I found this interesting article on the CBC website :
"Do the off-season work, earn trust
September 30, 2008 05:40 PM | Posted by Marc Crawford Comments0Recommend15
When my father was a young hockey player in the Canadiens’ system during the Frank Selke era, he was training one summer day in the park near his home in Toronto’s west end.
It was 6 a.m. and he was running with his dog doing sprints up and down the hills as directed by Lloyd Percival, the father of hockey conditioning. The police showed up and the Irish officers, suspecting that my father might be up to no good, asked: “Now laddy, what might you be doing?
My dad explained that he was “training for hockey.” Well, the officers were rolling on the ground with laughter. “Training for hockey? In July … oh, that’s a good one.”
In 2008, we all have a greater understanding of what is normal when it comes to our NHL heroes and their fitness regimens.
Playing in NHL a 12-month job
Most of today’s athletes are tremendously dedicated and understand full well that playing in the NHL is a 12-month job. They know that the off-season is the time when they can make strength and conditioning gains. They have all been given extensive summer conditioning programs by their respective teams that outline step by step exactly what needs to be done, and, almost all of them will have hired their own personal trainers who help them with the detailed workouts.
I know in L.A., for example, we made sure that the players reported in to the strength coach each week of the summer by email or by phone, and we would make sure they would get a special visit if we suspected any red flags.
So how is it that any player in this day and age would even think about coming to camp in anything other than prime condition? A great question, yes, but let me tell you it happens, as evident by Kyle Wellwood’s situation in Vancouver. I’m sure there are other players in the same circumstance that aren’t so public.
Why it happens and what coaches do about it are better questions.
In the old days of the six-team league, teams would have six weeks of extensive training leading into the season giving players a chance to play their way into shape.
Conditioning exposed in a hurry
Nowadays, training camps are short with exhibition games starting only three days after the start. The majority of players are physically ready for the season because the conditioning bar is at a very high level. Players who haven’t done the work in the off-season are exposed pretty quickly.
Players are given standards that they have to meet. They get tested for their aerobic, anaerobic, strength and flexibility levels. When they don’t meet the standards they are embarrassed and, more importantly, their teammates know that they haven’t put in the work that will allow them to excel.
It’s a matter of trust. When a player loses a strength battle that results in a scoring chance, or a goalie can’t get to a rebound because his body-fat percentage is 23, his teammates aren’t too thrilled with him. Doubt in a player’s commitment is an awful thing in a team sport like hockey.
Most teammates are very supportive, especially if they see effort. Effort like extra work on the ice or in the gym after practice, or seeing a player gutting it out as he tries to make up for training indiscretions.
Regaining trust vital for team chemistry
I chose to deal with situations like this by instituting early morning extra workouts involving biking programs and extra skating for the offending players. It forced them to gradually enhance their fitness level while allowing the normal teaching and systems work to continue. The workout became affectionately known by the players as the “Fat Club.”
In this day of political correctness that may shock some of you, but the NHL is a difficult place to earn a living. If it wasn’t, everyone would be playing there. The players, for the most part, understood that they were the ones that screwed up by not doing the work in the off-season. I believe strongly regaining the trust of your teammates is vital for team morale and chemistry.
A player may be able to fool the fans, the media, even the coaching staff but they can never, and I mean never, fool the teammates who see them everyday in the sanctity of the dressing room.
Wellwood, like so many others, will have an opportunity to regain the trust of his new Canuck teammates and, in a funny way, he may enhance his own self esteem by putting in the extra work and therefore feeling better about his own conditioning level.
Great teams have elite conditioning as a trademark of their play. Great players demand it of themselves and their teammates. Coaches can push, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the player. A great fitness level will allow the individual player to contribute to team success. And, when you have those elements working within a team, you’ve really got something special."
This regime, in the modern era at least, sees the difference between championship winning sides and the also rans in most leagues in the world...
, seriously though this league and its rules will slowly kill our great sport in the uk, the job of the big guys is really to look after the little guys and now it seems they cant do that anymore without getting thrown out of the game, i think the league bord needs to have talks, pull their heads out of their behinds and look at where their going wrong before they kill our sport