One of the most important pieces of equipment in hockey is your skates. You spend hundreds of dollars on them (maybe even a little north of a thousand), and if you don’t take proper care of them, that investment can be done in just one season or less. To ensure that doesn’t happen, we have some tips to help ensure you get the most out of your skates!
Take your skates out of your bag after each skate
This allows your skates to completely dry out. If you want to go the extra mile, remove the insoles. This also gets rid of some of the moisture that can be in the skate from sweat, and ice that could come into the skate . This will help make your coppers and rivets last longer.
Take your skate guards off after every skate as well.
By taking your guards off, you dry off and air out your blades. If you don’t remove the guards, the blades could become rusty or eroded. If you need guards, check out our article on skate guards here!
Make sure you’re not skating on nicked or damage edges (this also includes dull edges).
You can ensure this by getting your skates sharpened every 6-10 on ice hours. If you do slide into the boards or a goal by accident you can check your edges by holding it to the light or running a finger gently across the blade. If it doesn’t feel smooth try a honing stone first or take them
Loosen your skates up after your skate
When taking off your skates, make sure you untie them enough. If you force your foot out of the skate you could possibly damage the tendon guard or rip off the tendon guard (as seen in the gallery below!). This can even happen on higher end skates. To ensure you’re not putting extra stress on your skates unlace them a few eyelets and don’t kick off your skates!
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