Getting to the elite levels of women’s hockey is all about being FIRST. You have to be first to the puck, make the first save and be first in on the forecheck and backcheck. And in order to be FIRST, you have to be FAST. Speed is by far the #1 weapon in girls’ hockey, and off-ice training is the #1 way to build speed.

With the absence of full body checking, the female hockey players with great speed have always had a big advantage. Even the smallest players could fly down the ice at full speed without worrying about getting drilled through the boards.

Since the rules changed a few years back, when every possible type of obstruction became illegal, those speedy forwards have become every defenseman’s nightmare. At least in the men’s game, defensemen can slow down the forwards (who are carrying the puck of course) with a well-timed body check. However, in women’s hockey, the defensemen have to be as quick (if not quicker) than the forwards in order to gain and maintain proper positioning throughout the neutral and defensive zones.

And although the female game has never really been about size, traditionally some of the world’s best players have also been some of the game’s biggest, such as Angela Ruggeiro and Hayley Wickenheiser. Both ‘Ruggers’ and ‘Wick’ used their size extremely effectively at both ends of the rink to gain and maintain puck possession and body position.

As of late, it seems that the next generation of up-and-comers on the international stage are getting smaller and faster. A player like Erica Lawler from Team USA may not have been able to withstand the physical demands of the female game at its most elite levels a few years back before the rules changed. In today’s game, Lawler’s 5 foot frame and amazing foot speed gives her a serious advantage at the international level.

Now, more than ever, in the world of female hockey, speed is what separates the “best” from the “rest”.

Every female hockey player – big or small – must focus on developing speed if they want to take their game to the next level. Women’s hockey is only going to get faster and it looks like it will be the ‘speedier’ players that will dominate the game for years to come. Sure, having a big slap-shot or great one-on-one moves are great skills, but they will mean very little in the female game unless they are coupled with great speed.

The link between off-ice training and on-ice speedis simple: the faster players are off the ice, the faster they’ll be on the ice.

~ Coach Kim

PS – To learn more about how to take your speed to the next level, check out the Elite Training System.