Shane Malloy

Win it in double overtime. The Penguins and Predators. Only one team can bring home the Cup. The 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sirius XM NHL Network Radio Skellig and Simmer, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio Scotty Bowman.

Russ Cohn

Joining us, the winningest coach in NHL history, of course, a Hockey hall of Famer. The pedestal of being in the final. What do you say to a team that's in this situation for the first

Kevin Willis

time, how difficult it will be going forward to get back to where you are now with the party in the league? Yeah, enjoy the moment, but know that these really concentrate on this opportunity cuz

Shane Malloy

they don't come along all Sirius XM91. This is Hockey Prospect Radio on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and the TSN Radio Network. Here's Shane Malloy and Russ Goen.

Show Host / Interviewer

We're back empowered by Upper Deck, your source of E cards on upper deck epack.com we're discussing the NHL Combine and we're happy to bring a new guest. Kevin Willis, sports psychologist, who has worked with some great athletes and Saul Miller, who is a fun guy to talk to as well. And Kevin's been a regular guest on our show talking about sports psychology, specifically with young athletes and hockey players. Kevin, thanks for coming on the show. We really appreciate it.

Commercial Announcer

Sure.

Kevin Willis

Happy to be here.

Show Host / Interviewer

Well, Kevin, before we get going into some specifics about the combine, I really wanted to talk about the complete player and the services that you provide. I'm really intrigued to sort of get, you know, for our listeners and the young athletes out there, sort of an understanding of not only what you do and your background, but what you provide.

Kevin Willis

Sure. The, the. So the whole genesis of where I came from is somebody who, you know, has been a hockey coach, a hockey dad, not so much a hockey player, but I've been in it enough to know that there are a lot of things that are sort of a foundation to being able to learn to play this game at an elite level, that we struggle to find the content, the, the avenue to go learn this stuff. So the whole idea behind the Complete Player was, you know, I worked with Dr. Miller for years and years and we developed the hockey tough.com site. You know, he's got a second revision of the book coming out which if you haven't got, you should get. It's great. But what I wanted to do was sort of take this kind of coaching and this kind of training to the players at an earlier age. You know, the elite stars, the guys that are touring pro, all these guys, they get it and they're there because they get it. But it's the young athlete that sort of sometimes gets forgotten. And. And it's being able to learn this stuff at an early age that I think makes more sense to be able to put it into practice and then really be able to demonstrate these skills when it counts the most. If there's one thing that I have heard from just about every pro I've ever talked to is, man, I wish I'd have had this when I was young. And so that's what I want to do. I want to be able to provide mental toughness training, you know, mental gain, training, grit, determination, focus, drive, you know, all of this stuff to kids as young as, you know, 11 and 12 years old so that they can really benefit as they come up through the ranks.

Commercial Announcer

I mean, I would think, Kevin, if you wanted to learn grit, just spend the week with Shane Malloy, and I think it would come out naturally. But my question for you is, when you. When you're talking to guys and you're talking about confidence, that seems to be the number one thing or the first thing that wanes or leaves a player when things are rough. And so give us an idea of how you handle that kind of situation. Whether the player says, I don't have any confidence right now, or he says, you know, I've lost it in the past and I don't want to go back to that.

Kevin Willis

Right. Well, you know, confidence is seriously a major, major foundation for, you know, everything that you do in hockey and confidence is split up. You can be confident in some areas of game and not so much in others. And when you lose confidence, it does tend to drain it in other areas, but when you have it, you sort of feel bulletproof. So what I like to tell my guys is, you know, the thing about confidence is that you, You. You have to bring it with you. What you can't do is wait for something good to happen and then say, ah, yeah, now I'm confident. You know, it's when I score a goal, then I'll be confident. When. When we start to win, then I'll be confident. When I get on a good team, then I'll be confident. No, you do those things because you are confident, and it sounds easier than it is. I know that, and that's why I work with these players, to work with skills to make sure they're bringing confidence to their game. But you hit it right on the head. Confidence is king. And when you have confidence, you're able to do all of the other things in hockey so much better. And, and confidence is a driver in your overall hockey success, for sure.

Show Host / Interviewer

You're listening to Hockey Prospect Radio on Sirius xm, NHL Network Radio and the TSN Radio Network. I'm Shane Malloy with Russ Cohn. We're powered by Upper Deck, your source of E Cards on Upper Deck. Epact. Com. We're discussing the NHL combine with Kevin Willis, sports psychologist. The completeplayer.com Kevin, I also wanted to ask you something specific about things you do@the completeplayer.com and about your mental online boot camp. I found that really fascinating for young players and sort of explain to our listeners how, how that works.

Kevin Willis

Well, you know, we're all used to summer development camps or, you know, training camps, and, and that's when you really get down and dirty with very, very specific goals to accomplish during a short period of time. So, you know, when you. I've always tried to take my coaching and spread it out over the course of a season, but what happens is it sort of gets lost in the shuffle, so to speak. It's typically not the first and most important thing on the people's mind when it comes to, you know, having a winning season. And so what I decided to do was sort of take a step back and say, all right, well, so how can we deliver this in a very powerful way, but it's also a way that you can come back to it throughout the season when you're dealing with specific issues. So rather than try to spread it out, I came up with this boot camp concept. It's an online program where you can go through the program, you can basically saturate yourself everything, mental toughness. And then, like I said, as you deal with things coming down the stretch, you can go back and touch on the module on focus or touch on the module on emotional control or pressure or adversity or confidence. We talked about there. There's a whole module specifically on confidence, on, you know, how to keep it up, what to do when it's down, all of these things and by putting it all in one place. And specifically for hockey players, you know, I know that the sports, there's a lot of overlap, but at the end of the day, wouldn't you want to be taught how to be mentally tough in hockey by somebody who coaches hockey players on how to be mentally tough? And so that's, that's what I've decided to do, is go straight at it, straight at hockey players, specific skills that the hockey players need.

Commercial Announcer

Kevin what about, like, supplements to stay mentally sharp, like a ginseng or something like that. Does that ever come into play?

Kevin Willis

Well, you know, people have used them and I say that if you've got something that you feel good about and it's working for you, then I say keep using it. But I don't think there's necessarily a pill, so to speak, that helps with mental toughness. What I do know, though is, is that there are physical attributes that will really mess with your mental toughness. Things like nutrition. You know, if you're not, you know, if you're not fueling your body and if you're not strong in practicing gains, then you know that the mental weakness could actually be a function of poor nutrition. Same thing with poor sleep habits or, you know, coming off of injuries or the idea that you're in a slump. You know, these things, they are physical, but they can really impact you from a mental standpoint. And so then you think, oh my gosh, you know, I'm not mentally strong enough. Well, let's take a step back and let's understand why. Well, are you eating right, are you sleeping right? And these types of things. So it's important to understand that, because you can work all day long to get somebody strong mentally, but if they're not fueling their body, you know, properly, then they're always going to struggle.

Show Host / Interviewer

Kevin, last question before we head off to break and about your mental online boot camp. What's the ease of a player going through this season being able to use that as, you know, a little boost, you know, if you feel you're sort of getting yourself into bad habits again to sort of push yourself back into good habits? Is this something you could just like plug in, plug into your iPad and throw in the headphones while you're riding the bus and just. And do some exercises that way?

Kevin Willis

Yep, that's. You're spot on. That's exactly the way it was designed so that, you know, you get the big, you know, burst of information and then you sort of sift through it, but then you can come back to it. So say you're struggling with confidence or say you're struggling with focus, or say you're struggling with, you know, intensity levels or something like that. There are specific modules, you know, to these different areas that you can come back and listen to. And yeah, you plug it in, you go through it. There are, there's exercises or homework. There's, you know, it's, it's audio, video so that you can really consume it from wherever you're at. It's mobile friendly, it's you know, I try to put it in the pockets of the kids where they're at. You know, I've had books and workbooks in the past and I've just found that kids aren't, you know, they're not in love with having a book about mental toughness in their bag because, you know, if I've got that, that must mean I'm not mentally tough. Well, so if I can create a space for them to be able to pursue this stuff sort of, you know, on their own, in their own space, in their own time, then I'm finding a lot more players are, you know, buying into this and does that, you

Show Host / Interviewer

know, you think the feedback you've got from them is because it's a generational thing and there's always, there's, there's a bit of a stigma that goes along and that I found with trying to having a cycle, a coach that's a sports psychologist because immediately people will think that there's something wrong. Well, of course there's something wrong with everybody that we have to work on. There's it like and I'm not mean that in a negative way. There's something we could always work on in terms of mental toughness. So that's why I find, you know, the mental online bootcamp really interesting and fascinating to see how that continues to develop. But we're going to take a quick break break on Hockey Prospect Radio. We'll continue to talk to Kevin Willis, sports psychologist from the completeplayer.com right after these important messages.

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and have breakfast with the Beatles.

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Hey, it's Chris Carter and every weekday morning it's me and you and the Fab Four. We'll spin you the hits, some rarities and lots more.

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at 8am Eastern on the band's one and only official radio channel, the Beatles channel, channel 18 and streaming on the Siriusxm app. As a business owner, you know that timing is everything. Using Post Media's native advertising network, you can engage the right audience with effective and relevant content at the moment your customers are looking for it. If you're looking for a simple nft efficient way to share your story, we can help with a variety of advertising solutions. Post Media can help you connect all the pieces of your business. Get started Today by visiting Postmedia.com advertise that's Postmedia.com advertise Catch the Arlene Biden

Kevin Willis

show on Canada Talks Kelly Grant, health

Russ Cohn

reporter for the Globe and Mail welcome.

Kevin Willis

It is still, as you say, a bit of a head scratcher because there

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has been so much public attention paid to the dangers and the potential addiction that can arise from taking these drugs. And so you would expect, I think, that to see these numbers start to drop and that's not what's happening here.

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The Arlene Biden Show Weekdays at 4pm Eastern on Canada Talks SiriusXM167 the biggest plays on the island Shot Great Pad Saved By Quick Follow SiriusXM NHL Network Radio SiriusXM 91. This is the Sirius XM Sports Update.

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The left arm of God living up to that nickname.

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No balls and two strikes. Here's the left hander into the wind. Up and delivers.

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Swung on and missed.

Shane Malloy

Strike three. And Clayton Kershaw, a monumental strikeout. And for Clayton, he becomes the fifth youngest pitcher in major league history to record his 2000 career strikeout.

Russ Cohn

And he's the fourth pitcher to get to the 2000 strikeout mark in a Dodgers uniform, joining hall of Famers Don Sutton, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax. Rick Monday the call on the Dodgers radio network is heard on Sirius XM. The Dodgers clip the Brewers 2 1. Elsewhere Marlins down the Diamondback 7 5. Pirates over the Mets 12 7. The Giants throttle the Phillies 10 nothing. The Cubs clip the Cardinals 3 2. In 10, the Reds get past the Braves 3 2. The Padres. Their first five game winning streak of the season. They beat the Rockies eight five. Interleague play the Nationals continue their role. They've won four in a row. They pound the A's 13 to 3. In the American League. The Astros have now won eight in a row. They beat the Rangers seven one. Dallas Kickel improving to nine. And oh on the season. The Royals shut out the Indians 4 nothing. Tigers over the White Sox 15 to 5. The Orioles have won three in a row. They edge the Red Sox 3 two. The Blue Jays get two home runs from Josh Donaldson and disposing of the Yankees 7 5. The AL Central leading twins pound the Angels 11 5, the Mariners all over the Rays 12 4. Meanwhile, to the NHL where this evening game three of the Stanley cup finals is in Nashville. The Predators home versus the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now Penguins center Nick Bonino will be a game time decision against the Predators with a lower body injury. You can catch the game at 8:00pm Eastern on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio, channel 97. I'm Dan Lang.

Shane Malloy

If it's happening in sports, it's happening on SiriusXM. The only team you need during the playoffs is ours, the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. SiriusXM NHL Network Radio this is Hockey Prospect Radio on Sirius xm, NHL Network Radio and the TSN Radio Network. Here's Shane Malloy.

Show Host / Interviewer

And we are back empowered by Upper Deck, your source of E cards on upper deck epack.com we're discussing the NHL combine in hour two of Hockey Prospect Radio with Kevin Willis, sports psychologist, the Complete Player.com Kevin let's talk about the NHL combine in terms of some specific things. One of them we want to talk to you about his player assessment and how not only sports psychologists assess these young players and these athletes at this situation, but you know, how NHL teams do it as well and talk about the assessment process that you would employ and what you think are the best practices if you're in in a situation assessing these players specifically.

Kevin Willis

Right? Well, the thing I find interesting about the combine is that you get the idea that an assessment for the combine is, like you said, for the teams. And so the information that is gleaned is for them to make a decision on whether I want this player or not. And that is one way to use it. But I think really the more important way to look at assessments is to understand who you are, who are you as a player, what are your tendencies, what are you more inclined to do and say and act and feel under the situations that, you know, you put yourself in in hockey. The thing about assessments is that they help us understand, predict and control behavior. And so as a player I would want to know that. I would want to know how am I likely to perform under pressure, you know, how am I likely to withstand the pressures of, you know, coming up the ranks in hockey? And so from my perspective, I'm looking at these assessments not from for the third party that's evaluating do we want this player or not, But I'm looking at the player saying are these things that you think would make you a better player if you knew, you know, if you knew what your skills were with attention, your ability to focus, stay focused and refocus, would that help you as a player? You know, if you knew about your ability to shift your attention and your focus from wide to narrow, back and forth, back and forth throughout a game, would that help you as a player? It is helpful to the scout, to the. To the GM that's looking at this player saying, you know, he struggles with confidence or he's struggling with, you know, staying focused or attention. But, boy, at the end of the day, it's the player that really wants to embrace this and understand sort of who they are, the internal workings of who they are, so that they can, like I said, understand, predict, and eventually manage and control some of this behavior.

Commercial Announcer

Kevin, in regard to the player assessment, do you pull the parents in on that, too and let them, you know, be there and hear that same information?

Show Host / Interviewer

Yeah.

Kevin Willis

You know, the thing is, it's funny because, you know, I keep talking about working with players, players, players, but it's very few young players that come to me. It's parents that come to me. It's coaches that come to me, and they want to help their kid, you know, work through something or to stand out or, you know, to be. To be somebody that's being noticed by scouts and whatnot. So, yeah, typically you're working with some sort of, you know, requester for the assessment. But at the end of the day, this is a private conversation that I'm having with the player. And so what I want to do is sort of to create trust and develop a connection so that I'm allowed to share some of these things that may not necessarily be comfortable to hear, but yet knowing it and understanding what these things are gives us a chance to work on them and make them better. Obviously, with young kids, you know, 12, 13, 14 years old. Yeah, the player, the parents are involved. You know, if it's a coach that's requesting it, then obviously it's the parents, the coach and the, you know, player is involved. So it is a combination of all of them. But at the end of the day, I try to have a conversation with the player because it's, you know, it's their life. It's who they are. We did the assessment on them, not on the coach or not on the parent. So let's. Let's make this work for you.

Show Host / Interviewer

You're listening to Hockey Prospect Radio on Sirius xm, NHL Network Radio, and the TSN Radio Network. I am Shane Malloy with Ross Cohn. We're powered by Upper Deck, your source of e cards on upper deck. EPAC we're discussing the NHL combine with Kevin Willis, sports psychologist. The complete player.com Kevin, let's talk about a different similar subject. It, you know, it involves the NHL combine, which I find really fascinating, and I've been involved in it and have watched player interviews at the NHL combine and at the draft and watch NHL teams ask their questions. And it's a fascinating study of human behavior. From your perspective, how critically important is the player interview at the NHL combine?

Kevin Willis

Well, the player interview is sort of an extension of, you know, any type of written assessment or profile that's been done in the past. And at the end of the day, they're trying to predict that, that this player that's sitting in front of me, how are they going to perform, you know, for us if we were to choose them? And so you're really looking at five key areas. You're looking at what's their technical and tactical skills, you know, can they get it done on the ice? And the scouts know this. They've been watching these kids for, for years, and they know what this kid has from a technical and tactical standpoint. What they don't know is what are their cognitive abilities, you know, are they able to stay focused on the right things at the right times? How are they at solving problems? You know, what's their ability to anticipate and make good decisions? These are things that you can see. But wouldn't it be nice to have sort of a measure in some sort of an assessment to be able to also add to that equation? Same thing with personal behavior, such as their drive, their motivation, their compete level, the willingness to take risks, those types of things. These are things that you can observe, but it takes a long time and there's so many context that this can occur in that it may be hard to really get a really good number on that. So again, it's the interview, it's the assessment, and then it's the observation. Things like are they introverted or extroverted? Are they willing to express themselves? Are they, you know, more positive, more glass half full, or are they sometimes negative and more glass, you know, half empty? And then lastly, it's their emotional and intellectual sense, stability. You know, are they able to keep anger, frustration, anxiety, worry and that kind of stuff from interfering with their play? Can they make good decisions under pressure? And are they ability, are they able to come back after setbacks, adversity? What's, what's their, you know, tendencies in that area? So again, these are things you can Explore with the interview. These are things that you can observe, and these are things that you can pick up in an assessment as well.

Commercial Announcer

Kevin, when. When you're talking about the. The player interview, how can you separate,

Kevin Willis

based on the answers, maybe a kid

Commercial Announcer

being sort of nervous and goofy from maybe being immature?

Kevin Willis

That's, you know, I think that's more on the interviewer, and hopefully you've got enough background on this. This player to have a sense about, you know, are they. Are they tight because they're nervous? Which, you know, what kid wouldn't be, to be honest.

Commercial Announcer

Right.

Kevin Willis

But, you know, how are they able to sort of overcome that? Quite honestly, that's the great thing about these elite players. You know, the skills that they use, their mental skills that they use to play the game are skills that they can bring into the interview room, you know, to calm down, to simplify, to take a breath, you know, and just sort of. Sort of be genuine, be who they are. Don't try to be something that they're not. I mean, I can imagine the worst case scenario is that you act like somebody you're not and they love that person, and then you're like, holy crap, they just fell in love with somebody who. I'm not even that person. What do I do now? So that's why I just. I tell my guys just to. To be yourself, you know, be respectful, be humble, but also be certain. You know, there's. Certain there's something about certainty that. That, you know, imbues confidence not only to the person with the certainty, but the people that they're talking to. So that's a word that I like to use is certainty.

Show Host / Interviewer

Kevin, when you're in a. Perhaps you have a client that's going into an interview at the NHL combine, and perhaps they are introverted, do you. Would you recommend or consider saying to them that they. They say, you know, this is the type of person, instead of, like, letting the interviewer ask the questions, almost, you know, command the interview a little bit and say, you know, I'm an introverted person. I like to internalize, like to think about things. That doesn't mean I don't care, but I like to figure things out and then come back and ask questions and sort of like, you know, preempt some of the concerns. Because sometimes people don't give enough consideration for the introverted person, and they think they're shy and they're not going to be confident and strong enough as a player.

Kevin Willis

Yeah, no, I think that's a. That's a great way of putting it. And, and what I suggest is that to tell them that people say that I can come across as quiet or sort of standoffish, and that's just because I'm somebody who likes to look deeply at things and really understand them. And so when I come across like that, it's not out of lack of interest or passion. It's because I am interested and I'm very passionate about it. And so I want to understand it and do more. But I think you also bring up a good point when it comes to maybe things that are not personality traits so much, but things that might, you know, might have been bad decisions that they made in the past. And you know, that these guys sitting across the table probably have heard about it or if they haven't, they probably will hear about it at some point. So sort of bringing those up and saying, you know, I have made that bad decisions in the past and one thing that I've been able to do is learn from these. And so by preempting those types of things, it shows a level of accountability and responsibility in that player that you can take something that could end up, you know, could, could potentially be a negative and they can turn it into a positive and, and impress, you know, the guys across the table. So that's from a preemptive standpoint that that is an area where I get my guys to say, you know, let's, let's put it out there and let's be honest. But let's also say that, you know what, I'm a kid and I've made mistakes and if I have, I definitely, I've learned from them. And the good thing is that you're getting a better version of me from what I've gone through. So, you know, feel good about that.

Show Host / Interviewer

Well, we're going to take a quick break on Hockey Prospect Radio, but when we continue to talk about the NHL combine with Kevin Willis, stay tuned. We'll be back right after these important messages.

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the only team you need during the playoffs is ours. The 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs SiriusXM NHL Network Radio the Power Play the Winter Spitfires Memorial cup champion Jeremy Brocco drops by.

Kevin Willis

The players get the Morale cup for a weekend. So you know I'm going to take

Show Host / Interviewer

it back home there and you know

Kevin Willis

it'll be the first time I ever go to Chelsea home and my family couldn't make it out the window for the tournament. Bring it back to them and get some family pictures and just celebrate with them. Will be pretty special and development starts I think the 6th of July, so take a couple weeks off and get back to work and get ready for that.

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The Power Play Weekday Afternoons at 3 on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio SiriusXM 91 Clear your tickets to the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sirius XM NHL Network Radio Sirius XM 91 Wake up with Gord Stelligan, Rob Simpson. Weekdays at 7am Eastern on Sirius XM NHL Network radio SiriusXM 91 SiriusXM takes you to North America's biggest music festivals.

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I'm playing through the heavyweights at Coachella

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and now Bonnaroo 2017 with live performances from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And more.

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Schedule and Streaming video@siriusxm.com Bonnerule Continuous coverage

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starts Friday, 2pm Eastern, 11am Pacific on the spectrum. SiriusXM Channel 28 the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs are here. Into the better.

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Design comes down wrist shot.

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suicide, it's Kenny Malkin.

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Last gas shooting block by the Penguins. Ornquist, that one goes up ice and a hard sound and that finishes it. The Pittsburgh Penguins now with a two

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Hi, I'm Eric Alper, host of that Eric Alper show, heard right here on SiriusXM. Sarah Sleen was signed to a major label at 19 and since then have put out 11 albums, including the brand new one called Metaphysics. It's a first recording in five years and she's going to be joining me to talk about what she's been doing, keeping busy and the birth of that record. It's that Eric Galper Show. Channel167 Canada talks NHL game day.

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President and alternate governor of the LA Kings, Mr. Luke Robitaille.

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When you play hockey, you always play the win and every game is about winning. I don't think I knew what it took to win the cup. You know, you don't really like a horse hard it is it comes down to injuries and who's hot at the right time. And there's so much into it for the organization, the team and you as a player.

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NHL Game Day with Steve Kulus Weekday mornings at 11 on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio Sirius XM91 this is Hockey Prospect Radio on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio and the TSN Radio Network. Hear Shane Malloy and Russ Gowith.

Show Host / Interviewer

We are back empowered by Upper Deck, your source of E cards on upper deck epact.com we're discussing the NHL combine with Kevin Willis, sports psychologist for the complete player.com Kevin want to ask you about a few more topics before we get have to let you go. And one of the ones I'm really interested about is the topic of the biggest struggles with mental skills like terms of habits and performance. I'm intrigued how each individual has maybe has a combination of struggles that they have to work with and how they interrelate to each other. Then how do you build a formula for them to improve upon those as they go? Because sometimes things affect things in a positive way, in a negative way and it's a bit of a push pull from that perspective.

Kevin Willis

Well, that's why I like to start with with an assessment. I use the TASE assessment, which stands for the Intentional Attentional interpersonal style assessment. Dr. Nye Defer developed it back in the 80s. And what's great about it is it's really all about attentional style and interpersonal connectivity. So at the end of the day you're right, you can be a very competitive person. You can have a super high self esteem and you can also be a bully and intimidating. So you know, is that a good thing to be competitive and is it a good thing to be high confidence? Absolutely. But when it takes to being a bully and intimidating, then then you may be gone too far. Likewise, you got guys that are very cerebral. These are guys that really love to understand and analyze and they can really understand things at a good level. But what happens when they become get under pressure is that they go to those strengths and then they become somebody that's sort of in their own head, you know, trying to overthink things. And, and so what, what was a positive, what was a good strength becomes a negative under pressure. And that's one of the things I really like to work with is what, what is your tendency when under pressure? Because at the end of the day anybody can be a great player when it's easy. You know, you're on a. You're a great team and you're playing weak teams, and you guys are winning, winning, winning. It's easy to be tough, right? It's easy to be focused. It's easy to be, you know, all of these things. But what happens when, you know, you're under pressure? What happens when you're not getting ice time? What happens when, you know you're losing or, you know, you've been pulled from the first line to the fourth line and you don't know why? So you have to understand what is your behavior under pressure. And it really starts with the assessment for me, because at the end of that, this. This is sort of my approach to working with players. I think that there are six key areas that the best players are balanced in, and that is the right skills, which is, you know, their skating, their stick handling, their speed, agility, hockey sense, all of those hockey things, right? But then there's also right focus. There's right drive, which is the motivation or grit, determination, the right feelings, which is confidence, you know, emotional control, intensity. Right social game, such as, you know, what's their. What's their leadership, what's their personality, what's their, you know, their willingness to be expressive. And then lastly is right, opportunities. You know, this is a little outside of mental toughness, but it is something that will impact players ability to, you know, be successful and move up. Things like, you know, kind of coaching they're getting and what's the competition that they're playing, what's their team like, what town are they from, you know, that. That matters. Their. What's their birth date? You know, these are things that will impact their ability to move up the ranks, but it also plays on their ability to perform under pressure. So it's all of these things that you sort of have to blend together to get a sense of the player and what's their potential.

Commercial Announcer

Kevin, what do you think about with goalies, you know, being a little. A little off?

Kevin Willis

We know they are.

Commercial Announcer

They admit it with, like, the mental imaging now that we see a lot of them doing before a game. They're out literally sitting in an empty arena. And what's. What's. The thought process for you with that? Is that something that you would, you know, you would say, yeah, that's a good idea, or is it person to person? What do you think?

Kevin Willis

I think there's two. Two answers to that. One is the mental imagery I think is key. And just about every pro I've ever talked with to Talk to. When you ask about their mental skills and all that, everybody talks about mental imagery, and I think it's because people are talking about it that it's embraced by the younger players. And I love it. But I also look at it from the perspective of, you know, sort of a routine to get yourself prepared to play. And you look at somebody like Braden Holtby, who, you know, he's well known for his little eye thing before the game, back and forth. And, you know, and so, you know, I've asked him, are we playing the game in your head or are you picturing players or shooters or, you know, and so for him, it's just working on the optics, getting the eyes and quick thinking and developing the whole sense of what the game looks like. And so it works for him, but it's just one piece of his pregame routine. And you take that out or you take any of the other pieces out of that routine, and it starts to impact his play. So imagery as pregame is great. Imagery as just a mental skill in general is great. And the fact that pros are, you know, willing to talk about and willing to share it, I'm finding it much, much easier to get my guys to embrace it and use it because it's a good. It's a good start to get into some of the other skills, which are, you know, things like being able to step up and act as if you are, you know, the person that you need to be to get through this situation. You build on that imagery, and it's been. It's made this mental coaching a little bit easier because of these guys that are willing to share and talk about it.

Show Host / Interviewer

You're listening to Hockey Prospect Radio on Sirius xm, NHL Network Radio, and the TSN Radio Network. I'm Shane Malloy with Russ Cohn. We're powered by Upper Deck, your source of E cards. On Upper Deck, we're discussing the NHL combine with Kevin Willis, sports psychologist. The completeplayer.com Kevin, want to ask you about something that I picked up on your website. I'm really intrigued by it, and can you explain to me and Great and Russ in greater detail and to our listeners what. What you consider what your hockey type is, because I've talked to, you know, players in the past, and my guess is this is that understanding who you are as a player, because sometimes you talk to a player and they think they're A and they're not remotely close to A, they're actually B. So from your perspective, you explain that with a little more detail, right so what.

Kevin Willis

This sort of came from a conversation that I had with a psychologist out of Rutgers, and basically her name is Dr. Fisher. And she did an assessment. She created an assessment to be able to understand personality temperament styles from a sort of a biological level. In other words, the types of chemicals and hormones and neurotransmitters that are floating around in our bodies sort of impact who we are at a biological level. In other words, somebody who's got more testosterone, they're going to be a little bit more aggressive and more, you know, director type style. Somebody who is maybe more passive, could have more estrogen. Somebody who is more thoughtful and considerate, they might be more serotonin. Somebody who's more adventurous and outgoing, they're more dopamine. So it really gets down to the neurotransmitters and these hormones in our bodies. Well, what I did was I took assessment that she has, and I sort of tweaked it so that it would help hockey players get a sense about where they fall. There are four categories. They're adventurous, they're a builder, which is somebody who is sort of steadfast and sort of a rules type guy. There's a director, somebody who is, you know, sort of likes to be in charge. And it is what it is. Let's use logic. And then there's the connector, who is somebody that sort of likes to bring people together and likes harmony and likes things to sort of be good all the time. And you're not one of these. You're sort of a blend of these. But when you take the hockey type assessment, you basically find out what your primary type, because your primary type will dictate just about 100% of how you will naturally react and think and feel and what you'll say and what you'll do in situations by just taking a very quick assessment. So. So the assessment is designed to just give players a sense about am I more outgoing? And if that's the case, this is some of the good things that I can. I can come from it, but at the same time, these are things I gotta watch for. In other words, you know, I get bored. Really easy drills. The same drill over and over again drives me nuts. Well, that's. That's something that can come back and bite you if you're in practice and you're whacking the guy in front of you and you're not paying attention while the coach is gonna rip you new one. So these are things that might help you understand. And then the last thing I did just to sort of make it fun was I associated these different hockey types with superheroes. In other words, the superheroes of the day, they represent these certain types. Like I'm a primary Iron man and a secondary Spider Man. That's sort of my personality. But you know, and you guys should take it and see which ones you are. But I've got Iron Man, I've got Captain America, I've got Batman and Spider Man. So you're a combination of these types of characters. And just from a fun standpoint, it sort of is something that the kids can go back and they can just sort of say, yeah, I'm sort of this way. And the kids seem to enjoy it. Now what I want to caution and I always tell my guys is, you know this isn't a label, right. So this isn't you forever and ever. Amen. This is is just a snapshot in time of who you are right now. And if there are things you like, great. Build on it. If there are things that you don't like, work on them. But it's sort of a fun way to sort of get a sense of who you are as a player.

Show Host / Interviewer

Yeah, I find that whole that a self assessment really fascinating to understand. Use it as a tool from a athlete standpoint of like how these impact not only what you do on the ice but how you prepare yourself before games, how you interact with the people on your team and your coaches and all the other people that are trying to help you. And understanding how that affects one or the other from a positive and negative standpoint, I think it's, it's invaluable part of the assessment process that you know, I think hopefully will continue to evolve at the NHL combine as it moves along. But Kevin, we want to thank you very much for coming on our show with. We really appreciate your insight and we look forward to talking to you in the future.

Kevin Willis

Hey, I'll be here guys. Thanks for. Thanks for the call and I look forward to chatting with you later.

Show Host / Interviewer

That's Kevin Willis, sports psychologist, the completeplayer.com Russ and I are going to take a quick break on Hockey Prospect Radio but we will be back right after these important messages.

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