How Clarkson Hockey Uses Firstbeat to Drive Success On The Ice

Since the 2014–2015 season, Clarkson University’s Men’s and Women’s Hockey teams have integrated Firstbeat Sports into their performance programs. In this article, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Tad Johnson describes how they use the system and the contributions it has made to both teams’ numerous successes.

During the time that the Clarkson hockey teams have been using Firstbeat, the men’s program has won an ECAC Tournament Championship and appeared in two NCAA tournaments. The women’s program has appeared in five Frozen Fours, 10 NCAA tournaments, won two national titles, three ECAC tournament championships, and three regular season championships.

Tad attributes much of this success to their development process and their use of the Firstbeat system. He says, “With Firstbeat, we can make sure we are getting the training stimulus we want at the magnitude we want.”

Clarkson Hockey’s Approach to Load Management

Tad and the coaching staff at Clarkson utilize Firstbeat to monitor their aerobic and anaerobic training effect and achieve their desired training stimulus. They use TRIMP and TRIMP/min to monitor the internal load placed on each athlete and to compare different types of sessions, such as skills, workouts, practices, and games. This helps them to manage the overall load on each athlete.

Tad explains, “This data has been extremely valuable in our decision-making process on and off the ice. It allows us to have a better understanding of what each athlete is going through internally and make adjustments on when to push harder and when to pull back. It also allows us to see what our players need to be prepared for each season and allows us to script our off-season training to make sure our athletes are ready for the demands of the season.”

A Simple Yet Effective Solution

According to Tad, Firstbeat is easy to use, yet despite its simplicity, the data collected provides insights to make actionable decisions. He says, “Firstbeat allows the coaching staff and strength staff to create training and practice plans to complement each other using real-time data and helps us to see when our athletes need to be pushed and when they need to recover.”

Want to learn more about how to use Firstbeat in ice hockey? Be sure to download our free training load guide for ice hockey coaches here.