Ever wonder why a hockey team seems to concede on the ice? You wait for playoffs or tourneys and your favorite team gets stung. If you're close up and rink side you can feel the vibes and see and hear the answer. Very young players may not understand it yet, but instinctively body language speaks volumes. A low emission hum from the opposition has become a psychologically daunting factor. Mental intimidation, you know, like the games we experience in the workplace. If we are talking pros or semi pros, guess what, it IS their workplace. They know it takes both mental and physical stamina to win critical hockey games. It's the mental aspect that can prove so elusive.

When a team is unified, and feels their internal hum, the word "if" is not part of the agenda. Match two teams of identical talent, and the expressions and buzz between the players on the bench are a good clue concerning the game outcome. It becomes mindset over matter, or what I call - insect thinking. When players on a team are mentally one hive, the opposition is bound to get stung in their attempt to win what is mentally already a done deal.

Stinging like a bee isn't meant to imply hard hits at the boards. The stings that win it are pucks destined for and buzzing into the net. While true insect thinking is not part of every hockey game, it's more likely to emerge during tourneys or playoffs. It's a mystifying sensation when it happens inadvertently to youth teams. It creates unbelievable games when it happens at semi pro to pro levels. A mental hive approach is as impossible to plan for as it is to defeat. The buzz starts in the locker room and players don't hit the ice - they swarm. It creates an unstoppable momentum leading to unbelievable success.

A rhythmic succession of games is needed for a hive situation to build itself to buzz level. Momentum that is unstalled by defeat is a sure sign the hive effect is forming but timing is the buzz word here. What happens when the hive is formed and ready but the playing schedule fails to coincide with the momentum? The buzzer sounds three times and the quest is over.