Goodbye, Zamboni?

[A2rhino 62]

How close are we to this happening or will it?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/nhl_exper...F?urn=nhl,83652

[dangle 0]

I just don't see it happening.

It says a special wax is applied to the pieces... so essentially you'd be skating on the wax. How could it withstand 20 minutes of intense stopping, cutting, etc. from hockey players? Let alone a whole game.

[A2rhino 62]

I suppose where theres a will theres a way. If they have gotten this far with the project I fear that it's all a matter of time. First sticks and now ice??? I hope they can find a way to keep that ice rink smell.

[willsnipe 0]

The web site said it would be 90% as "slippery" as ice, not good enough.

[dangle 0]

I suppose where theres a will theres a way. If they have gotten this far with the project I fear that it's all a matter of time. First sticks and now ice??? I hope they can find a way to keep that ice rink smell.

I don't believe ice rinks will be replaced with this. Prove to me how a "special wax" can duplicate the characteristics of ice.

Ever tried skating on your car/truck after you waxed it? ;)

[donkey87 0]

I thought that synthetic ice had been around for quite a while and that the popular opinion was that it was nothing like skating on real ice?

Isn't this what that article is talking about?

[dangle 0]

The web site said it would be 90% as "slippery" as ice, not good enough.

Slippery is only one of many, many characteristics of an ice surface. and your right, 90% wont fly

[Ogie Oglethorpe 14]

They had some of that artificial ice at a place near Dallas (can't remember the name of the place though). Apparently, it's not quite as good as ice and dulls the blades up quicker than regular ice.

Also, if 90% as slippery, that almost would indicate that skaters would be 10% slower. Anyone want that? Didn't think so.

[JJ Thompson94 0]

There is no way that would replace ice. However, it can really help hockey by creating much better NHLers. Living in Queens, I try to make a rink in my parents backyard every winter. A good winter gives me about 5-7 days of ice. Not one day of ice this last winter.

With this thing, people in cities that can't flood their backyard can now have a backyard rink all year round and become much better hockey players. This is a GREAT thing for hockey. But you have to be crazy to think this will replace real ice. Get the hell out of here.

[grymicast184rc 0]

I must say it is very innovative, lets see how far these guys can take this thing.

[willsnipe 0]

How often do you guys think that ice surface would need replacing?

One big gouge out by a skate and it would need replacing!

[RadioGaGa 162]

While a consistent surface from beginning of the game to the end would be nice...I would miss seeing ice spray up off players skates.

[FCHC53 0]

As a training tool I think it's great. Imagine how much less parents would be paying for youth hockey if they could hold practices on this surface or how affordable it would make a practice for your beer league team. As for replacing real ice, not likely.

[DarkStar50 679]

One of the inherent characteristics of ice is that it is cold, below freezing COLD! Now this means that when we skate onto the ice in all our gear, its nice and COLD in the rink. Now, with our new plastic ice, we don't have COLD. We still have all our gear on and when the game starts and we begin to sweat like crazy, we are going to miss that COLD and get really HOT! So, all the $ saved in keeping real ice COLD, now goes to keeping the fake ice rink COLD with air conditioning. I play all year round but always know that from April to October my rinks are going to be warmer inside during these months than the winter months. I couldn't imagine skating through the summer in a rink with fake ice and the air conditioning on trying to keep the temp cool in the building. The money the rink saved on freezing the ice will now be spent on keeping the building cool! Next idea, Einstein!!

[raygunpk 0]

Wouldn't the heat just be like roller hockey? It's bearable.

[hunterphfr 12]

Wouldn't the heat just be like roller hockey? It's bearable.

Not in Florida from June through end of September.

[raygunpk 0]

Oh man, so true. I guess it pays to have shitty weather sometimes ( Vancouver ).

[Dougie8 0]

I don't see it being a big hit over in North America. The only time I could see this happening in some rinks is in the summer. I don't think it'd be as slippery to walk on (would it?). So they could probably still host events in the arena. Also I suppose you could just lay down a layer of matt's and you wouldn't have to worry about the ice melting.

[moose77 0]

One of the things that made me want to learn to skate (and subsequently take up hockey) is the fact that it's on ICE! Ice is cold, slippery, you slide on it when you fall, and most important of all is that wonderful, intoxicating damp cold smell in the air when you first enter a rink. Previous posters are right, you take away the ICE and all you have is glorified inline hockey. Not that there's anything wrong with inline, but it still isn't ICE!

[PIASMurph 0]

I just can't bring myself to say Plastic or Wax Hockey it's ICE hockey!

[patty2109 0]

i agree with the quote at the bottom of the article "giant dry erase board". what would cost more running the compressors for ice or constantly using air conditioning to cool rinks so hockey players dont have heat strokes. im also sure that maintenance time would be way higher than a 10 minute zamboni run. they also failed to show how a puck would glide across that crap

[lotus 2]

I can just imagine what would happen to a gigantic sheet of wax under thousands of hot lights.

[dcdot377 0]

i go to a coach that only works on fake plastic "ice". It is supposed to be slower and allow you to build your legs and sweat alot. It is designed to be a total workout as well as practice but i dont thing that they claim to be replacing real ice. the only bad thing is that you get the plastic shavings in your gear and it itches for weeks after playing just 1 hour on the stuff. i can only imagine how much damage wax will do to your gear. at least you wont need to buy it for your stick any more ;)

[N!! 0]

If good quality synthetic ice ever becomes a reality, it might be the greatest thing to ever happen to the game.

I figure that it would allow a lot of Southern rinks to scrap the traditional ice plants, which (between maintenance and energy costs) would cause the price of ice time to plummet. That in turn would allow for a much greater number of people to start skating, and with the reduced expenses, take up hockey.

And with the skyrocketing cost of energy and utilities any more, "going green" would be a huge selling point as well.

[lampliter87 8]

I've skated on synthetic ice in Ottawa at a training facility... Puckmasters. All I remember is being really overheated and having to push much harder to maintain speed. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

That being said, it could be a viable option for training (building leg strength) but imo it will NEVER replace real ice.