Ice Hockey Repeated Sprint Ability: The Relationship Between Peak Oxygen Consumption, Skating Speed And Fatigue

Abstract

Although ice hockey is mainly considered as an anaerobic sport, oxygen consumption is a key aspect in hockey performance. In fact, several studies have shown a relationship between maximal oxygen consumption and repeated sprint ability for hockey players. PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationship between peak oxygen consumption, skating speed and fatigue while performing on-ice repeated shifts. METHODS: Ten male elite ice-hockey players [age: 20.20±1.81 years; height: 176.70±6.75 cm; weight: 76.20±11.48 kg] completed an on-ice repeated shift test (Peterson et al., 2015). The latter consisted of 5 maximal skating bouts including accelerations, crossovers and change-of-direction manoeuvres. Skating bouts occured at 120 seconds intervals, which represented approximatively 90 seconds of passive recovery between each bout. Total shift time and split durations were measured using four photocell timing gates (FusionSport, SmartSpeed Pro Timing System, Colorado, USA). Skating speed was then computed. Breath-by-breath analysis was performed in order to measure peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak) and heart rate was monitored (K4B2, Cosmed, Italy). RESULTS: In average, VO2 peak varied from 35.76±5.00 ml/kg/min on the first shift to 32.04±4.49 ml/kg/min on the last shift whereas skating speed varied respectively from 5.98±0.31 m/s to 5.53±0.33 m/s. The average time to complete the skating bouts ranged from 23.70±1.22 seconds for the first sprint to 25.67±1.59 seconds for the last sprint. The average performance decrement (i.e. fatigue index) was of 4.81±2.47 percent. The coefficient of determination (r2) was 0.204 (r=0.451, p=0.001) for VO2 peak as a function of skating speed and r2=0.196 (r= -0.442, p=0.200) for VO2 peak versus the fatigue index. CONCLUSION: The aerobic capacity partially explains the players’ repeated sprint ability and shows that it is a fitness component that cannot be neglected in ice hockey. Our results are consistent with other studies that have investigated the link between aerobic capacity and linear repeated sprints, whereas, the approach herein used repeated sprints with direction changes.