Scanning in Hockey: Scanning Research
Scanning research from soccer that helps guide hockey scanning principles
We’ve already written about the importance of ice awareness being a foundational piece for slowing the perception of playing speed.
Now, we are diving deeper with a three-part series on “scanning.”
Scanning Research
When we look at “The Action Loop,” there are three key steps:
Gather Information
Analyze & Decide
Execute
Scanning is the act of looking around to gather information. It is the key to the first part of the action loop. Scanning doesn’t sufficiently explain a player’s on-ice vision, but it is a necessary foundation for it.
Breaking it down further, you realize that the game inside the game is really a game of information… whichever player or team that gathers more has a competitive advantage.
Gathering Information/Data Points
Gathering a greater quantity and quality of information is key, whether it pertains to receiving puck possession, skating a route for an incoming pass, or understanding where your teammates are on a forecheck.
Scanning is also referred to as shoulder checking or shouldering.
But it’s not enough just to look. Players must hunt for key information that is crucial in making the best decision/play. Ultimately, the goal is to help increase awareness to increase decision-making speed and quality.
Relevant Information/Data
By scanning, information is gathered and players are able to identify opportunities & threats. The earlier, the better.
Identifying help
Identify pressure
The more efficiently players can go through the action loop (Gather information —> Analyze & Decide —> Execute), the faster players can play and with more effectiveness.
Gathering information early and often becomes more and more important as players go up the playing pyramid due to decreased time and space afforded by the opposition.
Scanning Research
Unfortunately, there isn’t much scanning research available within the sport. But our friends in the soccer community have done some great research that we can gain inspiration from.
Meet Geir Jordet, Ph.D.
Jordet is a Professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. He’s the leading figure when it comes to scanning research, and has been conducting research in the field since the late 1990s.
He and his fellow researchers have produced 10 scientific publications on scanning (+ another 25 unpublished student theses/dissertations).
Overall conclusion: The best players look at the game, others look (more) at the ball.
Here are some of their key findings.
High Scan Frequency = Higher Pass Completion
Midfielders scan the most, forwards/attackers the least
Central midfielder = 0.53 scans/second
Central defender = 0.43
Winger = 0.42
Fullback = 0.36
Forward = 0.28
The top players are fantastic scanners and scan more frequent than others
The higher the level, the more scanning takes place. U17 players scan less often than U19 player, etc.
High-level players scan quickly (90% lasts less than 0.7 sec) and rarely involve fixation of the eye (less than 3% of scans).
While they track high-level matches with the best in the world players, they’ve also been allowed to fit players with headgear that tracks focal points as well.
High Scanners vs Low Scanners
In one study, Jordet divided 118 players into 3 groups - low, medium and high scanners.
High scanners = 81% pass completion
Low scanners = 64% pass completion
High scanners = 75% successful forward passes
Low scanners = 41% successful forward passes
DeBruyne Game Study
Likely the best current central/attacking midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne has an extraordinary awareness and ability to deliver decisive goals & assists. Jordet and his team placed a camera focused on Kevin for a Champions League game. Here is what they found:
De Bruyne scans the pitch prior to receiving the ball with a rate of 0.45 scans/second (4-5 scans every 10 seconds), an extraordinarily high rate relative to other players
He is able to maintain his scan rate even when opponents are close. Most players scan when there’s lots of space around them, and less when they’re in tight spaces
When a situation calls for precise and disguised perception, De Bruyne engages in subtle but high-frequent micro-scans
When the ball is on its way to him, De Bruyne scans extremely late, often looking away from the ball while in the act of receiving it
De Bruyne knows when he doesn’t know what's around him, and acts accordingly. When he receives the ball without having scanned first, he instantly plays the ball back to where it came from
Information Competition
Players that scan well and thus have great awareness show greater ability to have decisive details in their games:
Anticipation
Timing
Change of playing speed
The concept is simple, but the execution is not easy.
"Scanning does not tell us everything because obviously it is so complex, but it gives us a little bit of a window into the vision awareness process that these players have. It is a glimpse of the extent to which these players are aware of their surroundings." - Jordet
Players must compete to gather more and better information. Just like players race to get their puck touches, players can race to scan and gather information.
Scanning Series:
Further Reading
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