Glycogen depletion in a game-simulated hockey task.

A game-simulated hockey task has been developed to closely approximate the actions in a hockey game including forward and backward skating, stops, starts, shooting and passing. As well, the test is similar to game conditions for number of shifts, activity time per shift, activity time per play and total active time on the ice. The purpose of this study was to measure the glycogen depletion during the task and to compare this with laboratory tasks and actual game conditions. The results demonstrate that the simulated tasks resembles on ice conditions during a game for heart rate and glycogen depletion. The preferential glycogen utilization by ST fibres but great depletion in FT fibres as well suggests that the task is strenuous enough to stimulate both FT and ST motor units.