Skate Mate

The last time I paid to have my skates sharpened was 2 years ago.  I went to DePhilip’s on Francis Lewis in Bayside and paid $10.  They didn’t bother to ask what hollow I wanted.  Most likely they have no idea what a hollow is.  Ever since then I’ve found it more economical, and consistent, to sharpen my own skates by hand.  I can do it whenever I want, and try to keep it about the same level.

I use the Skate Mate skate sharpener to keep my edges clean.  This is one of the few hockey related purchases I made at a Modell’s.  I would say 95% of Modell’s don’t have any hockey related equipment.  For whatever reason one of them had this way back in 2009, and I decided to pick it up on a whim.  It’s pretty simple to use.  You expand out the sharpener to fit over the blade, tighten it to just where you can freely move it, and then push it back and forth against the blade for about 3-5 minutes while applying little pressure.

The Skate Mate

It won’t get you the sharpest edges, but it will keep them sharp.  For me personally, I would prefer to keep a clean edge consistently, rather than have something extremely sharp for a few games and slowly degrade.  This way it’s easier to balance on the ice every week when you have the same edges, and you always know how hard to dig in for stops.  On average I sharpen my skates about every 6-10 games, mostly out of laziness.  Otherwise I would keep it to 4-6 as a happy medium.

The reason it works for all types of skate hollows, supposedly, is because the SkateMate cylinder which does the sharpening is cardboard coated with a ceramic abrasive material.  According to the marketing material, it’s better than the competition which primarily use whetstones instead.  The ceramic material wears down as you use it, but you simply shift the cylinder over a little, or can buy replacements should you wear it down completely.

One technique I like to use to ensure I sharpen enough is first color the bottom of my blade with a marker.  After that, perform the sharpening steps with the Skate Mate until all spots of the marker have disappeared.  Sometimes a little streak can still remain which you otherwise wouldn’t see, which is why you need to slowly wait for it to wear down during the sharpening.  Also I’m not picky, so even if a little streak is there, it’s good enough for me as long as the edge is still sharp.

My only qualms with the Skate Mate is sometimes the fasteners used to tighten or widen the blade holder get stuck.  I’ve had to use pliers to get them loose enough to use my fingers.  Also the Skate Mate also has two flat ceramic abrasive pads on the bottom, which are to be used to debur the edges causing by sharpening.  Unfortunately there are no replacements included in any of the kits, so once those wear down you’re out of luck.  But for me deburring isn’t a big deal, and I don’t bother wasting time on it anyway.

Overall I rate this product an A.  It keeps your edges sharp, although isn’t a replacement for professional sharpening.  Definitely worth keeping in your hockey bag just in case.

Waxed Laces

Do yourself a favor, and buy a set of waxed laces.  It wasn’t until last Fall where I switched over thanks to Ray buying me a pair, but it’s a huge world of difference.  As soon as I got them, I knew I need it on all my skates.  Your skates become easier and quicker to tie, the laces won’t bite your hand anymore because of the fabric, you’ll be able to easily get the laces in tight (and probably too tight), and they’re barely more expensive than a regular pair.  It will also allow you be to an egregious attention whore like myself by getting them in the glaring neon colors available.

City Ice Pavilion @ Long Island City

Located in Queens on the roof of a Sleepy’s Mattress store is City Ice Pavilion.  Even though you’re across the street from a prison and right in the middle of a warehouse district, the location is pretty central to the city.  The rink is right off the LIE one exit from Manhattan, and two blocks from the 7 train.  For any New York hockey player, this is probably the second most popular rink, right behind Chelsea Piers.

The rink is very unique.  You may have noticed I said it’s located on the roof.  But it’s not outdoors.  It’s actually situated in a bubble, the same as what tennis courts use in the winter to stay open.  With all this considering, they still have decent lighting and netting hanging from the ceiling, but things can get a little dicey with high winds and precipitation.  There are times the weather causes the rink to close as a precaution.

Inside the bubble

In addition to this the ice quality is somewhere between a C+ or a B-.  This may be due to the constant use of the ice surface due to all the programming, the compressor size since it’s on a roof, or the warmer temperature found inside the bubble during certain times of the year.  But if you get used to the bouncing puck, then you’ll be able to skate fine.  Although the wait time during surfacing can be quite considerable since occasionally you have to wait for it to dry.

One interesting thing is the rink stays open almost all year, with only 1 or 2 week breaks.  But like I said, the constant programming might also add to the wear on the ice.  The silver lining is not only is the surface full NHL regulation size, but they also have a mini-rink in the back which you can rent for $10.  There are also a decent amount of bleachers available around the rink should you have an audience as well.

Only the rink is on the roof though.  The second level of the warehouse consists of a pro-shop, offices, lockers, and other random stuff.  This means you need to take an elevator or stairs to go between the rink and locker room.  The wait is not bad at all though, especially during late night games.  But the elevator can smell, although no worse than the locker will.  One the bottom floor is the a parking garage, and there is also ample street parking for the late night league games since it’s a warehouse area.

One thing this rink does very well is organization.  The rink constantly updates scores, reminds you about upcoming schedules, locks the locker room during games, tells you how long you can stay in the locker to drink beer, and even puts your team logo on the locker room door to know which room you have.  The price of the rink is also the cheapest in the city for ice hockey.  And with an ample pool of players, there are enough teams and divisions to make play equal.

If you’re an open hockey player, then times are about the same as all the other rinks.  During the week open hockey is scheduled for the lunch hour.  On Friday and Saturday nights you can find it from 10pm-11:50pm.  Price is $25 to skate.

Overall I would give this rink a B+ and recommend it to anyone looking to play.

City Ice Pavilion
47-32 32nd Place Long Island City, NY 11101

Smooth Ice at Ice Works

Over the summer I was lucky enough to get  invited to a skate at Ice Works.  It was just a pick-up game that some guys put together on early Sunday evening.  For those who are uninformed, this is the practice rink for the Islanders in Syosset.  The thing that struck me of course was the ice.  It was like skating on a sheet of glass.  It was so unbelievably smooth that you could go so fast and glide so easily.

The facility itself was very nice.  Even though it was the middle of the summer, everything was kept cool.  Syosset is a relatively quiet town, so you pull up to a well-kept parking lot with lots of greenery around.  The Isles have a store/pro shop here, but it was closed at the time.  Although I saw they already had printed shirts to commemorate their upcoming pre-season game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

There’s two rinks here.  One is a small rink shaped more like a circle or small oval.  The second is the NHL regulation sizes rink.  Locker rooms were decent, but nothing to rave about.  Although the showers have typical bad temperature control.  Funny to think of John Tavares and Mark Streit having to deal with the same issues as any rec league player.

Definitely enjoyed playing here and hope to come back soon.  Midnight/Island Ice Hockey have regular open ice sessions here Sunday at 9:30pm, Wednesday at 9:40pm, and Friday at 9:40pm and 11:50pm.  I'll likely stop by more in the Fall.

Ice Works
175 Underhill Boulevard  Syosset, NY 11791

Spring 2012 Champs

Picking up my posts here as usual.  Expect a few down the pipe this week to catch up.  Wrote this a month ago, sitting in my drafts.

This Spring was one of the high notes in my hockey career (obviously I’m using that phrase very loosely).  My team, the Skating Dead, won their first championship at World Ice in only their second season of existence, albeit with a huge roster turn over.  World Ice decided to do a draft to even the teams, thankfully, which made this season possible.

In the pros when a team plays really great and leads to the cup, such as this season’s LA Kings, the players frequently say it was a magical year for the team.  I can definitely understand their sentiment now, as being on the Skating Dead was such a great experience thanks to the unbelievable team play everyone together.  Never before have I been so confident about a team, and especially impressed by the great passing and in-sync thoughts everyone had.

I’ve played many a season with a team that doesn’t click, and this was the polar opposite.  It’s seasons like this where you can really appreciate and clearly see the difference between why everything goes right, and everything goes wrong.  Guys call out their own plays, have confidence in their teammates ability to handle the puck, balance their ice team efficiently, and always come to the rink with a good attitude.

Although we didn’t win all our games, we always had great efforts.  It really began to shine as the season went on, and we solidified our lines.  Our first line primarily of Will, Brad, and Mike were as swift and smooth as the French Connection.  Guy LaFleur would be impressed with those types of drop passes and give-and-go’s.  Contrasting this was our second line of Ray, Adam, and Rubin.  It was all dump-and-chase here, with Adam providing the big speed to dig it out, and Ray and Rubin with the positioning to tap it in.

Typically our D was short staffed, but like most players, they play better when they play more.  Nothing can quite capture that than Josh, who was ironman on D.  Josh played pretty much the entire game.  Several times it was Kevin and I would constantly be switching off to get a breather, but Josh stayed in there.  It was impressive, and needed since typically our lungs were dead on the bench.  Kevin as per usual was the customary D man with a big body, long stick, and huge effort.  As for me, I think I got better with my speed and positioning, but I’m not Chris Pronger.

Like most teams, we had a bit of a revolving door with our goalie situation.  This was primarily because Andy’s work schedule changed half-way through the season.  He played great for us though, and I think we would have still won it with him in net.  Regardless, we were lucky enough to get Earnie as our new starting goalie.  After seeing him play really well at Harvey in roller, and I knew if he could play there, then he would definitely dominate on ice assuming he became comfortable.  I would say it took maybe 3 or so games for him to get into the groove of the new surface, but once he did was it akin to riding a hot goalie.  Combine this with the slick offense we had, and we had a team that was practically unbeatable (I think we actually went unbeaten near the end).

Thanks to everyone for playing, and to Sam for donating the championship cup.

World Ice Arena Spring 2012 Champions

Holiday Deals!

Just letting everyone know that there have been insane deals on hockey equipment for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  I recommend icewarehouse.com for the best deals.  They have 20% off for IW members.  And you can easily become a member by purchasing a water bottle or t-shirt.  Otherwise dickssportinggoods.com has 25% off any one item today only.  Great if you're looking to buy a high-end stick.

Get Those Rinks Ready

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which marks a big day American families to be together. It’s also a good marker for when you should start preparing to make your backyard ice rink. You don’t want to wait much longer as the temperature will drop considerably soon, and this long weekend makes a good time to put it together. You’ll notice it’s been about a year since I made a post. This is mostly due to the fact that I went through the crazy effort of making a backyard ice rink last winter. Because of that, I’ll export some of my hard earned knowledge to you.

My rink from last year

Before even thinking of what you’ll need for a rink, you should first ask yourself whether or not you really want to make one. From January to February last year, a lot of my free time was dedicated to keeping up the rink. Although truthfully that’s right in the middle of the winter, where you’re probably not going out too often to begin with. These nights were filled with going out after work into the freezing cold, working with freezing water, and staying up at late hours while the temperature was its lowest. But I did it because I wanted to know I could build that, and I knew it was the last year I would have a backyard for awhile since I moved in the Spring.

Once you do decide that you want to spend the long hard winter outdoors in the cold rather than inside, then here’s some things you should do to get going this weekend.

1. Measure the perimeter and area of the rink you want. Don’t bother trying for curved corners. 
2. Figure out the height of the boards you will need. This is mostly important if you’re working with uneven ground. The backyard I used was about a foot lower in one end than the other, so it needed higher boards on one side. The normal height you should use is 1’, and increase it on the lower end to make it level. If you’re low end is 1’ below the high end, then make the low end 2’ boards and the high end 1’ boards. 
3. Purchase your boards from a home development store like Lowe’s or Home Depot. Just go cheap with the untreated 4’ x 8’ plywood, and have them cut it into smaller segments. I did four 1’x6’ segments since that was the max size I could fit in the car that was useful for the rink size. The extra wood you end up with can be cut up into small stakes and joints. 
4. Purchase ample nails and screws which are long enough to go through the boards. Just ask someone who works at the store what they suggest. I used a power drill for putting this together, so I used a lot of long nails. 
5. Make sure you have a vise grip so that something can hold the stakes or joints to the boards while you nail or screw them together. It just makes it easier. 
6. Lay down painter's plastic tarps over the boards and cover the entire ice area. It shouldn’t be water tight, as you want the melted runoff to drain.  The plastic is just there to assist with building a proper ice base, though compacted snow can do this job too, but the sheets are easy to put down.  I used 10'x100' plastic sheeting.  Just tape the sheets together at certain points so they don’t fly away. Use a staple gun to attach the plastic to the boards. 

After all these steps are done all you have to do is wait for the temperature to drop and the first snow to come. It’s just a matter of time in December. Once you get your first snow fall, compress it down (like step on it or sled over it), and add lots of water to turn it into slush. Let it freeze, then keep adding water until it evens out into a smooth ice sheet. Alternatively if it doesn’t snow for awhile, but it’s really freezing (like lower than 20 degrees), you can probably just puddle the water outside and let it freeze. But that will take more water and time on your part.

I’ll put up another post detailing some temperature and watering guidance, and some gritty details on how to avoid having your hose frozen. At least for this weekend you’ll be all set for the rink before the temperate drops. Probably by this time next month you’ll be out there on the ice.

-Drew