Now that the NHL’s work stoppage is over and the 2013 hockey season is raring to start in only a few short days, teams are furiously engaging in post-lockout training in order to get their stars up to playing speed in the span of only a few days. How are teams focusing their players to get back into high gear in such short span? Hockey is a game of cardio and conditioning, meaning that it is all about drills, drills, drills.
How Post-Lockout Training Defines Speed
If you look at an NHL game today and an NHL game of ten years ago, one thing is certainly apparent: speed kills. The plodding players of yesteryear, the big slow defensemen like Derian Hatcher and the lumbering forwards like Jason Allison have gone extinct. Their replacements are speedsters like New York Islander forward and 30-goal scorer Michael Grabner, who can get from blueline to blueline at top speed in less than a second. Drills for increasing speed focus on plyometrics, increasing the burst strength of the legs to generate more force and better acceleration. This training includes box jumps, which, as the name suggests, is simply jumping onto and off of a box frequently, working the muscles that push off against the ground.
Why Post-Lockout Training Emphasizes Reaction
Anyone who has played with minor league players knows that the difference between an NHLer and an AHLer is not their strength or their stamina. Rather, it is all about how they think the game and how quickly they can make decisions. One such decision is shot placement immediately after a pass. An NHL sniper like Toronto’s Phil Kessel has a high shooting rate because he is able to put a puck under the crossbar half an instant after he gets it on the tape of his stick. This skill is honed in by exercises on shooting the puck while on the forecheck rather than shooting once the player has the angle. This fools goalies and defensemen alike and provides a valuable second of time.
It Is Not Always About Training On Ice
The endurance of a professional hockey player is fantastic. A coach calls a thirty-second timeout in order for his players to be fresh and ready to go after a long shift. Many players, like Colorado’s Ryan O’Reilly, use deep breathing yoga in order to develop their muscles’ ability to do work over time. Former three-time Stanley Cup winner Mark Recchi credited his success at age 41 to yoga training. Anyone can get the benefits the pros enjoy in their own post-lockout training by using our expertise and advice for their own hockey season, even if it is not played under the bright lights of the NHL. If you would like to learn how to play hockey like a professional, we can help. Our online hokey training program was designed to instill hockey skills to anyone who wants to learn. Call us on 1-888-588-0554 for more details.
