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BY JIM LEITNER Mind Games G Developing Skills Between The Ears Can Be As Important As Mastering Skills On The Ice Division I hockey. rant Standbrook sounds more like a martial arts instructor than one of the most successful assistant coaches and recruiters in the history of NCAA In addition to a masterful command of teaching the fundamentals of the game, the 74-year-old believes in helping hockey play- ers develop skills between their ears. That explains why, even though he retired from the University of Maine in 2008, impres- sionable youngsters still hang on his every word. so you can think clearly and handle the situation." "If you're walking down an alley and you're accosted by two thugs, your natural tendency is to tighten up all your muscles and hold your breath, and that's the last thing you want to do," said Standbrook, who won three NCAA championships at the University of Wisconsin and two more at Maine. "You want to be relaxed, you want to be calm and you want to be breathing properly The same principles apply to hockey. Late in a close game, the star player tends to receive added attention in the way of cheap shots and verbal taunts in an attempt to throw him off his game. "It's natural to want to drill the guy back," Standbrook said. "But you have to know the situation and what they're trying to do. You have to be able to keep your composure to help your team finish the game." According to Standbrook, great athletes seem to have an innate ability to be relaxed and comfortable in pressure situations. But over the years, he has found that these are skills that can be learned, with the right coaching. Standbrook developed an appreciation for improving his players' mental side of the game while at Dartmouth College in the early 1970s and applied that knowledge to two U.S. National Teams and the 1976 Olympic squad. In the rough-and-tumble world of hockey, he introduced to his players the benefits of yoga, proper breathing tech- niques, meditation and visualization. One of his protégés, Jim Montgomery, applied many of those techniques during an all-American career at Maine and a 12-year run in pro hockey. The captain of the 1993 National Championship team and the Black