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

Hockey-Specific Speed Training

Is this hard to believe?

World records in under 100m events continue to be broken regularly by, literally, the fastest people in the history of the world.  It would only be logical then, to think:

If the fastest people in the world are training one way, I should also train that way to become fast.

It makes sense on paper, but it doesn’t make sense on the ice.  The bottom line is that track athletes are training to be fast on the track, in a set distance, in reaction to a set stimulus.  

Hockey players are no so fortunate.  They must be able to accelerate very quickly in response to a consistently changing environment, and they must decelerate just as quickly to change the direction of their skating.  Hockey rarely involves straight-line skating for any significant distance, rarely involves reaching top speed before having to change direction and frequently involves accelerating from a moving start.  Think about these things.

How is your speed training reflecting the demands of the game?  Are you incorporating direction changes at both slow and high speeds?  Are you incorporating sprints from a moving start?  Are you incorporating rapid decelerations from various speeds, followed by direction changes?

Take a look at your off ice training program and see how it fits your on ice demands…

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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.