Junior forward Greg Wolfe prepares to take a slap shot during a skills competition portion of hockey practice Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, at Munn Ice Arena. During the hardest shot portion of the friendly competition Wolfe’s fastest shot was 97 miles per hour. Danyelle Morrow/The State News
—When Greg Wolfe was going through a rough patch earlier in the hockey season, his head coach told him not to worry about the results, just worry about the process.
Tom Anastos gave Wolfe, the captain and junior forward of MSU hockey, that advice, going off of similar words spoken to him when he was a player at MSU facing the same problem.
“Coach (Ron) Mason came up to me and said, ‘Don’t think, just play,” Anastos said, admitting it didn’t make much sense to him at the time.
“What (Mason) essentially meant was your skill and talent will take care of itself. Just go out and play hard. When you over-think things, now that’s when you get yourself in trouble.”
Wolfe met a lull about midway through the season, going 11 games without a point, but as of late he appears to be over that hump, with both the results and the process clicking.
Senior forward Chris Forfar said it’s nice to see Wolfe’s hard work rewarded after weeks of struggling. Wolfe has eight points in the past nine games, and five goals in his last seven matchups.
“I’m definitely relaxing a little bit, finally getting some puck luck and scoring some goals,” Wolfe said. “I took some of the pressure off myself by just committing to playing hard and just finishing checks and keeping it really simple.”
Wolfe scored three of MSU’s four goals last weekend in a split series against Bowling Green, one of which was shorthanded and another, which was a power play goal.
In a weekend that boosted the Spartans’ broken confidence, Anastos noted the team’s leader as one of the biggest positives to come out of the series.
“I know he’s putting pressure on himself to produce points for our team, which we’re looking for offensive productivity,” Anastos said.
“As of late, he’s been doing that. It was nice to see him get a couple goals and a couple really good looks, so hopefully he’s starting to think less and allow his talents to just play.”
Wolfe netted the Spartan’s only goal in Friday night’s 2-1 loss, and scored the first and third in Saturday’s 3-1 win. Saturday’s game marked his first multiple-goal game all season.
After the game, Wolfe said he spoke with his coaches and parents about his passion on the ice and where his mind needs to be when playing. The change of mindset made him realize he needs to focus on what he can control and enables him to play his own game.
With an important stretch of games ahead, Wolfe’s sudden resurgence might inspire some of his teammates who have had struggles finding the back of the net.
“Hopefully that’s one thing the guys can pick up on is it’s never too late, and you just have to keep battling,” Wolfe said. “Eventually, things will work out for you.”
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