UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh breaks down the right way to grow as a player

Hockey is a team sport, and to have success, even in junior and prep hockey, a huge component of that is being a good teammate.

However, it's important to remember that being a good teammate is as much about pushing yourself to be the best you possibly can be, on and off the ice, as it is about being supportive to the other players in the locker room.

When young players are trying to make the next step in their careers, whether it's from high school hockey to the NAHL, the NAHL to the USHL, the USHL to college, or beyond, they have to keep in mind that when their teams succeed, they will succeed as well.

It's not just about being fun, easygoing, polite, and everything else players should strive to be off the ice. It's about putting yourself in a position to help out, no matter what your coach asks of you.

At the University of Connecticut, coach Mike Cavanaugh is now enjoying unprecedented success in part because his own players put so much emphasis on this aspect of the sport. 

"You gotta go out and evaluate them; are they talented enough to play for us?" Cavanaugh told Elite Prospects. "Then the next piece is doing your research on them as a kid. We just don't take great kids. I mean, you can fill Fenway Park with great kids."

The Huskies elevated their program to Div. 1 in 1998, and joined Hockey East in 2014, but in just the last two seasons, earned their first-ever NCAA tournament appearances and went to back-to-back Hockey East championship games. No players in UConn history have been as successful as this year's graduating seniors, who won 78 games over their four-year careers. A few years ago, the leadership group sat down and created a kind of handbook for all Huskies hockey players to follow, laying out expectations for what it takes to be successful, both individually and as a teammate.

Coaches, of course, know what to look for on the player evaluation front. But there may be more to it than that.

"We try to make a conscious effort to at least have two of our assistants, sometimes three, go watch a kid and meet a kid," Cavanaugh said. "And then when we bring him to campus, we want everybody to communicate with the kid and spend time with him, and figure out, is this the type of guy that is gonna fit our program? It's not an exact science."

Once that aspect of the fit is determined, the onus is on the recruit to do what it takes to be ready for the next level. Before arriving at UConn, Cavanaugh was an assistant and associate head coach at Boston College for nearly two decades, so he's identified and nurtured a lot of talent over the years and nailed down the process of identifying culture fits. But that often goes beyond just choosing the flashiest players available, and instead is about finding players who are willing to excel in a given role.

"Some kids, I'm like, 'Hey, you're gonna be an energy guy, penalty killer, and that's what I need you to focus on in juniors,'" Cavanaugh said. "'I don't care how many goals you score, but I think you skate really well, you're tough, you compete, you can win faceoffs, but you've never really scored in your career? That's fine.' 

You still need guys that can compete at that level as well."

Not every player being recruited for NCAA hockey, even a high-level program like UConn, is fully ready for the rigours of the best developmental league in the world at 17, 18, or even 19 years old. Cavanaugh noted that he will occasionally recommend players take an extra year to develop so that they can arrive on campus ready to contribute on a nightly basis. Not every player takes that advice, which is their prerogative, but ultimately, coaches want to put prospective players in the best position possible to succeed.

"I've suggested that they stay in prep school because they're going to get a lot of touches and they're going to play in every situation," he said. "If you go to the USHL at your age, or you go to major junior at your age, there's a good chance that you're not gonna get those reps."

Instead, players need to get their personal games to the point where they can be dominant at their current level, then take the next step. College coaches obviously talk to a potential recruit's junior coaches to learn as much as they can, not only about their on-ice abilities, but what they do behind the scenes when no one's watching. That willingness to put in the work and be ready for the next opportunity is what sets players apart both individually and as teammates.

"A lot of times you try to spell out for a kid what the expectations are gonna be for him when he gets here," Cavanaugh said. "I think a lot of it really happens when they get here, and they have to deal with our players."

For those who want to go from preps to junior to college to, possibly, pro hockey, it's a lesson best learned early. That way, players can continually follow through, developing all aspects of who they are both on and off the ice.