Off-Ice Warm-Ups Are Mandatory

When I was a young hockey player, I never warmed up before hitting the ice.

I used the 30 minutes between when I arrived at the rink and when the buzzer went to start the game (or whistle blew to start practice) focusing on the "important things" - talking and messing around with my friends.

It wasn’t until my last year of high school that I started doing an off-ice warm-up before practices and games. And I was the only one on my team that did it.

While everyone else was hanging out in the dressing room, I was doing my warm-up routine in the hallway by myself.

And you should have seen the looks I got from people around the rink.

That was just over 10 years ago now and very few players in the NHL warmed up before putting on their gear, let alone young hockey players. I was definitely a rarity running around the rink.

Now you can go to any rink anywhere and you'll see kids running around to get warmed up for their game.

Forget the fact that most of them aren’t doing a proper off-ice warm-up - the fact that they are warming up at all is a major move in the right direction.

Last night, I saw a team of 7 year-olds doing jumping jacks and skipping before they hit the ice. It wasn't a perfect warm-up routine but it was definitely a st They always say hindsight is 20/20, but I still find it hard to believe that I didn't start warming up before heading out on the ice until I was 17.

It has taken 10 years - but hockey coaches, parents and players are finally getting the message.


Off-ice warm-ups are mandatory.


Kim