Perma slump

[roadrunner 12]

I've noticed that in the past 6 months my game has been deteriorating at a quick pace. I mean we just finished up a 14 game season. I played 11 games and ended up with 4pts. This is my alltime low. I'm used to being at least a point per game player. It's like I've lost my drive. My heart's still in it, I'm the loudest on the bench and always want the best but I mean at this rate I feel I should step down. I don't know what it is or what to do about it. Originally I thought it was a slump but from time to time I score brilliant goals, make nice plays but from game to game I'm just invisible. I've narrowed it down to 3 things it could be.

1. I'm not the go to guy on my new team, we have a line that's been scoring 90% of our goals.

2. I'm getting old. I'm 24 but I see alot of guys my age start to decline especially the one's that get married.

3. My new linemates don't pass and botch plays after I dish it to them. But that has never affected me before on my other team and shouldn't be an excuse. Shouldn't it?

What can I do?

[sniper94 0]

Man,I don't know sometimes these things just happen. I found with me it was the mental state of mind. Just get back to the basics and don't try and think too much. Just by posting this it means your getting down on yourself. YOU CAN'T DO THAT! Just go out there enjoy yourself and dig deep and give 110%. It is very important to work hard during a slump, eventually you will just work your way out of it. Don't worry it happens to everybody. You'll get over it bud. Good luck. Work your way up to that line. Get your confidence back. Tell yourself you CAN do it. Go man Go!

Sniper94

[chippa13 1844]

See all your gear and take up scrap-booking.

[mack 44]

Get a slumpbuster.

[flashgordon 0]

3. My new linemates don't pass and botch plays after I dish it to them. But that has never affected me before on my other team and shouldn't be an excuse. Shouldn't it?

To me, your #3 can clearly have a material impact on your point production. And if you've lost confidence in your line mates, you may have a tendency to carry the puck a little more, and it's never easy to go it alone out there. I play on two men's league teams, and the opposition it pretty comparable in both. On one team, I have more skilled line mates, and my point production with them significantly exceeds that on my other team.

If it's starting to have an impact on your enjoyment of the game (seems like it might), then you either need to try to change things up (line mate wise), talk to your line mates (although not too much you can do about their botching plays) or accept your role for now and make the best of it. Lastly, definitely don't get down on being 24 (that's coming from a 34 year old).

[Lilleman 0]

Not an easy answer/suggestions for this one roadrunner, but as other have pointed out, things like these are very much mental, if not 100%.

However there are some points I would like to address. Firstly is the importance of your "team mates"/linesmen. If they are of lower standard, it won't affect you, if your skill is superior to those and the rest of the team. But if you find yourself in the situation of being on a team and league were the level of skill is very equal, more or less, and get stuck with two knobs, you're bound for trouble. ie. lesser points. And somehow I just get the impression you have moved "upwards" to a more "skilled environemnt" were you don't stuck out as much as before, but I could be wrong of course. The fact, that one line on your team stand for roughly 90% of all the scores, strongly suggest, to me at least, that you're in a more competitive evironment than before

Age? You got to be kidding, right? I quit playing in the Swedish Senior league, tier 5, when I was 30 and then moved on to the Veteran/OT League, that comprises up to 99% of former Senior League players. I'm 45 and play with on a team with 32 - 34 young bucks with some of them being former tier 2 - 3 players. Yeah, I'm "only" third and forth line material these days, so what? In short, in your case age has no implication on your performance. Hope you understand that.

As for marriages, most guys are hitched and still play, so go figure. It's a social thing.

Which leaves us with the mental department. It's easy to say "don't think about" etc etc. Doesn't work usually IMHO. But what would the result be if you used some "reverse logic" and started think in terms like "Ok, I suck this season. I have no control of this problem at all. To hell with it, I'm just gonna play for the fun of it. I don't give a damn about points. I'm lucky to play the game. After all, there's injured guys out there who never can play again" Can you see the logic in this? And if so, what are the possible outcome if this strategy is adopted?

Just my 0.02. Hope it was of help.

Cheers

Lilleman

[roadrunner 12]

Thanks for your replies so far. They've really got me thinking. I'm still in the same tier I won the scoring leader 2yrs ago except on this team there is more of a supporting cast. Everyone on our first 2 lines is extremely offensively gifted. Therefore I'm paired up with some skilled players but it seems like they'd rather dangle and hang on until the last minute when everyone is covered. Another thing that bugs me is for example our 1st line is high scoring, they netted 3 last night in a 3-3 draw, and I feel if I could perform like I used to we'd be blowing these teams out. I can't ask to change linemates because our other line is a checking line with very minimal finesse and there's no way they'll experiment tinkering with the 1st line. Anyway, I do want my line to click eventually but this inconsistency is killing me.

[jjtt99 0]

Start searching for, and feeling good about the smaller victories.

- Your +/-

- Winning that important face off

- Breaking up a play that would have led to a 2-on-1

- Making that nice pass, despite the other guy botching it

- Being a good teammate in the locker room

- Going out of your way to congrat your goalie on a big play

It's not all about scoring goals -- although we'd all like to do that. Once you feel good about the many small victories your confidence should go back up and then you'll be producing again.

Or, even if your goal production never quites rebounds, every team wants a guy that can do all the things I mention above.

Good luck,

JJ

[jjtt99 0]

Not an easy answer/suggestions for this one roadrunner, but as other have pointed out, things like these are very much mental, if not 100%.

However there are some points I would like to address. Firstly is the importance of your "team mates"/linesmen. If they are of lower standard, it won't affect you, if your skill is superior to those and the rest of the team. But if you find yourself in the situation of being on a team and league were the level of skill is very equal, more or less, and get stuck with two knobs, you're bound for trouble. ie. lesser points. And somehow I just get the impression you have moved "upwards" to a more "skilled environemnt" were you don't stuck out as much as before, but I could be wrong of course. The fact, that one line on your team stand for roughly 90% of all the scores, strongly suggest, to me at least, that you're in a more competitive evironment than before

Age? You got to be kidding, right? I quit playing in the Swedish Senior league, tier 5, when I was 30 and then moved on to the Veteran/OT League, that comprises up to 99% of former Senior League players. I'm 45 and play with on a team with 32 - 34 young bucks with some of them being former tier 2 - 3 players. Yeah, I'm "only" third and forth line material these days, so what? In short, in your case age has no implication on your performance. Hope you understand that.

As for marriages, most guys are hitched and still play, so go figure. It's a social thing.

Which leaves us with the mental department. It's easy to say "don't think about" etc etc. Doesn't work usually IMHO. But what would the result be if you used some "reverse logic" and started think in terms like "Ok, I suck this season. I have no control of this problem at all. To hell with it, I'm just gonna play for the fun of it. I don't give a damn about points. I'm lucky to play the game. After all, there's injured guys out there who never can play again" Can you see the logic in this? And if so, what are the possible outcome if this strategy is adopted?

Just my 0.02. Hope it was of help.

Cheers

Lilleman

Lille,

Welcome to Modsquad!

Everyone, this guy has a lot of good things to say as I'm familiar with his posts on another forum, which unfortunately has slowed down recently.

Cheers,

JJ

[Chadd 916]

I've had similar issues lately. Since opening the shop I'm luck to get to games on time and follow my usual ritual. I'm also one of the guys who plays up or back depending on who shows up and that doesn't help. I still do well enough to get by but my point per game average took a major hit this year. Take it a shift at a time and take pride in the good plays you make, at either end of the ice.

[hockechamp14 0]

you can't think of it in a negative light. No matter what, stay positive. Find something to be positive about. When you have a so-so game, you really had a GOOD game, when you play bad, you made a couple good plays. It's the mentality of a winner that makes one...

[Lilleman 0]

Hi JJ

Thanks for the for greeting, but as I said on a numerous occassions on that other forum, all I know for certain, is how limited my knowledge is after all. Well, I'll guess were gonna see eachother both here and there.

Cheers

Lilleman

[roadrunner 12]

I just wanted to update my current status after using some of these methods to break the slump. Thanks again for contributing. Wow I can't believe it was July when I posted this. Anyways....

I had a great fall season, still sub par when comparing it to my past numbers but I climbed to 1 point per game. We finished 2nd by 1pt and Our team bowed out in the Finals to the 1st place team. Good turnaround.

However, this season has been a return to the slump fest. We have 2 games remaining. I have 1g 5a in 8 games, I got suspended for 3 for throwing the pop can on the floor in retaliation to a an opponent spitting at me and not getting a penalty. With 2 games left, we are out of a playoff spot and most likely not gonna make it as our last 2 games are against ringer-filled teams.

Again I've been condsidering calling it quits, not from hockey, but from the league and ultimately my team. I feel like I've been holding on too long where nothing is happening. This is what's ticking me off..

1) We never get the time we pay for. Atleast 2-3mins tick off the clock before the opening face-off. Minutes which end up being crucial by the games end, I'm sure you'd all agree.

2)Reffing is terrible (bias friendships and lack of expertise)

3)Increasing number of teams with ringers(nothing done to stop this)

4)My team

a)Our captain(ultimately named himself captain as he made the team)

b)He's a very close friend of mine, he's not that great at hockey

c)He plays all the crucial moments.ie extra attacker, pp,pk, originally

d-man but changes positions as he pleases.

d)He's slow, bad control(shouldn't be on these situations)

e)doesn't listen to my suggestions to have set pp lines or keep the same line-mates for more than 1 game. Just shrugs them away.

So due to this I may play one last season in the spring just to give my friends enough time to replace me. The only thing I feel bad for is leaving friends, b/c that's really the only reason I've stuck around longer than I should. I've been fed up with this league for over 3yrs.