Inline to Ice

[Souldriver 64]

So I've been playing inline for the past 8 years, past 3 years steadily, and have become a confident inline skater over the past year or so. Our company has recently given us free ice time so me with the ice equipent just sitting there, took full advantage. It was all coworkers so of course I was talking big game how I was going to carve up the ice and the second I touched the ice I flopped forward and stomach slid to the near circles edge, gracefully (and hilariously) of course. At the end of the session I had my fill breaking in new, slightly too narrow skates and my back was acting up but I had an absolute blast and can't wait for next week.

Since it was my first time back on the ice since I was much much much younger, it was like a totally new experience for me and raised a lot of questions mostly with my skating. Since I'm obviously not the first person making this transition I figured I would reach out here.

Background: I'm a stocky build and weigh in at 250lbs. My inline skates are mission ac2 and ice skates are easton eq40s. I have superfeet in my ac2s but stock insoles in the eastons. Besides that averythingis the same.

- Im going to blame my ice entry fall on my skates. I got them on clearance a year ago and had them sharpened then but never got to play on them till recently, I think the blades had a thin coat of oxidationon them and I didn't glide forward and I just ate it as my skates didn't go forward with me. But after getting up I felt unstable on my skates and got marginally better towards the end but I never had the confidence I had with inline skates. I also noticed my leg and back muscles got fatigued way easier . Is this from being on a thinner blade instead of wheels or maybe the radius?

- I noticed that my skates want to slip out sideways. Just standing up straight during the break I caught my skate moving laterally. Is this normal? I get that I'm on ice but I figured the edges would dig in enough to keep me from slipping sideways especially with my weight. I did find on sharp turns there was a bit of snow shedding but I figured that's what happens.

- this kind of ties into my stabilty concern but I found going fast in a straight line my skate blades wanted to wobble a little. Is this from the need of developing the right technique and muscles or from the ice.

I'm going to say 90% of this is from not being on the ice in xx years but I'm not sure how other foreign things like skate pitch, radius, hollow plays into this. Any tips, advice, help.is welcome. The ultimate goal is to do some late spring intermural hockey with a friend as I'm not sure we will have a spring or summer roller team

[Chrism14 0]

So, a little background on my self. I've been playing roller hockey since i was 9. I am now 27. I have played at the highest level of roller hockey. Narch, USA Hockey, PIHA, and so on. Until moving to Colorado at the age of 25, i had never skated on ice. This winter is officially my second season of ice hockey.

Now for the advice. Assuming that you already have decent hockey skills, and the only problem you have is skating, like i found myself the first time on the ice. All i can say is practice practice practice. You need to be on the ice as much as possible. Im talking stick and pucks, drop in hockey, even public skate. There is a big difference between inline skates and ice skates. You need to learn how to use your edges. The biggest thing for me was learning how to stop. I slammed so many times trying to learn. Just get out there and work on it. Don't worry about embarrassing your self. Most guys out there will give you tips to help.

I know this response probably wasn't what you were looking for, e.g. tips on your skating. Im not nearly good enough or experienced enough to give you those. I just thought i would share my experience with you. I hope that this helps and good look brother.

[crispy92 14]

Well more then likely you are just not accustomed to using those muscles in the way you used them. Your back and legs were probably fatigued because on Ice you have to worry about not only side to side lean but also front and back because the skates are rockered unlike a roller chassis. On the topic of moving the skates laterally, yes that is normal to an extent. Obviously if they keep pushing out and you end up in a split you may have a problem but lateral movement is normal. And again I'd say the wobble has to do with your muscles not being used to having to worry about multiple different axis in which the skate can twist as opposed to the roller skates which basically track in one direction.

[Souldriver 64]

So, a little background on my self. I've been playing roller hockey since i was 9. I am now 27. I have played at the highest level of roller hockey. Narch, USA Hockey, PIHA, and so on. Until moving to Colorado at the age of 25, i had never skated on ice. This winter is officially my second season of ice hockey.

Now for the advice. Assuming that you already have decent hockey skills, and the only problem you have is skating, like i found myself the first time on the ice. All i can say is practice practice practice. You need to be on the ice as much as possible. Im talking stick and pucks, drop in hockey, even public skate. There is a big difference between inline skates and ice skates. You need to learn how to use your edges. The biggest thing for me was learning how to stop. I slammed so many times trying to learn. Just get out there and work on it. Don't worry about embarrassing your self. Most guys out there will give you tips to help.

I know this response probably wasn't what you were looking for, e.g. tips on your skating. Im not nearly good enough or experienced enough to give you those. I just thought i would share my experience with you. I hope that this helps and good look brother.

Well more then likely you are just not accustomed to using those muscles in the way you used them. Your back and legs were probably fatigued because on Ice you have to worry about not only side to side lean but also front and back because the skates are rockered unlike a roller chassis. On the topic of moving the skates laterally, yes that is normal to an extent. Obviously if they keep pushing out and you end up in a split you may have a problem but lateral movement is normal. And again I'd say the wobble has to do with your muscles not being used to having to worry about multiple different axis in which the skate can twist as opposed to the roller skates which basically track in one direction.

@chrism: no thats what i rather here, thats its a practice thing and less a technique or equipment thing.

@crispy: I figured that with my muscles. Ill keep my attention to the side to side movement. if it persists would trying a deeper hollow help? to be 100% honest im not sure whats on there now as i took it to the guy over 2 years ago and i didnt ask for anything specific and he didnt say what it was.

[crispy92 14]

If you just handed the skates to the guy it's more then likely a 1/2in hollow. For someone your size I wouldn't go lower then that. I am pretty close in terms of weight and I get away with a 3/4 in. The grip is still there but I feel like it is easier to stop.

That lateral movement is going to happen no matter what hollow you have. I don't remember 100% but I belive goalies use something in the range 3/8ths which is a deeper hollow and if you watch goalies in warm ups they are sliding side to side in the crease to scuff it up. So that's not a problem, just one more thing to get used too.

Just be aware once you learn how to skate on ice as well as in roller, you will forever hate roller skating. I couldn't believe the difference between the two. Especially for a big guy like myself, you can carry so much more speed through turns.

[Larry54 243]

You have to keep in mind that the physics of inline skates is sort of the "opposite" of ice skates. In other words, on inline the more you lean the skate the less grip your wheels have, but on ice the more you lean the more "grip" your blade has. So you have to learn to use the blade edges to vary the grip whether you want to push off, turn or stop. So if you're almost vertical, unlike inlines, your blade will slide sideways.

[Holden Caulfield 5]

Souldriver:

I have similar background - learned on ice, went to inline for 15 years, went back to ice for past 7 years (yes, I am old - 50). In my experience, its just practice. While the fundamental skating motion is the same there are two elements that make inline and ice quite different.

First, inline skates have no edges so when you move back to ice you do not have the muscle memory to apply your edges correctly. For example, on inline skates you feel stable and grip even when you are directly over your wheels and traveling in a completely straight line without skating. On ice skates, you would be carving two edges at the same time causing instability as each edge tries to take over in the opposite direction - ice skates do not like to go in straight lines. The sideways slip was very likely due to you not applying the correct angle to your edges resulting in not enough bite - inline skates are much more forgiving. Of course you may have dull skates too. A good starting hollow is 1/2' to 5/8' dependent on how soft your ice is.

Second, most inline skates have no rocker or radius (curvature of the blade). Hockey skates generally vary form 9 to 11 feet depending on brand. That said, carving a turn on inline skates is accomplished with very different muscle movement than with ice skates. While the blade carves an arc in ice, inline skates require a subtle application and release of pressure, heel to toe to heel to toe, which allows your foot to change the skate's direction. As an experiment take one of your inline skates, angle it 30 degrees and push it forward - it will go straight unlike a hockey skate which will want to carve an arc. Also, since your inline skates have no rocker - all four wheels on the ground, big flat wheels base - your ice skates may feel unstable, like you are falling backwards or forward, as only a small portion of steel is on the ice at any time.

Bottom line - you need to re-teach you muscle how to ice skate. Practice, practice, practice your edge work - carve quick, sharp turns left and right using both inside and outside edges - if you are a good inline skater, eventually you will get it.

[Souldriver 64]

Had an inline game last night and for half of the warmups i felt myself leaning back a ton and gliding almost too fast. After that I felt even better than I normally do and cornering and stopping felt great. Too bad the team we were playing was very slow and none too agile as I didn't get to really "skate" but it's funny how one ice session made me feel way better on inline.

[crispy92 14]

Did you start ripping shots too. I noticed once I went back to inline, my shots felt like they were being launched from an rpg.

[Souldriver 64]

well i always have a hard heavy shot. my goalie has told me out of all the people he has played with he thinks that i have the best and hardest shot which i guess is a big compliment as he plays around a lot. I did shoot a clap bomb for a 5-hole goal from just over the line last night and it had enough momentum to hit the back of the net and bounce back.