In addition to the individual skills development the Phantoms have been practicing, the Phantoms have spent the first part of the season teaching and learning the concepts of positioning, decision making, and situation recognition. It's unbelievable how the boys have embraced the learning aspect of this season. They have become locker room encyclopedias of hockey knowledge.
They're now beginning the transference portion of their journey to becoming a team. They understand the concepts and are now beginning to execute them during games. Even when they don't always remember on the fly, the players are able to analyze and provide a correction after the fact. There's less correction being offered by the coaches as the boys are more often than not in the proper positions in each zone.
It has also been noticed that the players are more mentally focused and engaged, in both practices and games, than they were at the beginning of the season. They want to learn more and more. They want to get better and better. They see it happening and are truly having fun with it.