Kevin Neeld — Hockey Training, Sports Performance, & Sports Science

Transitional Hockey Speed Training

A couple weeks back I posted a video of a lateral speed training starting position. If you missed it, you can check it out here: Hockey Speed Training: Lateral Start Progression. At the end of that post, I mentioned that we eventually go into strictly dynamic starts, or probably more accurately, we progress to an increased focus on transitional movement patterns.

This can be a bit difficult to describe sometimes, so I shot some video last week to give you an idea of how we incorporate transitional movements into our speed training.

5-Yard Back Shuffle->5-Yard Forward Back Pedal->10-Yard Forward Sprint

5-Yard Forward Sprint->5-Yard Backward Back Pedal->10-Yard Forward Sprint

5-Yard Lateral Back Pedal->10-Yard Forward Sprint

The goal here is to emphasize moving through similar patterns that hockey players face on the ice as quickly as possible. In the first two videos, this is the first time these players have performed these drills so their movements aren’t as refined as they would be with a bit more practice. With that said, I try not to lose sight of the fact that each player is going to move a little differently and that my job isn’t to make them all run like robots, just to make them move as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I go into detail about how I design my speed training programs for hockey players in Breakaway Hockey Speed.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld

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Kevin Neeld

Kevin Neeld Knows Hockey

Kevin has rapidly established himself as a leader in the field of physical preparation and sports science for ice hockey. He is currently the Head Performance Coach for the Boston Bruins, where he oversees all aspects of designing and implementing the team’s performance training program, as well as monitoring the players’ performance, workload and recovery. Prior to Boston, Kevin spent 2 years as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the San Jose Sharks after serving as the Director of Performance at Endeavor Sports Performance in Pitman, NJ. He also spent 5 years as a Strength and Conditioning Coach with USA Hockey’s Women’s Olympic Hockey Team, and has been an invited speaker at conferences hosted by the NHL, NSCA, and USA Hockey.