Manitoba Moose

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Pre-game sex suits Moose

Players like doc's view it might be key to wins

By: Staff Writer

28/11/2009 1:09 PM | Comments: 0

PEORIA, Ill. -- He scores and then he shoots?

The natural order of things in hockey is being turned on its head, so to speak, as new scientific research emerges suggesting that not only is sex before a game not a no-no, it might actually be a yes, yes, yes...

"The guys always joke around if someone's girlfriend is in town that they have heavy legs, but all the stuff I've seen says you're actually better off," Moose defenceman Brian Salcido said Friday before his team's game against the Peoria Rivermen.

And Salcido said that he's, well, embraced the new thinking.

"In college, the rule was always no sex for 24 hours before the game," said Salcido, who played three seasons at the University of Colorado.

"But I'm doing the long-distance thing with my girlfriend now, so when she's in town, that no longer applies."

Recent studies have found that testosterone levels in athletes actually increase after sexual activity, laying waste to the age-old notion that sex the night before a game makes for weak knees in the corners.

The sexy subject made headlines in Canada this week when the head coaches of the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders were asked if they were banning sex in the lead-up to the big Grey Cup game (they aren't).

That prompted the stately Globe and Mail to, well, probe the subject in their august pages on Friday, quoting a Montreal doctor who's studied the research as saying there's nothing wrong with a little nookie with your hockey.

While hockey players aren't generally known as a particularly cerebral bunch, you can take it to the bank that they are aware, in minute detail, about this particular bit of scientific advance.

Just ask them.

"From a physical or physiological standpoint, there's no evidence to support that it's a bad thing or that it affects your performance," said Moose netminder Cory Schneider.

"If you play better, it's not a bad thing. Whatever works."

Moose trainer Rob Milette said the whole idea that sex saps an athlete's strength is an old-wives' tale.

"I don't think it has any bearing on it one way or the other. That whole heavy legs thing, there's nothing to it."

Moose forward Matt Pettinger said the idea that sex saps your physical strength misses the point anyway.

"As far as I'm concerned, this game is 90 per cent mental anyway," Pettinger said. "It's not a routine of mine. Usually on game days, I'm focused on the game. But as far as I know, there might be guys for who that's a game-day routine with their wives and girlfriends. Whatever works."

Moose head coach Scott Arniel says he takes a, well, hands-off approach to the topic. "That's their own personal business and I don't go down that road.

That's up to them."

Arniel says his larger concern isn't the sex, but rather the pursuit of it.

"The only thing I say as a coach is that they not be out after curfew trying to look for it."

There is also a danger, Arniel says, when the sex comes looking for the players, many of whom are destined to be multimillionaires in the NHL and would be a prize catch for some women.

Arniel says the Moose have the RCMP and city police come in to speak to the players during training camp, and part of the subject matter is being wary of gifts that come wrapped in skimpy clothing.

"They tell them there are those kinds of girls out there, and that you have to be aware and be careful of these people who are out there and want to be in the headlines or take advantage of players," Arniel said.

"It's all about life lessons, being careful about who you're with."

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

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