In American Football, the media obsesses over the vaunted “40 time”.  The 40 time is a measurement that considers both quick acceleration and high top end speed but places more emphasis on speed.  While many will argue it is an over-rated measure of a Football player, there is no doubt that it does provide insight (even if that insight could be better gained by just by watching game film).

 On the other hand, the closest thing that you hear in Basketball to the 40 time is, “(insert player name here) runs the floor well.”  It is offered almost as an afterthought.  Compared to the emphasis that is placed on speed in Football, speed is almost ignored in Basketball.

 Why this difference?  What is different about these two sports that places a huge premium on speed in one and essentially ignores it?  While there are a few possibilities, the simple and most correct answer is the size of the playing surface, where outright speed is far more coveted on a larger field.  The much larger playing surface in Football places a premium on speed.

If not speed, is there another aspect of mobility that is emphasized in Basketball?  Yes, quickness is the dominant mobility consideration.  However, this is not an either / or situation as there are many moments when quickness is critical in Football also.  In situations where players are in close proximity to one another on the field, the value of speed is diminished and the value of quickness is amplified.  In Football much of the game is played in areas where players are packed closely together.  In Basketball the smaller court keeps players close together constantly keeping quickness important the whole time.

 Another way to look this is to ask how often do the sport and the field of play allow players to get to full speed?  If the field is large, top speed will be common, and thus more important.  On a small field, top speed may be impossible.  Consider a wrestling ring.  Top speed is not at all important in wrestling, whereas quickness is critical.

So, what can the size of an ice Hockey rink tell us about the value of speed in Hockey?  It can tell us a lot.  However, in order to be accurate, we will first look at how wearing skates and playing on ice impacts the debate.  Skates allow us to coast at half speed and to gain a lot of speed in a small area by executing crossovers before heading off on a straight line.  They also allow for a higher top speed.

The fact that skaters we are already at half speed for much of the game making it easier to get to top speed and the fact that top speed is higher and therefore tougher to get to sort of cancel each other out.  Because of those two counterbalancing factors, I think it is fair to say that we can really just compare the size of the rink to the other sports to decide how much Hockey emphasizes speed versus quickness.

Interestingly, playing this dynamic team sport in skates on ice leads to two counterbalancing features that effectively neutralize each other.  Since skaters are already at half speed for most of the game, getting to top speed is a shorter trip, but the fact that full speed in hockey is much higher than in running sports diminishes the impact of this by making top speed higher and thus take longer to get to. These two factors essentially cancel each other out when it comes to comparing the value of speed and quickness in Hockey.

The Hockey rink is a middle ground between the Football Field and the Basketball Court, roughly equally favoring speed and quickness.  Hockey definitely emphasizes quickness more often than speed, but in the moments when it does emphasize speed, speed is critically important.

When players are near the puck along the walls or around the net there are almost always a lot of bodies around them, making quickness the key to success.  But when transitioning and when there is good space available on the rink, speed places a lot of pressure on the defense (and defense needs to manage that pressure with speed of its own).  In these situations a speed advantage can lead directly to an opportunity created or an opportunity prevented.  Quickness is important more often, but when speed is important it is highly important.

In part 2 of this article, we will consider the implications of the balancing of the importance of speed and quickness in Hockey.