Some NHLers just aren’t morning people
Slow and sleepy demise of traditional morning skate drawing mixed reviews
Hockey’s morning skate may never be extinct — the sport doesn’t part ways with its traditions easily — but it certainly is on the endangered list.
“I hate them with a passion,” says Ottawa Senators coach Guy Boucher. “To me, they are a waste of energy and waste of time.
“I really believe in practising hard and giving everything you’ve got in practice. Morning skates, you’re rarely like that. I hate to see our players not go 100 per cent and giving everything they’ve got. Morning skates are something in between. I hate in between.”
And yet the Senators remain a team that has kept the morning skate ritual. Elsewhere, the skate — that is, an early 20-minute practice on the day of a game — is becoming less common. As teams get closer to the playoffs, mandatory morning skates frequently become optional. And through the post-season they morph into little more than video review meetings.
But teams including Columbus and the New York Rangers have pretty much disposed of morning skates all year, while others cut back drastically a lot sooner than usual.
“I know it’s good for the athletes,” said Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, who pioneered the nixing of morning skates when he was with the New York Rangers. “Our strength coaches know it’s good for the athletes. It’s just getting the athletes out of that routine they were so used to.
“It was a little funky at first. I think our guys like it. In the long run, in the big picture, it’s really good for them.”
The Maple Leafs have fewer morning skates than in the past, usually only after a day off.
“It’s more mental than anything, not a superstition. It’s all personal,” said Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly.
“I think they’re good, but I think they’ll depend on the situation,” added winger Zach Hyman.
“Last year on the Marlies, we had mostly optional morning skates. It depends how our body is feeling, depends how you’re feeling in the morning. Some guys like to skate in the morning out of habit. For me, it’s how I’m feeling.”
The Maple Leafs were among the originals when the morning ritual was introduced in the 1940s, as a means to check equipment after long train rides.
It wasn’t long before coaches used it as a tool to make sure players didn’t stay out late the night before a game.
“I like them, personally,” said Ottawa defenceman Dion Phaneuf. “A lot of guys don’t like them. I think it’s totally personal preference. I started in a time when the morning skate was routine.
“I enjoy skating, I like getting out there, stretching and loosening up. There’s still value in it.”
The skate is its own mini-industry now, with media using the early access to prepare stories for the web, print, television and radio, while the league benefits from the built-in hype.
Taylor Hall’s New Jersey Devils still adhere to the regular morning skate, to his chagrin.
“If I had to choose, I’d stay home and not even come to the rink in the morning,” said Hall.
“I think hockey players now, even as opposed to 10 or 15 years ago, everyone is so dialed in — nutritionwise and training — and the game is so fast, so taxing to your body. I think to come to the rink in the morning and to drive home and come back again at night, it takes a bit too much of a toll, but I do it. And you get into a routine doing it (but) if I had my choice, I’d stay home and sleep till 9:30 and go for a walk.”