Matt played hockey from the age of 10. He stopped in his early twenties after hip and knee pain got too irritating and intense.

After spending several years rehabbing his entire body, he was able to get back to playing goalie and defense in rec league ice hockey at the age of 28. He played in his local rec leagues at the highest competitive tiers as a goalie. He stopped playing at age 37 before his son was born to focus on other less-stressful athletic pursuits (and because of long-distances to get to ice rinks).

Hip pain from playing hockey is common, and it isn't a reflection of bone deformity or damage.

Hockey skating trains your body to do hip extension, external rotation, and abduction together. This is great for powerful speed generation on the ice, but it is not ideal for hips that feel good when walking long distances and hiking. This is one pattern that leads to imbalanced hip muscles. The inner thighs often get little to no training for strength or flexibility.

In goalies, inner thighs are often just stretched and stretched and stretched. The lack of inner thigh strengthening then leads to pain and dysfunction in the groin.

Strong hockey thighs are also great, but frequent over-training of the quads can lead to you being stuck in anterior pelvic tilt, which reduces hip range of motion and overall function.

Very few skaters or goalies actively train their internal and external rotation flexibility and strength. This leads to pain and problems when you need to pivot on top of a leg (for a slapshot) or drive your knees down (like in the butterfly).

To restore your hip function as a hockey player, you need to massage, stretch, and strengthen the muscles around your hips systematically. There isn't a magic set of exercises that works for every player, unfortunately.

You need to learn your own individual body's needs, understand the demands of your play and practice schedule, and adjust your training to give yourself the best chance of proper recovery and progression.

Pay attention to those quads and inner thighs. Pay attention to restoring hip adduction and rotational strength. And don't skimp on stretching and massage work. All of them will help you recover and restore your hips.

If at all possible, it is very helpful to take a break from hockey for a few weeks or months while you learn which muscles need attention and training. This gives you much needed rest and perspective. It also helps you make much-needed flexibility gains.