From Training to Game Day: Performance Insights from UConn Ice Hockey

Joel DeMarco and Mo Butler, who run strength and conditioning for UConn women’s and men’s ice hockey, show how they turn game training impulse (TRIMP) into weekly practice budgets, intensity guardrails and drill-level plans that NCAA Division I performance staff can use with their own coaches.

About this webinar

In this hour-long panel, recorded on 4 December 2025, Joel DeMarco (at UConn since 2012, women’s ice hockey and baseball) and Mo Butler (at UConn since 2004, men’s ice hockey and women’s tennis) share this season’s data from the Firstbeat Sports platform: game TRIMP, TRIMP per minute, zone 5 time and the acute:chronic workload ratio. They cover weekly budgets, back-to-back games, healthy scratches, bye weeks and how they keep coaches on board. Both have worked with the same coaching staff for over a decade.

What you will learn

• How UConn women’s hockey turns a 204 TRIMP game average into a weekly practice budget that stays below two games’ worth.
• TRIMP/min targets for each practice day against a game intensity of 1.7, with the zone 5 minutes that go with them.
• Why game one of a back-to-back costs more than game two (263 vs 211 TRIMP for the men), and what the game-two warm-up showed.
• How a drill database of TRIMP/min lets staff predict a practice’s load from the practice plan.
•  How healthy scratches and bye weeks are loaded so fitness holds.

Practical examples from the recording

1. A weekly TRIMP budget built from game load. DeMarco’s women’s team averaged 204 TRIMP per game in the first half of the season: about 227 in game one of a back-to-back and about 180 in game two. Doubling that would give 400 for the training week, but he sets the budget lower on purpose. Otherwise coaches who want extra work push the week to 440–450. Monday sits around 70–80 TRIMP, Tuesday is the hardest day at around 120–130, and the last two days taper. The numbers are guardrails, and the coaches run practice inside them.

2. Practice intensity against game intensity. With intermissions and warm-up taken out, the women’s game intensity averages 1.7 TRIMP/min. Monday practice averages about 1.4 with around 4 minutes in zone 5. Tuesday reaches 1.6 with over 6.5 minutes in zone 5, close to a game. Wednesday matches Monday’s TRIMP through duration on a systems day, and Thursday barely touches zone 5. When the team has not recovered, DeMarco asks coaches to get Monday off the ice in 45–50 minutes instead of the usual 65, at 50–60 TRIMP instead of 70–80.

3. A drill database to predict and top up practice load. Butler tags every drill live and keeps a database of each drill’s TRIMP/min, averaged across sessions. Drill minutes times TRIMP/min gives the expected load. If the live team average comes in well below what she expected, she blows the whistle for short sprints. On a battle day that needs four more minutes of work, she gives the coach a menu: add a 4-minute drill, add a minute to each of four drills, or she runs it at the end.

4. Loading healthy scratches and bye weeks. DeMarco goes after non-dressers hard on game days, because a player is one play away from 10–12 minutes of ice time. They skate and wear sensors in the weight room: circuits on Friday, a bike session on Saturday. In a week-four bye the team still trained five days, and Friday’s circuit plus practice reached 153 TRIMP against a game average of about 200. In a week-nine bye with three days off, the acute:chronic ratio stood at 1.2 by Thursday, which he wanted before the planned dip.

Questions answered in the Q&A

Does the weekly TRIMP budget include lifts and extra skill work? Not for Butler: she counts team practice only, so team averages stay clean, and checks individuals separately. DeMarco also tracks goalie sessions and cardiovascular off-ice work such as circuits and bikes, but not individual skill sessions.

Is two times game TRIMP per week a hockey-specific rule? DeMarco thinks so, and treats it as a ceiling the team rarely touches. Butler had understood the rule of thumb as 1.5–2, has never reached two, and spreads the load over the practice days available.

What if a player doesn’t wear the heart rate monitor in a game? The host explained that the software can estimate TRIMP from time on ice or session duration and the player’s rating of perceived exertion on a 0–10 scale, so weekly totals and the acute:chronic ratio stay complete.

Do they use live heart rate data to make decisions during a game? No. Neither is on the bench. DeMarco says that if players are not ready for the minutes a game asks of them, the staff has not done its job.

Do they pull a player from practice once they hit their target load? No. Butler checks the live data part way and adjusts the next session instead. On the women’s side decisions follow team load: coaches cut a few minutes or a whole drill segment when load runs higher than expected.

Who this webinar is for

Strength and conditioning coaches, sports scientists and heads of performance in NCAA Division I and professional ice hockey who plan practice load with the head coach. It also helps head coaches who want to see what a practice costs compared with a game.