After a life of playing forward, I was moved back to defense for my first two years of college hockey. Occasionally I would get an opportunity to jump back up to forward for a couple shifts. What an eye opening experience that was! Since I was rarely tired playing defense, I was surprised to feel so gassed after a few very short shifts at forward.

But it makes sense when you break the game down:

In the offensive zone, forwards are usually in a state of constant movement and battle, defensemen are usually camped out at the blue line (sometimes cutting in to the net) and goalies are looking for their significant others in the stands.

In the neutral zone the situation is usually pretty similar as forwards are running exchanges, defensemen are holding their blue line or making small range escapes to make a pass and the goalies are at least somewhat aware that a hockey game is being played.

In the defensive zone, wingers are holding down the top of the circles, while the center and defensemen are in a state of organized chaos to break the puck out, and the goalie is in a semi-squat position for an extended period of time.

The result is that different players at different positions have very different conditioning demands. 

Is it always possible to conditioning players of different positions differently? 

No.  Many times there isn’t enough manpower or resources to do this. 

Generally speaking, I think defensemen and goalies don’t need to be as highly conditioned as forwards.  It would be reasonable to swap out some conditioning work for players at these positions in favor of more strength work, core work, and/or short distance explosive sprint work with relatively longer rest periods. 

After all, if your defensemen are quick and break the puck out rapidly, they probably won’t spend a lot of time doing anything but sitting at the offensive zone blueline and making a few cuts to the net anyway.

– Kevin Neeld

I remember hearing Michael Boyle talk about how he had Cam Neely step on a scale with his equipment on and how surprised he was about how much weight the equipment added.

With over 15 years of experience playing hockey, you’d think I would have picked up on this on my own. From time to time something like this comes along to remind me how smart I’m not. Coach Boyle noted that hockey equipment can add around 20 pounds.

Is it any wonder why so many hockey players train so hard off the ice, then still feel drained the first time they’re on the ice?

Of course, part of that is because of the unique pattern of ice skating. In my opinion, the majority of this horrible feeling of fatigue is due to the extra weight.

The simple solution? Progress to adding a weight vest on your athletes while they condition. An example of a progression could be as basic as: 4 weeks of body weight conditioning; 4 weeks of training with a 10 lb weight vest on; 4 weeks of training with a 20 lb (or two 10 lb) weight vest. If you’re feeling really innovative, condition them with their helmets on too, as the helmet will affect the way heat escapes the body.

Simple, yet effective. That’s the name of the game.

– Kevin Neeld

The longer I study athletic development, the more I realize that I have a lot to learn. One of the best ways to learn a lot quickly is to talk to other professionals to get a different perspective. As soon as I moved down to Baltimore I emailed Nick Tumminello and asked if I could pick his brain a bit.
Nick is a brilliant guy that does a lot of work with figure competitors and MMA fighters. While that’s not exactly the population I work with, a lot of training concepts will be similar among athletes.

Nick showed me this exercise to work on core strength in a rotational deceleration pattern. This is strength that you’ll use every time you give a pass or take a shot. It’s extremely functional, extremely hard to do well, and extremely funny looking. The perfect formula for an awesome exercise.