Sault Ste. Marie Synthetic Ice Pilot

A synthetic ice rink community pilot project is a great way for an interested community to try out synthetic ice and judge for themselves if it’s the right idea for them.

We have done a number of these pilots in various communities across Canada and the USA. Acceptance and approval numbers range from 60-85% of users in favor of installing a synthetic ice rink. Like a great many things within the public opinion world – many users are in that “maybe” category. Maybe is not a “no” however. Some people require further proof or convincing. That’s just the way it is – with a lot of things.

Some of what can alter pilot results as well is the venue or the information available at the pilot site. For example can questions be answered prior to filling out a survey? Another variable is sharp skates. I’ve literally seen people show up at these things with dull rusty skates that have not seen the light of day for 20 years. I wouldn’t want them to skate on real ice never mind synthetic!

Anyway – the bottom line when it comes to synthetic ice community pilot projects is that it’s a good idea to try it out at minimal cost. Often times businesses in the community will even sponsor of pay for the cost of the pilot.

Learn what it is like to skate on a synthetic ice rink!

I’ve been fortunate to work closely with experts from this industry who have been working with engineered polymers for 35 years or more. There are a few other companies out there also claiming to have been in the industry that long as well. So it is really surprising when I read on their company websites complete and false untruths about products in our industry. Especially when their claims are without merit, and not based on any kind of synthetic ice industry testing

In the case of one company – published on their website is information about UHMW material which is shockingly erroneous and absolutely false. Credibility needs to be questioned when information is this wrong. For example one site indicates that “UHMW is much too hard to allow a skate blade to penetrate the surface sufficiently. Light weight skaters will not penetrate the surface to any degree”.

Various Synthetic Ice Materials Tested Using Weighted Skate Blade testing Method

When anyone indicates that UHMW is too hard for skating that is actually a sad statement. UHMW stands for Utra High Molecular Weight and should correctly be followed by Pe which stands for Polyethylene. The industry typically designates any molecular weight resin above 1 million grams per mol as UHMWPe and can be as high as 4 million or higher. Just as there are various molecular weights within HMWPe, HDPe and LDPe classifications. All of these products have been used for synthetic ice.

As the molecular weight of the material increases the product actually gets “softer” not harder as has been inaccurately written about on the site in question.

There are very standard test procedures in the plastic industry that measure the “hardness” of products. This particular company would be well advised to understand them and then compare their material to them.

This page also goes on to mention UHMW is used in the lining of truck beds. Well that is actually true, just as UHMWPe is used in literally thousands of other applications such as hip joint replacements, valve coatings, ski and snowboard bases and numerous other industry applications that require the very best abrasion resistant material combined with material with the best coefficient of friction ratings. But to say UHMWPe is used for truck beds as a general statement is akin to saying extruded HDPe is used for arena board or puck board, or cutting boards!

We do agree on one thing – UHMWPe is not the best material for skating – but we absolutely disagree on why. Their claim is because it is too hard for skating on, and there could be nothing further from accuracy than that! UHMWPe is in fact too “soft” for skating.Remember that as the molecular weight increases the material becomes softer, not harder!

In our weighted skate tests for example – we have proved over multiple tests and trials that UHMWPe is not the best choice for skating as the skate blades tend to sink in too much and therefore the product will feel “sluggish” and slower for skating. Perhaps a light child will not notice that but a 200 pound skater certainly will. Read more about our synthetic ice research.

So where does that leave us in terms of what to believe? It’s really very simple, when you are doing your research, ask the supplier company to supply you with all the following information which is the only way you can truly determine and compare numbers:
1) Weighted skate material trials
2) Shore-D (Shore Durometer) hardness tests
3) Abrasion resistance tests (sand slurry test for example)

Ideally all materials are submitted to a third party lab and subjected to identical tests and that would go a long way to clearing the air on various materials. Ultimately the market will dictate what is used for skating and what isn’t – but please consumers – be smart and do your research on synthetic ice rinks.

Synthetic ice oval design using SmartRink’s ProFast1500 heavy duty panel system configured in a brick bond layout

Recently we had the opportunity to bid on a community synthetic ice rink in North Battleford, Saskatchewan Canada. I must admit I have never been there – but that will all change soon enough when the crew arrives to install this community synthetic ice rink. There were a number of significant factors that pushed our bid over the top. For one thing this is a seriously severe winter climate – not for the weak of heart – or more accurately for the weaker synthetic ice connection systems! For example the daily average temperature in the month of January is minus 17 degrees Celsius while the summer time temperatures have been known to be as high as 37 degrees Celsius. That is a massive temperature swing! Now combine that with snow, ice, rain, freezing, thawing and you start to imagine all kinds of possible issues a poor synthetic ice panel joint will suffer through. So we offered the client one of our Heavy Duty commercial synthetic ice panel joint systems called the ProFast1500-SG. This is a 15 mm thick panel made with our Ice-y-Blue700 material with infused glide enhancer. The perimeter joint is a continuously machined ridge and hollow that creates an extremely strong joint connection. Its an impressive display of German excellence in engineering and machining. This product will have no issues with the climate and therefore this community synthetic ice rink will remain safe for the skaters year round. The second significant factor that convinced the decision makers that SmartRink was the product to go with was that we could make an oval or ellipse shape (oval without a center). Like all SmartRink panels we are able to set our panels up in a brick bond or offset design. This means we can make circles, ovals, squares, skating paths or trails, whatever shape you desire for your community synthetic ice rink. The edges can be trimmed down to create a nice smooth finished perimeter. No other products can do this, where we can do it with ease, with a minimal amount of cutting and therefore very little waste – if any. Of course we could get into a lot of other reasons why we are the number one choice for any community synthetic ice rink. But on this job the strength of our connection systems and the brick bond layout clutched the deal. If you are considering a synthetic ice rink for your community then consider SmartRink. We might cost a little more, but we are safer, last longer, and can deal with any kind of weather or site conditions. In a nutshell, clients never have to worry about our products.

Read about synthetic ice rink reviews to make a more informed decision.

Hockey Drill Series – Volume 1: Drill #1
Give a pass, take a pass and shoot:

This one is pretty basic as hockey drills go but it’s one that almost anyone with a synthetic ice surface can work on. You don’t necessarily even need a second person, which I’ll explain in a minute.

So what you are working on in this drill is a combination of your passing and receiving a pass skills, plus shooting. There are several objectives with this hockey drill. The first is to work on the accuracy and timing of giving a pass. You want to get the puck right on the tape of the other player in the drill and ideally they are providing a pass to you with the same objective in mind. If you find that your passes are not very accurate then you can work on that by slowing it down a notch and making sure that you follow through on your pass by pointing at the intended target – which is the other stick.

Before you worry about part two of this “hockey drill”, make sure you are first really comfortable and accurate on making and receiving a pass. Once you have that mastered you can move on to the second part of the drill which is receiving a pass and then shooting the puck at a net or target.

So you make a pass and then receive a pass back, and then shoot. Again, keep it simple to start with. Start out with a wrist shot at your target. Pick various targets, upper right, upper left of the net and so on until you are consistently hitting your target. Call out your target before you shoot and try to mentally keep track of your success.

If you are young and just starting out, don’t worry about using a puck just yet, Use a tennis or hockey ball and work your way up to a puck.

If you are practising by yourself and wish to work on this hockey drill you still can! There is a product out there called  Perfect Passer and you can buy it online. These triangular metal frames use a rubber band to send the puck back to you for passes and one-timers. They work quite well and are designed to be used with pucks.

Again, this is a basic hockey drill you can do with skates on using your home synthetic ice surface. Master this drill and you will be on your way to filling the net at will.

Check out part 2 of passing hockey drills.

Until next time.
SmartRink Synthetic Ice Rink Hockey Drills

Is synthetic ice training really what you or your child needs? This post is going to attempt to help you answer that question. First of all you have to ask yourself what it is that you are trying to achieve. Are you focused on getting a better shot? Is it skating you are looking to improve? Perhaps it’s puck handling. Maybe it’s all of those things. Regardless, you have to try to decide what your priorities are and whether a synthetic ice surface will help.

There are a lot of misconceptions about synthetic ice in general. There are a great many products around now and some are good and some are poor. In very general terms you can pretty well do anything on the better quality synthetic ice training products. The low end products can be fine for shooting but bad for skating. It’s really worthwhile to understand what you are buying. If your goal is to be able to work on your stride mechanics for example then make sure you look at the best quality products or you will be disappointed. I often hear hockey dads and moms complaining that the synthetic ice is bad or too difficult to skate on. In some cases they are correct. But to be fair in a lot of cases their child is simply a poor skater mechanically. A choppy stride on real ice will not mysteriously translate into a smoother stride on synthetic ice. It will likely look even worse! If a kid has never been taught about how to take a full stride and then a full recovery of that stride then they will struggle on synthetic ice. Sorry parents, I know its not what you want to hear but its a fact. Most kids are never taught to run either, and therefore some can run smoothly naturally, and others are poor runners. Skating is much more complex. Real ice can hide those flaws because the child can glide and therefore get away with their stride flaws. But skating on the right synthetic ice surface can be easy!

As far as shooting and puck skills improvement go – there is probably no better tool than synthetic ice training. That being said, they still need to have the basic instruction as a foundation to improvement. I have certainly seen first hand how my oldest child went from a below average shooter to a consistently top point player on whatever team he played on. His “big breakthrough” came one summer when he literally took 10,000 shots with his skates on training on synthetic ice. This gave him tremendous confidence in his game, and he’s now 20 years old and still plays junior hockey and is in love with the game. For him synthetic ice training at home was a tremendous investment in his skill that will be with him for life.

If your child is one who might be described as a timid player – then synthetic ice training can be used to develop his “competitive spirit or drive”. Hockey dads get your skates on too and work on angling, rubbing out, small body contact, driving the net and so on. There are dozens of fun little drills you can dream up. Stop saying “I wish my kid could do this or that”. They can do it. I’ve seen it myself. I have seen kids transform from mild mannered kids off ice to super competitive players on ice. But they have to put the time in, and there has to be a lot of patience at times (I’m talking to you hockey parents).

Synthetic ice training is no magic trick. It’s a training tool that allows you the flexibility for your child to train when they want, in the privacy of your home. It allows hockey dad to have countless hours of fun with your kids and to help them with all those little subtle things that will make them better players.

So in summary, decide first what skills you will like to work on most, and then decide on the quality of product you can afford. The best product ARE the most expensive – regardless of what the suppliers all say. If you are not 100% sure how much to get – then buy a smaller amount now and then once you get it you can always buy more later. Have fun and enjoy your synthetic ice training!!

Check out these hockey drills you can try on your synthetic ice surface.

• Hockey Drill – Pass and Shoot
• Hockey Drill – Excellent Passes Every Time

How to Prepare for Backyard Synthetic Ice Rink

Had a great discussion today with a Montreal homeowner looking to create a backyard synthetic ice rink using our SmartSkate8000 product which is a dovetail connection system. He currently has a grass surface so we talked about what he would require to do to prepare the surface for that product type. Montreal is obviously a winter climate with lots of snow and freezing wet weather, so its important to do it right.

He was thinking that he would create a crib frame using framed lumber – likely 2×6. He wanted a size that was approximately 10 ft x 16.5 ft. It was suggested that the lumber frame could be mounted on some concrete patio stones that would allow easy leveling of the frame. Inside the frame a landscaping cloth should be stapled to the wood frame to hold it in place. Then either sand or crushed stone would make a great base that would allow any water to easily drain.

The client did some research on what could be used as a solid base on top of the levelled and compacted sand or crushed stone base. The product he came up with is called EZ Base and its a polypropylene material with drainage holes. Looks like it should work really well. Plywood could be used as well but I’d like it to be a marine grade product and then drainage holes should be drilled in the plywood to allow water to drain. You can learn more about backyard synthetic ice rink boards our clients have used.

After all this is done the building the backyard synthetic ice rink is pretty well done other than to install the synthetic ice itself. That will be the easiest part! Simply take a rubber mallet and bang the joints together tightly, and away you go for a skate.

Want Help Building a Synthetic Hockey Rink?

Having a synthetic hockey rink in your backyard doesn’t have to be just a dream! Learn more about our financing options to help you get started, or contact us here for any questions you have about our synthetic ice products.

I hope this post might help a few folks with building a simplistic base for building the backyard synthetic ice rink.

-Tim

Finally a new synthetic ice product…

ProFast1500-SG Synthetic ice with permanent glide

It’s really been sometime since something truly innovative has come along with the synthetic ice industry – until now! SmartRink is extremely pleased to announce the newest material in their impressive lineup. It’s a brand new synthetic ice product and we call it ProFast-SG. The “SG” stands for “SmartGlide”. SmartGlide refers to the permanent glide material that has been thoroughly mixed and infused with the dry resin prior to being sinter pressed. The reason this technology is “smart” is because the glide material is found completely throughout the pressed sheet material. It’s not just a patch here and a patch there as other material makers have. It’s not “dripping” out at the “pores” of the material as some well known products are known to be like. This material is “smart” because it actually feels “dry” to the touch. It’s not greasy, it does not drip, it does not leach out or evaporate. It just stays there and does it’s job – for the life of the panel – just like you would expect.

Truly a heavy duty synthetic ice connection system

The commercial synthetic ice rink panel shown in this image is the ProFast1500-SG. This is a heavy duty commercial synthetic ice panel that is 15mm (0.60 inch) thick that uses our “hybrid” connection system – a combination of male and female machined perimeter edges and H-Tongues for connecting the solid synthetic ice line markings and creases. This is a rink that will not fail due to expansion, contraction, or severe temperature changes. This product has it all!

A happy synthetic ice owner

The owner of this new synthetic ice rink certainly thought so when his son saw it for the first time and spent 2 straight hours on it – after just playing 8 hockey games over the past 3 days!

Enjoy your new rink!