Nutrition for Elite Male Ice Hockey: Evidence-Based Recommendations

Ice hockey is a high-intensity intermittent team sport where games of 3 × 20-min periods involve on-ice shifts (typically lasting ∼30-80 s) interspersed with passive recovery periods (2-5 min). Playing requires endurance, speed, strength, and balance in conjunction with technical, tactical, and cognitive abilities. Nutrition can play a valuable role in optimizing physical and mental performance and in maintaining overall health of ice hockey players. The aim of this review is to provide evidence-based nutrition guidelines for elite male ice hockey players. The energy demands during training sessions and games in ice hockey are not well investigated, but elite players typically cover 2.3-6.7 km in their 15-25 min of on-ice time during games. Carbohydrate (primarily muscle glycogen) is the major fuel during training and match play, and match performance has been shown to be associated with the pregame muscle glycogen content. Sweat losses are typically high (2.02 ± 0.74 L/hr) due to the high intensity and the use of protective equipment. Sufficient carbohydrate and fluid intake are therefore the most important nutritional considerations during training sessions, games, and recovery to maintain performance. Protein intake is important after training sessions and games to support muscle repair, growth, and overall recovery. Nutrition plans should be personalized and periodized to meet the demands of training sessions and games, and individual objectives. Players should prioritize food before supplements to meet nutrient requirements. While studies on supplementation are scarce, supplements that might be beneficial to some ice hockey players include Vitamin D, iron, caffeine, and creatine.