Speed Training Methods for Hockey

Accelerations within this distance emphasize the posture, longer contact time, and more piston-like pushing patterns that more directly translate to skating.

Speed is arguably the most critical physical capacity in ice hockey. In other words, no single physical attribute will dictate a player’s success at a given level more than speed. As a result, training PROPERLY for speed is an absolutely essential part of a player’s development.

In an attempt to understand what factors may predict faster skaters, several studies have looked at the relationship between off-ice sprinting speeds and on-ice skating speed and found that there’s a moderate correlation.  In other words, faster runners are generally faster skaters, but there is a lot of gray area. One of the very first things students learn in any introductory statistics or research methods course is that “correlation does not imply causation.”