HEALTHY APPETITE
JVR iffy to face Hurricanes but stands out in team-wide fitness kick that’s paying off
Wednesday was a rare day in Leafland. On a team that’s remained remarkably healthy of late, a regular contributor was injured and not available for practice.
The absentee was James van Riemsdyk, who clearly suffered some level of hurt in Monday’s 3-2 win over the L.A. Kings. In that game van Riemsdyk gingerly dragged himself to his feet after an awkward, legs-splayed collision with L.A.’s Trevor Lewis.
Whether van Riemsdyk did damage to a knee or a hip or a groin — well, per the NHL tradition of minimal disclosure, nobody connected to the club was saying. Still, van Riemsdyk did skate in Monday’s game after the incident. And on Wednesday, Leafs coach Mike Babcock said he expected van Riemsdyk to be available for Thursday’s home game against the Carolina Hurricanes, even if the coach acknowledged that the player’s availability could not be considered a sure thing.
More than a couple of Maple Leafs surveyed were sure about at least one thing: Whatever it was that ailed their teammate, its effects had likely been minimized by van Riemsdyk’s keen attention to off-ice lifestyle. Diet, training, recovery, sleep — name a healthand-wellness buzzword and it’s a good bet van Riemsdyk has spent time investigating whether or not it could help him in his pursuit of becoming a better hockey player.
“JVR does a lot of stuff to take care of himself,” Frederik Andersen, the Leafs goaltender, was saying Wednesday. “Who knows what (his injury) might be? But it could have been worse, or it could have been different, if he didn’t do all that stuff.”
Van Riemsdyk was speaking about this very topic last week, rapping his knuckles on the wooden bench of his dressing room stall — literally touching wood — as he acknowledged the Maple Leafs have been a remarkably injury-free operation over the last while. The team’s run in the pink has, perhaps not by accident, coincided with president Brendan Shanahan’s investment in a sports science department meant to maximize on-ice wins and minimize man-game losses.
“Everyone seems to think it’s luck when you stay healthy and unlucky when you get hurt,” said Andersen. “But I think it’s just as much the things you do. . . . You’ve got to put yourself in a position to be a healthy player.”
The breadth of the team’s efforts to put each Leaf in such a position is too expansive to catalogue here. It includes everything from a GPS tracking system worn in practice that can help the team detect the warning signs of overuse injuries, to the gamut of therapeutic training-room accessories. There are hot tubs and cold tubs and cryotherapy chambers, physiotherapists and chiropractors and doctors.
There are nutritionist-approved meals at the ready. The list goes on and on.
Patrick Marleau, the Leafs winger who recently celebrated his 1,500th NHL game, said the science behind the game has “evolved quite a bit” since he entered the league a couple of decades ago.
“I think especially with the sports science team here, they’ve got a good handle on (injury) prevention, seeing the patterns on how people get hurt, get worn down over time, and they try and stay on top of it,” Marleau said. “I think they’re in touch with the coaches, as far as when to practise hard, maybe when to ease back a little bit.”
Some players leave it to the team to dictate how to navigate a typical day as a pro. Leafs forward Matt Martin said the team’s trainingroom staff is proactive in its approach — seeking out trouble spots before they turn into injuries. Tight hip muscles, for instance, are an occupational hazard among hockey players that can lead to a chain of unwanted side effects.
“If you have a tight hip, your groin starts working harder to protect that. And that’s generally when you get a groin pull,” Martin said. “It’s about making sure your body’s moving the right way.”
Van Riemsdyk is among a group of enthusiasts who, along with benefitting from the franchise’s investment in high-end performance, spends considerable personal time reading widely and experimenting broadly on how to gain small performance edges while remaining healthy.
“The JVRs of the world go into that stuff a bit deeper than I do,” said Morgan Rielly, the veteran defenceman.
Van Riemsdyk, speaking last week, acknowledged there’s clearly luck involved in an NHLer’s edge walk with health-related disaster. Still, randomness doesn’t explain every outcome.
“If you do the right things off the ice, you’re able to be more adaptable in those (precarious) situations,” he said. “If you hit a rut in the ice, or you get hit into the boards, your body’s able to respond a little better than it might if you’re not taking care of yourself.”
In other words, if van Riemsdyk hadn’t, say, spent the past few summers working on the finer points of speed and agility and efficient movement with Andy O’Brien — the sports-performance specialist best known as Sidney Crosby’s trainer — it’s possible van Riemsdyk’s Monday-night collision with Lewis could have been worse.
“For me, my day doesn’t end when I leave the rink. There’s lots of stuff I’m looking into, trying out,” van Riemsdyk said. “It’s a hobby, sure. It’s a passion.”
Speaking across the dressing room, defenceman Connor Carrick echoed van Riemsdyk’s comments.
“I think about (preventing injury) constantly,” said Carrick. “I think of it as a way of life, because I’m trying to build good habits post-career. . . . Like, having a salad for lunch is what a human should do. Not just a hockey player. Like, get some greens in. Don’t eat pizza, dessert, sugar, all that.”
Van Riemsdyk is usually loath to identify specifics of his regimen; it’s a competitive business, so he prefers to “keep what works from me to myself.”
But diet is clearly a performancerelated fixation. A while back, in a rare candid moment, he acknowledged he once underwent testing to determine various food intolerances. Eggs, it turned out, didn’t agree with him.
But the recipe for health and longevity varies for everyone.
“For one guy, maybe it’s a little more time in the gym, for another, maybe it’s a little more recovery work, a little more treatment (from a therapist),” van Riemsdyk said.
“There’s always going to be bumps and bruises throughout the year. But if you’re in a better spot to handle that stuff, just because you’re better prepared, it makes a big difference, touch wood,” he said. “The teams that always win are usually the teams that are healthiest at the end of the year. So that’s a big advantage if you can figure out how to get there.”