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Nate Danielson (per Mlive’s Ansar Khan) is a player I continue to try and learn more about. Let’s face it, I’m not traveling all year scouting games and don’t know a lot about this young centerman. His comments about the Rookie Training Camp sparked memories of a conversation with my (now retired) primary care physician.
Most of you know I’ve been on disability since around 2016 and try to absorb anything that helps with pain and trying to balance a new normal. In Nate’s interview he mentions that nutrition and recovery were points that were really brought home and had an impact on him. My old Dr. Agrees on that.
If you’re a hockey fan, you find those windows to talk about it almost anywhere. My Dr was such a huge fan he lined the roof of his cabin with used player sticks (a good friend built a bar the same way with glass covering the composite shafts). He proceeded to tell me that he wrote his dissertation on NHL players and that piqued my interest. I asked what made them special in comparison to other major sports. He replied, “recovery….
A pro player can go all out for 30 seconds to a minute, sit on the bench and be ready to go again in a minute or so. The way they train is not just to increase strength, but strength in “bursts…. The skating posture burns up energy, so you’ll see a player go upright and lean over as they breathe (on an icing call per say) allowing muscles to relax and lactic acid to break down a bit. The pre game meal can often have a lot of carbs followed by a post game meal more geared toward protein. Lidstrom used to get pasta with half meat sauce and half marinara along with salad etc before the game. A lot of players do oatmeal and fruit before morning skate. But the debate of “on the bench recovery… is an interesting one.
Gatorade (or Powerade) is there along with water. Gatorade was developed by the Florida Gators as football summer camps saw intense heat causing problems and water wasn’t doing enough (hence Gatorade). In the past several years, you’re now seeing pickle jars. There’s a belief that the brine (more salt based) helps muscles recover in a better way (there are even versions of “pickle juice… you can buy in a squeeze bottle). I can attest that salt helps with calf and quad cramping while I use Gatorade or powerade if I have a flu or something that has my body in rough shape. (Vitamin D also helps greatly with calf cramping for some reason).
I loved those talks with my former Dr. He would pull down charts of the skeletal/muscular and nervous systems and show how athletes change (IE, veins can branch off like a tree to increase blood delivery for someone who performs at a high level). Unfortunately, Drs are on tighter schedules now and you can’t always take that kind of time any more. I listen to athletes and look at what they eat and when. For our swim team, the top guys always went to Subway and got veggie subs. Afterward, meat lovers subs! (Or chicken breast with rice).
I absolutely love hockey. I can’t play it, but I love it. Seeing it live, athletes breaking 30 mph and shooting a puck near 100mph while goalies react in real time is just fascinating. The increased knowledge on nutrition has built a different type of athlete. A lot more lean muscle than the 90’s “He Man… players. Their reaction time is insane and their knowledge of how to get into a routine that will benefit them (and sticking to it) is just one more piece to all the things these players can do. I didn’t become a fan until I saw it up close. TV just doesn’t do it justice.
I am anxious for another season and hope to see steps taken forward. It was nice to have a team that was “relevant… all the way into February. Here’s to hoping that March will have important games (whether they get in or not).