Robin Lehner and the NHL Combine

[Cubanpuckstopper]

These results are quite strong for a goalie, particularly the upper body results.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=426250

Do we beleive that the goalies of the future will possess more upper body strength?

Will it come at the expense of core strength?

Personally I've never liked the bench press as a method of measuring hockey strength.

[Jukka Ropponen]

Thats more likely an exception to the "rule". Goalies do not need the same upper body strength as skaters since we have different needs + our upper body does not need the same protection system as we don't get checked into boards regularly.

Goalies strength needs are in this order

1) Legs/lower body

2) Hips/mid section

3) Shoulders

Jukka

[TartanBill]

Bench press is a pretty narrow measure of strength. What counts is strength that is usable and transferable. What reading I've done suggests that a good weight training regimen will enhance core strength. For example, weighted squats have done my back considerable good in the past 6 months. Another example is the steroid jacked baseball players. They have unbelievable core strength that transfers in to batting and throwing power.

While I tend to think Jukka is right, the variation in save percentage among NHL caliber goalies is pretty slim. Stopping one additional shot out of 100 could be the difference between low-middling and elite NHL level. IThat's a goal every 3 or 4 games. If upper body strength could contribute at that level, I suppose it could become a separator. If you count situations, however, I'd be surprised if they came up often enough to be that important.

I also suspect that a very strong goalie will only shine on a team that permits a lot of traffic near the net. So I don't foresee it becoming a baseline requirement. Instead of a freakish strong elite goalie, one can hire a Hal Gil to protect an Osgood and have money left over to pay for a pretty good winger to keep the puck at the other end of the ice.

A question for Jukka, do you have anything you can measure in your training that you can correlate with some performance aspect? For example, you might measure save recovery time, or time required to move and set for a shot. At NHL speed, milliseconds matter.

[Jani]

Regarding a simple test for upper body strength, nothing beats bench press hence it is still widely used in coaching and strength testing. For trunk strength, the overhead medicine ball throw works well as it recruits multiple muscle groups and can be used for testing both power and endurance.

I agree with others that the key muscle groups for goalies to focus on during off-ice training are quads and hips, as well as trunk. Nevertheless, goalies should not completely ignore other muscle groups as goaltending is a somewhat thorough fitness experience.

A bit off from the original discussion whether goalies need upper body strength, there is also a study available where the authors aimed to identify off-ice variables that would correlate to on-ice skating sprint performance and cornering ability, and found that measures of horizontal leg power (here, off-ice sprint and 3 hop jump) were the best predictors of on-ice skating performance.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entre ... m=17685681

Yet in other study were the physiological profile of a NHL team over a period of 26 years was examined, the overall pre-season fitness profile was not, at least directly, found to be related to team success.

http://article.pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ppv/ ... rtPage=753

On the other hand, in another study the higher physical fitness of a player predicted his/her net scoring chances, supporting the value of implementing seasonal physiological testing, which will help strength and conditioning coaches make individualized modifications to a player's fitness regimens in an effort to improve specific physiological attributes.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entre ... m=16562362

[TartanBill]

Jani,
Thanks, it's always good to see real research.

Interesting studies, though limited data.

Clearly, the team was Edmonton. Please note that the team profile is not compared to the other teams. As the authors note, all teams likely were improving over the 26 years. Everyone got bigger, faster, stronger. Today, watching games from the 70s, they almost seem to be in slow motion.

The indications are that training matters, yet comparative studies with goalies will be difficult.