4 Healthy Pre-Game Snacks For Hockey Performance

When it comes to fueling your body for a hockey game or practice, a lot needs to be considered.  You should plan to eat your last large pre-game meal many hours before competition as well as your hydration plan at least 24-hour to competition.

But when it comes to the final 1-2 hours before a game, you don’t want to consume an entire meal – you’ll be too full because your body will still be digesting while you’re playing, which is not a place you want to be!

Instead, if you want to consume anything that close to hitting the ice, it should be small, easy to digest snacks to give your body some quick energy to get you through the game.

Here are tips for the ideal macronutrient profile of pre-game snacks, timing of those snacks, as well as a few of our favorite snacks that check all the boxes:

How Soon Before A Game Should You Eat?

Timing meals and snacks before a hockey game really comes down to personal preference.  Some people prefer playing on more of an empty stomach, others need to feel properly fueled to perform.  People also digest food at different speeds.  But in general, your stomach should be fully cleared by the time the game starts since any food in your stomach may give you cramps and steal the body’s energy for digestion that you would otherwise use for athletic performance.

For evening games when you have the entire day to eat, it’s generally recommended to eat a full meal about 3-6 hours before gametime, and then optionally consuming one of the pre-game snacks mentioned below about 1-2 hours before gametime.

For early morning games when you may not have enough time to eat a full breakfast and fully digest it, consuming a healthy dinner the night before and then one or two of the snacks below about 1-2 hours before gametime should be sufficient.  For an additional calorie boost, you can drink a sugar-based sports drink during the game as well.

What Are The Ideal Pre-Game Macronutrients?

It’s important to have an empty stomach by the time the game starts.  Since a pre-game snack is usually consumed about 1-2 hours before gametime, that doesn’t give your body enough time to fully digest fats and proteins, but certainly gives it enough time to digest simple carbs found in things like fruits and honey.

Therefore it’s strongly recommended to avoid fats, proteins and fibers close to gametime.  The closer to gametime you are, the stricter you should be on that rule.  The further away from game time you are, you can be a bit more flexible and consume things like a little peanut butter with your banana or a scoop of protein with your smoothie in order to add a bit more sustenance.

Here are some of our favorite pre-game snacks:

Banana

Serving Size: 1 Medium Banana (118g)
Calories: 105 kcal
Protein: 1.3 g
Carbohydrates: 27 g
Sugars: 14.4 g
Fat: 0.3 g
Fiber: 3.1 g
Potassium: 422 mg
Vitamin C: 10 mg

Bananas are one of the best pre-game snacks for any physical activity.  Not only do they hit the ideal macronutrient profile – low protein, low fat, low fiber, easily digestible carbs – but they pack a serious punch when it comes to another important nutritional factor – electrolytes.

On average, one medium banana will contain around 400mg of potassium, a vital electrolyte for performance alongside sodium. Consuming a glass of water or sports drink with the banana can help hydrate your body for peak performance.

Honey

Serving Size: 1 Tablespoon of Honey (21g)
Calories: 64 kcal
Protein: 0 g
Carbohydrates: 17 g
Sugars: 17 g
Fat: 0 g
Fiber: 0 g

Honey is another popular and common pre-game snack not only for hockey players, but many endurance athletes as well thanks to it being so easily digestible. 

Honey is made of fructose, glucose and other sugars. Some people may have a hard time digesting fructose, so it’s important not to go overboard with the honey – one to two tablespoons and a nice big glass of water is more than enough to fuel your body for the game as long as you followed a proper nutritional protocol up until that point.

Kiwi

Serving Size: 1 Medium Kiwi (76g)
Calories: 42 kcal
Protein: 0.8 g
Carbohydrates: 10.1 g
Sugars: 6.2 g
Fat: 0.4 g
Fiber: 2.1 g
Potassium: 215 mg
Vitamin C: 71 mg

Kiwis are another fantastic pre-game fruit due to their low fiber content.  And if you generally experience gastrointestinal discomforts with eating before games, you can avoid eating the skin of the kiwi to bring the fiber content to almost zero and make the entire snack extremely easily digestible.

Although the banana is the king of potassium, a medium sized kiwi will still deliver you about 200mg of potassium.  Chase one or two kiwis with water and you can help keep your body hydrated for competition.

Smoothie

The nutritional content of a smoothie will vary drastically depending on what you blend in it, but in general a smoothie can be a great pre-game snack.

It’s important to note what the base of the smoothie is.  We always recommend water or coconut water for a pre-game smoothie to keep it easily digestible and hydrating – cows milk and alternative milks take much longer to digest, which may cause you problems during the game.

An ideal pre-game smoothie might look something like this:
½ cup frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana
1 pinch of salt
1 scoop of whey protein
Coconut water until desired consistency

Dial In Your Pre-Game Nutrition

Of course you’ll need to do your on-ice drills and your off-ice plyometric training to truly outshine on the ice. But dialing in your nutrition and hydration can properly fuel your body and give you an edge.  Hockey is a game of seconds, so you should take every edge you can get.