De St. Phalle’s commitment to the mental side of hockey

Former Mission Standout Mathieu De St. Phalle trudged down the hallway of the Kohl Center and followed his teammates into the locker room. After two periods against Michigan State, the Badgers trailed by a goal and had generated few grade-A scoring chances.

At his stall, De St. Phalle popped in his ear buds, draped a towel over his head and closed his eyes.

But rather than dwell on the mistakes and missed opportunities of the game, he visualized crisp tape-to-tape passes and powerful strides on the back check. He envisioned vivid scenarios of squaring up with the goaltender and firing a shot into the back of the net, then replayed those actions in his mind again and again and again.

Twenty minutes later…MORE