Abstract
PurposeThe purposes of this study were to quantify the external load for female and male varsity ice hockey players during regular season games using a local positioning system (LPS), compare LPS-derived external load between sexes and positions, and compare skating distances in absolute and relative speed zones.MethodsData were collected for 21 female (7 defense, 14 forwards; 20.0 ± 1.4 yrs., 69.1 ± 6.7 kg, 167.1 ± 5.4 cm) and 25 male (8 defense, 17 forwards; 21.9 ± 1.1 yrs., 85.9 ± 5.4 kg, 181.1 ± 5.2 cm) varsity ice hockey players. Measures included skating distance (total, and in absolute and relative speed zones), peak skating speed, peak acceleration and deceleration, accumulative acceleration load, and number of accelerations, decelerations, turns, skating transitions, direction changes, and impacts.ResultsFemale and male players had a high external load during games, with average peak skating speeds >28 km/h and average skating distances >4.4 km. Most LPS-derived measures showed greater external load in males than females (p < 0.05). Forwards skated further at higher speeds compared to defense in both sexes (p < 0.001). Skating distances were significantly different when comparing absolute and relative speed zones (p < 0.001), with absolute speed zones potentially overestimating skating at very slow, very fast, and sprint speeds and underestimating skating at slow and moderate speeds.ConclusionThis was the first study to measure external load in female ice hockey players with a LPS. Both female and male varsity players had high external loads during games, with forwards having greater external load at higher intensities and defense having greater external load at lower intensities. Sex and positional differences outline the importance of individualized athlete monitoring.
Highlights
Average peak skating speeds for regular season games were significantly greater for males in all players (31.16 ± 1.64 vs. 28.73 ± 1.51 km/h), defense (30.15 ± 1.68 vs. 28.52 ± 1.74 km/h), and forwards (31.73 ± 1.33 vs. 28.82 ± 1.39 km/h) compared to females
There were no positional differences in the fast speed zone (p > 0.150)
The main findings included that (i) both female and male players had high external load measures during regular season games when compared to other ice hockey research, (ii) in-game local positioning systems (LPS)-derived measures of external load were greater in males compared to females, (iii) both female and male forwards had greater external load at higher intensities, while defense had greater external load at lower intensities, and (iv) relative speed zones allowed for an adjustment of skating distance intensities for an individualized approach of measuring external load specific to sex and position
Summary
Athlete load can be separated into internal and external load, with the external load of an athlete defined as the amount of work objectively quantified during training or competition (Bourdon et al, 2017). Athlete external load was primarily measured by time or distance of exposure. Time– motion and video analysis have been used to investigate movement characteristics and skating in female and male varsity ice hockey players (Jackson et al, 2016, 2017). This research has provided important introductory analyses of ice hockey movements, but quantifying movements in more detail using video analysis is difficult given that it can be time-consuming and subjective (Dobson and Keogh, 2007; Dellaserra et al, 2014). Local positioning systems (LPS) have allowed for quantification of external load and athlete movement tracking in indoor sports where global positioning systems (GPS) are not feasible (Brooks et al, 2020; Douglas and Kennedy, 2020; Vigh-Larsen et al, 2020; Gamble et al, 2021a,b; VázquezGuerrero and Garcia, 2021)
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