Treading plastic: MTU hockey program gets gift of new treadmill
Treading plastic: MTU hockey program gets gift of new treadmill
Tech among handful of hockey programs with innovative device
| CAPTION: Jane Nordberg/Daily Mining Gazette Sophomore forward Derek Kitti of the MTU hockey team takes a turn on the program’s new skating treadmill recently as hockey strength and conditioning coach Kyle Bangen observes his performance. The machine requires continual movement and can be elevated up to a 32 percent grade. |
By JANE NORDBERG, DMG Writer
HOUGHTON — Besides ice and asphalt, the MTU hockey team is using another surface to hone its skills: hard plastic, in the form of a new skating treadmill machine.
The machine allows for forward and backward skating on an endless belt covered with ridged slats of plastic, and is designed to allow an athlete to practice normal ice skating behavior while in a relatively fixed position.
It’s that “fixed position” component that hockey department strength and conditioning coach Kyle Bangen cites as one of the most important benefits of the machine.
“When they’re skating on the ice, I can’t follow them around and see exactly where they should be improving,” Bangen said during a recent workout with six team members. “With the treadmill, I can see 360 degrees around them and get a whole picture.”
The treadmill also requires continuous movement, as opposed to the occasional “coasting” that occurs while skating on a regular sheet of ice.
Finally, the machine features variable speeds of up to 16 miles per hour and a tilt of zero to 32 percent elevation.
“I can dictate how hard they work,” said Bangen, grinning as he timed each player for 4 to 45 seconds while they rotated through four different shifts on the machine.
A waist harness connected to a ceiling track prevents skaters from a hard fall during a fast workout, and a stationary front platform will allow the skaters to work on their puck-handling skills once they reach a level of proficiency with the machine.
“We’re not there yet,” said Bangen as he watched junior forwards Tyler Shelast and Jimmy Kerr, who were on the machine for the third time but showing significant improvement.
“They’re making the same mistakes everyone makes when they first start out,” Bangen said. “It’s easy to drop your chin, so I’m trying to get them to stand up as straight as they can.”
Senior forward Tyler Skworchinski said it was his eighth workout on the machine since it arrived seven weeks ago, but he had no trouble remembering how difficult it was to get on and off the first time.
“It was really ugly,” he said. “It’s brutal when you first start out.”
Since then, he’s come to appreciate the machine’s benefits, he said.
“In a way it’s good and in a way it’s bad,” he said. “When you’re on it, you have no choice but to put some power into your stride because you can’t get a glide on it. It’s a tough workout.”
Sophomore forward Derek Kitti, whom Bangen called a “natural” on the machine, said the workout he receives on the skating treadmill is unlike any other.
“What it does for your glutes and quads, running doesn’t do it,” he said, wiping the sweat off his brow. While the workout was intense, Kitti said it “was fun because all the guys are here together,” and keep each other going.
Only a handful of schools in the country have the machine, Bangen said, and MTU joins the University of Minnesota as the only two schools with the machine in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
“It gives us an edge recruiting-wise and hopefully the results will show on the ice as well,” Bangen said.
Bangen recently celebrated his one-year anniversary with Michigan Tech, having been especially recruited for his experience with the skating treadmill.
Head hockey Coach Jamie Russell saw the benefits of the treadmill while an assistant coach at Cornell University, and has persistently touted its benefits and the need for an experienced coach to work with the team, Bangen said.
“The reason I got hired was because I had some experience with it,” said Bangen, who worked with the treadmill at schools in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada.
A gift from MTU alumni Russ Becker and his wife, Trish, helped to defray the $100,000 expense of the treadmill and its apparatus, which resides in the Peter Grant Hockey Educational Center.
Senior Director for Athletic Development Rick Yeo said the gift is typical of 1989 civil engineering grad Russ Becker, who has shown consistent support for the hockey program since his role as a student assistant coach.
“Russ has always been committed to helping us get into a position where we can be on a level playing field with the elite teams in the WCHA,” Yeo said. “Gifts like these are crucial to the team and the program as a whole.”
The gift came in as part of the hockey enrichment campaign begun in 2003, Yeo said. Over $1.8 million total has been pledged towards the campaign goal of $3 million. The campaign will run until July, 2007.
Jane Nordberg can be reached at jnordberg@mininggazette.com
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