A synthetic ice review: How I got better faster – a true story

A client who deeply appreciated our product submitted this true story to us, expressing their desire to share it. We asked their permission to publish it and told them we would withhold their name and address for privacy purposes. The story goes like this:

My name is Joe. When I was 10 years old I was trying out for a competitive hockey team. I thought I was working hard and had a great chance of making the team. The first season of Atom I played in the recreational division and I was looking forward to tryouts in my second year of Atom because I was really hoping to make Atom B or A. But I didn’t make it and I was the last cut. As I left the rink, I remember receiving my slip of paper instructing me to report to recreational balancing, indicating that I didn’t make the team. So, I cried all the way home and stayed upset for a while. How could they cut me two years in a row? It didn’t seem fair and all my friends were moving on to a higher level. 

I decided that I no longer wanted to be a forward that’s for sure. I went to balancing in the house league and in my first session I played defense and scored like 4 goals because I felt I had something to prove. That was fun!

The other thing that happened was my dad discovered this SmartRink synthetic ice product. He recognized my upset and assured me he would help me catch up to kids playing at a higher level for better tryouts next year.

He set it up in our garage at home so I could train on synthetic ice any time. The major change for me playing defense was needing to work on my shot from the blue line. I could rush the puck good and I scored lots of goals at that level because I was a good skater, but shooting from far out was problematic. So I decided to shoot a lot. What made the big difference was shooting with my skates on at home! I shot pucks everyday. My coach said shoot 50-100 a day – I did, for a year. One summer I kept track: I shot over 10,000 pucks at home on my SmartRink synthetic ice rink. I also did these puck handling drills and agility drills for 5-10 minutes a day, sometimes more. But I almost never missed a day, and guess what? I got way better!

The next tryout I made my rep team Peewee B. Within a month I was promoted to Peewee A. Peewee was hard because that’s when checking starts. I wasn’t really big yet, so I found hitting hard. But my dad helped me at home on our synthetic ice rink. He even hung up his heavy bag from the ceiling and I could hit that skating around on the synthetic ice. Guess what? I got a lot better at hitting too! Coaches began to notice me, and I got called up to Peewee AAA now and then which was pretty cool.

By the time I got to midget I was playing AAA and then went to the high school league where I became team captain. I also became the go-to guy for power plays, penalty kills, and big time plays. One of the best moments I ever had in hockey came from scoring the winning goal in triple overtime to win the a big tournament. It was the best thing that ever happened. That year, I earned the titles of team MVP, League All-Star, and won several league awards, including a few scholarships for university. That was pretty cool!

I continued to play Junior hockey for 4 more years while I went to university. During this time I was assistant captain for 3 years and continued to rack up lots of points and be a skilled puck moving defenceman. I continued to love playing hockey all the way through Junior. It’s funny looking back thinking I was never going to be a good hockey player.

When I do look back though I have to admit that having my dad buy that SmartRink synthetic ice rink for our garage was the best thing that ever happened for my hockey. That’s how I got better faster – because I was able to train with my skates on – everyday.

So thank you SmartRink for having an awesome product that was used everyday for more than 10 years. It helped me become a good hockey player and gave me the confidence to play at the best level I could.