Artificial Ice video

[Fletch 219]

I want this in my garage. Of course I would need to own a home first but that's just a minor detail. ;)

http://stream.broadwaychannel.com/content/...media_9_256.wmv

[saveourpens 0]

this has probably been discussed, but i've been on one of those and they just have a completely different feel than ice. It''s hard on your skates (blades really wear out from digging into the plastic. there's all these white flakes on them at the end)

If I could waste some money, Id but it to practice my shooting and stickhandling a bit, never to have a pond hockey game.

[Fletch 219]

Yeah I would just want it to practice on and would probably wear a pair of backup skates on it but still.....that would be sweet to be able to mess around with anytime you wanted to.

[Patrick67 1]

It would be awesome as part of a basement shooting extravaganza, but useless for real games.

[UMWhockey 0]

Depending on what kind you get it can be good for games if you have a large enough sheet of it. The goal is to skate a little at the begining to heat up your blades so that you can skate much quicker. If you have a large enough sheet to be able to get to full speed it isn't that bad.

I think it is real good for goalie training because it creates a little more resistance and builds leg strenght in goalies with all the movememts you have to make

[budro727 0]

So this would be basically the same thing. Used to have one close to me, but it closed down and a buddy of mine bought a bunch of it for his basement to shoot on.

EDIT: Forgot Link

[DBLMINR 0]

ya this stuff looks pretty kool, i friend of mine had a chance to skate on this same surface and said it was almost identical to ice.

[pantherfan 0]

There any way to "re-surface" the ice?

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

There any way to "re-surface" the ice?

maybe a buffer.

[shute 4]

one thing i notice from that video is how much the players slow down when they stop skating. you can really notice it when you watch the goalie

[biff44 0]

You have to be practical about stuff like this. Unless you have a 12 foot high ceiling in your basement, you are not going to be practicing shots down there!

If you play defense, you desire a length of synthetic ice that is about the same distance as from the point to the net. The goal line to the blue line is 64 feet, so you would like 70 feet or so of ice length!

If you are a forward, how do you score? If you just want to shoot at the 4 corners of a net, you just need a small square of synthetic ice to stand on and place the puck on. If you think you are going to be practicing dynamic moving shots, you have to figure in that the synthetic ice has more friction, so you will not be moving like on real ice, and the puck will not be handling like it does on real ice. In other words, if you practice enough, your timing will be off when on real ice.

This is good stuff for a shooting surface or for stickhandling practice, but you do not need a whole basement full of it to do that.

[Chef23 0]

My son goes to Puckmasters and I think it is very good for him. The added resistance of the surface (it is about 80% as slippery as the ice) helps his stride and make him be more positive with the puck. It is good for his stride and his balance. When he first got on the surface he had a tendency to fall forward because he had too much weight on his toes and it has been helping with that.

They play three on three games on it and it seems pretty good for that.

I asked the owner of the local Puckmasters about maintenance and he said you only have to sweep it off daily. Shavings do get created but they aren't substantial. They figure the surface should last for at least 10+ years based on the wear he has seen through 4 years.

From a skate perspective it is tough on the blades. I always get my son's skates sharpened after being on the surface. If he was on it more than once a week it would add additional wear to the blades. Usually I time it so he needs a sharpening anyway and get it done after his session.

I would love to have a little of it to work on stick handling and shooting but I don't have the space.

[biff44 0]

With the price of electricity rising every day, we are probably stuck with synthetic ice in hockey's future. So I guess learning to live with it is the way to go. Obviously, skating on the real thing would be preferred.

It does screw up the skate blades. It rounds-over the edges is a way that requires many passes on a sharpener to fix--so you go thru blades very quickly. What I used to do is have a 2nd set of cheaper skates for my kid to use on the synthetic.

Oddly, you do not need a huge synthetic ice surface (for youngsters) to get benefit from. My kid had one-on-one lessons at a very small synthetic ice surface at a rink. Because the room was so small, he had to learn how to turn in a very small radius. And since the surface is so bad, he had to learn how to really bite his edges into it. This all helped him when he got back onto the real ice. You would probably NOT get this benefit on a home rink, though, as you need the instructor there hollering on him to speed it up all the time! Left on their own, kids at home would just stand around and shoot pucks!

I would say his biggest benefit from one-on-one training was fixing some technical flaws in his shooting. THAT could have been done on real ice, though,.

If you really have to have this stuff at home, I would scan ebay every 4 days to see if someone has a set for sale. You can get it at 10 cents on the dollar there. Just be careful, it is heavy, so it might cost another $1500 to move it across the country! Ideally, you would find it within 400 miles and rent a U-haul to go get it yourself. You could set it up in a garage (you need a FLAT surface, and an enclosed place where dirt will not blow onto it).

[biff44 0]

Found this on google just now:

"Posted 12-24-07

Synthetic Ice for Hockey, Skating, Figure Skating - 972sf, $4500.00

Approximately 972 SF of synthetic ice used for 1 year. Material is ½-inch thick. The brand is “ProSpeedTM R.S.S.”. The material has been cut to fit the rounded corners of a 35’ x 30’dasherboard system. The material is in sheets 4’ x 10’ and smaller. 728sf is still in “full sheet” shape, 244sf is in pieces that have been cut to fit corners, some of the cut pieces are very large with only a little off the end for the corners. This material needs to be welded at the joints between sheets to form a monolithic surface.

At this point I am only interested in selling all of this material to one buyer…if you’re interested in some, not all of it, please email me anyway, tell me how many SF your interested in and I’ll keep your name in case my position changes.

Material is located in Southern Maine. Shipping is available but would need to charge for my time and materials to palletize. I could deliver the material within a reasonable distance for a fee to be determined.

If interested, please contact Bill via email @ haverhillman@comcast.net or by phone at 603-966-6505.

Bill Page

119 Wild Rose Lane

South Berwick, ME 03908

haverhillman@comcast.net "

That is how you commercially ship the stuff. You palletize it. Means you put it onto one of those wooden platforms and wrap it in heavy plastic wrap. That way a fork lift can pick it up at the freight office.

[Simonp27 0]

Does anyone know which make of synthetic ice is the best?

Thanks

Simon

[biff44 0]

I think the ones that are a solid pc. of plastic, instead of laminating with wood in between, offer more value. If the surface gets gouged, you can just shave it down. Other than that, they are all high density poly.

[fnecj3 1]

I put in a synthetic ice rink in our basement for my son two years ago........................ pro's and con's

pro-

It does work! I've never skated before we put it into our basement. After just skating on synthetic ice I was able to go onto real ice and do hockey stops, backwards etc..... They say it glides at 70 percent of real ice?.........30-40 percent max........ real ice feels like you are floating on air...

Fun! You wear real skates, shoot real pucks, cross over etc...... It's not like real ice, but it's hard to argue with being able to practice with all your gear on.

You get to practice when you want. My son has a very good shot and stick handles way better than most kids his age. Go down at night...turn off all the lights....stick handle and skate in the dark.........you can't do that at the rink.

Resistant skating. You need to work when you skate! Real ice you feel like you are flying!!!

Con-

it's not real ice. It's fake and will alway's be fake. You need to except it for what it is.

You need to sharpen your skates often. It wears down your edges fast no matter how clean you keep it. I got my son a second pair of skates on ebay to use on the synthetic rink.

Whould I do it again all over again???

I'm not sure. Time will tell if he uses it more. I don't know if he uses it enough to justify the cost. He spends most of his time in the living room playing knee hockey. Is it fun?? Yes! does it work? Yes!

i

[biff44 0]

what size, and how much did it cost?