.

When everyone is fresh and eager to get out there and involved in the game, momentum follows naturally.

Watchorn hyped the benefits of building momentum as a team because it enhances value and understanding for all roles in a team’s lineup. It also creates an energy mismatch with your opponent while also increasing the likelihood of causing icing and penalties by the other team.

The more time and space generated causes more quality scoring chances. Watchorn preaches the three-shift idea to her team. Rather than thinking about scoring right away, Watchorn tells her players to focus on putting together three strong shifts in which all lines can build on each other.

Shift lengths are the key to a team’s success. The likelihood of getting a shot later in your shift decreases by every second. For the best players to be impactful, they need to be fresh, and short shifts are the way to make that happen.

As a coach, it is not just about imposing short shifts, but about selling players on why they need to occur. When players are taking short shifts, reward them and put them back out. Integrating practice strategies is an effective way to do this with the goal of players integrating their own internal clock of their shift time.

There is only so much energy a player can give, and enforcing 30 to 40-second shifts is the most effective way to carry the load as a team.

There are four ways to end a shift in shift management.

The best way to end your shift is to score a goal.
The second best way is to change with possession.
The third is with territorial advantage, which sets the next line up for success.
Finally, if it needs to be used, make the wholesale change play.

It takes one line or one player to have a long shift to cause a snowball effect to not set the next line up for success. Setting the next player and the lineup up for success is one way to live up to a team’s values and a sign of a cohesive team.

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