There's a lot that goes into it.

Fast hockey players have numerous reasons why they are fast.

They have, in most cases, good skating biomechanics. They are strong and powerful, which is a combination of genetics and conditioning. Fast players have a predominance of fast twitch muscle fibres which have the ability to generate a lot of power. They have well-developed muscle memory.

Biomechanics

We have known the biomechanics of fast skaters for 45 years.

Pierre Page was the first person to investigate the biomechanical differences between fast and slow players in 1975. Since then, numerous researchers, including the author, have conducted studies to investigate differences between fast and slow players, as well as the biomechanics of fast players.

The biomechanical characteristics of fast hockey players are as follows:

• Wide stride
• Arms move side-to-side
• The skates get back on the ice quickly after push-off
• The recovery skate lands under the shoulder, and gets on the inside edge quickly to start the next push-off.
• Deep knee bend before push-off
• Significant forward lean as they skate faster

Watch the 2020 NHL fastest skater competition to see the characteristics of fast players:

Genetics and muscle fibre type

There are three types of muscle fibres:

• Slow twitch: contract slower and are better for long distance/endurance sports.
• Fast twitch: have the ability to contract fast and produce a lot of power.
• Super fast twitch: contract extremely fast and would make a player exceptionally fast.

Most people are born with 50/50 fast and slow fibres. But some athletes are born with more fast twitch or more slow twitch. Through research we know that a player who has a high vertical jump and a fast 40-yard dash will have quicker on-ice acceleration and faster top end speed.

Sprinters have been found to have a predominance of fast and super fast twitch fibres, whereas middle-distance and long-distance runners have been found to have a predominance of slow twitch fibres. Hockey players such as Connor McDavid, Mathew Barzal, Kendall Coyne-Schofield, and Nathan MacKinnon most likely have a predominance of fast twitch fibres.

Young players who are fast most likely have more fast twitch fibres, and they are good skaters (they have good muscle memory). Middle-aged players who have started to do conditioning, and older players who do conditioning regularly, are fast because of their fast twitch fibres and the training they do enhances muscle power.

Even if a player has more slow twitch fibres he or she can train to develop power. Some exercise physiologists believe an athlete can change his or her muscle fibre activation from slow to fast by about 10%. The actual fibre does not change, the nervous system providing the stimulus to contract changes to make the fibre to contract faster. As such, if a player, parent, or coach is worried about skating speed, there is good news about training to increase muscle power.

Increasing muscle power

Young or old, any hockey player can train to increase muscle power, and train the muscles to contract like fast-twitch fibres.

Jump training exercises are essential for hockey players to train for power. Weight training with heavy weight and low repetitions can also train the muscles to develop power. This is because lifting heavy weight stimulates the fast twitch fibres and can train the slow twitch fibres to act like fast-twitch fibres.

And youth players can train with weights as long as they have the following:

• A conditioning coach who has training in working with youth athletes.
• The conditioning coach gives near-perfect instruction and feedback.
• No maximal lifts or pushes, especially overhead.
• All safety precautions are taught and practiced during the training.

Muscle memory

Muscle memory is jargon for the ability of the muscles to know when to contract, when to relax, and when to react to a stimulus such as having to make a tight turn to avoid body contact. The muscles know when to contract and relax because signals are sent from the brain, through nerves, to the muscles. This is called a motor program. Muscles actually do not have the ability to memorize movements.

A motor program is developed by practicing a skill many, many times. A hockey player starting to skate will go from being uncoordinated because his or her muscles do not know when to contract or relax, to developing a good motor program and being a good skater as he or she practices more.

In reality there are no bad skaters, there are just players who do not have a well-developed motor program and cannot skate well because the brain, nerves, and muscles are trying to figure out how to move. This makes them look uncoordinated, but it is really just that they are trying to contract and relax the muscles at the right time.

After skating a lot, a player’s motor program is developed and he or she goes from being consciously competent (the player has to think about every movement) to being unconsciously competent (when a motor program is well developed and the player can just get on the ice and skate without thinking about it).

It is hard for a player with an undeveloped motor program to be fast because he or she is struggling to push, recover, move the arms, bend the knees, lean forward as speed increases, etc. Some players, because of genetics, will learn the “skating motor program” faster than other players. It is important for coaches to understand developing a good “skating motor program” is accomplished by getting players to skate the way they do in a game.