Jets and Jet Lag

Winnipeg Jets city's national hockey team returned to Winnipeg on Nov 10th from their extended "away from home" schedule. The final score at that game was a disappointing 5-2. The coach during his interview blamed it on poor performance- skating was poor, defence was poor, the forwards had no zip and were poor, and so was their goalie - indeed everything and everyone was poor. Maybe even the coaches themselves.
Where only the players to blame as the coach suggested ? I don't think so.
I feel that the cause of the poor performance was "jet lag". Any team with such a hectic schedule cannot avoid jet lag. And for this there is a physiological explanation, namely insufficient melatonin. Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland. This gland is located in the brain and is often referred to as the 3rd eye. Bright lights, reduced hours of sleep, and time travel through different time zones reduces the amount of melatonin the body produces, This disrupts our biological clocks and rhythms and causes jet lag-Very appropriate for our team the jets- As a result we want to sleep when we should be scoring goals. Travelling quickly through different time zones as occurs with air flights does not give sufficient time for our biological rhythm to adjust. even if we get the recommended hours of sleep. Yes that little third eye called the pineal gland does not like the bright lights .
I recommend that the team doctors consider developing a schedule for their players for taking melatonin supplement before they begin one of their hectic travel schedules. That way they might avoid jet lag and the coaches would be happier and less critical.
Melatonin has other physiological functions and is considered an anti-tumor agent. It might be of value for epidemeiologists to do a retrospective study of hockey and other sport players to compare the incidence of cancer - especially the less common ones- with the type of travel schedules.
To the coaches don't be too hard on the jets team this year. Remember they are in an eastern league and have this hectic travelling schedule until the next season. Then and only then if they continue to perform badly -you might be right in commenting that they are poor.