You Embarrassed Yourself in Front of Your Old Team, Now What?
It’s a regular season game, but this one’s different.
You’re playing your old team. You’re playing in front of fans who once adored you, but now cheer at your slip-ups. Teammates who you used to be friends with, you now worry are talking about you behind your back.
Whatever it is, some regular season games feel different - more important than others. With that pressure comes more satisfaction in each goal, and more frustration in each mistake.
The game starts, and you find yourself making a great play to secure an excellent scoring chance. Just you and the goalie, net, etc.
The crowd boos you as they realize you’re the one with a chance to put the home team behind. An incredible chance to shut them all up and feel on top of the world!
And…you miss. The goalie makes it look easy stopping you. The crowd’s cheers climb to the loudest you’ve heard so far tonight.
How do you react? What do you think to yourself?
Do you throw your equipment around? Are you uncontrollably yelling and slamming the gate shut behind you as you make your way to the bench? Do you control your anger to minimize the satisfaction your adversaries feel?
This is exactly what happened to Jack Eichel on November 10th, 2022.
A superstar NHL player in his 2nd game back in Buffalo after a headline grabbing trade sent him to the Vegas Golden Knights. Former captain of the Sabres, boo’s now rain down from the arena with each touch of the puck. Likewise, any mistake garnered cheers and celebration.
Here is a link to Eichel’s breakaway - just him and the goalie - early in the game. What do you notice?
There are two things worth pointing out
The crowd noise. Booing as he touches the puck, applause when his shot is stopped. How would this impact you? Is it harder to let go of the frustration this shift will cause?
Eichel'’s body language after he is stopped. He acknowledges the frustration produced as you can see him yelling a word or two. It’s a way to release tension in your mind and body rather than hold it in, which can lead to more frustration. He’s also seen giving a bit of a smile, understanding the objectively entertaining show he just put on for the crowd.
Would you have the same reaction as Eichel? Would you be able to resist slapping your stick on the ice, slamming the gate on your bench, or hold back the urge to yell every bad word you know?
The mentally untrained athlete is going to consistently fall into the trap of letting a disappointing shift turn into a disappointing game. However, there is no rule that says a frustrating shift, or even period, has to lead to a frustrating game as a whole.
That’s where mental performance training comes in handy - having skills to refocus yourself, and thinking habits that leave you feeling confident and optimistic despite the frustration you’re naturally going to feel.
…but what if it happened again?
Click here to watch Eichel stopped on another breakaway
Eichel is now 0 for 2 on breakaways against his former team, where thousands of fans are overjoyed at his inability to score. You can’t see it in this clip, but Eichel has a similar reaction to the first missed breakaway. He lets out a little smile, yells, and then puts his head down before he backchecks.
Ok, I don’t care who you are. You’re not feeling particularly confident after missing a second breakaway in a game that means so much to you. The frustration, regret, and embarrassment you might’ve felt after the first one is surely amplified.
If you think missing one breakaway derails your game, two missed breakaways is a quick ticket to a game you want to forget as quickly as possible.
But, does that have to be the case? Does it make sense to accept it’s just not your day?
How does Eichel respond?
Probably not the ending you expected!
What can we learn from Eichel’s rollercoaster of a game in Buffalo?
Many players are quick to write off their game as “one of the bad ones” after making a costly mistake, or missing out on a great opportunity like Eichel did multiple times. They don’t have the mental tools to bounce back.
They think “it’s just not my day” which triggers a cascade of effects that keep you from performing well.
Clearly, Eichel didn’t fall for this trap.
Is he just on another level of mental toughness because he’s in the NHL? Does his talent and experience also make him a mental performance expert? Certainly not. There are plenty of professional athletes being paid millions of dollars that let a mistake ruin the rest of their game.
It’s merely a choice to move on from the missed opportunity. That choice, however is not enough on its own. You need a refocus strategy in place if you’re going to truly let go of that frustration and keep it where it should be - in the past.
You’ve probably heard about the importance of playing in the present moment. This means you’re not worried about what has already happened in the past, and you’re not jumping ahead to thinking about what hasn’t happened yet in the future. Your best results come from performances where you were thinking in the present moment more than the past and future.
Eichel was in dangerous territory after missing his breakaway opportunity, and of course even more after it happens again. Your mind so badly wants to replay those breakaways over and over again because of how much they sting, but this won’t help you.
Thinking in the past can be productive, though. Ask yourself, what did I do well in that play that I should keep doing? How can I adjust my plan for my next opportunity?
But this is a quick process, and it’s out of your mind by the time your next shift comes around so you can play in that present moment.
One way to simultaneously acknowledge your frustration, learn from the play, and move on is through the Good-Better-How? routine.
Let’s go through it like Eichel may have done.
Good: what went well?
I had great vision in noticing an opportunity to steal the puck, and had the legs to breakaway from the defenders
Better: what can you improve for next time?
Change and/or improve the execution of my move
How?: how will you make this change happen?
Consult with a coach or teammate
Watch a replay of my breakaway
After going through this brief refocus routine, you’ve aided your mental game in multiple ways:
You acknowledged what didn’t go well rather than try and fake your brain out by ignoring it.
You’re thinking constructively about how you can be better, rather than being negative and beating yourself up.
You’re taking action. You’re being a problem-solver, not a problem dweller. With action, comes confidence.
The Good, Better, How? routine is an easy, effective tool to leave mistakes in the past so you can shift focus back to the present.
Next time you mess up and feel embarrassed, don’t write your game off. Instead, take a page out of Eichel’s book.
Laugh it off, refocus, and come back stronger.
