“It’s part of becoming a professional”: The art of offseason hockey training

“There’s always some grief because then you’re not around your teammates, you’re out of routine,” said Aligned Holistic Health and Wellness owner Miranda Wiese, who does dryland training with the Battlefords WPD Ambulance Sharks hockey team. “I think it is really important to take a little bit of time to yourself to reflect and get clear on what was good, what didn’t work, what can I kind of focus on.”

She suggests taking a minimum break of two to three weeks at the beginning of the offseason to recover in more ways than one.

“It just allows you to mentally recover,” said Battlefords North Stars head coach Connor Logan. “Allows a little bit of that tightness and overuse with the body to kind of unwind a little bit, and then you can start getting into training.”

Following the break, Logan suggested players getting back to the gym should do so in phases.

“Shouldn’t be doing too much sprinting. You shouldn’t be doing too many plyometrics. You should really focus on a lot of what’s called structural balance, which means that you’re focusing on anterior to posterior, imbalances from left to right.”

After the first phase, players can get back to their regular routine, but a balance between training off the ice and getting back on skates is important.

“I wouldn’t want anybody to be putting their skates on until June. I think there’s just such an opportunity through off ice training to heal the body,” said Logan.

Different offseason situations

The offseason is going to look a little bit different for every single player. Some are nursing an injury, some training regimes are different based on the position, gender and age.

Wiese said she liked to think of the offseason as a prescription, with every person having a different prescription based on their situation and needs.

“If something was bothering you during your season, that needs to be dealt with,” Wiese said. “Unfortunately, lots of times, it’s rest and recovery that you need, which doesn’t mean you can’t be training and doing work on other things. But I think that is the most important, because you’re only as strong as your weakest link.”

Players can also use the off-season to find undying issues .

“Finding where the breakdowns are, finding where there’s less mobility or there’s less strength and trying to build from there,” said Wiese.

Even without injuries, players will have different timing and plans for when they are getting back to training.

For guys that haven’t been training for a lot of years, then you probably need to get back into the gym a little bit quicker than some guys that have more experience,” said Logan. “For the guys that’ll be 20 next year, the guys that have been training, they need a little bit more time off, let their bodies recover before they get back into lifting weights and sprinting.”

Skaters and goalies will also have different training programs during the summer.

“Goalies just need to have different mobility. They need to have a much different speed and reaction time. They need to be able to get off the floor,” said Wiese. “It literally can be sometimes taking what goalie movements look like and putting them in the gym with bosu balls or with resistant bands and just getting their body kind of integrated into that.”

Logan, who is a former strength and conditioning coach, said that goalies will need more strength in end ranges.

“They typically do a better job of taking care of their bodies. They’re flexible. So, for them, it’d be gaining strength in those end ranges, in those deep squat positions, lunge positions. You do need a little bit more plyometrics because the way they play the game, it’s just, they need to be more supple.”

For skaters, Logan said you want to work in a full range of motion. “But as the summer goes along, you want to start shortening the movements a little bit, overloading positions that are going to be more specific to skating. The joint angles that are going to be more specific to how they’re going to produce force on the ice and be quicker and faster in their skating.”

Playing other sports

Hockey takes up a huge portion of a player’s life during the season, so it’s important to not let it do the same in the offseason, or they could get burnt out by the time the season rolls around.

“I’ve seen that it’s ugly. It’s really hard, especially for youth, because there’s also little peace on top of that and social peace on top of that,” said Wiese.

While some players may not want to take sports out of their life entirely, a lot of athletes simply choose to play different sports in the offseason.

“A lot of hockey players are also playing golf, baseball, or lacrosse. I think it’s just important to be clear with yourself mentally too,” said Wiese.

Logan said it’s incredible to play other sports in the offseason, mentioning that it can diversify your ability.

“The best thing that you can do is play other sports, just to develop different skill sets,” he said. “Oddly enough, tennis is a great sport that can have some positive carryover for hockey. Lacrosse has a little bit more of a direct carryover, just kind of the way that sport is played. I recommend that guys play multiple sports. I think it’s the best thing you can do for developing diverse athleticism. I think it’s brilliant.”

The importance of offseason training

Logan kept things simple when talking about how crucial offseason training is.

“It’s part of becoming a professional. If you want to be elite at hockey and you want to be a player that moves on to a high-end university and then to play pro hockey after, it’s non-negotiable,” he said. “Your nutrition, your training, all of that goes hand in hand with developing yourself as an athlete. The guys that are elite players and move on are guys that have embraced what it means to be an athlete.”

He also said that building strength is the most important part of your offseason progression year after year for players who want to keep advancing to the next level.

“I think if you want to move up the ladder and want to play college hockey, pro hockey. You’re not going to get away with 150 pounds unless you’re at the skill level of a Jack Hughes or a Quinn Hughes. So, for most guys, fill out your frame, get stronger, and continue to just develop an overall game.”

The offseason has many layers: taking a break, mentally reflecting, staying in shape, and ensuring that you walk into the next season as the very best version of yourself.

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Ryan.Lambert@pattisonmedia.com

by Ryan Lambert

“It’s part of becoming a professional”: The art of offseason hockey training

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