Justin Roethlingshoefer, Head Strength Coach of the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League and Devan McConnell, Head of Hockey Performance at University of Massachusetts Lowell, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about their the idea and creation of their book, Intent, as well as their path to strength and conditioning for high performance hockey athletes. Topics under discussion include: training for hockey athletes, sports science, and Intent.

This article provides some practical applications to minimize the negative effects associated with a long intensive ice hockey season on ice hockey athletes.

This article will focus on three common areas of injuries that occur with ice hockey players and some recommended strategies for the strength and conditioning professional.

The purpose of this article is to investigate a few important considerations for the ice hockey goaltender: common injuries, specific physical characteristics and conditioning, and the mental game.

In this session from the NSCA’s 2015 Hockey Clinic, San Jose Sharks Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Mike Potenza discusses how to create a program that can help re-assimilate an injured hockey player’s body back to pre-injury functions and movements, and eventually back to competition. Potenza also covers the structure of an off-ice reconditioning program, the members of the performance team, methods for building a “return to skate program,” and reintegration procedures for the athlete.

This article examines using the sled as a dynamic correspondence exercise for increasing on-ice acceleration.

Focusing on developing the core muscles in a strength and conditioning program for ice hockey players can improve performance of movements on the ice.

In order to effectively prepare an ice hockey player for the season, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the specific demands of the sport.

This article features the recharge skate—an in-season hockey conditioning drill, designed by the authors, to maintain hockey-specific energy system fitness throughout the competitive season.

In this session from the 2015 NSCA National Conference, Nelson Ayotte—the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the St. Louis Blues National Hockey League (NHL) team—explains how to design and implement a specific energy systems program at the elite level. Ayotte demonstrates the characteristics of each of the three energy systems and their trainability, and explores how to understand the energy demands of a sport by analysis of its characteristics, competition intensity, and duration of efforts and recovery periods.