Can-Ice vs. Marsblade O1

[krisdrum 233]

Wasn't sure where to put this... admin, please move if you think there is a better spot...

With no legal ice available in our area... nor are we really too keen to use it if it was (wife is high risk due to chronic health issues)... I'm looking for alternatives to help my 10 y.o. son keep up his skills.  For context - top D pair last season, skilled skater that does a lot of agility work in addition to regular practices, etc.  His team finished top 20 last season.  He loves this sport and works his tail off to get to where he is.  I'd hate to see 3,4,5 months off the ice impact that.  And yes - he plays other sports and has other hobbies, he's 10. 

I can make space in the basement or garage or driveway for synthetic ice or I can get him on rollers. 

Looks like Can-Ice is the best of the bunch of synthetics based on my research.  Great glide, no shavings to deal with, etc. 

He's used rigid chassis rollers before and isn't thrilled with them, finds them too different from ice.  So considering Marsblade 01 in hopes they would get him feeling as close to on-ice as possible.  He's a size 2 skate, so he just makes the size minimum for a Small chassis.

Obviously one choice is thousands of dollars, the other a few hundred.  If I boil it down, the question is... are Marsblades close enough to the feel and motion of an ice skate to be a sufficient alternative.  

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

@krisdrum In personal (and unprofessional) opinion, Marsblades are close enough to ice skating. For the last two years I've been playing both inline and ice hockey (also ref and coach ice hockey too). Not uncommon for me to go from playing inline to ice in the same night. I know my ice skating (which is much more important to me) has suffered in any shape or form. The reason why I got the Marsblades OG O1's was because I didn't want to compromise what was more important: my ice hockey skating stride. I've been using the OG O1's for two years now and they have not disappointed. Now, the drawbacks that I could see one having are that the O1's will have you sit higher than normal ice hockey holders. That and you would have to use a different boot than what you're accustom as an ice hockey skater. I would love to have something like Can-Ice but the cost and space are two things that make the Marsblades clutch items.

Edited May 18, 2020 by 215BroadStBullies610

[krisdrum 233]

21 minutes ago, 215BroadStBullies610 said:

@krisdrum In personal (and unprofessional) opinion, Marsblades are close enough to ice skating. For the last two years I've been playing both inline and ice hockey (also ref and coach ice hockey too). Not uncommon for me to go from playing inline to ice in the same night. I know my ice skating (which is much more important to me) has suffered in any shape or form. The reason why I got the Marsblades OG O1's was because I didn't want to compromise what was more important: my ice hockey skating stride. I've been using the OG O1's for two years now and they have not disappointed. Now, the drawbacks that I could see one having are that the O1's will have you sit higher than normal ice hockey holders. That and you would have to use a different boot than what you're accustom as an ice hockey skater. I would love to have something like Can-Ice but the cost and space are two things that make the Marsblades clutch items.

Thanks for the input. 

Why would my son need to use a different boot?  My plan would be to get a pair of used Vapors (his normal ice boot) and mount the O1 chassis to them.  That way, he has a similar boot fit and I can use the same chassis as his feet grow and boots change.  I did a rigid chassis conversion on a pair of skates for myself awhile back and have plenty of spare nuts and bolts to do the conversion for him. 

[Miller55 333]

Yeah you can totally use the same boots. I think he was just saying that if you're gonna get the full marsblades setup it come with stock boots, but you can totally just get the frames and mount them. To me this seems like a no brainier given the reputation that marsblades have for enabling almost every aspect of your stride to replicate an ice stride. It's a huge cost savings and I think the difference would be negligible of at all

[Left Wing King 50]

Marsblades without a shadow of a doubt.

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

9 hours ago, krisdrum said:

Thanks for the input. 

Why would my son need to use a different boot?  My plan would be to get a pair of used Vapors (his normal ice boot) and mount the O1 chassis to them.  That way, he has a similar boot fit and I can use the same chassis as his feet grow and boots change.  I did a rigid chassis conversion on a pair of skates for myself awhile back and have plenty of spare nuts and bolts to do the conversion for him. 

It's the same model but physically two different boots ha. Depending on how the ice skates have been broken in, there may be so much comfort with them one may not want to use another pair of skates. Like I mentioned here and other posts, I'm Team Marsblade no questions asked. I've pre-ordered the R1's because of my experience. I just try to give as balanced as a response/review coming from a biased perspective.

[smcgreg 81]

His kids' 10 and nobody's going to hammer him about worrying too much about skating in the off season? 

Sheesh....

[the_game 452]

9 hours ago, smcgreg said:

His kids' 10 and nobody's going to hammer him about worrying too much about skating in the off season? 

Sheesh....

To each their own my friend, there's nothing wrong with taking your kids development and love for the game seriously. From all I've heard Marsblade is a great product and if you have the means Can-Ice looks to be the best synthetic ice alternative I've seen to date.

That being said, at 10 years old maybe stick with what he's got for inlines? I'd play devils advocate here and have him stick it out on what he has for inlines and when it comes time for new inlines then make the call on how you want to go with Marsblade or even a synthetic ice surface.

 

[krisdrum 233]

9 hours ago, smcgreg said:

His kids' 10 and nobody's going to hammer him about worrying too much about skating in the off season? 

Sheesh....

What do you suggest Greg?  I know development is a passion of yours from other posts.  He has skated year-round since he was 3.  That isn't to say he doesn't get breaks or we don't change up the intensity or nature of the skating to work on different muscles and techniques.  Like your son, he WANTS to skate.  He loves it.  It is the #1 thing he is missing about the current situation. 

And I'm trying to think long term here, as this coming season may have significantly less ice time than we've seen, assuming the season even happens for him.  Unlike probably most of you, our family is in a difficult spot due to existing chronic health issues, because of that, we may need to make a difficult decision and skip hockey as we know it this year.  I'd like to ensure my son isn't left behind if that ends up being the case.  He's earned his way into a spot on a successful AAA team.  He has big dreams.  I know the percentages are against him, but if I can provide him with a tool to help him make strides towards those dreams, I'm going to explore it.  

I'm all ears if folks have other suggestions, I'd love to keep my basement as a multi-use space.  I'd be happy to not drop a few k on synthetic.   

Edited May 19, 2020 by krisdrum

[smcgreg 81]

14 minutes ago, krisdrum said:

What do you suggest Greg?  I know development is a passion of yours from other posts.  He has skated year-round since he was 3.  That isn't to say he doesn't get breaks or we don't change up the intensity or nature of the skating to work on different muscles and techniques.  Like your son, he WANTS to skate.  He loves it.  It is the #1 thing he is missing about the current situation. 

And I'm trying to think long term here, as this coming season may have significantly less ice time than we've seen, assuming the season even happens for him.  Unlike probably most of you, our family is in a difficult spot due to existing chronic health issues, because of that, we may need to make a difficult decision and skip hockey as we know it this year.  I'd like to ensure my son isn't left behind if that ends up being the case.  He's earned his way into a spot on a successful AAA team.  He has big dreams.  I know the percentages are against him, but if I can provide him with a tool to help him make strides towards those dreams, I'm going to explore it.  

I'm all ears if folks have other suggestions, I'd love to keep my basement as a multi-use space.  I'd be happy to not drop a few k on synthetic.   

Hey Kris, I guess sarcasm doesn't come through in this medium.  I was just poking fun at the situation since I essentially got raked over the coals for a post with a similar sentiment. 

that being said, in all seriousness, the sentence in bold hits home.  At this point, it's not even just about development, my kid is kind of depressed right now.   He's never had this much time with no ice and it's really getting to him.  Skating, just skating, let alone the other stuff is his release and he doesn't have that right now. 

With regard to your second paragraph, you don't have to justify your position to me.  My motives have never been about getting my kid to the NHL, just about giving him the best opportunities to pursue something that makes him happy as far as that takes him (actually both kids, but my son is more passionate about hockey than my daughter, but she's AAA too).  I would probably do it if he was a house player. So, you're preaching to the choir.  That being said, we intentionally avoided AAA at that age to keep ti fun as long as possible without the stresses that come along with SOME AAAs.  That is certainly a personal decision though and if he's made AAA at that age and is having fun, then roll with it (sorry you have to deal with the politics though 😉  My daughter forced us into it by making us go that route now for 12U.

Now to your question.... that's a tricky one.  At that age, I think good synthetic can be ok.  My kids both spent a fair bit of time on it at that age (not ours, sorry, there are limits to my funds) and the time probably helped their development.  That being said, if it's about doing things at home, I honestly think inlines would be better.  Here are a couple thoughts as to why...

1) My main objective is always about keeping it fun, especially at that age.  Being outside in the off season, messing around with friends (or Dad) while playing hockey has a higher fun coefficient than being in the basement on fake ice. 

2) Although I commented on keeping the hcokey specific skills as sharp as possible, again at 10, it's a slightly different story to me.  There are a lot of really really good hockey players who played roller growing up.  In fact, one of my good friends just rollerskated until he was a freshman in high school where he tried out for his high school ice team and ended up going to ice and ultimately AAA and juniors/college.  Roller players always seem to have fantastic hands (he does) and it teaches different skating skills than ice (e.g. mohawks and continued movement as oppposed to stops/starts).  There are lots of observations that are just that, observations, not hard data.  Anyway, at 10, I think developing more diverse abilities is still important.  The "bad habits" that come from roller are actually broader development skills which contribute to greater tools to call on later when on ice.

3) Getting back to 1) putting in 2 hr in the driveway with friends will develop skills (hands and skating) more than 30 - 60 min doing more specific things in the basement.  To USA Hockey's ADM point, the former would be akin spending hours on the pond, which kids don't do any more.  It would develop vision, creativity etc etc etc...... 

Anyway, if I had unlimited funds, I'd probably do both.  If I'm debating between synthetic in the basement and good inlines for the driveway, I'd probably go with inlines to keep it fun and develop more things than just very specific skating/on-ice skills. 

That's my $0.02, I guess. 

Good luck and enjoy the journey.

 

 

[the_game 452]

I mean...no frills here and this kid seems to be making the most of what he’s got. 

 

[krisdrum 233]

Thanks all.  Maybe I lost my mind for a bit.  Hockey doomsday prepping.  LOL!  I tend to overthink stuff, just ask my wife. 

For now I have some roller hockey skates on the way in the right size (we had to stretch his ice boots at the end of the season to get the last month or so out of them).  I tried some adjustable size recreational rollerblades that he was not digging, I think the extended wheelbase made them feel like skis compared to what he is used to.  If he is really uncomfortable in the new roller hockey skates... I'll explore the Marsblades and some Vapor boots.  If all else fails... I'll look at Can-Ice.