Relationships Between Countermovement Jump Metrics and Skating Speed Among Male and Female Collegiate Hockey Athletes

Abstract

Knapp, ZR, Minger, AJ, Trent, RA, Sandvik, JE, Mihalik, JD, Dobbs, WC, McBride, SP, and Almonroeder, TG. Relationships between countermovement jump metrics and skating speed among male and female collegiate hockey athletes. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000–000, 2026—The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the extent to which lower-body power, propulsive force, velocity, jump height, and reactive strength during a countermovement jump (CMJ) are related to skating speed among male and female collegiate ice hockey athletes. Twenty-six male and 22 female collegiate hockey athletes participated in this cross-sectional study. Athletes completed CMJ testing on a force platform and an on-ice skating speed test. CMJ-derived variables included peak power, mean power, peak force, mean force, peak velocity, jump height, and the modified reactive strength index. Pearson product-moment correlation analyses were conducted separately for men and women to examine relationships between CMJ metrics and average skating speed. Faster skating speed was associated with greater peak/mean power, peak velocity, jump height, and reactive strength for both men and women ( r ≥ 0.43). By contrast, the relationships between skating speed and peak force ( r ≤ 0.13) and mean force ( r ≤ 0.30) were weak, with 95% confidence intervals spanning 0. Greater lower-body power was associated with faster skating speed in both male and female collegiate hockey athletes; this relationship seemed to be driven primarily by movement velocity rather than propulsive force magnitude. These findings suggest that the ability to rapidly generate force may be more relevant to skating speed than force production alone. In addition, jump height may serve as a practical off-ice metric for monitoring neuromuscular qualities related to skating speed when on-ice testing is not feasible.