Read the rest hereA Canadian researcher has one theory that may partly explain why the Edmonton Oilers ran out of gas and lost hockey's most coveted trophy to the Carolina Hurricanes: testosterone.
Yes, the sex hormone -- as in the boys from the South may have been pumping more than the lads from the North during Monday night's do-or-die Stanley Cup matchup.
But the mismatch in testosterone levels has nothing to do with nationality or geography. It's more about what happens to the brain and body when a team plays on home ice, says researcher Justin Carre, a PhD candidate in psychology at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.
Sports statisticians will tell you that teams are victorious more often on home turf than when playing away, and Carre wanted to know why.
"There's been a lot of research in the sports psychology literature suggesting that there's psychological differences,'' Carre said Tuesday from Pittsburgh, where his research was presented at the Congress of Neuroendocrinology. "We wanted to see if this could also extend to hormone differences.''
So in a study of a Junior A hockey team from northern Ontario during the 2004-05 season, Carre and his team took samples of players' saliva before and after games, then measured levels of testosterone and the stress hormone cortisol.
They found that meeting opponents on home ice seemed to confer a physiological advantage for players, whose testosterone levels were found to be high even before their skates hit the ice, suggesting that the primarily male sex hormone may provide impetus for the defence of one's territory.
"Our players had significantly higher testosterone levels when they played at home,'' he said, noting that hockey players in effect defend their home rink much as a dog protects its yard.
Game outcome also appeared to affect testosterone: with a win, players' levels shot way up compared with pre-game measurements, said Carre. "It was a huge increase. We attribute that to an increase in social status.''
However, the study also found that levels of cortisol were higher among team members when they played at home, suggesting that skating in front of family, friends and fans produced pressure not felt on the road. Despite the increased stress, player self-confidence was higher at home, and that seemed to give players a performance edge, he said.
Cal Botterill, a sports psychologist at the University of Winnipeg, said the biological findings may have validity.
"I'm for the most part a proponent of theories other than the biological ones to explain behaviour,'' Botterill said, commenting on the study. "But the reality is there is a line of evidence that suggests there is a biological basis for the territorial imperative and more aggressiveness in the home environment.
"And that in all likelihood is related to higher levels of testosterone in players,'' he said, noting that NHL teams typically take more penalties when playing on home ice than in opponents' arenas.
Still, Botterill cautioned that surging hormones are likely only part of the game-winning equation.
Well that is a theory I never heard of before but it sounds reasonable to me.
