To win those battles, you need to be able to read the play around you and, more importantly, be physically strong on your skates. Muscular strength also protects you from injury and will help you heal quicker if you do get injured.
Strong legs are important for powerful skating strides, starting, turning, and stopping.
In addition, leg strength contributes to a potent shot. When focussing on strength improvements, you are generally working to increase your power and muscle mass, with gains in muscular endurance being secondary. When focussing on endurance improvements, you are generally working to increase your muscle's ability to work over a period of time, with gains in power and muscle mass being secondary. Strength and endurance training should not be just a one-dimensional improvement program. By combining them with programs such as cardio and mental conditioning , you can develop into a total hockey package.