Bag the Bag skate.

Coaches often say to their players, "You get what you put in." This is true when it comes to the way players are trained. If we want faster players, we must train them that way.

"Bag skates", "ladders", "boards", are skating intervals often used to punish players for poor performance during practice. While it may send the message from coach to players that they are not performing, is it doing more harm than good? 
Hockey is an anaerobic game. Meaning, players usually take shifts for 30-60 seconds of high intensity before resting for 3-4 minutes (As opposed to soccer or basketball where players stay on the field for a much longer time).
Often times during these punishment skates, players are told to complete a task that does not transfer over to a true game condition. Players will often develop bad habits by hunching over, straightening their knees and shortening their stride. Worse, players are being conditioned to skate at less than full speed. 

If skating is the most important component in hockey, then why is it used as a punishment?

Now, I'm not being soft here. Players need to be held accountable. But is the bag skate the only way? Ice time is too valuable to waste by implementing poor habits. Perhaps an alternative form of consequence can be more effective and efficient.

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