Not just a shot in the dark.(scoring techniques of professional hockey players)

Shooting is one thing. Scoring is another. The best scorers have a definite plan in mind when they're bearing down on a goalie.

Lots of players shoot, but few have the goal-scoring knack Mario Lemieux has brought back to the game. Great goal scorers like Lemieux have an innate ability to see a play develop before it happens and the patience to cash in a scoring opportunity.

"It's a reaction to certain situations and an ability to play the shot in your mind in that split second you have before you have to shoot." says Mighty Ducks fight winger Teemu Selanne, trying to define a scorer's ability.

Release ... accuracy ... skating speed. Those are the physical components of goal scoring, the parts you can measure and sometimes teach.

But there's another side--the mental side--and that's where the mystery resides. The ability to get open ... timing ... a sense of the situation ... instinct ... hunger.

Those things you can't teach.

"I didn't know I had those instincts when I was growing up," Stars right winger Brett Hull says. "I just played. I used to be a shooter because I couldn't skate that well. I could shoot so well that I would overpower goalies and score. But I found out that wasn't enough when I got to the NHL. I had to skate better, lose some weight and get myself in better shape. And, in the process, that allowed me to get to the holes to get my shot off.