How the Utah Grizzlies Are Using the Hockey Edge to Train Smarter, Recover Faster, and Stay Ready All Season Long
The training room is quiet except for the rhythm of the machine.
Two Grizzlies forwards are finishing their last set. Their legs are doing what hockey players' legs do when they're working the way they're supposed to. One of them steps off and mutters, "I can really feel it." The other just nods. He doesn't need to say anything. The burn says it for him.
It's not the ice. But it's close.
Inside the Grizzlies Training Room
The Utah Grizzlies are in the ECHL, one of the most competitive development leagues in North American professional hockey. At this level, players are hungry. Coaches are demanding. And the margin between a call-up and a trip home is razor-thin.
That pressure lives in the training room as much as it does on the ice.
Collin Lee knows this better than most. As the Head Athletic Trainer for the Utah Grizzlies, it's his job to keep players healthy, get injured players back on the ice as fast as safely possible, and make sure every guy in that locker room is ready to perform when his number is called. Collin has seen every piece of hockey conditioning equipment on the market. Bikes, slide boards, plyometric setups, battle ropes. He's worked with all of it.
Then the Hockey Edge machine came in.
The Problem with Traditional Off-Ice Training
The trouble with most traditional off-ice hockey training programs is that they're built for general fitness, not skating.
Stationary bikes build cardiovascular endurance. But they don't train the lateral push mechanics of a stride. Slide boards come closer, but they lack resistance, feedback, and the ability to meaningfully adjust intensity mid-workout.
The bigger issue is structural. Hockey skating is lateral. Every powerful stride, every tight turn, every explosive cut comes from a side-to-side movement pattern. But most gym equipment operates on a forward-backward axis. Treadmills, rowers, bikes. Players end up in excellent shape for sports that aren't hockey.
There's also the impact problem. Hockey is already a physically demanding sport on joints and soft tissue. Stack intense high-impact gym training on top of a 72-game ECHL season and you're asking for overuse injuries. Trainers like Collin are constantly navigating that line between keeping players sharp and breaking players down.
And then there are the situations no one talks about enough: The scratches who still need to stay game-ready. The players coming back from injury who aren't cleared to skate but need to keep (or rebuild) their legs. Every trainer has a plan for game day. Not everyone has a plan for the gaps in between.
What Happened When the Grizzlies Started Using Hockey Edge
Collin doesn't oversell things. That's not his style. But when he talks about the Hockey Edge machine, his language is direct and unambiguous.
"This is much better than biking, any other kind of cardio, slide boards," he says. "I would attest to this machine any day of the week just to get guys ready to play and ready to get back onto the ice."
That kind of endorsement from a working professional athletic trainer carries weight. Collin has one job: keep his players healthy and ready. And the Hockey Edge passed that test.
What convinced him? The feedback from the players themselves.
"Most of the guys I've had try this or work out on it, they say it's an absolute leg burner and they love this machine," Collin notes. "They definitely would speak volumes to it on how much closer it is to skating regularly than biking or any other kind of activity we've done in the past."
That phrase says it all: how much closer it is to skating.
The Hockey Edge machine is built around lateral movement. The same glutes, quads, hip flexors, and adductors that fire during a stride fire on this machine. The same neuromuscular pattern that translates directly to what happens on the ice. Players don't have to imagine the transfer. They feel it in the first session.
Prehab, Rehab, and Getting Back on the Ice
One of the most underappreciated aspects of the Hockey Edge is what it does for players who can't skate.
Collin speaks specifically about a player currently working through a concussion protocol. Standard recovery timelines for concussions require limiting exertion, which often means athletes sit idle during a phase when maintaining some level of physical conditioning matters enormously to their return timeline and their mental state.
The non-impact nature of the Hockey Edge changes that equation. It allows carefully dosed, low-risk conditioning that keeps skating muscles engaged without negatively stressing the body the way high-impact training does.
"Currently we have a player with a concussion who's received a lot of help while trying to get back to skating," Collin explains. For a trainer managing a roster of professional athletes, having a tool that supports active recovery, not just rest, is significant.
Then there's prehab. Targeted work designed to strengthen the muscles and joints before injury has a chance to happen. The machine's lateral movement patterns go straight at the hips, knees, and ankles, the joints that take the most punishment in a sport played on blades at speed. Build them up off the ice, and they're more likely to hold up on it.
Altitude, Acclimation, and a 72-Game Season
Salt Lake City sits at roughly 4,200 feet above sea level. For players arriving from sea-level cities, the altitude hits fast. Cardiovascular capacity drops. Recovery slows. Players who were in peak shape when they left home feel the difference within the first few days.
Collin has a specific plan for that.
"A lot of our guys are in great shape," he says, "but with the acclimation to the altitude and climate that the Utah dry air has, a lot of guys no matter what shape they're in tend to struggle for the first few days."
His solution is to use the Hockey Edge proactively. Getting players acclimated before they hit the ice, rather than sending them straight from the plane into full practice and discovering the problem mid-skate.
"I'm planning and will use and implement this machine to then prior to their ice time get them acclimated properly prior to any actual training: in season, during the season, and post-season," he says.
That's a meaningful shift in how the machine is deployed. Not just as a conditioning tool, but as a calibration mechanism. A way to assess where players are, bring their bodies up to speed, and protect them from the kind of early-season strain that can compound over a long campaign.
For a hockey training program spanning 72 games, not counting practices, travel, and the physical toll of playing at a high professional level, that kind of intelligent load management matters.
How the Grizzlies Actually Use It
Collin's approach to the machine is layered and practical. He's not using it for one thing. He's using it for several.
For hockey conditioning, he implements interval training from the start. "I would work it in intervals to start, get them trained on the machine, how to use it properly," he says, "and then we would also use it with HIIT workouts or any kind of endurance training just to try to get guys back into shape or maintain that shape throughout the season."
For scratches and travel days, when ice access disappears, the machine becomes the bridge. "A lot of guys practice and play a full 72 games. However, we do have scratches, and they bag skate, but sometimes if they're unable to due to injuries or just if we're on the road and there's no ice available, this is the next best thing," Collin says. "And I would absolutely attest to them using that."
That last phrase matters. The next best thing to being on the ice. Not a compromise. Not a consolation. A legitimate hockey conditioning tool that a professional athletic trainer is comfortable putting his name behind.
This Isn't Just for Professional Teams
The Grizzlies run a professional hockey training program. But the problems they're solving aren't unique to the ECHL. Lateral conditioning, injury prevention, off-ice work that actually transfers to skating.
They show up at every level of the sport.
The AAA peewee player trying to close the gap on a D-I scholarship. The adult league competitor who skates twice a week and wants to stay sharp in between. The junior player working through a knee injury and trying to maintain fitness without making it worse. The coach looking for a tool that every player on the roster, regardless of age or position, can actually use.
The Hockey Edge scales. Resistance is adjustable. The movement pattern is universally applicable. And the compact footprint means it works in a dedicated training facility, a bedroom, or garage.
Professional teams don't have a monopoly on wanting better training results. The machine works the same way regardless of whose logo is on the jersey.
What Collin Lee's Words Actually Mean
Testimonials are everywhere in the sports equipment world. Most of them are easy to ignore.
This one is different.
Collin Lee is an athletic trainer with real stakes. His players' health and performance are his professional responsibility. When he says the Hockey Edge is better than a bike, better than slide boards, better than the other cardio options he's used, that's a practitioner telling you what actually works.
The players' response tells the same story from the other side. They feel the burn. They feel the transfer. They don't need to be talked into using it again.
That's the kind of feedback that doesn't require a sales pitch.
Ready to See It for Yourself?
The Hockey Edge machine is available for individual athletes, families, and training organizations. Whether you're looking to sharpen your conditioning during the off-season, manage a player's return from injury, or simply find a hockey training tool that directly translates to the ice, it's worth a closer look.
Book a virtual demo at gainmyedge.com and see how Hockey Edge could fit into your training program.
For the love of the game.
Hockey Edge is hand-assembled in Salt Lake City, Utah. All machines include a 4-year warranty, a 30-day in-home trial, and financing options through Affirm.
