Women’s Hockey Highlight Video Guidelines

Just as high school and club coaches reference practice and game footage to evaluate an athlete’s technique and provide feedback, college coaches do the same to evaluate talent and build their recruiting list. The only difference is college coaches don’t want to review hours of raw footage. Instead, they expect to see a three- to four-minute compilation of short clips that showcase a recruit competing at their best against top talent. The athlete’s performance in this footage doesn’t need to be flawless, but it must demonstrate to college coaches that the recruit has a strong foundation with room to develop and refine their skillset at the collegiate level. 

What do college coaches look for in a hockey recruiting video? In this section, we provide ice hockey recruiting video tips, such as the position-specific skills recruits should highlight in their recruiting video, how to capture and edit the footage and what to do with the video once it’s ready for coaches to watch.

How to make a highlight video for hockey

Not sure where to start when it comes to creating a women’s hockey highlight video? We suggest following the three steps below to create a high quality and effective highlight video.

1. Capture footage: For the best quality footage, we suggest using an iPad, tablet or professional camera. Footage should be captured at varsity and club game to cover a three- to four-minute time span. Shoot at a wide enough angle so coaches can see the development of play, the player’s vision, movement with and without puck possession and passing ability. Keep the focus on the primary player to clearly capture their technical ability.
2. Edit footage: A recruiting video should begin with the recruit’s strongest five video clips and follow with 15–25 additional clips to fill a total of no more than four minutes.All clips should feature the recruit performing the position-specific skills listed below that college coaches look for when evaluating athletes. At the beginning and end of the video, recruits should include their basic contact info, including name, email, phone number and their high school coach’s contact information. For help editing recruiting video footage, check out how NCSA’s video editing specialist can help.
3. Promote video: Recruiting video is most valuable when it’s posted to the recruit’s NCSA Recruiting Profile. As college coaches browse NCSA’s network of student-athletes to evaluate potential recruits, they will review highlight video. We also suggest uploading a recruiting video to YouTube to increase the recruit’s visibility. Title the video “[Full Name] Ice Hockey Recruiting Video Class of 20[XX]” and include a link to the recruit’s NCSA Recruiting Profile in the description. Once the recruit’s video has been uploaded to both platforms, recruits should send an introductory email that includes a link to their recruiting video to college coaches. We go into more detail on how to write a recruiting letter further down this page. 

What do college coaches look for in a hockey recruiting video?

Recruiting video is a key tool that recruits can use to communicate their value to college coaches. Coaches want to see that a recruit is experienced and versatile, with the ability to act quickly on their feet in high-pressure situations. When it comes down to position-specific expectations, coaches recruit student-athletes with the skills we’ve outlined below.

What to put into a hockey recruiting video

The only hockey position that can justify using controlled skills footage on a highlight video is goalie. Coaches expect to see some skills and drills footage that allow them to see the recruit’s skills up close. All other positions should exclusively include game footage that highlights the recruit competing in high pressure and unpredictable situations. The benefit of game footage is it shows the recruit putting their skillset to the test against other athletes as they make quick decisions under pressure, execute plays and communicate with teammates. All goal scoring positions should begin their video with a clip of them scoring a challenging goal. 

How long should a hockey recruiting video be?

While recruiting videos are typically between three to four minutes, recruits only have about 30 seconds to grab the coach’s attention and spark their interest. To make sure the video is attention-grabbing, start with the recruit’s top five clips that demonstrate the athlete performing position-specific skills flawlessly. Include an additional 15–25 strong clips from varsity competitions to finish off the video. Remember, college coaches watch hundreds of recruiting videos, so it’s likely that they won’t make it through an entire video.

Hockey skills video guidelines by position

Forward: College coaches look for forwards that can skate forward and backward with strong stick handling skills, maintain control when receiving and passing the puck and progressing toward the goal. Forwards need to demonstrate their technique and follow-through, as well as power and accuracy when shooting the puck.

Defense: Just as any hockey position, defenders need to demonstrate the ability to skate backward and forward efficiently. These recruits also need to highlight their ability to effectively position themselves when challenging an offensive player, good stick handling skills, strong stick possession on the puck and puck control when gaining possession and quickly clearing the puck from the defensive zone.

Goalie: College coaches want to see what goalie style (hybrid, stand-up, butterfly) the recruit uses. Goalies need to demonstrate their skating edge work with lateral movements, strong body and glove positioning in the cage, aggressiveness and playing the puck outside the crease. Include footage making various types of saves and rebound control.

How to use your hockey recruiting video to get noticed by college coaches

While college coaches may stumble upon a recruit’s NCSA profile while browsing our network of athletes, it’s important that recruits take initiative if they want to be noticed by a college coach. The first step to catching the attention of a college coach is to send an introductory email to coaches that run ice hockey programs on the recruit’s list of target schools. Recruits should start this email explaining why they are interested in the program and what makes them a good fit for the team. To keep the conversation going, recruits should state a specific time that they plan to reach out to the coach or invite them to evaluate the recruit at an upcoming tournament or game.

Recruits will also need to provide basic information, including:

General information: name, graduation year, high school and club name

Academics: GPA and test scores

Athletics: sport-specific stats and relevant measurables

Contact information: phone number and email, as well as your club and high school coach contact info

Where to post or upload your hockey highlight video

College coaches have a limited budget to travel the country and recruit talent, so many coaches will begin the recruiting process by evaluating recruits’ highlight video. To make a highlight video accessible to college coaches, recruits should follow the steps below:

• NCSA Recruiting Profile: When finalized, recruits should upload their highlight video to their NCSA Recruiting Profile. Coaches can review the footage when searching NCSA’s database of athletes.
• YouTube: To increase visibility, recruits should also post their recruiting video to YouTube. In the description section under the video, include a link to the athlete’s NCSA Recruiting Profile.
• Email: Once the athlete’s recruiting video has been posted to both their NCSA Recruiting Profile and YouTube, they should send an email to college coaches introducing themselves and include a link to the video on YouTube.
• Social media: Increase your video’s reach by posting it on YouTube and sharing its link across all your social media accounts.