Every single girls hockey player has participated in the post-game pizza tradition at one time or another. Whether the pizzas come to the dressing room, the team bus or the hotel room at the tournament, this is a cheap and convenient solution to the post-game meal for girls hockey teams everywhere. In university, our team’s post-game recovery meal was almost always pizza. After stepping off the ice, doing our cool-down and getting cleaned up, it was about an hour since the game. By the time we finally got to that pizza, we were absolutely starving and all the slices went fast.

So when I was back in New Hampshire this weekend, I thought that I would keep the tradition alive. We always got our post-game pizza from the same place in town, Ramuntos, and their specialty is my most favorite pizza dish of all time, the calzone.

Looks good, right? But is it a good choice as a post-game recovery meal?

I have honestly been craving one of these calzones since I graduated from Dartmouth six years ago. As you can see from the picture, they are absolutely HUGE and really should be shared by two people. But after going for a three-hour bike ride and then playing in the alumni game a few hours later, I knew that this calzone was going to be eaten by me and me alone.

I can honestly say that the 6 year wait for my post-game pizza was worth it. Sure, I felt a little bit sick afterwards (similar to how you feel after you eat too much at Thanksgiving dinner), but I enjoyed every single bite. I should have taken an “after” picture too, but I was so full from eating the entire thing that I could barely lift the camera.

Let’s be clear – this is NOT an ideal post-game meal and definitely NOT something I would recommend doing more than once every 6 years. Over the past decade, the “post-game pizza” tradition in elite female hockey has been replaced by much healthier choices, such as low-fat turkey subs on whole-wheat bread loaded with veggies and fresh fruit as dessert. This is definitely a better choice to make as a post-game meal for all girls hockey players if you are going to maximize your recovery.

Luckily, I was not playing another game the day after I ate the world’s biggest calzone. However, I did go for another 3 hour bike ride and I felt that post-game pizza the whole way. But we all need to treat ourselves once in a while, don’t we?

What’s your favorite post-game meal?
Share it in the comment box below and I will let you know how you can “tweak” it to make it even more effective for recovery.

~ Coach Kim