Performance Testing: Youth Hockey Norms

The first question players ask after going through any form of performance testing is either “How’d I do?” or “Is that good?”

Every player presents with unique physical characteristics that either help them perform at a desired level or prevent them from doing so.

While there are a lot of individual considerations in interpreting testing data, it’s helpful to have an understanding of where you stack up relative to other players at your age and playing level.

This table has normative values for off-ice testing (power and strength testing) performed on male youth hockey players. The players were primarily from Tier I organizations.

This should help players to quickly identify areas of strength, and areas where they may be lagging behind the pack, which can then be used to influence their training programs.

Feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please tag a friend in the comments below or share/re-post it so others can benefit.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
SpeedTrainingforHockey.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingAdaptation.com

P.S. If you’re interested in year-round comprehensive hockey-specific training programs for players at different ages, check out Ultimate Hockey Transformation.

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Lateral MiniBand Skater Walk

This is an exercise we integrate into our warm-ups to help reinforce a low skating position and strong push-off.

A common problem you see in less efficient skaters is that they adopt a wider stance and their stance leg collapses inward slightly, which causes the player to ride their inside edge, and create more friction on the glide leg, which ultimately slows the player down.

Similarly, a lot of players will make the mistake of over-reaching with the front leg, when the emphasis should be on pushing the ground away through the back leg.

I’ll cue players to think of their front knee, hip, and shoulder pushing against a wall, while the back leg pushes.

The band creates a slight inward pull on the knee, which the player can actively pull against to reinforce the foot/knee/hip/shoulder alignment we want from a stance leg in skating, but the focus on keeping the knee straight also makes it feel less natural to reach with the foot compared to when the front band is around the ankle. If you reach with the foot with the band in this position here, the band rolls up the leg, which doesn’t feel great. Once the player understands the motion, the band can be slide down to the ankle.

Typically performed for 3 sets of 8-10 reps/side

Give this a shot, and feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please share/re-post it so others can benefit.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
SpeedTrainingforHockey.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingAdaptation.com

P.S. For comprehensive hockey training programs to improve your speed AND repeat sprint ability, check out: Speed Training for Hockey

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Speed Training: Med Ball Chest Pass w/ Step

In a previous post, I mentioned that limitations in speed development can be identified by asking the below questions:

1️⃣ Can the player get into the right positions?
2️⃣ Can the player hold the right positions?
3️⃣ Can the player push out of the deep positions?
4️⃣ Can the player “explode” out of deep positions?
5️⃣ Can the player create separation?

Related to Question #4, early acceleration phases of skating rely on a more sagittal plane dominant strategy (pushing back), opposed to max speed skating that relies on a more frontal plane dominant strategy (pushing laterally).

This video is of a Med Ball Chest Pass w/ Step, and is an example of an exercise that can positively impact this early acceleration phase, which is often described as “first step quickness” by players and coaches.

The emphasis of the exercise is on an aggressive push through the front leg (see picture). With that in mind, it’s important to:

✅ Set up with an aggressive forward lean over the front foot.
✅ Think of “pushing the ground back” through the front foot to JUMP forward.
✅ As your foot leaves the ground, follow through by throwing the ball as hard as you can toward the wall.

Make sure to leave yourself plenty of room so you can catch the ball safely off the rebound.

Give this a shot, and feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please share/re-post it so others can benefit.

Feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please share/re-post it so others can benefit.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
SpeedTrainingforHockey.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingAdaptation.com

P.S. For comprehensive hockey training programs to improve your speed AND repeat sprint ability, check out: Speed Training for Hockey

Enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Sports Performance and Hockey Training Newsletter!

Increasing Rate of Force Development

Maximizing intended contraction speed leads to decreased recruitment threshold of high force motor units, increased doublet firing, and increased rate of force development (ROFD).

This is true even with isometric contractions, so this strategy can be used in a variety of ways – from improving strength through sticking points to maximizing ROFD in specific ranges to preserving fast twitch muscle in load compromised athletes.

Feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please share/re-post it so others can benefit.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
SpeedTrainingforHockey.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingAdaptation.com

P.S. For more information on in- and off-season program design, training and reconditioning for injured players, and integrating sports science into a comprehensive training process, check out Optimizing Adaptation & Performance

Enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Sports Performance and Hockey Training Newsletter!

Sport Performance Model

This is an overview of factors contributing to performance from a presentation I gave to a group of youth hockey players a few years back.

The message here is that performance at any moment will be the result of how you’ve prepared yourself physically (how well-trained you are), how you’ve fueled yourself (not only the day of the performance, but also in the days, weeks and months leading up to it), and how diligent you’ve been with your recovery to help the body positively adapt to training/practice loads.

A few examples we spoke about:

1️⃣ If you’re a highly skilled player, but find you never quite have the time to use your skills, it may be that your speed isn’t adequate to allow you to demonstrate your skill sets. This would be a training fix. You can train to improve your speed and that will improve your performance.

2️⃣ If you’re training really hard and working hard on the ice, but you skip breakfast and then eat chips and skittles for lunch, this will impair your energy levels headed into every training session, so you won’t be able to train as hard as you could if you ate better, and you may be missing key resources like protein that your body uses to help build and repair muscle, so you won’t improve as much either. This would be a nutrition fix.

3️⃣ Lastly, if you do everything right from a training and nutrition standpoint, but you only get 6 hours of sleep because you stay up late on social media every night, your performance will suffer.

All three of these things are incredibly important, and if you’re doing really well in one area, the goal should be to identify opportunities to improve in the others.

Feel free to post any comments/questions below. If you found this helpful, please share/re-post it so others can benefit.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
SpeedTrainingforHockey.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingAdaptation.com

P.S. For more information on in- and off-season program design, training and reconditioning for injured players, and integrating sports science into a comprehensive training process, check out Optimizing Adaptation & Performance

Enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Sports Performance and Hockey Training Newsletter!

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