UND's altitude chamber has helped strength training. Will it have benefits for series at Denver?
Nov. 30—GRAND FORKS — UND renovated its weight room in Ralph Engelstad Arena two years ago, bringing several major upgrades.
One unique change is the addition of a 1,400 square foot altitude chamber.
UND's staff will close the doors, turn up the altitude to 9,000 feet and allow the players to train at altitude — much like the U.S. Olympic teams do by putting their training facility in Colorado Springs.
"John Fitzgerald, our exercise scientist, through all of his research, (determined) 9,000 feet appears to be the most beneficial," UND athletic trainer Mark Poolman said.
This summer, UND moved weight lifting machines into the room and started working out there.
"We had some very good results lifting for strength and power in the altitude room," Poolman said.
When the season started, UND dialed it back to make sure energy levels are high among the players.
But three weeks ago, they began using the altitude room for another reason — to prepare for a road hockey series at the University of Denver.
"In November, we started, once a week, to do repeated sprinting on the bike," Poolman said. "It sounds pretty minimal. It's five seconds all-out and 25 seconds of recovery. They're only spending 7-12 minutes in there. The idea is just recovery, being able to recover faster.
"And then the past couple of weeks, prepping to come altitude, we had little mini-exposures. They're in there passively, riding the bike. They're moving in there for 5-7 minutes. That's not going to change anything with hemoglobin or anything like that, but it could benefit, to a certain degree, the way the body responds coming to altitude."
UND practiced Thursday night at Magness Arena and will play the country's biggest series — No. 2 vs. No. 3 — at 8 p.m. Central on Friday and 7 p.m. Central on Saturday.
"Hopefully, they won't get altitude sickness," Poolman said. "That would be the benefit I'm hoping for. As far as being in shape to play in altitude, I don't know the effect. It might be a little bit psychological, knowing they've been working in altitude. There might be some benefit.
"But again, we're just starting slow, making sure we're smart about what we're doing. We're not trying to do too much to where it affects them on the ice. If we work them hard in there, it takes them 48 hours to recover from that. That's not something we're looking for."
UND forward Griffin Ness said he notices the elevation when he's caught on long shifts at Denver or Colorado College.
"Obviously, the altitude change is a little different," Ness said. "But thanks to the awesome stuff we have here, we've been getting prepared for that.
"We've tried to incorporate it every day in little spurts to get acclimated to it. It's just trying to sprinkle in a little bike or spending a little time in there to try to get used to it."
Leading scorer Jackson Blake acknowledged feeling the altitude during a series at Colorado College last season.
"It affected me a little bit last year," Blake said before discussing his routine in the altitude room. "Go in there for five minutes, light bike. Sometimes we do five seconds on, 30 seconds off, kind of get the lungs going in there a little bit."
By the end of the weekend, Poolman will get a better idea of how the altitude chamber has worked with preventing altitude sickness.
"We've been using it a little bit throughout the first half of the season, sprinkling it in," UND coach Brad Berry said. "But over the last three weeks, we've really been concentrating on using it."
There are a lot of things the altitude chamber won't affect this weekend.
One, Berry said, is the importance of keeping shifts short.
"We're a four-line team with six defensemen," Berry said. "That's the strength of our team. Knowing that we can't get extended out, making sure shifts are short, making sure we use everyone on the bench. . . situations like special teams will probably come into it, too, where some guys will get taxed a little more than others. But I think at the end of the day, it's a big deal having four lines and six defensemen."
As for the altitude chamber, Poolman said UND is just scratching the surface in all of the possible uses of it.
But he knows they'll for sure use it again for strength and power training next summer.
"Absolutely," Poolman said. "There are a lot of different possibilities. We're just trying to go slow, research it the right way and we're making sure we don't cause issues we don't want. We're making sure the right athletes are in there, and if there are any issues, we'll keep them out."
