RESUMO
The purpose of this study was to examine physiological and physical determinants of ice-hockey performance in order to assess their impact on the result during a selection for ice hockey. A total of 42 ice hockey players took part in the selection camp. At the end of the camp 20 best players were selected by team of expert coaches to the ice hockey team and created group G1, while the second group (G2) consisted of not selected players (non-successful group Evaluation of goodness of fit of the model to the data was based on the Hosmer Lemeshow test. Ice hockey players selected to the team were taller 181.95±4.02 cm, had lower% body fat 13.17±3.17%, a shorter time to peak power 2.47±0.35 s, higher relative peak power 21.34±2.41 W·kg(-1) and higher relative total work 305.18±28.41 J·kg(-1). The results of the aerobic capacity test showed significant differences only in case of two variables. Ice hockey players in the G1 had higher VO2max 4.07±0.31 l·min(-1) values than players in the G2 as well as ice hockey players in G1 showed a higher level of relative VO2max 51.75±2.99 ml·min(-1)·kg(-1) than athletes in G2. Ice hockey players selected to the team (G1) performed better in the 30 m Forwards Sprint 4.28±0.31 s; 6x9 Turns 12.19±0.75 s; 6x9 stops 12.79±0.49 s and Endurance test (6x30 m stops) 32.01±0.80 s than players in G2. The logistic regression model showed that the best predictors of success in the recruitment process of top level ice hockey players were time to peak power, relative peak power, VO2max and 30 m sprint forwards on ice. On the basis of the constructed predictive logistic regression model it will be possible to determine the probability of success of the athletes during following the selection processes to the team.
RESUMO
The primary objective of this study was to determine a relationship between aerobic capacity ([Formula: see text]O2max) and fatigue from high-intensity skating in elite male hockey players. The subjects were twenty-four male members of the senior national ice hockey team of Poland who played the position of forward or defence. Each subject completed an on-ice Repeated-Skate Sprint test (RSS) consisting of 6 timed 89-m sprints, with 30 s of rest between subsequent efforts, and an incremental test on a cycle ergometer in the laboratory, the aim of which was to establish their maximal oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]O2max). The analysis of variance showed that each next repetition in the 6x89 m test was significantly longer than the previous one (F5,138=53.33, p<0.001). An analysis of the fatigue index (FI) calculated from the times recorded for subsequent repetitions showed that the value of the FI increased with subsequent repetitions, reaching its maximum between repetitions 5 and 6 (3.10±1.16%). The total FI was 13.77±1.74%. The coefficient of correlation between [Formula: see text]O2max and the total FI for 6 sprints on the distance of 89 m (r =-0.584) was significant (p=0.003). The variance in the index of players' fatigue in the 6x89 m test accounted for 34% of the variance in [Formula: see text]O2max. The 6x89 m test proposed in this study offers a high test-retest correlation coefficient (r=0.78). Even though the test is criticized for being too exhaustive and thereby for producing highly variable results it still seems that it was well selected for repeated sprint ability testing in hockey players.
