I'm not the biggest fan of how youth teams warm up before an ice hockey game. Somehow, the routine of statically stretching on the ice during a five-minute warm up has stretched across the hockey world. Not to get it get wrong, but many teams have found great success as each individual player is able to comfortable stretch after leaving the locker room. However, from my playing and coaching experiences, the better team - the team that flowed right off the opening face-off - did not waste time statically stretching. Instead, the entire team used its short warm-up to skate around with or without the puck. It makes sense. It's very functional and straightforward. I mean, ice hockey is played by skating with or without the puck.
The some high schools and prep schools, juniors, colleges, and pro teams can get away with the static warm up stretch because they all have longer warm up times. They come on and skate, go back to the locker room, and come back to skate before the anthems and opening face-off. As a player, I remember my most long warm-up period before a game...10+ minutes. Whoo! I did not know what to do. We had enough time to do breakouts, 2-on-1's, dump-and-chase (when it was THE thing to do), and more. My legs felt extremely ready.
As a coach the longer warm-up period has been beneficial as well. Not only did I get to sense how my team is warming up, which is very important. But, I had the opportunity to observe snippets of the opposing team. Of course, I kept in mind that the team I was coaching had more of my attention. After all, they were the ones being coached and not the opposing team.
I guess that younger players have not been coached on how to warm up before taking the ice. Sure, they can still stretch a on the ice; but it should not be a priority. If a player is very tight, then he or she may benefit from some static stretching. In my experience working with an NFL team in the past, I asked the strength and conditioning coach, "why do the players still statically stretch prior to practice or a game knowing that dynamic stretching is very helpful?" His answer: they just prefer it because they are used to it. Simply stated in my opinion. But, youth players, watch the elite teams in your age group; and see how much time they spend on on-ice stretching with a short warm-up period. My educated guess is that the team, who does not spend a lot of time stretching while a few players skate around, will warm up directly in to game situation drills, win or lose the opening face-off, and dominate the stretched out team for the first period.
It's probably best to observe two similar teams in this case, or two very different teams; and see how they respond to their normal level of play.
I always knew there was a purpose to showing up to games one hour ahead of time. I just hope that more youth ice hockey teams can get their players to properly warm up before going on the ice.
With heart,
Derek
Derek Arledge, MS, CSCS www.teempt.com TEEM Performance Training
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