Scheel Goes Back to Basics

[MD9 139]

Scheel Goes Back to Basics

VHL.com // J.S. Augusta

 

With a handful of the Saskatoon Wild's top scorers currently struggling to light up the lamp in the playoffs, Jake Scheel has opted to go back to the basics to try and break out of his slump. Although Scheel made headlines earlier in the year when he opted to take a different approached to his training, his new training schedule has seen him simply taking to the ice early in the morning and completing basic passing drills alongside a couple willing teammates. Lacing passes in between cones, completing basic saucer passes tape to tape, and even trying a few more complicated passes through traffic, it's clear where his focus is: he feels that he has the conditioning to play in the playoffs, but he needs to get his head back in the game. If his passes aren't connecting, he just needs to regain focus and make himself make those passes.

 

In between those simple passing drills, he's also started working on many of the same skating drills that the team's coach runs them through every practice. It's a simple formula, overall: put in extra time on the ice and hope that it translates to better performance in the game itself. It may not be a perfect strategy, but with the team already so deep in the playoffs, there's no time to consider a sudden, significant change to his game. He just has to make what he's doing work, whatever it takes... and hope that's enough.