Shift Amnesia: The Mental Reset Every Great Hockey Player Needs

It was Game 6 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final. Tampa Bay was up in the series, but tensions were high. Victor Hedman made an uncharacteristic turnover early in the second. Dallas nearly scored off it. He skated back to the bench, eyes forward, breathing slow, no sign of panic. The cameras caught him mutter something under his breath, then sit down like nothing happened. By the next shift, he was back to controlling the game like a general on skates. That’s not luck. That’s not arrogance. That’s mental reset mastery.

Great hockey players don’t carry the past with them. They bury it. Whether it’s a blown pass, a missed assignment, or a bad penalty, they know one truth: the game doesn’t wait. You either learn to reset fast, or you let your mistakes own you.

1. The brain clings to failure longer than success.

Research from the University of Chicago shows that negative events are processed more deeply and stored more vividly in the brain than positive ones. It’s evolutionary. It’s survival. But in hockey, this wiring can kill you. One bad shift becomes two. One mistake snowballs into a slump. Unless you fight back.

The mental skill is called cognitive reframing—the ability to reinterpret an event in a constructive way. What separates a pro from a pretender is not avoiding mistakes, but reframing them before the puck drops again. Not next week. Not post-game. Right now.

2. Breathing isn’t soft—it’s a weapon.

You’ll hear goalies talk about “reset breaths.” You’ll see skaters pause, close their eyes, and draw in slow air after a brutal play. That’s not weakness. That’s control.

Slow, deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system—the body’s natural brake pedal. It lowers cortisol, resets focus, and brings you back to the present. Navy SEALs use box breathing before missions. Olympic athletes use it before stepping into the ring or onto the track. And elite hockey players use it between whistles.

In a 2021 study published in Frontiers in Psychology, athletes who practiced controlled breathing before performance tasks had significantly better focus and reaction times. You want to own your next shift? Breathe like it matters. Because it does.

3. The best players build rituals for resets.

Watch closely. Sidney Crosby touches his helmet strap the same way after every whistle. Carey Price would run his glove over the crossbar. These aren’t quirks—they’re anchors. Tiny rituals to wipe the slate clean.

When you create your own reset ritual—whether it’s tapping your shin pads, saying a mantra, or drawing an invisible line on the ice—you’re training your brain to move forward. To let go. To be where your skates are.

Call it shift amnesia. The best players have it. They don’t dwell. They don’t spiral. They reload.

4. Coaches love players who recover quickly.

Talent’s great. But coaches watch more than tape—they watch how you respond. Do you sulk? Do you slam your stick? Or do you shake it off and win the next battle?

You don’t get benched for a mistake. You get benched for poor recovery. Mental toughness isn’t about being perfect—it’s about responding like a pro when you’re not. That’s what earns trust in tight games. That’s what gets you on the ice with two minutes left.

Final Thoughts

Every shift is a new battle. And the warrior who carries yesterday’s wounds into today’s fight is already at a disadvantage. Whether you’re 16 or 36, the lesson stays the same: reset fast. Breathe. Anchor. Forget. Move.

Let the last shift die so the next one can live.

Next Steps

Want to go deeper into the science and strategy behind elite mental resets? Subscribe to my Built by Discipline podcast. I break down the tactics the best players in the world use to stay sharp, shift after shift.