A Comparative Study of Two-Minute versus Three-Minute Passive Recovery on Sprint Skating Performance of Ice Hockey Forwards and Defensemen

The impact of two different passive recovery durations, two and three minutes, between sets of repeated sprint skating ability (RSSA) test on skating speed, speed decrement (S-dec), and heart rate (HR) response of ice hockey forwards (n = 12) and defensemen (n = 7) were determined. Six sets of 3 x 80 m sprint, with two-minute passive recovery between two consecutive sets, were performed in RSSA-2. A three-minute passive recovery period between two consecutive sets was allowed in RSSA-3. Skating speed, S-dec, and HR were measured in all tests. Subjects skated faster (p < 0.05) in most of the RSSA-3 sets than the corresponding set of RSSA-2. Defensemen were slower (p < 0.05) than forwards in most of the cases. The S-dec was higher in defensemen than in forwards, although the difference was significant occasionally. No difference in peak HR and minimum HR between forwards and defensemen was found. RSSA-3 is beneficial over RSSA-2 in both forwards and defensemen by increasing speed. Defensemen are slower and show early fatigability than forwards, and no difference in HR response was noted between forwards and defensemen. This study concludes that three-minute recovery is beneficial over two-minute recovery by increasing skating speed, although S-dec and HR response neither vary significantly between RSSA-2 and RSSA-3, nor between forwards and defensemen.

Automated summary

The study found that in repeated sprint skating ability tests with different passive recovery durations, a three-minute recovery period was more beneficial for increasing skating speed than a two-minute recovery period for both forwards and defensemen. Defensemen were slower than forwards and had higher S-dec. No significant differences in HR response were noted between the two groups.