Benefits of Hockey

Bri Repetto

_{Photo Credit: NewYorkRangers.com}

Cold rinks, goal horns, and tough athletes combine to form one of the greatest sports in the world. That may be my personal opinion, but I have brought plenty of friends to the ice-cold game of hockey that left with a new appreciation of this fast speed sport. Although it is a very challenging game and you can’t pick it up overnight, it is one that provides so much strength and agility to its players. Everyone who plays not only gains in physical benefits, but mental and social as well. In terms of team comradery, hockey joins players together to truly form a family on ice.

Aerobic and Anaerobic Exercise:

Hockey is both aerobic and anaerobic exercise. It is aerobic, meaning it uses oxygen as fuel, due to the cardio performed in the skating aspect of it. However, it is also anaerobic when it reaches the higher levels of intensity or HIIT. Being anaerobic means your body starts to use stored energy as fuel, aka fat. This use of fat burns it and decreases it within the body, meaning greater weight lost. HIIT provides this along with other benefits to help strengthen the body as well. What HIIT exactly is, is where you perform short high intensity exercise then add in slow recovery intervals. This allows one to hit the target heart rate zone multiple times to reach its maximum heart rate. It also increases your stamina and endurance and has been shown to result in greater cardiorespiratory fitness and better fat metabolism like mentioned before. Furthermore, it strengthens the heart allowing it to pump blood throughout your body more efficiently. 

The actual amount of calories burned per game may vary depending on player, level of intensity and time played, however it is estimated to be from a couple hundred to just about two thousand calories burned a game. 

Balance and Coordination:

Balance and coordination are also two key components of hockey that are drastically improved. It comes with the territory that with being on ice, hockey players are required to balance on the thinnest blades of metal to glide across it. This is not an easy feat in itself and many things can trigger one to lose their balance and fall. Losing an edge, bad skate sharpening leading to uneven edges of the blade, mishaps in the ice itself can all cause a player to fall to the ice. Over the course of their hockey career however, while these things can still occur from time to time, players are taught how to maintain their balance and power through struggles in order to stay up right and perform to the best of their ability. During practices they’ll run through drills of skating on the edges of the blades and practice their feet work, plus falling and getting up as fast as possible in order to remain within the game. 

Mental and Social Impact:

Hockey helps strengthen the brain. I know that sounds crazy but again hockey is a lot of cardio and such level of exercise helps fuel your brain. This is because of the strengthening of the heart to better pump blood, giving your brain a higher blood supply. Memory is improved through the greater levels of oxygen delivered and more neurological connections can be made. 

This sport also has a huge social aspect to it. One of the most crucial parts to having a successful team is making sure everyone is working together as one unit. With three forwards, two defensemen, and a goalie out on the ice at one time, each player needs to understand their teammates around them. Knowing who your teammate is as a player can allow one to make the right moves that makes or breaks a game. Can your right wing not only catch an across ice pass, but drive it into the net? Or is this going to be a play where someone is needed to screen the goalie because someone else has the ability to take the slap shot past the unknowing goaltender? Knowing your teammates abilities and getting a better understanding of who they are, forms connections that lead to a tight knit unit where both trust and friendships are made.

Like in the sport of golf, the social aspect of hockey leads to an increase of endorphins in the body. This increases mood and mentality in individuals as well as decreases stress levels. 

Benefits of Watching:

Not only is hockey a fun sport to play but it is great to watch. Growing up in a hockey family I noticed how it brought us all together, we cheered together, boo’d the referees together, even jumped off the coach nearly scaring our cat away as the goal horn rang because we were heading to victory. I don’t just recommend playing the game but watching it as well. With all the benefits talked about above and more to discover, the good ol hockey game is definitely one to be a part of.