Speed Training for Hockey
Speed wins pucks races and creates time and space.
And, each level you advance, speed only increases.
In other words, one of the priorities of your training — both on and off the ice — should be to get faster.
Even NHL stars wish they were faster.
When several if they could steal another player's skill an overwhelming majority said they'd take McDavid's speed.
Except Ovi.. who of course just had to be an anomaly. He said, “I would take speed, but not McDavid's… I don't want to be too fast.”
Even Ovechkin, who very well might score the most goals in the history of hockey, would improve his speed over anything else.
Although we think about speed as a hallmark of improved performance, most strength and conditioning resources gloss over how to develop it..
and instead, emphasize getting strong.
Sure, strength is an undeniable contributor to speed.
But Kevin Neeld, in his book Speed Training for Hockey takes it further, giving coaches (and players) the chance to systematically develop speed.
He goes deep on all the main variables from strength and power to mobility and skating technique.
Immediately, it has become my go-to resource for identifying how I can make my athletes faster.
Here are my biggest takeaways and lessons from Kevin Neeld's Speed Training For Hockey.
Identify Your Limiting Factor
As alluded to, Kevin goes into all the main variables necessary for speed — explaining that it's not as simple as power.
You could be strong and powerful, but if you don't have the necessary mobility to use the strength through all the necessary ranges for an optimal stride length, you won't reach your speed potential.
In many instances, a player's mobility is the limiting factor.
Or, perhaps, you're powerful and mobile, but if your technique is off, that will hold back your potential— skating is a skill, after all.
And the fastest guys almost invariably have the best technique.
Kevin even touches on strategies to improve the skill of skating to improve your speed, such as making sure you flick your toe at the end of your stride (which I'm now trying to think about when I skate).
Then, of course, there's the conditioning aspect.
You can be powerful, mobile, and the best skater on the planet, but if your conditioning sucks, none of that will be useful at the end of shifts and in the third period.
Taking all of these together, improving speed can be boiled down to a checklist, a la The Checklist Manifesto (more recommended reading, it's a good one for Audible also).
Strength
Power
Mobility
Skill
Conditioning
The key to improving speed, I reasoned, is to identify the weakest link—which one of the boxes is left unchecked, and attack that box. That leads to my second major takeaway.
Assess Where You're At
What gets measured gets managed.
In order to know where you need to improve in order to be faster on the ice, you have to know what your weak points are.
That means developing a system to assess each of the categories. For example, Kevin explained in the book how he uses the Y Balance Test to mimic an assessment of overall stride length.
As coaches, we need to create systems to assess and reassess certain aspects, and then test speed.
Is your dorsiflexion shit? How do you know that? Does improving it make you faster? Making improvements without assessments is like trying to shoot with your stick turned over.
Kevin went above and beyond in explaining the exact tests he uses to make sure every variable is accounted for. Personally, I just take from this system now.
This is a great resource, and a quick read — I read it in a day and started applying the tactics the day after. But applying everything in it will give you an exact system to improve your on-ice speed and to help every one of your athletes, no matter where they are in their journey or what their weak points you.
