In the fast-paced and intense world of ice hockey, a seemingly peculiar behavior often captures the attention of both avid fans and curious onlookers: the act of spitting. It’s not uncommon to witness players nonchalantly spitting on the ice during a game, leaving many to wonder about the reasons behind this seemingly bizarre ritual.
Why do hockey players spit?
Hockey players spit in order to clear airways and maximize airflow while breathing. Saliva can impede breathing, talking, drinking water, etc. It’s often easier and more effective to spit saliva than to swallow it, especially when you are trying to catch your breath.
Why Do Hockey Players Spit
Hockey players spit in order to remove saliva from their mouths.
Not to get too graphic, but when you’re dehydrated and breathing cold, dry air your spit can get pretty thick. And having that saliva in your mouth can be uncomfortable, especially after you’ve just finished a hard shift and are gasping for air on the bench.
Mouthguards can also be a factor in why hockey players spit. Mouthguards can often impede normal functions, swallowing being one of them.
The majority of the time, it’s simply easier to spit saliva than to swallow it.
The same behavior can be observed in other athletes, such as runners. Long-distance runners will often spit their saliva instead of swallowing it to avoid messing up their breathing rhythm.
Why Do Hockey Players Spit Out Water?
In addition to normal spitting, many fans often notice hockey players spitting water on the bench and wonder why they don’t just drink it.
Why do hockey players spit out water?
There are 2 reasons why hockey players spit out water:
- Get the saliva out of their mouth
- Avoid having water in their stomach
The reasons for spitting water are very similar to the reasons for spitting in general. Hockey players fill their mouths with water to clear out any saliva, which can impede one’s breathing.
As for spitting the water, hockey players spit out water because many players don’t like having water in their stomachs. The feeling is comparable to drinking a whole bunch of water, and then doing multiple sprints. The water just sloshes around in your stomach and doesn’t make you feel any more hydrated.
Anecdote: I’ve known many hockey players who swore by not drinking any water during a game. They would always spit out the water that they drank.
What Do Hockey Players Drink on The Bench?
Hockey players drink whatever they want on the bench, but a majority of the time, it’s just plain water (if they’re not spitting it out).
In competitive hockey, the most popular drink is by far water. Sugary drinks or flavored drinks have a tendency of thickening saliva, which is not ideal during a game. That being said some players do drink “sports drinks” like Gatorade. Some players, like former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, have even been spotted drinking a Coke on the bench.
Anecdote: In casual hockey, or pickup hockey, some of the less-common things I’ve seen hockey players drink on the bench are a Starbucks coffee, Perrier, Monster, and Coors Light. Granted, I grew up mostly in LA, so these accounts may be LA-specific.
What Do Hockey Players Do While On The Bench
Hockey is one of the fastest team sports out there. There are minimal stoppages and timeouts compared to other sports. One unique aspect of the sport is the lively benches that constantly feature players hopping on and off the ice.
Many fans wonder, what do hockey players do while on the bench?
While hockey players do a lot of things while on the bench here are the most common things:
- Rest & Recover
- Communicate With Teammates
- Talking Smack to Opposing Players
Rest and Recover
There are few sports that are as physically demanding as hockey. No alternative forms of training can truly prepare you for the unique cardiovascular and physical requirements of the sport.
Each shift in hockey usually involves what you might call a “sprint” (or a few sprints) where you exert maximum effort. Not to mention, the shift may involve a few hits, which take a lot out of you.
Because of that, the main thing that players are doing on the bench is resting and recovering. Resting and recovering can involve all of the following:
- Breathing
- Drinking Water
- Adjusting Equipment
Communicating With Teammates
Another thing that hockey players are often doing on the bench is communicating with their teammates. Defensemen are usually communicating with their d partner, while forwards are usually communicating with their linemates.
Forwards will usually communicate to clarify their intentions on previous plays to get a better idea of how one another plays. And it’s a similar story with the defensemen. Forwards will also sometimes communicate with defensemen to counteract the opposing team’s plays, whether that be faceoffs or fast breaks.
Communication example: I remember one game, I was playing left wing and the opposing team was repeatedly running the same offensive zone, faceoff play.
One of their wingers would stand behind their center for a drop pass right off the faceoff, while their other winger would tie me up, to stop me from blocking the shot.
So, I told the defensemen on my team to switch spots with me on the faceoff so that the opposing winger would tie him up instead of me, and I could jump through to mess up their drop pass play.
And it worked.
I was able to jump through on the faceoff, poke check the puck from their winger – who was caught off guard – and get the puck out of the zone.
Talking Smack
Another thing hockey players constantly do on the bench is talk smack.
In hockey talking smack is called “chirping” and is an integral part of the game. Players are constantly yelling random stuff on the bench. The main purpose of “chirping” is to get in your opponent’s head and throw them off their game.
Chirping can be anything from “You’re so f***in bad” to “I like your skates”. Anything goes, really.
Not all players will be talking smack, or “chirping”, a lot on the team. Usually, there are certain players on the team that do most of the talking.
Leave a Reply