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Are you a playmaker?

By Jamie MacDonald, 11/04/21, 1:30PM EDT

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Passing and playmaking with Sammy Davis

When we think of playmaking and passing, there may be a temptation to boil that down to something like a pass threaded through a defender’s legs for a teed-up one-timer at the dot or one player carving up a defense on his or her own.

 

But for a player to be thinking about how to become a better passer and playmaker – and therefore a better teammate, which in turn can lead to better playmakers up and down the roster and a better team overall – that playmaking should be taking place all over the ice.

 

For Sammy Davis, a Pembroke native who played high school hockey at Tabor, college hockey at Boston University and will soon open her second season with the Boston Pride after being the NWHL’s No. 1 overall pick in 2020, playmaking starts in the “D zone.”

 

“Yes, obviously, I’m a forward, and something I’ve been taught is that it always starts in the D zone,” says Davis, who led the Pride with four goals in seven games this past season. “If you don’t have a good D zone, you’ll never get the puck up to the offensive zone. So that’s how I look at it.”

 

At the Division I NCAA level, where Davis scored 142 points in 147 games, and with the Pride, systems are very much in place to help facilitate playmaking, but at the younger ages, players are on the ice learning about where to be, how to get open and even something as simple as when to move.

 

“Hockey is so intuitive, and it’s always changing,” Davis says. “It’s a game of mistakes, and you’re only going to learn from those. If you’re younger, you’re not playing any systems – so, for a wing, you just get on the boards, get your toes pointed, and get in a good position to catch the puck. Don’t close yourself off for any pass. From a center standpoint, it’s just supporting your defense, being where they need you to be and making sure there’s nobody in front of the net.”

 

Because so much of the game is played without the puck, both passing and playmaking depend on everyone being in good position – both body position and location on the ice as the puck moves – to create connections.

 

“Even though you may not be part of the play, or you may not get the points, it’s still so important to be in the right position,” says Davis. “Drive to the net in the offensive zone, taking the defense with you, little things like that. Being open on the boards for a pass. Good teams can connect. That’s why they win. It may not be the prettiest being F3 or being F1 and forechecking really hard, or screening in front of the net, but it’s just those little things. The older you get, the more coaches notice you doing those little things.”

“Obviously, scoring goals is awesome. But there’s something about making a pass to somebody and having them score. ‘Man, I worked hard to get them the puck,’ and just to see somebody smiling at you and being, like, ‘Thank you for that pass!’ It’s, like, I did that. I made that happen. When you’re making somebody else better around you and making your teammates better, I think that’s the coolest thing ever. That’s gratifying to me.”

Because so much of the game is played without the puck, both passing and playmaking depend on everyone being in good position – both body position and location on the ice as the puck moves – to create connections.

 

“Even though you may not be part of the play, or you may not get the points, it’s still so important to be in the right position,” says Davis. “Drive to the net in the offensive zone, taking the defense with you, little things like that. Being open on the boards for a pass. Good teams can connect. That’s why they win. It may not be the prettiest being F3 or being F1 and forechecking really hard, or screening in front of the net, but it’s just those little things. The older you get, the more coaches notice you doing those little things.”

 

And those little things are the building blocks of playmaking in a team sport that requires the connecting of so many dots throughout a practice or a game.

 

Davis, who served as an assistant captain for Team USA at the IIHF U18 World Championship in 2015, and, in addition to extending her hockey career with the Pride, is pursuing a doctorate in occupational therapy. Also a Beanpot MVP and Hockey East Distinguished Scholar, Davis is no stranger to achievement, and suggests that making her teammates better is just as noticeable as scoring goals.

 

“If you think you’re not really producing but you were in the right spots and making other people around you better, that’s all that really matters,” she says. “I remember setting people up and the gratitude that comes from it. The feeling you get by making somebody else better – being a playmaker and a good teammate, making passes to set somebody else up, that’s what coaches look for.”

 

Listed at 5-foot-5 with the Pride, Davis’ has forged some of her own strengths. One of those might be her mindset.

“A lot of my coaches believed in me, and I think that’s where I got to where I am,” says Davis. “But I had some coaches who would say, ‘It’s OK that you didn’t make that team,’ or, ‘You may not make that team. And I’m, like, ‘Heck, don’t tell me what I can’t do.’ So, with the people who told me I couldn’t, I was kind of, like, ‘Buzz off, and I’m going to do this.’ Once you figure out who is on your side, you’re so much better off. I wanted to play hockey at the next level. And I want to keep pushing myself.”

 

And once she hops over the boards, even at her size, Davis is often in attack mode – to a point. It’s all part of the read-and-react understanding of the game that makes for the best of playmaking and passing. 

 

“If you don’t have the puck, you want the puck,” Davis says. “You want to be hungry to get the puck. You’re in attack mode, but you’re also trying to read off of your teammates and set them up and make them all better.”

 

For the best playmakers and passers, there is the hockey IQ and the physical skill that a player has to meld, all while the game is changing, the puck is moving with an ebb and flow to what’s happening on the ice, and the objectives are shifting with those tides. Following those nuances is just as important as fitting one’s natural gifts into the game.

 

“I’m not a very tall person, but you can compensate in other ways,” says Davis. “I’m not great at stickhandling, but I can make it up with my passing and my skating. I worked really hard at my skating when I was younger. So that’s something I have going for me, then focusing on those other things that aren’t your strengths. It’s being proud of what you’re good at and being able to adapt. There’s so many different things that players can bring to the table.”

 

As a playmaker and passer, Davis, who says she does “kind of like” a system, tries to think the game ahead a bit.

 

“You’re always trying to anticipate,” she says. “That’s part of hockey, trying to figure out where the puck is going to be next, trying to see where my linemate wants me. Or, ‘Where can I be open?’ Or, ‘What position is best for me to score?’ You’re constantly thinking about where you can go. If I have two girls low on the puck, I have to stay high even though I want to go get the puck. There’s a beauty and patience and flow of the game. When everybody’s connecting and working together, it’s so fun and so fun to watch.”

 

That fun extends to both scoring … and passing.

 

“Obviously, scoring goals is awesome,” says Davis. “But there’s something about making a pass to somebody and having them score. ‘Man, I worked hard to get them the puck,’ and just to see somebody smiling at you and being, like, ‘Thank you for that pass!’ It’s, like, I did that. I made that happen. When you’re making somebody else better around you and making your teammates better, I think that’s the coolest thing ever. That’s gratifying to me.”

 

This season, as the Pride attempt to win another Isobel Cup, Davis, who last year donated her jersey sales proceeds to the Travis Roy Foundation, looks ahead at a career that may at some point have her working as an occupational therapist. But, first, hockey.

 

“Obviously, I want to finish school and I want to become an OT,” she says. “With professional hockey, I want to keep playing. I don’t know how many more years. Maybe chase Tom Brady’s six [championships]. Women’s hockey is changing so much and I hope within the next four or five years you’re going to have to pick between having a career in professional sports or having a career as something like an OT or a doctor or a teacher. Maybe in my time it will be.”

 

The game certainly is changing. Evolving. And even as it does, a player who strives to make connections – mental and physical – on the ice through playmaking and passing may be the game’s most valuable commodities.

 

“I think I’m somebody who works hard and is tough to play against in the corners,” says Davis of her own scouting report. “And I’m not afraid to take chances. I think I’m a two-way player, and I think the D zone is the most important part. Just a gritty player who works hard and wants to win all the battles on the ice.”

 

She looks for the same in a teammate.

 

“Somebody who wants to share the puck, somebody who will work hard and work hard to get the puck,” Davis says. “Somebody who plays their position, who works hard to get the puck and never really gives up on battles. Those are all things that I look for in a good player or a good linemate – trying to make people better around you. That’s what makes linemates and teammates good, sharing the puck and sharing the success with others.”