Hockey Speed Training

Quick answer

Hockey speed is the product of two things: how much force you can put into the ground with each stride, and how efficiently your mechanics transfer that force forward. To get faster, you need resisted sprints to build force, unresisted sprints to express it, and lateral movement work to cover both skating directions. A dedicated speed session of 30–40 minutes, two or three times per week, will produce measurable improvement in 6–8 weeks.

Key takeaways

• Speed = force × mechanics. Train both — more power without better technique still makes a slow player.
• Resisted sprints (speed chute, sled) build the explosive force behind your first 3–5 strides.
• Unresisted sprints after resistance work teaches your nervous system to move faster than it can learn without contrast.
• Lateral speed matters as much as linear speed in hockey — crossover power and shuffle footwork need their own training.
• Speed work requires full recovery between reps. Long rest periods are not laziness — they are how adaptation happens.
• 10–12 years old is not too early to train speed, but focus is on technique and fun, not maximum resistance loads.

Why force and mechanics both matter

Most players I work with assume speed is a genetic ceiling — you either have it or you don't. That is wrong. Speed is a physical quality, like shooting power, and it responds to training. But you can't just "run more" and expect to get faster. Random running increases your aerobic base; it does not make you faster off the line.

The first step is applying more force to the ground per stride. The second step is doing it at the right angle, with the right posture. A player who generates 20% more leg drive but leans backward has thrown most of that power away. These two components — force and mechanics — need to be trained together, and that is exactly what a structured speed session does.

Watch for: forward body lean from the ankles (not the waist), a powerful arm drive that mirrors the legs, and a foot strike that contacts the ground underneath the hips rather than out in front.

Linear speed: building your first 5 strides

The first 5 strides of a hockey play determine nearly every race to a loose puck and every breakaway gap. This is where your acceleration lives, and it is almost entirely about force production, not top-end speed.

The Extreme Hockey Speed Chute is the most practical tool for this. It creates drag that forces each stride to be explosive — you must push hard just to maintain your pace. After a resisted rep, remove the chute and sprint immediately. The absence of resistance makes you feel noticeably faster, and your nervous system locks in that higher movement speed. This "contrast effect" is one of the best acceleration training methods available.

Coach Erik's tip: Most players clip the chute and immediately worry about looking fast. Don't. In the chute, focus only on hard, aggressive strides — drive the ground away from you. The speed will come out naturally when you take the chute off. I've seen 15-year-olds drop two-tenths of a second off a 10-yard time in a single 45-minute session just from proper contrast training.

Cue: "Push the ground back, not down." The stride angle in acceleration should drive the ground behind you, not straight into it.

Lateral speed: the hockey-specific edge

Linear sprinting is only half the picture. Hockey speed is omnidirectional. You need to accelerate sideways, change direction at full pace, and transition from backward to forward in under a step. Players who train only straight-line speed hit a wall when it matters most — in tight corners, along the boards, or pivoting to defend a rush.

Lateral speed has two sub-components:

• Crossover power. The ability to drive laterally off the outside edge. Train this with lateral bounds (jump side to side off one leg, stick the landing, pause, go again) and lateral sled or band runs.
• Change-of-direction speed. The ability to decelerate and re-accelerate quickly. Cone shuffle patterns and pro-agility shuttle runs (5–10–5 setup) build this.

The slide board is the best off-ice tool for crossover-specific conditioning — the lateral push-and-glide mechanics directly mirror skating crossovers. Use it for 30-second work intervals with 90-second rests to develop both strength and speed endurance in the skating pattern.

Cue: "Land soft, leave loud." Deceleration should be quiet and controlled; the next step out of the cut should be loud and explosive.

The contrast method explained

The contrast method pairs a heavy or resisted movement with an explosive unloaded movement immediately after. In hockey speed training it looks like this:

1. Sprint 20 yards with the speed chute. Walk back. Rest 2 minutes.
2. Sprint 20 yards with no chute immediately. Full effort. Walk back. Rest 2 minutes.
3. Repeat 4–6 pairs per session.

The key rule: the rest periods are not optional. Speed is a high-intensity nervous system quality. If your second rep is slower than your first, the rest was too short. When your nervous system is fatigued, you are practicing slow movement. Long rest = training speed. Short rest = training conditioning. Both have their place, but they are different sessions.

For the speed and power combo — which includes a resistance tool alongside a training plan — the same principle applies. Each rep is full effort, each rest is full recovery.

Weekly hockey speed session structure

Day	Session type	Key exercises	Duration
Monday	Linear acceleration	Chute sprints (contrast), flying 10s	35 min
Wednesday	Lateral + change of direction	Lateral bounds, 5-10-5 shuttle, slide board	35 min
Friday	Speed endurance	Longer resisted runs (30–40 yards), agility ladder	30 min
Saturday (optional)	On-ice speed application	Skating races, edge work, puck-to-open-ice reps	Ice session

This schedule works for the off-season. During the season, reduce to one dedicated speed session per week — see the in-season training guide for how to manage load alongside games.

Speed training by age

Age shapes what you emphasize, not whether you train speed at all.

• Ages 8–11: Tag games, reaction starts, short sprints (10 yards max), change-of-direction games. No heavy resistance. Fun is the primary method.
• Ages 12–14: Introduce light chute resistance. Technique emphasis — body lean, arm drive, foot strike. 4–6 contrast pairs per session.
• Ages 15–18: Full contrast method, lateral bounding, agility patterns under fatigue. Begin measuring times with a stopwatch to track progress.
• Adults: All of the above plus sport-specific start positions — starts from a hockey stance, from a pivot, from kneeling.

Related: hockey training by age group covers the full development spectrum.

Speed drills: the weekly rotation

1. 3-cone acceleration drill. Set 3 cones in a line at 5, 10, and 15 yards. Sprint to cone 1, decelerate, sprint back to start. Sprint to cone 2, back, sprint to cone 3, back. Rest 90 seconds. 4 reps.
2. Chute resisted sprint — contrast pair. 20-yard sprint with chute. Remove chute. 20-yard sprint full effort. Rest 2 minutes. 5 pairs.
3. Lateral bound series. 5 bounds right, 5 bounds left, pause between each landing for 1 second. 3 sets.
4. Flying 10. Jog 10 yards to build momentum, then sprint full speed for 10 yards through a finish line. Teaches top-end speed mechanics. Rest 90 seconds. 6 reps.
5. 5-10-5 shuttle. Start at center cone. Sprint 5 yards right, touch, sprint 10 yards left, touch, sprint 5 yards back to center. 4–6 reps with full recovery.

Coach Erik's tip: Time your sprint reps. You don't need a timing gate — a phone timer on video works fine. Watch the footage back. The single biggest cue I give players is this: if your head comes up in the first 5 yards, you've already lost the race. Drive your eyes along the ground for the first 3 strides, then rise naturally. Head-up too early pulls you upright and costs you 10–15% of your acceleration power.

Common mistakes

• Training speed when tired. Speed work after a hard conditioning session trains slow movement patterns. Fix: do speed before conditioning, or on its own day.
• Too many reps, too little rest. If rest is 30 seconds between sprints, you're doing conditioning — not speed. Fix: rest at least 10 times the sprint duration.
• Only training straight lines. Hockey movement is multidirectional. Fix: include lateral and change-of-direction work every week.
• Ignoring mechanics. More reps of bad technique makes bad technique faster. Fix: film one session per week and review one checkpoint (lean, arm drive, or foot strike).
• Adding too much resistance too fast. A heavy chute that slows a player to a jog trains power, not speed. Fix: resistance should slow the sprint by no more than 10% of normal time.

FAQ

Can you actually train to become faster in hockey?

Yes. Speed is a trainable physical quality like strength or endurance. The key is training specifically for speed — resisted sprints, contrast runs, lateral power work — rather than generic fitness work. Most players see measurable improvement in 6–8 weeks of structured training twice per week.

What is the most important drill for hockey speed?

Contrast sprints with a speed chute give the best return for off-ice training. Pair a resisted sprint with an immediate unresisted sprint, take full rest, repeat 5–6 times. This method teaches your nervous system to move faster in a single session.

Is a speed chute worth it for youth hockey players?

For players 12 and older, yes. Younger players (8–11) benefit more from change-of-direction games and short sprint technique work than from weighted resistance. Keep the load light for U13 players — the chute should add noticeable drag but not turn a sprint into a slow run.

How long does it take to get faster?

Two sessions per week for 6 weeks produces noticeable improvement in most players. Measurable changes on timed tests show up sooner — often in 2–3 weeks — because early gains are partly neurological (learning to apply force better) rather than purely muscular.

How is hockey speed different from track speed?

Hockey speed involves skates on ice, so it has a strong lateral and crossover component that track training doesn't cover. Off-ice training builds the underlying force and mechanics; on-ice skating technique transfers that power onto the blade. You need both. A player who is fast on grass but inefficient on skates will still be slow on ice.

Should I do speed training and conditioning in the same session?

Not in the same block. Speed first, then conditioning if needed. When you're fatigued, you cannot produce maximum force — and producing less-than-maximum force in a "speed" session is just conditioning with an extra step. If you have to combine them, separate with a 15-minute rest.

Summary

Hockey speed comes from force production and mechanical efficiency — and both respond to training. Build your acceleration with contrast sprints using a speed chute, train your lateral movement with bounds and slide board work, and take the rest periods that speed training requires. Two to three sessions per week, applied consistently across an off-season, will make you a measurably faster player.

Next steps: combine speed work with a full conditioning approach via the ultimate off-ice training guide, or structure your week with the weekly off-ice program.