Playing hockey with dull skates is no fun at all. That’s why it’s important to keep your skate’s edges sharp enough for those tight turns.
The right skate blade sharpening frequency for hockey
If you’ve even played hockey with dull skates, you know that you can’t reach maximum performance. Being a great player means you have to be nimble on the ice, and that entails being able to turn on a dime and stop at a moment’s notice. With dull skates, you won’t be able to get to the places you need to be on the ice quickly enough.
To keep your skate blades sharp, it’s important to know the right frequency for sharpening.
There’s no magic formula for optimal frequency of skate sharpening
It all depends on how often you play hockey, and how hard you skate. Professional hockey players, for example, have their skates sharpened between every game and practice — and sometimes even between periods during a game. But a beginner hockey player may only need to sharpen his or her skates once or twice per season. The best way to tell when your skates need sharpening is if you notice that you are not able to stop quickly, or if you aren’t able to make tight turns because your skates are slipping uncontrollably on the ice.
A simple trick for knowing when to sharpen your skates
Maybe you haven’t been on the ice for a while, and you simply cannot remember if your skates need sharpening. Here’s how to tell: run the back of your nail carefully along the edge of one of your skates. If the skate is sharp enough to shave off a tiny bit of your nail, it is probably sharp enough for you to wear while playing hockey. This is not a foolproof rule, but it is a pretty sure bet.
It’s best not to rely on the arena’s pro shop for skate sharpening
If you know you need to sharpen your skates before your next practice or game, don’t wait until right before you hit the ice. The reason for this is because arena pro shops are notorious for not always being open when they say they will be open. This is often because the man or woman who runs a pro shop is often the same person who drives the ice cleaning machine. So every time the ice needs to be cleaned (usually once an hour), the owner needs to shut the pro shop for 10–15 minutes.
The right skate blade sharpening frequency for hockey is not based on a magic formula. Do what is right for you.
National advertising powered by Mediative.com. Yellow PagesTM, Walking Fingers & DesignTM, YP.caTM, Find. & DesignTM, YellowPages.caTM, Canada411TM and YP ShopwiseTM are trademarks of Yellow Pages Digital & Media Solutions Limited in Canada. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © 2018 Yellow Pages Digital & Media Solutions Limited. All Rights Reserved.
