ADM Kids

Q: My 8U player enjoys cross-ice hockey and I understand the development reasons for it, however, I am concerned about whether 8U players ever reach top speed when playing cross-ice. Will that hurt their future development? Should I be concerned?
 
A: It’s great timing that you ask this question, as there was a study done recently by Hockey Alberta that disproved the belief that 8U players can’t reach top speed in cross-ice hockey. The study results also shed light on the actual application of top speed in hockey. The reality is that very rarely do players reach top speed (even at the highest levels) during a game. Most of the skating is done in changes of directions and short bursts. Therefore, top speed shouldn’t be the priority; acceleration should be. This aligns nicely with the fact that an 8U player is in the midst of the Speed 1 window for optimum trainability. Speed 1 is all about the short, multi-directional bursts of speed which happen all the time in cross-ice hockey and small-area games (tag is also an effective training tool). The Speed 2 window (think top speed, more power) comes at a later stage in the athlete’s development.
 
To further disprove the can’t-reach-top-speed myth, the Hockey Alberta study found that the average distance an 8U player needed to reach top speed is 65 feet. Advanced skaters reached top speed in an even shorter distance. So with a cross-ice surface being 85 feet in length, 8U players can still reach top speed when needed. The beauty of cross-ice hockey is that it trains players to skate the game (see graphic below), rather than simply skating fast in straight lines.