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Synthetic ice - goalie specific feedback


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Goalies and impersonators such as myself who have synthetic ice:

Looking to drop some coin on tiles to make a small set up for my son and/or daughter to shoot on the old man (when the shooter tutor becomes too challenging).

having never been on synthetic, I’m concerned about what it does to goalie equipment. I recently got Gnetik IVs that I love, and don’t want to ruin them or prematurely wear them down (to that end, the boys I played with pre-pandemic obligingly ensured that all shots went right past me, safely avoiding contact with the new pillows, and protecting re-sale value).

Seriously though, are there any goalie-specific concerns? Also would welcome good and great things about it, tips, etc. IIRC @ThatCarGuy you said you had/were getting some...? 

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40 minutes ago, Lucky Pucker said:

Goalies and impersonators such as myself who have synthetic ice:

Looking to drop some coin on tiles to make a small set up for my son and/or daughter to shoot on the old man (when the shooter tutor becomes too challenging).

having never been on synthetic, I’m concerned about what it does to goalie equipment. I recently got Gnetik IVs that I love, and don’t want to ruin them or prematurely wear them down (to that end, the boys I played with pre-pandemic obligingly ensured that all shots went right past me, safely avoiding contact with the new pillows, and protecting re-sale value).

Seriously though, are there any goalie-specific concerns? Also would welcome good and great things about it, tips, etc. IIRC @ThatCarGuy you said you had/were getting some...? 

I was using some in Texas while the ice was down before I moved up to Wisconsin. I got mine from hockey shot (didn’t get the extreme glide because I didn’t need it) and it worked terrifically with my G4 pads. They were no worse for the wear since the tiles are self lubricating. The only thing you have to watch out for is how dull your blades will get. Make sure there’s something under the tiles to prevent slippage or some around them to stop it your tiles from sliding out from under you. Stopping also takes some getting used to. 

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3 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Like @ThatCarGuy said, the only disclaimer I've heard about synthetic ice is that the skating movements are tougher to perform and that they dull the crap out of your blades. 

Good to know on the blades - and fortunately the wife had talked me into getting a Sparx before the shit storm hit, so at least I have full access to sharpening .

29 minutes ago, ThatCarGuy said:

I was using some in Texas while the ice was down before I moved up to Wisconsin. I got mine from hockey shot (didn’t get the extreme glide because I didn’t need it) and it worked terrifically with my G4 pads. They were no worse for the wear since the tiles are self lubricating. The only thing you have to watch out for is how dull your blades will get. Make sure there’s something under the tiles to prevent slippage or some around them to stop it your tiles from sliding out from under you. Stopping also takes some getting used to. 

thanks man - that’s actually the brand I’m looking at too. There’s a 20% off sale at the chain store, so might pull the trigger. The idea will be outside set up once the interlock gets installed (May-ish), so don’t anticipate slide out issues. 

Not sure if you know, but is there any skate glide at all on these? Thinking for my son as player - not that he’s shy of hard work.

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1 hour ago, Lucky Pucker said:

Good to know on the blades - and fortunately the wife had talked me into getting a Sparx before the shit storm hit, so at least I have full access to sharpening .

thanks man - that’s actually the brand I’m looking at too. There’s a 20% off sale at the chain store, so might pull the trigger. The idea will be outside set up once the interlock gets installed (May-ish), so don’t anticipate slide out issues. 

Not sure if you know, but is there any skate glide at all on these? Thinking for my son as player - not that he’s shy of hard work.

You're using cowling skates, eh?  If you had cowlingless newer skates you could get a spare set of blades just for this and not have to worry about beating them up.

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7 minutes ago, seagoal said:

You're using cowling skates, eh?  If you had cowlingless newer skates you could get a spare set of blades just for this and not have to worry about beating them up.

I do actually, and was thinking the same thing! I picked up a spare set of steels when my LHS was closing down just before the pandemic (still sad about that; they are good people 😕) Haven’t yet opened them, so will need 10-ish passes when I DO decide to use them. 

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2 minutes ago, Lucky Pucker said:

I do actually, and was thinking the same thing! I picked up a spare set of steels when my LHS was closing down just before the pandemic (still sad about that; they are good people 😕) Haven’t yet opened them, so will need 10-ish passes when I DO decide to use them. 

Haha, nice. Nice grab.  AND I hope you appreciated my attempt to use your native language.  My best friend here is from Calgary so I get lots of practice :)

 

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Never thought I had an accent - until a friend originally from Michigan told me “dude, you have a crazy Canadian accent.” A frighteningly smart guy, but I think he’s wrong. I DO have a smidge of Quebec French influence - to the point that my kids (learning French in Ontario) will sometimes correct me. I plead “but daddy learned French as a poor Anglophone, on the hard streets of the West Island of Montreal ...” 

😁

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24 minutes ago, Lucky Pucker said:

Never thought I had an accent - until a friend originally from Michigan told me “dude, you have a crazy Canadian accent.” A frighteningly smart guy, but I think he’s wrong. I DO have a smidge of Quebec French influence - to the point that my kids (learning French in Ontario) will sometimes correct me. I plead “but daddy learned French as a poor Anglophone, on the hard streets of the West Island of Montreal ...” 

😁

The Canadian accent is very prevalent on the east coast. It's starts to wane away once you get to the best coast.

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1 minute ago, coopaloop1234 said:

The Canadian accent is very prevalent on the east coast. It's starts to wane away once you get to the best coast.

Yeah, I can't tell the BC people apart from Americans.  Most of my hockey buds are from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario and they all sound very, very  Canadian.

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4 minutes ago, seagoal said:

Yeah, I can't tell the BC people apart from Americans.  Most of my hockey buds are from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario and they all sound very, very  Canadian.

Interior of BC you get that Canadian "twang". It's just us folks from the south west coast that continue the west coast accent so to speak.

 

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2 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Like when someone's off their gord?

I have no idea, it's mostly used as a nickname.  Nice pass, gord.  Nice save, gord.  You're killing me, gord.   I thought maybe it was referencing Gordie Howe but it's used for goalies, too.  The dude who says it most is from Mississauga.

 

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2 hours ago, Lucky Pucker said:

Not sure if you know, but is there any skate glide at all on these? Thinking for my son as player - not that he’s shy of hard work.

You gotta have some glide to do t pushes right? Yes there is some glide but no where near regular ice. Personally I think it has all the glide needed to skate

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6 minutes ago, seagoal said:

I have no idea, it's mostly used as a nickname.  Nice pass, gord.  Nice save, gord.  You're killing me, gord.   I thought maybe it was referencing Gordie Howe but it's used for goalies, too.  The dude who says it most is from Mississauga.

 

New one for me. I'll leave it to the locals to shed some light on it.

May just be one of those weird east coast quirks.

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43 minutes ago, seagoal said:

What's the "gord" thing?  All the Ontario guys call hockey dudes gord, including me and I only play net.  

My guess (only a guess) is in reverence of the late Gord Downie, of Tragically Hip fame. He was also a huge hockey fan, and played in some celebrity hockey games with other musicians and Canadian small “r” royalty. Canadians love The Hip, so it might be that...(?)

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 I purchased some Smart Rink ProFast 8000 synthetic ice about a month ago. I looked at several different brands and these worked out to being a good quality with decent shipping costs. Stay away from any tiles that are only one sided. Spend the money and get the higher quality tiles that can be flipped over.

If I continue to use them as much as I do now then I will likely upgrade to the Can Ice Pro Series tiles next year as these appear to be the highest quality.

My blades are good for about half an hour and then I swap them from side to side, as I’m mostly using the inside edge, and I can get about another 20 minutes out of them and then they need sharpening. I’ve got 3 sets of blades that use. 

 I use my older set of pads(G3) on the tiles and they slide ok.

My only regret is that I didn’t buy them last year when the rinks closed. 

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I for one tried synthetic ice and did not like it at all. The strain on my ankles was enormous. Shavings all over the gear, I can just imagine how much of that plastic dust is absorbed in your lungs over time. I personally prefer real ice.

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On 3/5/2021 at 11:24 PM, RichMan said:

I for one tried synthetic ice and did not like it at all. The strain on my ankles was enormous. Shavings all over the gear, I can just imagine how much of that plastic dust is absorbed in your lungs over time. I personally prefer real ice.

Ah - now that’s useful regarding the shavings on the gear. Our set up will be outside, so less concerned about the inhalation- but having shavings all over my gear would suck. Maybe “skaters only” for our surface. Thanks Rich!

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1 hour ago, Lucky Pucker said:

Ah - now that’s useful regarding the shavings on the gear. Our set up will be outside, so less concerned about the inhalation- but having shavings all over my gear would suck. Maybe “skaters only” for our surface. Thanks Rich!

I've seen some goalies shop-vac their gear after practicing. It's an option. As for the inhalation, if there was a mask you could wear that doesn't cause hyperventilation issues all the while filtering out the dust, you got a good set-up going.

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2 minutes ago, RichMan said:

I've seen some goalies shop-vac their gear after practicing. It's an option. As for the inhalation, if there was a mask you could wear that doesn't cause hyperventilation issues all the while filtering out the dust, you got a good set-up going.

Do you happen to know the brand/model you were on...? Maybe  the one I’m looking at has improved a bit on that front...? 
https://www.hockeyshot.com/products/synthetic-ice-revolution-tiles

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32 minutes ago, Lucky Pucker said:

Do you happen to know the brand/model you were on...? Maybe  the one I’m looking at has improved a bit on that front...? 
https://www.hockeyshot.com/products/synthetic-ice-revolution-tiles

i don't remember as it was a decade ago, so yeah, it has surely improved a great deal. A lot of coaches are talking Sure Shot or something like that? There are quite a few companies out now so shopping isn't an issue. 

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