INTRODUCTION: Physical performance, including speed, power, strength, and endurance are considered critical success factors in elite ice hockey. Several studies have shown overall improvements in these qualities among elite-male ice hockey players over the years 1979-2005 (e.g. Quinney et al., 2008). The last decade has received less attention to date. Anecdotal evidence suggests that today`s players are faster, stronger, and more agile than players were 10 years ago. However, there are no data confirming this claim so far. The aim of this study was therefore to examine physical and physiological changes among the Swiss U-18 men`s ice hockey national team over the years 2011-2019. METHODS: The data used for this longitudinal trend study were collected as part of the annual off-season testing procedures. These include countermovement jump relative peak power output (CMJ_rel_peak_power), 30m-off-ice Sprint time (30m-Sprint), Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (Yo-Yo-IR1), and anthropometric measures (body mass and body size). 306 athletes (17.0±0.3 years) were tested over 9 years. To quantify changes over time, test results were divided into 3 time periods: period 1: 2011-2013 (N = 99), period 2: 2014-2016 (N = 105), period 3: 2017-2019 (N = 102). One-way ANOVAs followed by Bonferroni post-hoc tests were performed to assess differences in the testings between the time periods. For all pairwise comparisons, effect sizes (Cohen`s d) were calculated. RESULTS: One-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in CMJ_rel_peak_power, 30m-Sprint time, and Yo-Yo-IR1 between at least two time periods (all p`s <0.05). No differences between time periods were observed in anthropometric measures. Although not reaching significance level, post hoc tests revealed superior levels of CMJ_rel_peak_power (mean percentage difference %Mdiff = +3.2%, p = 0.06, d = 0.33) and 30m-sprint time (Mdiff = -0.7%, p < 0.64, d = -0.21) for time period 2014-2016 in comparison to 2011-2013. Significant differences were observed between time periods 2014-2016 and 2017-2019 for 30m-Sprint time (%Mdiff = -1.1%, p < 0.05, d = -0.33) and Yo-Yo-IR1 (%Mdiff = +12.7%, p < 0.05, d = 0.64) and between time period 2011-2013 and 2017-2019 for CMJ_rel_peak_power (%Mdiff = +4.8%, p < 0.05, d = 0.48), 30m-Sprint time (%Mdiff = -1.7%, p < 0.05, d = -0.51), and Yo-Yo-IR-1 (%Mdiff = +8.1%, p < 0.05, d = 0.64). CONCLUSION: This study identified small to moderate positive development in physiological fitness parameters over time, while body mass and body size remained unchanged. From the observed trend in the data, we can infer that off-ice fitness test performance has increased over the last 9 years in our sample of youth elite male ice hockey players. In conclusion, our data support the common perception that ice hockey players are becoming faster and stronger. Moreover, today`s players possess more stamina than their predecessors.
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