Oct 15, 2024

In-season women’s hockey programming considerations

Rebecca Freiburger, MS, SCCC, CSCS, Ohio State University assistant strength & conditioning coach

The ice hockey season spans from mid-September to late March, making it one of the longest seasons of all NCAA sports. Despite the season length, it is one of the more routine weekly microcycles with games every Friday and Saturday. Training hard and consistently throughout the season is imperative due to the length. Planning with careful consideration of past opponents, upcoming games, and the overall big picture of the season all create unique weeks. 

It is important to have a framework to follow that merges the hockey coaching staff’s tactical goals/style of play with your goals and objectives as a strength and conditioning coach.

These two questions can be a quick guide for both a weekly and long-term planning basis.

What time of the year is it?
I usually break up the season into four quarters lasting about 5-6 weeks each, with unique objectives for each phase. I have found it effective to explain conditioning goals by using the analogy of athletes as cars with gas tanks.

• First quarter: (Mid-September-End of October)

• • • Conditioning: Create an increase in volume by transitioning into 20hr weeks and starting gameplay. The goal is to avoid drastic jumps and spikes in acute loads to do this safely.
    • Weight Room: The pre-season lift structure had a strength, power, and volume day. Now, this will shift to only a strength and power day. These lifts will be the longest and have the most volume.

• Second quarter (November-Mid December)

• • • Conditioning: Hit highest cumulative loads of the semester prior to break. Build the aerobic engine/gas tank capacity of the athletes.
    • Weight Room: Build in complexity or velocity from the previous phase, but with a slight reduction in volume to pair with the highest on-ice loads. Movement selection is an important factor during this period. Consider lower backs, shoulders, hips, and groins.

• Holiday Break (2nd/3rd week of December-January)

• • • Conditioning: We have a short training camp before and after Holiday break where we re-test our on-ice conditioning, speed, and acceleration numbers to get a mid-season touch point.
    • Strength: During training camp, the goal is to expose players to post-season lifts and balance the high training volume on-ice. Then while home, the lifts will revisit maximum strength and higher volume to pair with less skating.

• Third quarter (January-February)

• • • Conditioning: Now that we have cars with maximized gas tanks, the goal shifts to maintaining loads, but pushing the intensity of practices. Can we practice at a high intensity and be more efficient/increase our miles per gallon compared to the fall? Tuesday becomes an off day.
    • Strength: Shift to a primarily power and speed emphasis with moderate volume.

• Fourth quarter (February-End of March)

• • Conditioning: Begin a slight weekly load taper but maintain the high intensity of practices. How can we maximize the gas left in our tanks for post-season games? Low-volume supplementation of high-speed change of direction and maximum skating velocity will occur if this is not accomplished during practice.
  • Strength: High-intensity power training (often overcoming isometrics or concentric-only movements), with low volume and duration. Extra mobility and recovery are incorporated into lifts.
    

• Who are we playing this weekend?

• • Estimate physical outputs, and work backwards to achieve the desired weekly physical goals and tactical plans.
  • A weekly goal is to vary loads by less than +/- 10%

Sample In-Season Week: Ohio State Women’s Hockey

• Monday — Pre-Practice Lift: Strength and Eccentric Day
  • Consists of movements that need to happen a minimum of 1x a week, but also furthest away from our next game.
  • Strength doesn’t always mean 90-100% 1RM, this can also include movements for accelerative strength (.5-.75 m/s). As the hockey season progresses, this day tends to work its way down the force-velocity curve.
  • Example Day:
    • Warmup, mobility, and activation
    • A1) Main movement choice: Unilateral or bilateral
    • A2-3) Post Activation Potentiation Movement: Ballistic or plyometric pattern
    • A4) Hip mobility or activation as active rest
    • B1) Vertical pushing/pulling
    • B2) Isometric or eccentric groin work
    • C1) Accessory work
      • Multi-plane core work
      • Posterior chain
      • Frontal Plane
      • Hip Flexor/Abduction work

Practice: Heavy battle and hockey competition day to set the tone for the week. Any extra conditioning will be change-of-direction based, matching the intensity of practice and keeping this a high day.

• Tuesday — Opportunity for Individual Extra Lifts.

Practice: More systematic based. The main objective is to achieve touchpoints at top skating velocity, as this doesn’t always occur during Monday battle drills.

• Off day during the second semester.
  

• Wednesday — Pre-Practice Lift: Power and Isometric Day.
  • Consists of movements that should leave hockey athletes feeling good and potentiated going into practice and without the risk of soreness going into Friday’s game.
  • Example Day:
    • Warmup, mobility, and activation
    • 10-yard sprint or acceleration variation
    • A1) Speed Strength Movement choice: Unilateral or bilateral (opposite of Monday)
    • A2-3) Post Activation Potentiation Movement: Ballistic or plyometric movement
      • Often band assisted or low eccentric demand jumps
    • A4) Mobility/Activation
    • B1) Horizontal Pushing/Pulling
    • B2) Isometric or concentric-only groin work from different angles than Monday
    • C1) Accessory work. Mix and match with Monday, but with consideration to the 48 hours until Friday’s game.
      • Multi-plane core work
      • Posterior shoulder work and stability/mobility

Practice: Will consist almost entirely of systems and flow drills. Any extra conditioning necessary will consist of laps and straight lines as this is 2 days out from a game.

• Thursday — Travel Day and/or Final Short Practice Before Friday’s Game

Considerations

Technology can help guide these decisions and can be a source of objective feedback.

• Force plates — Acquire data that can be used as a snapshot of physical recovery, but also to track longitudinal progress over the entire year.
• Heart rate technology — Worn at every practice to determine loads.
• Sleep Technology — Can measure sleep, recovery, stress levels, and potential sickness.

» ALSO SEE: High school football player’s life saved with AED

Overall, the art of being a strength coach comes from the ability to have a whiteboard planning mentality and willingness to adjust on the fly to the chaos of the in-season period. Adjustments to volume, lift movements, or on-ice conditioning may be necessary for individuals or the entire team daily. Regardless of available technology, with a student athlete-centered and performance-based mindset it is possible to collaborate with the staff around you to help your athletes feel their physical best for their biggest games.