Hockey Players: Where do you get your skates sharpened?

[Alphamale]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

Right now, I am playing Tier 5 in Ice604. I played 1 game in tier 9 in Coast against a "should be in tier 7 or 8" team and had way more fun.
I also play sunday nights at BWC.

I know I posted this in the Canucks thread, but I am playing this saturday night with some Canucks alumni. I'm thinking I wanna drop the gloves with Kirk McLean. Heehee.

Yo, what team do you plan on in Tier 5?

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by Alphamale

Yo, what team do you plan on in Tier 5?

That depends. Are you hitting on me?

Cubz.

[rsx10]

hey i was the captain on that team before i got traded to the bruins lol

[Alphamale]

Originally Posted by SumAznGuy

That depends. Are you hitting on me?

Cubz.

How did I guess that...haha.

We're rival teams. And by "rival" I mean....our teams don't play nice. Can you guess which team I'm on?

[SumAznGuy]

RSX!0, this is my first season with them.

Alph. Again my first season, so I assume Killer bunnies. If not then Master bladers is the only other team I can think of.

[Alphamale]

^I am disappointed with your choices.

Haha, I play on SPH Sharks.

[Noir]

Originally Posted by Alphamale

^I am disappointed with your choices.

Haha, I play on SPH Sharks.

Nice. Played you guys when I was with Cubz a couple of weeks ago. You guys have a pretty good team. Capitals inspired Jerseys are nice too.

SumAznGuy.

I'm playing you Sunday.

[shishkabobo]

^ watch out for Alpha
he has been suspended for a bench brawl! :P

he was also our primetime sniper during the playoffs this summer

[Alphamale]

^LOLWUT? Who are you?

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by Noir

Nice. Played you guys when I was with Cubz a couple of weeks ago. You guys have a pretty good team. Capitals inspired Jerseys are nice too.

SumAznGuy.

I'm playing you Sunday.

Should I bring chocolate for our first date?

Alph. Sharks hmmmm..... That was a weaksauce game. Boooo!!!!!

[m3thods]

Originally Posted by mickz

Regular cut = overall control and speed
Deep cut = more speed but sacrificing control
Shallow cut = more control but sacrificing speed

It's all a preference to the skater.

I think you have it mixed up. A shallower hollow (e.g. 5/8ths, 1") gives you more glide speed at the expense of being able to cut into the ice. Shallower hollows reduce friction thus you go faster. But it will feel like 1-3 skates after a 1/2" sharpen.

A deeper hollow (e.g. 3/8ths, 1/4) will dig in substantially, increasing friction. Most places avoid these hollows since most people don't have the force to use these effectively (i.e. stop without catching too much ice and doing a faceplant). 1/4" is taboo pretty much.

Being a shorter heavier player (5'7 170) I find that 5/8" is my happy place. Otherwise like Mickz noted its all PP.


As for sharpenings, I find Cyclone Coquitlam and THS are just as good. I go to Cyclone because its 2 mins away, but both are excellent.

From what I hear though, Larry's in N Van is the best hands down. This was apparently the case when my dad played 15 years ago, and the majority of people that I play with in league and drop in (~30 people) swear by him and travel across the water to get it done there. Personally I have yet to try it out.

[beetea]

5/8ths ftw

[mickz]

Originally Posted by m3thods

I think you have it mixed up. A shallower hollow (e.g. 5/8ths, 1") gives you more glide speed at the expense of being able to cut into the ice. Shallower hollows reduce friction thus you go faster. But it will feel like 1-3 skates after a 1/2" sharpen.

A deeper hollow (e.g. 3/8ths, 1/4) will dig in substantially, increasing friction. Most places avoid these hollows since most people don't have the force to use these effectively (i.e. stop without catching too much ice and doing a faceplant). 1/4" is taboo pretty much.

Being a shorter heavier player (5'7 170) I find that 5/8" is my happy place. Otherwise like Mickz noted its all PP.


As for sharpenings, I find Cyclone Coquitlam and THS are just as good. I go to Cyclone because its 2 mins away, but both are excellent.

From what I hear though, Larry's in N Van is the best hands down. This was apparently the case when my dad played 15 years ago, and the majority of people that I play with in league and drop in (~30 people) swear by him and travel across the water to get it done there. Personally I have yet to try it out.

Shit, I had it backwards. Thanks for the correction.

[AzNightmare]

wtf, didn't some of you guys joined in on the newbie pickup game on Sat night? LOL.
you guys are pros.

Now tell me how much does it cost to sharpen skates? And when you buy skates from stores, do they come pre-sharpened or do I have to pay extra for that?

[SumAznGuy]

Originally Posted by AzNightmare

wtf, didn't some of you guys joined in on the newbie pickup game on Sat night? LOL.
you guys are pros.

Now tell me how much does it cost to sharpen skates? And when you buy skates from stores, do they come pre-sharpened or do I have to pay extra for that?

Sharpening is around $5-7 for player skates.
You can always get the pre-paid skate sharpen stamp cars. THS is $15 for 5 sharpens. Or a few other places offer $50 for all you can sharpen for X amount of time.

Brand new skates are not pre-sharpened, but most places will sharpen them for you when you buy it from them.

[the_rickster]

i have never paid more than $5.50

almost all shops will sharpen the skates as a courtesy when purchased.

[Noir]

Originally Posted by AzNightmare

wtf, didn't some of you guys joined in on the newbie pickup game on Sat night? LOL.
you guys are pros.

Sometimes, it's just all about getting as much ice-time as possible. For some people, playing once or twice a week is not enough.

Mind you, Ice604 and most other leagues generally gets a player a game per week. Meaning a general team that has 3 lines of forwards & defense must split 60 minutes of playing time equally. That being said, you're pretty much only playing for 20 minutes per game and if you play only once a week, you're only playing 20 minutes of hockey per week. Definitely not enough for some.

Originally Posted by AzNightmare

Now tell me how much does it cost to sharpen skates? And when you buy skates from stores, do they come pre-sharpened or do I have to pay extra for that?

All Hockey Shops will sharpen skates upon purchase. The Hockey Shop, Cyclone Taylors, Larry's Sports. Not sure if the same can be said for franchise sports stores like Sport Mart or Sport Check, but as discussed on this thread, you wouldn't want them to be doing it anyways. They'll just fuck up your steel.

[The Hype]

Originally Posted by Noir

Not sure if the same can be said for franchise sports stores like Sport Mart or Sport Check, but as discussed on this thread, you wouldn't want them to be doing it anyways. They'll just fuck up your steel.

That all depends on who's doing the sharpening. I work for Sport Mart and I have guys who will only come see me for their skates. If I'm not there, they won't let anyone else do it. I won't argue that some technicians just don't care, or don't have the proper training (one tech from the Coquitlam store did every kind of skate with a 1/2" radius!!), but there are those of us out there who do take the time and effort to do it properly, because it reflects on us, not the store!

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by The Hype

That all depends on who's doing the sharpening. I work for Sport Mart and I have guys who will only come see me for their skates. If I'm not there, they won't let anyone else do it. I won't argue that some technicians just don't care, or don't have the proper training (one tech from the Coquitlam store did every kind of skate with a 1/2" radius!!), but there are those of us out there who do take the time and effort to do it properly, because it reflects on us, not the store!

It's nice to see you have pride in your work.

And yes, places like Sport Mart, Sportchek etc. do provide a complimentary sharpening when you buy new skates (cuz I've purchased skates from them before).

[m3thods]

Originally Posted by The Hype

I won't argue that some technicians just don't care, or don't have the proper training (one tech from the Coquitlam store did every kind of skate with a 1/2" radius!!), but there are those of us out there who do take the time and effort to do it properly, because it reflects on us, not the store!

LOL the guy probably meant hollow, otherwise you'd be skating on the surface thats the equivalent of a quarter .

It's pretty standard though to do 1/2" hollows at most sharpening stores unless you specify a specific one. It's the most neutral one. If you're talking about Cyclones in Coquitlam, I can vouch that they do more than just 1/2".

[The Hype]

Originally Posted by m3thods

LOL the guy probably meant hollow, otherwise you'd be skating on the surface thats the equivalent of a quarter .

It's pretty standard though to do 1/2" hollows at most sharpening stores unless you specify a specific one. It's the most neutral one. If you're talking about Cyclones in Coquitlam, I can vouch that they do more than just 1/2".

Hollow, radius, whatever. I wasn't just referring to hockey skates though, the guy would put a 1/2" hollow on hockey skates, figure skates, goalie skates, you name it! Which is retarded because the blades on those skates are thicker, and doesn't exactly serve either discipline very well. And it was Coquitlam Sport Mart, not Cyclone...I'd trust a hockey shop would know what they were doing.

[AzNightmare]

Well I'm probably gonna be purchasing skates today. I'll need them sharpened either today evening or tomorrow, early in the morning so I can stick and puck. The Hype, are you working then? and which one do you work at? Or any places to recommend?

I'm new at ice hockey though, so I'm not sure what you guys mean by bad skate sharpens. I've only used rental skates for most of my life... lol. I'm most likely going to buy skates from sportmart or sportchek, so should I let them sharpen my skate? And if they do a bad sharpen, would it be okay to get them sharpened again by someone better or will sharpening the blades again after it has just been sharpen be bad?

[SumAznGuy]

Depending on how strong of a skater you are.
As long as they put on some edge, you probably won't notice the difference.
For me, I can tell when they do a shitty job sharpening my skates as it affects turning, and start/stops.

You can always get it resharpened if you are not happy with the initial job, but it just means they might have to grind off some extra metal from the blade to fix the mistake.

[Wykydtron]

I used to work at an independent sports store in Langley. We sharpened skates. Only people I would trust to do it, had been playing hockey since they could walk. Too bad that they were always the busiest people in the store. I never did it. I was trained to do it, but I just didn't have the touch to do it, plus my eyes weren't good enough to properly see the edge of the blade. We didn't use the automated machine, did it by hand. People would come from Vancouver area just for Ryan to sharpen their skates

[babas]

Hockey Shop is great. I go with 5/8" and it's good no matter who sharpens it