Glycogen, sweat rate and post-game force loss in hard numbers — plus the protocol for preparation, bench, dressing room and the 38 hours afterwards.
A hockey game costs you roughly half your muscle glycogen, a good two litres of sweat per hour and a measurable share of your force capacity — and those three variables are what you steer, not your willpower. After a simulated game in elite players, muscle glycogen sat 53 percent below baseline and around 65 percent of both fast- and slow-twitch fibres were glycogen-depleted; blood lactate rose sixfold, repeated-sprint ability dropped by about 3 percent and the number of accelerations and decelerations fell by roughly 10 percent in the second and last periods [1].
The remarkable part: this happens on just eight shifts of about one minute per period [1]. You are not on the ice for 25 minutes and still empty half your tank.
The fluid side is equally hard. Sweat rates sit at 1.8 litres per hour in juniors and around 2.0 litres per hour in AHL and NHL players, while on average only 58 percent is replaced [3]. Two large bottles out per training hour, one back in.
The rest is bookkeeping: carbohydrate is the main fuel, and match performance is associated with pre-game muscle glycogen content [4]. Step onto the ice without a full tank and you lose the third period before the first begins.
Since match performance is associated with pre-game muscle glycogen [4], carb loading is preparation, not ritual. In practice: a carbohydrate-heavy main meal 3 to 4 hours before, light carbohydrate 60 minutes before, nothing new on game day. The last meal is not a reward, it is cargo.
With sweat rates around 1.8 to 2.0 litres per hour and voluntary replacement of only 58 percent, you lose an average of 0.89 percent body mass — and 41 to 48 percent of AHL and NHL players would break the two percent mark in a 90-minute practice [3], the point at which performance demonstrably suffers. Drink a fixed amount per period, not by feel.
About 2.26 grams of sodium leave through sweat per session at a concentration of around 54 mmol/l [3] — the equivalent of a good five grams of table salt. Drinking only water replaces volume but not electrolytes. For long double sessions a sodium-containing solution belongs in the bottle.
For maximal glycogen resynthesis the target is 1.0 to 1.2 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass per hour across the first four hours [5] — at 80 kilograms that is 80 to 96 grams per hour, roughly two large bananas plus a sports drink. If intake drops below 0.8 g/kg/h, adding protein is worthwhile [5].
In the biopsy follow-up study, glycogen was 31 percent lower post-game and only back to baseline on day 2, after roughly 38 hours [2]. At the same time, maximal voluntary contraction fell by 11 percent and electrically evoked torque by 29 percent at 20 Hz and 21 percent at 50 Hz — a pattern known as low-frequency force depression — while repeated-sprint ability was hit remarkably little, by just 1 percent [2]. You feel sprint-ready again long before your tank is refilled.
Aggressive weight manipulation, fluid restriction and extreme low-carbohydrate phases have no place in a sport whose energy supply is strongly glycolytic. At 4 to 5 kilometres per game, around half of it high intensity, and a mean heart rate near 85 percent of maximum [6], hypoglycaemia is a real risk, not a theoretical one.
Watch the warning signs of dehydration and heat load under the gear: a drop-off in the third period, headache, cramps, dark urine. A body mass loss above two percent belongs corrected, not ignored [3].
Supplements do not replace food, and nutrition strategies that work at professional level are often oversized for recreational players. With illness, medication or a history of disordered eating, this belongs in professional hands. This guide explains and motivates you, but it does not replace individual nutritional or medical advice.
Determine your personal sweat rate once instead of working with averages: weigh yourself undressed before the session, log what you drink, weigh yourself undressed afterwards. The difference plus the fluid consumed, divided by the duration, gives your hourly rate. The spread in the data is enormous — juniors sit at 1.63 ± 0.58 and NHL players at 2.02 ± 0.74 litres per hour [3] — which is exactly why any blanket figure is wrong for you.
A second lever for the same effort: weigh yourself on the morning after a game too. If you are more than one percent below the previous day, you have not recovered, you have merely slept — and glycogen needs until day 2 anyway [2].
Severely. After a simulated game, muscle glycogen sat 53 percent below baseline, around 65 percent of fast- and slow-twitch fibres were depleted, and accelerations and decelerations dropped by roughly 10 percent in the second and last periods [1]. That happens on only about eight shifts per period — intensity, not duration, empties the tank.
As much as your measured sweat rate dictates. Juniors lose 1.8 litres per hour on average and AHL and NHL players around 2.0, while only 58 percent is voluntarily replaced [3]. Mean body mass loss is 0.89 percent, but 41 to 48 percent of professionals would exceed the critical two percent in a 90-minute practice [3]. Use a fixed amount per period rather than thirst.
Carbohydrate, immediately and in volume: 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram of body mass per hour across the first four hours [5]. At 80 kilograms that is 80 to 96 grams per hour. If you cannot manage that and stay below 0.8 g/kg/h, add protein [5]. Include sodium, because around 2.26 grams are lost through sweat per session [3].
Longer than it feels. In the biopsy study, glycogen was only back to baseline on day 2 after roughly 38 hours, while repeated-sprint ability had fully recovered by day 1 [2]. Maximal voluntary force fell by 11 percent and low-frequency torque by 29 percent [2]. So schedule hard sessions by glycogen, not by how your sprint feels.
Directly. A shift lasts 30 to 80 seconds at a mean heart rate around 174 beats, with a work-to-rest ratio across the game of about 1:3.7 [7]. A higher VO2max goes with better maintained repeated-sprint performance and faster heart rate recovery in exactly those breaks [8] — so your aerobic base is part of your nutrition and recovery strategy, not its opposite.
Battles Along the Boards: Standing Safe, Playing Clean