Does less oxygen in Colorado give the Avalanche an unfair advantage?

[T REX]

But how are the taxes?

 

[Loosie]

It came from Pierre....

 

[kingsholygrail]

So if the Sharks lose, it will be because of altitude sickness?

 

[Nizdizzle]

Instead of lowering the Pepsi Center 5000ft, I think they should consider increasing the height of every other area. We should give every team this advantage rather than take it away from those that already have it. If premium hockey is still the ultimate goal, at least.

 

[x Tame Impala]

The salary cap should take into account barometric pressure differentials. Unfair advantage, just like income taxes

 

[Negan4Coach]

If Denver were at 10,000 feet, I'd say yeah, for sure. But 5,500 feet? In my extensive amount of being at different altitudes doing strenuous things, I found that it doesn't really start to get weird until you hit 7500 feet for physically fit young men.

 

[PensandCaps]

the only time colorado would have an unfair advantage is if a star player had to sit out all games at the pepsi centre due to a blood disease.

I know that the Broncos have gotten an advantage over the years when starters have had to sit out because of a blood disease they have and can't play in high altitudes.

 

[Hennessy]

Who trains at high altitude? I know that the Avs players don't train at altitude in the off season.

Getting acclimatized to a higher elevation isn't permanent. It dissapears quickly.

You wouldn't retain any advantage from training at altitude.

There's a reason that the US Olympic Training Center is located in Colorado Springs.

 

[Braun]

I've been up to almost 7000m by foot and would be very surprised that at 5000' these athletes gain anything but a very, very minor advantage. Also after a few a day or two in the Denver your body would acclimatisea and it would be no advantage at all.

 

[AvsFan29]

There's a reason that the US Olympic Training Center is located in Colorado Springs.

Hockey is a lot different than consistent training over weeks

 

[AvsFan29]

This conundrum led to the development of the altitude training modality known as "Live-High, Train-Low", whereby the athlete spends many hours a day resting and sleeping at one (high) altitude, but performs a significant portion of their training, possibly all of it, at another (lower) altitude

showed significant performance gains in athletes who followed such a protocol for several weeks.

This isn't what the Avs players are doing.

I'm not disputing that the bodies response to altitude is to increase red blood cell count, and then if you quickly go down to sea level, you will have an advantage.

The Avs schedule doesn't support anything close to what those studies did. I'm also assuming they used much higher altitudes.

 

[JoeSakic13]

Sure Colorado has the outlier for high altitude, but teams have adjusted to this over the last 20+ years. If it was such a huge advantage, the 2010s would have been MUCH kinder to the Colorado Avalanche.

 

[Not So Mighty]

Pierre is just mad that the local commentators have an unfair advantage and are able to say more words about Crosby per minute between breaths.

 

[EXPECT THE LEAFS]

Of course it's an advantage when it comes to a highly anaerobic sport. Less effective oxygen concentration = muscles can't replenish ATP = muscle fatigue. Individuals who have played more under such an environment will be better adapted.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

do you think playing in Carolina during hurricane season is an unfair advantage for the Canes?

Isles hope to survive 'Hurricane' season - Brooklyn Eagle

 

[EXPECT THE LEAFS]

The OP might be an Avs fan...

But in all seriousness, they're playing inside an arena, not outside, and when was the last time Colorado had success due to the altitude?

However, if they ever played an outdoor game, then this thread would make more scene IMO, and the Sharks still won game 3 so...

On an extra note, what about an Eastern or Western team playing each other between the changing time zones?

So the arena is pressurized lol?

 

[Elysian]

If it mattered then surely Colorado would be top of the league each year.

 

[Evincar]

Yeah Pepsi Center isnt the same as Coors or Mile High.

It might be an advantage but its extremely minimal.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

It's been talked to death in the NHL starting from 1995...

And in fact probably already during the Rockies years, but I'm too young to remember that. But I imagine it was parroted on and on by hockey journalists even back then, too.

I was watching the game live as I made the thread, hence the "just now". I'm aware it's been a debate for a while.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

If it mattered then surely Colorado would be top of the league each year.

I'm promoting a debate to see if it's an advantage, not something that's world-breaking.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

The OP might be an Avs fan...

But in all seriousness, they're playing inside an arena, not outside, and when was the last time Colorado had success due to the altitude?

However, if they ever played an outdoor game, then this thread would make more scene IMO, and the Sharks still won game 3 so...

On an extra note, what about an Eastern or Western team playing each other between the changing time zones?

Did the Parayko jersey on my avatar give it away? Being indoors doesn't change the reality of the difference in pressure and the amount of oxygen in the air, unless the arena is pumping oxygen into the building.

 

[ThatDudeSakic]

This isn't what the Avs players are doing.

I'm not disputing that the bodies response to altitude is to increase red blood cell count, and then if you quickly go down to sea level, you will have an advantage.

The Avs schedule doesn't support anything close to what those studies did. I'm also assuming they used much higher altitudes.

How do you know the Avs aren't doing this?

Do you have anything that backs up your claims? Seems like you're just going off your opinion. No where on wiki did it say you lose acclimation quickly.

Aren't they spending many hours training at high altitude then going to lower altitude? No where on wiki did say anything about "quickly going down to sea level". It talks about staying in high altitude for long hours, sleeping, then going back to a lower altitude after a length of time.

 

[AvsFan29]

How do you know the Avs aren't doing this?

Do you have anything that backs up your claims? Seems like you're just going off your opinion. No where on wiki did it say you lose acclimation quickly.

Aren't they spending many hours training at high altitude then going to lower altitude? No where on wiki did say anything about "quickly going down to sea level". It talks about staying in high altitude for long hours, sleeping, then going back to a lower altitude after a length of time.

It talks about them training at a much higher altitude for a much longer period of time.

Yes your body does lose acclimatization quickly. Look it up.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Pierre brought up an interesting point during game 3 just now, there's less oxygen in the air in Denver due to a much higher altitude than other NHL cities. Is this an unfair advantage, considering the Avs players play regularly in Denver for home games? Discuss.

Advantage maybe. Unfair? What are they supposed to do, excavate the city of Denver until it's at sea level?

 

[korrowan]

Under 10000 feet it isn't that big of a deal. I mountain bike and don't notice anything under 8-10k. As long as a team doesn't come into altitude too early the body doesn't have time to adapt to the elevation in a negative or positive way (3 plus days normally). On top of that unless you live in high elevation on a permanent basis your body doesn't have time to properly adapt and if you leave for more than a few days you lose almost all of your acclimation. So home ice advantage in a 7 games series only really matters for the first 2 games as both teams can travel back but it is more beneficial to just show up the night before the game. Either way, in this case, the stadium isn't at high enough elevation to make a difference. I could ride flat out in the Denver area (5k-7k') as I can in Ashville, NC (2200' to 5k). It is meaningless. In Crested Butte (9-11k) you can definitely feel the difference and it is especially rough after 3 days.