The Kelowna Hockey Combine

Hockey coaches and scouts put players through combine workouts to see which athletes are the fastest and strongest in order to select teams for the year. Good strength coaches put players through combine workouts to see where an athlete needs to improve so that they can make the team next year and every year after that. The Okanagan Peak Performance Inc hockey combine was put together using the latest and greatest information out there in regards to what is most important for success on the ice where it matters the most. Here is a quick look at some of the things that we do at our combine that helps set us apart and gives you as the athlete the most information that you need going forward in order to achieve your hockey goals.

1 – Biological Age vs. Chronological Age Looking at height and weight is important information but it is only a small part of the information that we need to help train an athlete towards reaching their potential. This is especially true for a young athlete who might be 15 years old but they could be anywhere between 12 to 18 years from a developmental or biological stand point. The way to properly train a 12, 15 or an 18 year old athlete differs drastically and without any knowledge of how old an athlete is from a developmental point of view players are often forced to adapt to the training program when it should be the program that adapts to the athlete.

[caption id="attachment_4170" align="aligncenter" width="258"] These players are all the same "age" but            should they train the same way?

2 – Injury Screening This part of the combine is absolutely vital and is not done with traditional combines. We put our athletes through a basic series of movements to help us determine what each individual needs to do in order to prevent future injuries. Avoiding or reducing the chance of injury should be every athlete’s number 1 priority because you can’t train or play if you’re hurt.

[caption id="attachment_4169" align="aligncenter" width="306"] One of these athletes can go straight to squatting with       weight while the other needs work on his technique.            Can you guess who needs help?


3 – Athletic Testing that matters to hockey performance Whenever someone thinks about a hockey combine they think about the VO2 max test, the test looks really hard so it must be important right? What if we told you that a player’s performance on this test at the NHL combine had minimal bearing on where a player was selected in the draft?

[caption id="attachment_4168" align="aligncenter" width="260"] It looks tough and cool but a good performance here doesn't equal a good performance on the ice


Athleticism is the foundation of every player’s entire game. We can help build this solid foundation through proper training and allow any player to maximize their playing abilities and take their game to a whole new level. The series of tests that we put our athletes through looks at several different qualities of athleticism which allows us to determine which exercises will best serve this athlete in helping them reach their goal. Here are some of the athletic qualities that we look at:

• Power – lower body, upper body and full body

• Agility – deceleration, acceleration and change of direction

• Strength  - elastic vs. muscular

• Muscle Strength – relative vs. absolute strength, lower body strength, upper body strength

• Speed Endurance - how long can you stay at top end speed

• Mobility - optimal range of movement about a joint

If you don't know what some of these terms don't worry because we do and we know how to make any athlete better in all of the categories.

The Kelowna Hockey Combine is unique in that it will test players areas of fitness and athleticism which directly correlate to performance in hockey. And it is efficient by eliminating the tests which really don't help when you step back on the ice after a block of training.

Specific. Efficient. Purposeful.

The Kelowna Hockey Combine coming Friday May 23, 2014 to Okanagan Peak Performance Inc at 330 pm, 430 pm and 530 pm.