“Are your skates sharp?” This is a familiar question
to hockey players, asked by coaches and parents often throughout the hockey
season. Unfortunately, though, regardless of the player’s level (fun-oriented
house league or highly competitive ‘AAA’), he or she DOES NOT KNOW THE ANSWER!
At least, not until the skates hit the ice, and then it is too late.
Skating is a critical part of the sport and skates are the single most
expensive piece of equipment, especially for those playing at the competitive
level. (Exception being, of course, goal tenders, they have other expensive
issues.) And how much time is spent learning how to tell if sharpening is
needed, what kind of sharpening, the differences among the options available?
About as close as it gets is; “Are your skates sharp”.
How often, too, have you read an article about skate sharpening in a newspaper
or magazine? I read ONE. It was in 1999 and the author was marketing a new
skate sharpening system. And what of all the different options available.
There's contouring, profiling, Caging and rockering; ultimate, maximum and
ever-edges; A, B, C and D-cuts along with suicide; specialty sharpening
for defines and forwards: Confusing? An understatement to say the least.
There has been a lot of attention paid to skate sharpening since the early
80’s, by a wide array of interested parties. Specialty shops like Absolutely,
Just and Mostly Hockey have done well from a business standpoint during
this period. They have initiated marketing programs designed to keep the
customer coming back (to spend his money, of course). Buy a $350 pair of
Bauer 5000’s and we’ll give you 10 FREE sharpenings. Or, large retailers
like National (in Toronto) have substantially reduced their charges for
skate sharpening just to get the consumer in the door. And of course,
to get to the skate sharpening facility (which is usually at the back of
the store), you have to pass by the sticks, the tape, the laces.
Technology has entered the arena also (so to speak). Skates are clamped
into a machine and a computer chip “drives” the sharpener to precise
sharpening specifications. Gone (almost) are the days when you could go to
your local arena or cycle shop and ask for a little “rockering”. (There are
a few of these experienced guys around, but for the most part, they're a dying
breed. I’ve dubbed them “the vanishing GURUS OF EDGE”.) Store employees
today are taught “how to sell”. One shop offers a four-hour course to its
staff on using the cash register, yet limits the skate sharpening training
to a 20-minute, one-on-one session on what buttons to press on their CAG
1 sharpener.
And where does this leave the consumer? The player, parent, referee, coach
and even the occasional recreational skater is either confused , or absolutely
convinced the right thing is being done to his/her skates. Choices are being
made, but done so with either limited information or MIS-information at
hand. This is the introduction to a series of articles on skate sharpening.
The series is called “Skate Sharpening—Myths and Realities”. The articles
will explore the many myths within the industry, dispel the mis-information,
and discover the realities of skate sharpening.
The title of the first piece in the series is:
Are My Skates Sharp?
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