Game Warm-Up Could Use a Little Thought!

Among all the dumb things we do in hockey, perhaps our warm-up for games ranks right at the top. Sitting on a huge block of ice, stretching cold muscles and joints - this is a demonstration to anyone watching that we just don’t have a clue.

There are some other candidates for dumbest thing in hockey, however. When the game starts, and officials are instructed to blow their whistle for anything close to a rules violation by the offense and ignore 95 percent of the infractions by the defense - well, then we’ve stated clearly, we just aren’t into a lot of heavy thinking about how to make our sport more attractive.

But, I digress; back to warm-up. Consider the pre-game routine for colleges, professionals, and high school teams who go to the locker room after warm-up and sit for 20 minutes while the ice is prepared for the game.

Then, when we return to the ice, there is another inactive period where we announce the lineups and stand still for the National Anthem.

After a huddle to shout some encouragement to teammates we line up, drop the puck, and skate full speed after a half hour of non-activity.

We’re probably the only sport that actually legislates against warming-up the muscles by skating (or running) just before the game or before each period.

In football, the teams are required to be on the field for warm-up prior to the second-half kickoff. In hockey this would draw a bench penalty.

In other words, for games we believe in starting the first shift with 100 percent effort after a half hour of total inactivity, but in practices we’d never consider something so dumb.

Many high schools and most colleges and NHL teams add an additional off-ice warm-up prior to the warmup on the ice.

We’ve seen Europeans kick soccer balls during this extra warm-up, so we joined them with our own version. This usually starts an hour or so before the game.

Does this have some value? Of course not, if there is a half hour of sitting and standing before the opening faceoff. What if Olympic sprinters prepared for competition in the same way? An hour or so before the start, they’d participate in some light activity.

Then, they’d add a fifteen minute organized team warm-up, specifically for sprinters. OK, so far, except for that five minutes where they sat still and stretched on top of a pile of ice provided by the trainers. This could hardly be interpreted as warming-up the muscles.

Then, they’d retire to the locker room, sit still while listening to the coach for twenty minutes, go back to the track and stand motionless for another 10 minutes — never allowing for further warm-up. In fact, if someone dared to do warmup sprints, they’d be disqualified. You have to start competition with cold, stiff muscles which are thirty minutes removed from the last warm-up activity.

I don’t think so.

Track people consider their competition warm-up to be critical — not only to avoid injuries, but to enhance performance. Warm muscles function better; this has been proven on the athletic field as well as in the physiology lab. Warm muscles contract quicker and with more force. They also relax quicker, allowing for a more coordinated control of movement.

On the other hand, static stretching has never been shown to reduce injuries or improve performance. Does this mean we shouldn’t stretch at all?

Right now, this question is highly debatable, and scientists are studying it worldwide. But there is agreement on one thing: stretching should never precede warm-up when the muscles are cold — a practice that probably contributes to injuries.

If we in hockey are going to add dryland warm-up activities, there are two places where it makes sense. First, in a youth game where the on-ice warm-up is short and we don’t sit still while the ice is resurfaced prior to competition. Youth teams should do dryland warm-up before going on the ice.

High school, college, and professional teams would be better off doing some light dryland activities after the on-ice warm-up, not before. This way, the on-ice warm-up has an impact on the readiness of muscles once the game starts.

Light activities include squats, lunges, sit-ups, push-ups, and perhaps stickhandling practice with balls - anything but sitting still.

Finally, we need to lobby the High School League (and other governing bodies) to allow players to skate for five minutes when they return to the ice - after the national anthem and before each period. Hockey players have the same physiological need to warm-up as athletes in every other sport.

Jack Blatherwick has a Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Minnesota. He is a physiologist for the Washington Capitals, and has held the same post for the Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and Minnesota North Stars. He was also a coach/physiologist on the U.S. Olympic hockey teams in 1980, '84 '88, '92 and '94. Check out Blatherwick's website at http://www.overspeed.info/.

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