When you decided that enough is enough with the horrible hire skates at your local rink there are a few different things you need to take into consideration when buying your first pair of ice hockey skates.Some of these may seem some what obvious but they are easly overlooked. Firstly size is the single most important thing that you need to know about. They are measured by length and also width, generally the cheaper skates tend to come in a standard with where as the more expensive skate will have a wider foot option. Another very important factor to be aware of is that each different brand of ice skate will fit very differently to its competitor. For example CCM's generaly are a little wider and cater for the arch of the foot where as Bauer are a slimmer tighter fit. Again each brands boot is different.Each brand of skates have there advantages & disadvantages. It very much depends on the skaters personal prefrence of comfort.
What is boot stiffness and why is it important to know ?
Well it is important to know how stiff, or how much flex your boot has when you first come to buying your skates. This is because the stiffer the boot is the harder you as a learner will have difficulty learning how to skate . Stiffer boots are for the more advanced skater e.g a hockey player or someone who has been skating for a long time. It is highly recomended that all beginers get a boot with allot of flex. This will enable you to move the boot around comfortably on the ice whilst you are still learning different techniques like stopping, crossovers, and turns.Wow those Reebok 30K's look nice, i want them!Most beginers when they are looking to move up from the horrible hire skates at the local ice rink usualy have an idea as to what they want to buy usualy by seeing the other more advanced skaters on the ice, & taking a sneaky peak in the skate shop (been there).One important thing to remember that you will only slow down your learning progress if you go mad and buy a very expensive skate. the more expensive the boot is the stiffer the boot will be, and the less you will learn!
Skate cost & features.
When you are learning about the different skates on the marketplace again you wll learn that the more expensive the boot is the stiffer the boot will become. High the £ = Stiffer boot.
You also do get some really good features which will give you a better skating experience once you are at that advanced level such as:
Increased ankle protection
More responsive to your movements
Anti lace bite cover on tongue.
A full composite insole that moulds to your feet
Strength of blade material, better quality rivets, & blade holders
These are just a few advantages to give you an idea as to what an advanced skate will have.
This is one of the reasons why we provide second hand skates, because it is so easy to spend allot of money on a new pair of skates only to be dissapointed.
