Injuries in men's elite ice hockey have been studied over the past 40 years, however, there is a lack of consensus on definitions of both injury and athlete exposure. These inconsistencies compromise the reliability and comparability of the research. While many individual studies report injury rates in ice hockey, we are not aware of any literature reviews that have evaluated the definitions of injury and athlete exposure in men's elite ice hockey. The purpose of this integrative review was to investigate the literature on hockey musculoskeletal injury to determine injury rates and synthesize information about the definitions of injury and athlete exposure. Injury rates varied from 13.8/1000 game athlete exposures to 121/1000 athlete exposures as measured by player-game hours. The majority of variability between studies is explained by differences in the definitions of both injury and athlete exposure. We were unable to find a consensus injury definition in elite ice hockey. In addition, we were unable to observe a consistent athlete exposure metric. We recommend that a consistent injury definition be adopted to evaluate injury risk in elite ice hockey. We recommend that injuries should be defined by a strict list that includes facial lacerations, dental injuries, and fractures. We also recommend that athlete exposure should be quantified using player-game hours.

Appropriate performance tests are critical for documenting training, fatigue and injury-related changes. Functional performance testing can provide quantitative information on specialized sport movements. The single-leg, medial countermovement jump is an objective measure of frontal plane force, velocity and power, and is particularly applicable for ice hockey players given that ice skating involves applying lateral forces. This study assessed the short-term reliability (10 days) of the single-leg, medial countermovement jump performed by ten competitive male youth ice hockey players. Each participant performed three right and three left maximal single-leg, medial countermovement jumps from force plates. Measured variables included lateral and vertical takeoff velocity, lateral and vertical maximal force, maximal force above bodyweight, lateral and vertical peak concentric power, average concentric power, and average concentric power during the last 100 ms of push-off. Relative reliability was quantified by intraclass correlations. Absolute reliability and the smallest real difference were also calculated. The single-leg, medial countermovement jump had moderate-to-excellent test–retest reliability (ICC: 0.50–0.98) for all twelve variables of interest. These results suggest that the single-leg, medial countermovement jump is a reliable test for assessing frontal plane force, velocity and power in ice hockey players, and is a valid functional performance test for this population given the similarity to ice skating.

Functional performance tests provide quantitative information on specialized sport movements and are important for documenting training and fatigue. The single leg, medial countermovement jump provides objective measures of frontal plane force, velocity and power, and is relevant for ice hockey players given the similar lateral movement to ice skating. This study measured normative single leg, medial countermovement jump parameters (i.e., vertical and lateral maximum force, average concentric power and average concentric power during the last 100 ms) amongst male youth ice hockey players and assessed interlimb asymmetry in these healthy athletes. Ninety-one elite youth players participated in the study. Participants completed three right and three left jumps. Non-parametric tests were performed to evaluate between-jump and between-group comparisons. Many differences in jump force and power parameters were observed between the 10U/11U and 12U/13U age groups, and the 12U/13U and 14U/15U age groups, but differences were not as consistent between older or younger players. The average asymmetry index for each age group was less than 15% for force parameters, while the power parameters had larger asymmetry indices (between 9% and 22%). Our results provide age-specific reference values and asymmetry indices for male elite youth ice hockey players aged 10–18 years performing the single leg, medial countermovement jump.