Posts in "Conditioning"

Analyzing Game Demands of Ice Hockey: Positional Differences

Analyzing Game Demands of Ice Hockey: Positional Differences

Four separate studies looking at different levels of competition across different time periods share common findings. Defensemen log more minutes, but their shifts are characterized by significantly less high intensity work and sprinting compared to forwards. The natural question that arises here is “should defensemen spend more time doing longer aerobic work?” Short answer –… Read more

Analyzing Game Demands of Ice Hockey: Sprinting Emphasis

Analyzing Game Demands of Ice Hockey: Sprinting Emphasis

In a professional hockey game, players perform around 7 high intensity skating efforts per shift, including 1-2 sprints around 20-30m, accumulating over 2000m in high intensity skating throughout a game. These sprinting efforts often have an impact on possession, scoring opportunities, and ultimately the outcome of the game. Ice hockey is a repeat sprint sport, and as… Read more

Analyzing Game Demands of Ice Hockey

Analyzing Game Demands of Ice Hockey

In an international hockey game, the average shift length was ~86s, which was split in half between playing and stoppage time. Players spent ~18% of their playing time in high intensity skating. The big take home here is that the ice hockey requires bursts of high intensity skating interspersed by periods of lower intensity skating… Read more

The Biggest Mistake in Hockey Conditioning

The Biggest Mistake in Hockey Conditioning

There are many ways to break down the demands of the game to gain insight into how to best prepare. In ice hockey, it’s common to look at shift length and work-to-rest ratios as an indicator of game demands. At most levels of hockey, a typical shift is 40-60s and teams carry 3-4 forward lines… Read more

4 Hockey Conditioning Myths that Are Killing Your Speed

4 Hockey Conditioning Myths that Are Killing Your Speed

Conditioning for hockey is arguably one of the most misunderstood elements of preparing for the sport. If done well, conditioning can help support speed development and repeating high-speed efforts over the course of a game and throughout the season. If done poorly, conditioning can interfere with speed development, and compromise the consistency of a player’s… Read more