I was talking with one of the players I work with the other day about his off season hockey training and we were musing at how some smaller players spend their entire off-season trying to get bigger, while some of the bigger more fierce players spend their entire summer trying to get smaller and quicker.

Ultimately any player wants to be big enough, fast enough and agile enough.  All of them need to be fit enough to compete for an entire 60-minutes plus some.  But there are different types of players with different roles.

Yes, we all admire the small, quick hockey player who gets into the corners and digs at the puck, but that is not their primary job.  Their job is to get that space from their opponent to either set up a scoring chance or capitalize on one.

The big guy is not out there for his finesse, he is out there to lay a lickin’ on the opponent, to dig in the corners, to stand in front of their goalie and wreak havoc in that way.

Again, the ideal is to be big, strong, fast AND have mad skills, it just does not happen all that often.

Bottom line as you continue with your off-season hockey training; if you are a small quick player, do not spend your entire summer getting bigger, stronger and slower – now you are small, strong and slow, you just worked yourself out of a roster spot.

Yes, you need to get stronger, everyone does – but make sure you don’t do that at the expense of your speed and agility.

Build on your strengths first and then improve your weaknesses.  Happy training!
M