skating one's lane

Verb

skate one's lane (third-person singular simple present skates one's lane, present participle skating one's lane, simple past and past participle skated one's lane)

1. To play in one's assigned position rather than straying to the location of the current action.
   • Wings should skate their lanes and not go roaming about the ice.1971, Mark Mulvoy, Ice Hockey, →ISBN, page 48
2. (broadly, idiomatic) To mind one's own business; focus on one's own goals and tasks and not worry about what others are doing.
   • Well, yes, but they're also human beings, fathers, sons, brothers, cousins, uncles and friends. Role players have to skate their lanes off the ice, too.2011 September 2, Michael Hurley, “Deaths of Wade Belak, NHL Enforcers Leave NHL, NHLPA Left With Problem That's Impossible to Fix”, in NESN