Observers often wonder why Hobey Baker Award winners seldom make it big in the National Hockey League. The reason is simple: the college game and the pro games are very different. Here's how.

Making the jump from college hockey to professional hockey can be a challenge, since the style of play is simply different. You have to learn to change gears.

In college, you play twice a week with four full lines, and nobody on the team is over 24. It's throttle down every shift, in every direction, and save for special teams, the feel of the game is frenzied and rushed.

The second you make the step into professional hockey, you notice immediate differences.

The initial feel is that the game is slower, but it's not. It's just more organized.

And if college is racing around at top gear, it's in a five-speed Nissan. In pro, most players keep it in fourth for the majority of the game, but occasionally chuck it into fifth and then a sixth, and it turns out they're driving a Porsche. That extra notch is a powerful gear that most college players haven't seen before, and takes some getting used to. Once you learn to anticipate when you're opponent is about to use it, things get a little easier. But at first, those bursts of speed and energy can blindside you.

Stop-and-go isn't quite the right word to describe the pro style, but pulsing might be. Energy and effort ebb and flow, simply because players are smarter, the season is longer, and the average age is higher. Over-skating means you're out of position, so minimalizing how much you chase is of the utmost importance. The quality of play would drastically tail off if players went 100 miles an hour.

Because of this, they tend to need to stay smarter positionally.

Because of the puppy-like go-go-go of the college game, you'll occasionally blindly throw the puck to a support area for a teammate, and he'll be two zones ahead. It's tough to rein in that type of enthusiasm, but it would be nice if you could. More often than not it's counterproductive.

There's a still a level of look-at-me desperation in college sports in general – you're constantly trying to impress. And while in the small picture you have raging pride in your team's logo, the ultimate goal is to move on personally (team success often equals personal success, but personal success by itself still always equals more personal opportunity). This occasionally has a negative influence on plays – a 2 on 1 rush can be affected when you only get so many chances in a short season to score.

In the NHL, there are a number of unsung heroes who are happy to be unsung, because they're compensated accordingly. A player like Patrice Bergeron, for example, earns handsomely for his efforts – he just signed a new contract for three years and $15 million – yet he doesn't need to be the star of the show to do it. He just needs to be reliable all over the ice.

A player like him in college would be better off piling up more points and paying less attention to defense, which is often what happens, much to the chagrin of college coaching staffs.

The first few games you make that step into a professional league, it's easy to have that thought: Hey, I have a gear faster than this pace, this style is easier to think, and I'm gonna eat this league for breakfast.

It's a harsh reality check walking into the dressing room after the first period going "oh boy, I don't have whatever that guy's top gear was. How am I minus-2 already?"

While most college players quickly adjust and end up using the skating they developed to their advantage (by doing it too much), different players suit different styles of hockey. Most players don't know if their game suits the NHL style, so it's common to be nervous about your future when you're still an NCAA player.

All I know is, once I got adjusted, I far preferred the thinking, professional style. "Go-go-go" can be fun, but hey – we have to do this twice as many games now. Calm down.

Photo of a young Justin Bourne skating in college is courtesy of his alma mater, the University of Alaska-Anchorage.

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