Relationship Between Physiologic Tests, Body Composition Changes, and On-Ice Playing Time in Canadian Collegiate Hockey Players.

Delisle-Houde, P, Chiarlitti, NA, Reid, RER, and Andersen, RE. Relationship between physiologic tests, body composition changes, and on-ice playing time in canadian collegiate hockey players. J Strength Cond Res 32(5): 1297-1302, 2018-Hockey player's body composition and physical fitness are suggested to influence coaching decisions regarding on-ice playing time. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between seasonal body composition changes, off-ice preseason testing, and on-ice metrics. Twenty-one Canadian collegiate hockey players (22.70 ± 1.30 years old, 181.0 ± 5.92 cm, 86.52 ± 6.41 kg) underwent off-ice physical testing at the beginning of their season and had one total body dual energy x-ray absorptiometry scan at the beginning and end of the season. The team's statistician tracked all on-ice metrics. Pearson correlations were used to explore relationships between off-ice tests (long jump, vertical jump, beep test, and Wingate test), change in body composition (body fat percentage, visceral adiposity, and total lean tissue mass), and on-ice performance (average time on ice, average shift length, power play time, penalty kill time, and shot differential). Long jump was correlated with shot differential (r = -0.532, p ≤ 0.05) and average shift length (r = -0.491, p ≤ 0.05) while fatigue index was correlated with average ice time (r = -0.476, p ≤ 0.05). Hockey performance is a complex interaction of player's body compositions and skeletal fitness that interact to affect on-ice playing metrics.