Off-ice training: what the game asks of the body.

This page reports research findings and federation guidance. It is not a training programme. USA Hockey's own advice for 14U and 16U players, quoted below, is to learn weight-training technique from a qualified coach or trainer, and anyone with an injury or a medical condition should get advice from a doctor before training.

What the game demands

Vigh-Larsen and Mohr reviewed the research in "The physiology of ice hockey performance: An update", in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. The University of the Faroe Islands repository lists it as published online on 14 December 2022; a search summary gave it as a 2024 issue, which is likely the print issue but was not confirmed. The review reports:

• Shifts of roughly 30 to 80 seconds, separated by longer passive rests, adding up to about 15 to 25 minutes of ice time per player per game.
• Nearly half of the skating distance covered at high intensity, with forwards working at a more intense pattern than defence players.
• Heart rate climbing toward maximum in each shift, with both the aerobic and the anaerobic energy systems heavily taxed.
• Marked depletion of muscle glycogen, especially in individual fast- and slow-twitch fibres, and a decline in high-intensity skating late in games. The authors propose glycogen depletion, dehydration and overheating as likely contributors to fatigue.

USA Hockey regional manager Bob Mancini, in a 2020 ADM article, links this to training for 14U and 16U players: train speed in bursts that mimic shifts of roughly 45 seconds.

Which off-ice tests predict skating

Janot, Beltz and Dalleck (2015, Journal of Sports Science and Medicine) tested 26 NCAA Division III players, 15 men and 11 women. Off-ice measures, mainly the 40-yard dash, vertical jump and a 1.5-mile run, predicted on-ice repeat-sprint results and 44.8 m skating speed. They did not predict acceleration, top speed over 15.2 m or S-turn agility. The vertical jump explained the most unique variance in the 44.8 m skating test. The authors cite earlier work by Bracko and George (2001) finding the 40-yard dash was the strongest predictor of skating speed in female players aged 8 to 16.

The study suggests some off-ice tests track parts of skating performance but not all of them, and its sample was 26 players from a single level of play, NCAA Division III.

USA Hockey's off-ice guidance by age

USA Hockey's dryland programme offers age-appropriate off-ice exercises for agility, balance, coordination, strength and skill, and recommends 30 minutes before or after practice at least twice a week during the season. It publishes home-training guides for ages 13 to 14 and 15 and over, and a 20-week plan for 10U with two sessions a week.

The Train to Train document treats the growth spurt as the trigger for strength work. It puts the average age of peak height velocity (PHV) at about 12 for girls and 14 for boys, calls PHV the reference point for starting strength training, recommends measuring for PHV every three months, and warns that coordination may dip during the spurt. The player development page covers how Hockey Canada and USA Hockey differ on the timing.

Hockey Canada's guidance

The research for this site found less age-specific off-ice guidance from Hockey Canada itself. Two points were found:

• Its Long Term Player Development Plan (Version 2, 2013) says strength training for Atom players (the Learn to Train stage) should use only the player's own body weight.
• Its 2020-21 shooting and scoring guide gives the off-season, May to August, to multisport activity.

The 2002 Canadian Hockey Association checking manual also includes a plyometrics section by Cathie Filyk, M.Kin., listing exercises such as low lateral power strides, skater leaps, stair runs, hops over a stick and lunges, and stressing soft landings with the ankles, knees and hips lined up.

Injury-prevention research

Groin strains

Tyler, Fukunaga and Gellert (2014, International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy) summarise earlier studies of professional ice hockey players, the 2001 one in the NHL:

• Tyler and colleagues (2001) found that players who later suffered groin strains had about 18 percent lower pre-season hip adduction strength, and an adduction-to-abduction strength ratio of about 78 percent against 95 percent in players who stayed uninjured. A ratio below 80 percent strongly predicted a later strain, and 4 of the 9 strains were recurrences.
• Tyler and colleagues (2002) put the 33 of 58 players whose ratio was under 80 percent through a pre-season strengthening programme. Adductor strains fell from 11 in the two seasons before (3.2 per 1,000 player-game exposures) to 3 in the two intervention seasons (0.71 per 1,000).

The same commentary notes that Emery and Meeuwisse found no link between peak adductor torque (strength) and strains, but did link off-season sport-specific practice and veteran status to lower risk. On adductor strength, the two lines of research do not agree.

The SHRED warm-up

The University of Calgary's SHRED injuries group, with Universite Laval and Hockey Alberta, developed a neuromuscular warm-up for ice hockey of about 7 minutes off the ice and 6 minutes on it. It covers aerobic, balance, strength and agility work, plus a neck control and endurance category aimed at concussion prevention. The SHRED page says research in Alberta and Quebec is still evaluating whether the warm-up reduces concussions and other injuries in youth players, and it reports no results yet.