Using Biomechanics for Hockey Player Development

How science can challenge a players skating

For years baseball has been using biomechanics to refine not only a hitter’s approach but a pitcher’s toolkits as well. From injury prevention to completely overhauling a player’s throwing motion. Unfortunately, in the public sphere, there isn’t very much available when it comes to this type of analysis being utilized from a hockey perspective. The most accessible tool we have is NHL Edge which gives insight into skating and shot speeds. It’s a great tool but there is still much more we can unpack with more detailed tools.

Research

Hockey is extremely unique compared to other popular sports like baseball, football, and basketball. The biggest difference is that players are on skates rather than two feet touching the ground. Michael Bracko published a great paper diving into the skating details of NHLers. Having these benchmark values allows us to collect video to identify the player’s current metrics and then come up with a plan to help them reach their target of being a fast skater.

Software

Arguably one of the best skaters in the NHL, Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon is a prime example of a wide ice-carving stride. This is backed up by NHL Edge, he sits in the 99th percentile of speed bursts over 20 mph, 95th of top skating speed, and 99th in skating distance. Below you can see multiple points on his body. These were created using:

import cv2
import mediapipe as mp
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

Along with the annotated video, the code produces a file that shows the x and y values of each of the points on the body that you see below. In the file, we can also see custom stats so in mine I currently see speed, trunk angle, knee flexion angle, time to take off, and abduction angle.

We can use this tool for not only skating but shooting as well. Who better to analyze than Auston Matthews? Shooting the puck is a lot more like hitting in baseball. In Daryl Belfry’s book Belfry Hockey, he spoke about how they worked on improving Austons shot by taking components of Daniel Sprongs shot and working that into Auston’s game. At the moment I’m working on adding in the stick and puck detection but you can imagine how having the exact angles and details of Sprong's shot could be used to put that into Matthews’ game.

Moving Forward

I can imagine that NHL clubs have this type of technology available to them with the brains in teams today. If you read my work you know that I’m a huge proponent of player development in teams. Having a forward-thinking and up-to-date department not only helps from developing your own players but even flipping players for assets depending on the contention level of a team. If you’re intrigued by this type of technology feel free to reach out with some of your own video. I plan to spend this winter testing this out on my own game on the outdoor rinks to see any changes critiques I can make.