ICE HOCKEY TRAINING Reading time : 9 min Updated October 14, 2026
Contents
No injury-prevention exercise programme has been tested on ice hockey players with an injury as the measured outcome. That is the result of a literature review made on 14 October 2026 (PubMed, Europe PMC, ClinicalTrials.gov). What the research supports is a rule: no body checking for the youngest, which belongs to the federations. This page says what exists, what is missing, and promises nothing else. Paak offers no injury-prevention programme for ice hockey.
What has been tested, and what has not
Candidate
What exists on ice hockey players
Verdict
A ban on body checking
policy studies, cohorts and meta-analyses, consistent (see the contact guide)
the best-established lever: a rule, not a programme
The zero-tolerance rule for head contact
no fall in concussions after the change, head-contact rate unchanged
no demonstrated effect
Mouthguard
consistent observational studies; no randomised trial
equipment, not a programme
Neck laceration protector
a laboratory cut test and case series; no incidence study
equipment, not a programme
Adductor strengthening
one uncontrolled before-and-after in one NHL team: 3 strains in the two seasons after the programme, 11 in the two before, in selected professional men (Tyler 2002)
not a controlled result
Neck strengthening
raises isometric neck strength (standardised mean difference 0.85), but no study has measured its effect on concussions
nothing proven
A FIFA 11+ style warm-up
not tested in ice hockey; the trials are football
transfer from another sport, never counted
A goaltender hip or groin programme
none
nothing
Load limits for youth
no intervention study
nothing
Two trials are registered with no result: a pilot trial of neck strengthening, balance and vestibular work to prevent concussion in 13 to 17 year olds (NCT03360786, status unknown since 2017), and a non-randomised sensorimotor training study (NCT07402746, recruiting, whose primary outcomes are performance tests). A randomised trial of a concussion education video raised knowledge at the time, with no difference at two months.
“No programme tested” is not “no useful programme”: it is an absence of evidence, not evidence of absence. A coach can do conditioning; a coach cannot say that a specific programme prevents injuries in hockey.
What the federations publish
Hockey Canada, Off-Ice Manual Level 1 (2018): organised in warm-up, stretching, plyometrics, balance and coordination, core conditioning and conditioning programmes (only the table of contents was read).
Hockey Canada's checking manual lists a warm-up of fifteen exercises (arm circles, trunk rotations, down to the directional change shuffle drill) and writes that the duration of each exercise depends on the age and fitness level of the players.
USA Hockey (ADM): off-ice training at 8U is not the same as at 16U; you are promoting agility, balance and coordination (2019 article).
Hockey Canada places agility, balance and coordination in every practice at 12 and under, and quickness and acceleration from 13.
No federation read publishes a weekly dose of conditioning for youth.
Where injuries happen
Hip and groin: over a season, 53.2% of 329 Swedish professional players reported a hip or groin problem (Wörner 2020). Among Swedish elite goaltenders, 69%, 83.1% of them from overuse (Wörner 2019).
Growth: in a cohort of 25 boys of the highest national level, mean age 12, the “cam” shape of the hip appeared in 10 of 25 at 1.5 years and 12 of 23 at 3 years, mostly between 13 and 16 (Hanke 2021). It is an association: no trial has changed the volume of skating and measured how the hip shape develops.
Girls and women: at IIHF women's championships, the knee accounts for 48.6% of lower-body injuries (medial collateral ligament sprain 37.1% and anterior cruciate ligament rupture 11.4% of knee injuries) and concussion for 74.3% of head injuries (Tuominen 2016). The cruciate-prevention trials in girls are football: transfer evidence, ages 12 to 17, which does not carry over as is.
The shoulder: the commonest site at IIHF U18 championships, with contact with the boards in 59% of cases (Tuominen 2017).
These figures describe injuries, not the effect of a programme. Several come from professional or elite players and are to be read as such.
Load and ice time
There is no established load limit for young hockey players. A cohort of 159 high-level youth followed for 33 weeks found no link between cumulative load over 2 to 6 weeks and injuries (Nordstrøm 2022). A target-trial emulation on 2,633 adolescents, drawn from the Alberta cohort several of whose articles were corrected online, finds a risk that rises with planned increases in participation (risk ratio 2.35 for a five-fold increase, 1.68 to 3.26; Wang 2025), with no sweet spot. Federation caps exist with no trial cited: the FFHG limits a player's match time per day to twice the category's regulation duration, and Hockey Eastern Ontario (a Hockey Canada Member) sets a 2:1 practice-to-game ratio in competitive.
Two facts about the environment: in a Canadian study, carbon monoxide was present in 6 of 8 arenas using combustion resurfacers (4 to 42 ppm) and in none with an electric resurfacer (Macnow 2017). And no study read relates the rink's air temperature to injuries.
The drills of this guide
The four drills of the library filed under physical preparation: three are off-ice, one is on skates. None is presented as a prevention programme, and the jump circuit says that no sets, repetitions or rest are published.
Off-ice balance and coordination
Off-ice balance and coordination stations with a stick, a ball and a balance board.
Drill detail
How it runs
Off-ice balance and coordination stations with a stick, a ball and a balance board. The USA Hockey ADM says off-ice work at 8U promotes agility, balance and coordination, and the Hockey Canada Off-Ice Manual groups the same exercises in its balance and coordination section. A hall, a gym or a dry floor; sticks, balls, a wobble board; no skates. Rotate through the stations the manual lists: hand swap on the stick, stickhandling and juggling, ball throw and catch, stickhandling a ball or kicking it, the wobble board, bouncing a ball on the blade of the stick.
Players
1 or more
Coaching points
Off-ice training at 8U is not the same as at 16U: at the youngest ages it promotes agility, balance and coordination (USA Hockey ADM). No number is published: the manual's own note says the duration of each exercise depends on the age and the fitness of the players, so choose time and repetitions yourself. This block trains coordination; it makes no injury-prevention claim.
Harder
Combine two tasks, for example stickhandling a ball while balancing on one foot or on the board.
Easier
Stand on both feet, use a larger and softer ball, and leave out the wobble board.
Simon says on skates: agility, balance and coordination
A calling game on the ice from the USA Hockey 8U beginner practice plans, listed there as « Agility, Balance, Coordination (Simon Says) ».
Drill detail
How it runs
A calling game on the ice from the USA Hockey 8U beginner practice plans, listed there as « Agility, Balance, Coordination (Simon Says) ». The coach calls movements and players do the ones called with « Simon says ». A small area of the ice for the group, no pucks; in the USA Hockey plan this is a 7-minute station for a group of 6 to 8 players. The coach, as Simon, calls movements from the plan's lists: marching, bending and twisting, sitting and standing, gliding on two skates. Players do only the movements called with « Simon says ».
Players
6 to 8
Coaching points
Groups of 6 to 8 stay in the same area for the whole practice in the USA Hockey 8U plan. Agility, balance and coordination are worked in every practice where skating is taught at 12 and under (Hockey Canada). Falling and getting up is part of the game. Kit: a certified helmet with full face protection for juniors (U18 and younger by birth year at the FFHG, the SIHF and the DEB; every division at Hockey Canada except Senior and Major Junior, and all players at Hockey Québec; below Adults at USA Hockey) and a neck laceration protector (all FFHG categories; all SIHF leagues, training included; BNQ-certified in Hockey Canada minor and female hockey and for all players at Hockey Québec; every USA Hockey classification except Adults). Mouthguard: required by USA Hockey from 12U to 18U and by the FFHG in U19 and U20, optional at Hockey Québec.
Harder
Call a movement and a direction together (marching forward, then gliding backward).
Easier
Call one movement at a time, always with « Simon says ».
Off-ice warm-up and agility
A hockey off-ice warm-up in the order of the Hockey Canada manuals: mobility moves first, then agility work with cones and a tape ladder.
Drill detail
How it runs
A hockey off-ice warm-up in the order of the Hockey Canada manuals: mobility moves first, then agility work with cones and a tape ladder. The coach adapts the time of each exercise to age and fitness. A hall, a gym or a dry floor; cones and a tape ladder laid on the floor; no skates. Warm-up exercises named in the manuals: arm circles and trunk rotations, then agility cones, tape-ladder footwork and the directional change shuffle drill.
Players
1 or more
Coaching points
Hockey Canada's note: the duration of each exercise depends on the age and the fitness of the players. No sets, repetitions or time are published. The Off-Ice Manual Level 1 states no age; choose the exercises by what your players can do. This block warms up and builds agility; it makes no injury-prevention claim.
Harder
Add a stick and a ball: stickhandle through the cones and along the ladder.
Easier
Walk the pattern, then jog it, and keep to two exercises.
Off-ice jump circuit
A plyometric circuit made of the exercises named in the Hockey Canada Off-Ice Manual Level 1: hops, jumps, lunges and bounds.
Drill detail
How it runs
A plyometric circuit made of the exercises named in the Hockey Canada Off-Ice Manual Level 1: hops, jumps, lunges and bounds. No sets, repetitions or rest are published, so the coach sets them by age and fitness. A gym or a dry floor with room for jumps and lunges; a low hurdle or a bench if you use the sitting hurdle; no skates. Rotate through stations from the manual's plyometrics list: one-leg pattern hops, two-foot hop in four directions, forward and reverse lunges, side-step jumps crossover, bounding side to side, squat jumps and split squat jumps.
Players
1 or more
Coaching points
No dose is published: the manual's contents were read, not a prescription. Choose sets, repetitions and rest by age and fitness, and stop when the quality drops. Not an injury-prevention programme: no off-ice conditioning programme has been tested on ice hockey players with an injury outcome. The manual states no age. Build the jump volume gradually and stop a player who reports pain.
Harder
Add a station from the list or a second pass, as the coach decides.
Easier
Two-foot hops and lunges only, on a mat, with longer rest.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a prevention warm-up for ice hockey?
Not tested. The prevention warm-ups that have trials (FIFA 11+ in football, for example) have not been tested on skating hockey players. The warm-ups the federations publish, like the one in Hockey Canada's checking manual, are lists of exercises with no evidence of prevention.
How many off-ice sessions a week?
No federation read publishes a dose. Hockey Canada's checking manual writes that the duration of each exercise depends on age and fitness, and the FFHG and Hockey Eastern Ontario publish load caps, with no trial cited.
Does neck strengthening protect against concussion?
Nothing shows it. Strengthening raises isometric neck strength, but no study has measured its effect on concussion incidence, and the link between neck strength and concussion is weak and not significant in the pooled studies (very low certainty). In 37 youth players, neck strength did not change head acceleration.
Sources
Literature review of 14 October 2026: PubMed (22 queries), Europe PMC (2), ClinicalTrials.gov (19); Cochrane and PEDro not queried. Studies: Tyler et al. 2002; Esteve et al. 2015; Ivanic et al. 2024; Garrett et al. 2023; Mihalik et al. 2011; Wörner et al. 2019, 2020; Hanke et al. 2021; Tuominen et al. 2016, 2017; Nordstrøm et al. 2022; Wang et al. 2025; Macnow et al. 2017; Cusimano et al. 2014. Federations: Hockey Canada, Off-Ice Manual Level 1 (2018) and Teaching Checking (2011); USA Hockey ADM (2019); FFHG, règlement des activités sportives 2026/27; Hockey Eastern Ontario, development framework (August 2026). Content checked on 14 October 2026.
After “Off-ice conditioning in ice hockey”, plan the session
The generator is right on the session: plan by the players’ age band and the duration, pick a theme. Paak builds a minuted five-block outline (warm-up, two work blocks, a game and a cool-down) from this same library of 44 drills.
We use analytics cookies to improve your experience. Learn more
Cookie preferences
You can accept or refuse each category of cookies. Your choices are stored for 6 months and can be changed at any time from our cookie policy.
Strictly necessary
Always active
Required for the site to work. They only store your consent choice.
Analytics
Anonymised audience measurement via our self-hosted Matomo instance in France (analytics.paak.club). No data is sent to Google or any third party in the US.