There’s nothing like playoff hockey to showcase the athleticism of Canada’s favourite game. And with three Canadian teams making it into the first round of the NHL playoffs, families from coast to coast are glued to their television sets watching some of the best players in the world vie for the coveted Stanley Cup.  

We’re not the only ones obsessed with a game where the puck travels close to 160 km/h and players reach speeds in excess of 17 km/h. Exercise physiologists have been studying hockey for decades to better understand what it takes to play at the elite level. The findings offer unique insight into what makes the game so exciting to watch.

Hockey is a high-intensity team sport that demands repeated short, 30- to 80-second shifts of fast-paced play followed by two to five minutes of inactive recovery. Players accumulate 15 to 25 minutes of on-ice play during an average game, depending on their position, and cover a total distance of four to six kilometres, which is two to three times less than the distance covered in most other team sports. 

But it’s not the number of times players go end to end that makes the game special. it’s the speed of the game that’s so impressive. 

Fifty per cent of the distance covered over the course of a hockey game is at high speed, featuring numerous changes in........

© Montreal Gazette