Joie Phelps Is A Pass-First Player & A Top Scorer

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When you watch a hockey game, what do you see?

When Joie Phelps watches a hockey game, odds are she sees more than you. Especially when she's actually playing in it.

Phelps is one of the top goal scorers in the state. But what sets her apart is that she's also one of the best distributors in the state.

"The day and age of one girl beating everybody and getting breakaways, those days are gone," St. Paul United coach Nate Mauer said. "Now you've got to move the puck, distribute it."

Between her goals and assists, Phelps is averaging nearly three points per game. And it's that vision -- what she sees on the ice -- that her coach says plays the biggest part.

"Seeing a step ahead, or two steps ahead. Sometimes you struggle on that, you see the one option," Mauer said.

"But if you can see two, three options, and you can read that and they can trigger in and you make the right read, you get rewarded and that's why I think her points this year are -- she gets those positions, and then it makes it easier for offensive skills to shine, and that's what you're seeing this year, distributing pucks and seeing players that other people don't see."

"I'm definitely a pass-first player," Phelps said. "I'll pick my head up and look for the pass before I look at the net, I would say."

Which makes it all the more impressive how a pass-first player -- who leads the state in assists -- can be one of the state's top goal scorers.

"When you do distribute the puck, it actually creates more space for yourself, because now they think, 'Is she going to go back to the D? Is she going to hit that player?' They can't just focus just on her, because she's making everybody else, you know, a scorer, as she's creating offense," Mauer said.

"I'm very happy with how the season started out," Phelps said. "I just hope to continue."

It's quite a thing to watch.