Skating mechanics of change-of-direction manoeuvres in ice hockey players.

Ice hockey requires rapid transitions between skating trajectories to effectively navigate about the ice surface. Player performance relates in large part to effective change-of-direction manoeuvres, but little is known about how those skills are performed mechanically and the effect of equipment design on them. The purpose of this study was to observe the kinetics involved in those manoeuvres as well as to compare whether kinetic differences may result between two skate models of varying ankle mobility.