What hollow do you like???

[TPS_Mike]

i think another thing to take into account is how often the person gets their skates sharpened. If you get them sharpened at 3/8" but play on that for 5 ice times it's not really 3/8" anymore.

me personally i get mine sharpened almost every ice time, i go 2 ice times max without getting them sharpened.

[Evoq]

Good point tps_mike,

If i could afford a sharpening every 2 games, i would, and I'd get them at 3/8, but i go with 2.5/8 now, and with a little scrub from my sweet stick they can last 6 games, though I would advice a public skate to work in teh blade a bit before a game.

[Law Goalie]

Originally Posted by TPS_Mike

i think another thing to take into account is how often the person gets their skates sharpened. If you get them sharpened at 3/8" but play on that for 5 ice times it's not really 3/8" anymore.

me personally i get mine sharpened almost every ice time, i go 2 ice times max without getting them sharpened.

Depends on the steel. My old SLM carbon steel could go about 6-7 skates without dulling appreciably after skate 2 (since carbon steel always has that extra 'bite' the first hour or so on the ice). Bauer carbon steel, you're lucky to get 2. RBK's new stainless steel holds its edges for more like 20-30 skates. I actually got bored and decided to change the profile before I felt the blades dull, and I'd stopped counting at 20.

[_PRODIGY_]

125 pounds, 5'3" female goalie. 3/4" hollow.


The store I took it to before I would tell them 3/4" and for 4-5 sharpens they would sharpen it, I didn't think much of it til one day I dropped them off and said 3/4" please and the SAME guy goes "what does that ACTUALLY mean?" so I never went there again.

I find that I need to sharpen my skates after 4-5 hours on the ice though. I stand with my feet fairly wide apart and hunched fairly low as well in my stance. Should I maybe get a 3/8" hollow to avoid having them sharpened so often?

[Barren]

I would guess that most shops would do one of 2 for goalies by default... If the person is older and isn't that familiar with todays goalies, they might do a 1" grind because thats what a lot of older goalies use/used. Most younger goalies go a lot deeper.. 1/2" is probably one of the more common hollows these days.

Being a heavy guy, I like one step deeper than that with 7/16" as I already noted. I found the key to having movement while down in bfly was all about the cut on my skates.. my ankle strength was far less a factor. It was having some bite on my skates when in a sharp angle that did the trick for down mobility.. and pads that could slide.

[alex65]

Originally Posted by alex65

3/8", 145 lbs

And i get them sharpened every 2-3 ice times

[matvell]

I use 7/8. I weigh around 235. It usually takes me 1 skate to get them feeling the way I want. After that I seem to be able to go 7-8 skates before they start feeling dull to me.

[Lion1]

Wow heck-uva thread... I went from 1" to 5/8" and noticed a huge improvement. I will try 1/2" when I get them done again. It just amazes me that many of us seem to deal with dudes that havent got a clue how to sharpen skates... And i thought i was just unlucky down here in Florida... Real hockey country you know... Some chick the otherday thought my Blackhawks jersey was and old Florida State football jersey!!! Im 170lbs and dont suck as bad on breakaways now!!!

[Evoq]

Wouldnt you need less of a hollow if you weigh more?

[KlowN.SmitH]

I get mine done at 1/2" and I weigh 170.

[dnabyun]

It took a while to figure out what suits me. I've tried various sizes and it seems like 1/2" is the best for me for a guy who is almost 6'1 and at 190lbs.

Any more hollow than 1/2" I have trouble moving laterally. Need that bite to get across fast.

[Redness]

Originally Posted by Evoq

Wouldnt you need less of a hollow if you weigh more?

Yup, more weight means you'll dig in more for a given hollow. I have one guy on my team that's 265. I started him off at 5/8" because of his weight. We've worked down to 1/2", and now he wants 3/8" He doesn't like that when he's not trying to turn/accelerate, his skates aren't digging into the ice. I'm thinking to myself "Your skates aren't supposed to dig into the ice if you haven't leaned into an edge." But what the hell, the customer is always right.

For players, the hollow will make a big difference on their straight line speed, and their endurance. Skaters that have higher ROH will have more energy at the end of the game because they aren't cutting the ice as deeply when in a glide.

For Goalies, it's a little less cut and dried. A standup goalie will want a shallower hollow for easier shuffling, whereas a butterfly goalie will want a deeper hollow to give more edge when butterfly shuffling.

The goalies down near a 1/4" might want to think about getting uneven edges (the inside edge sticking out farther than the outside edge), which will give as much bite and last longer.

For both the standup and butterfly goalies, a flat profile will work best; rolling your ankle will determine whether you get maximum slide in your shuffle, or maximum bite in your drives. I can't quite figure out why some of the goalies are profiling their blades.... Anyone have any idea for this?

[Barren]

I don't want to shuffle... I want to do a bfly slide and once I'm down, if I need to move laterally, I need a nice blade with a thin edge in order to get it to bite into the ice at less than 45 degrees angle to the ice surface.

Another reason is because when I'm standing and moving around, I might want to go into a very wide stance, when I do that, I don't want to slip out and pull a groin muscle. Having a deep hollow with sharp blade allows me to do as such without having to worry that it might slip out.

I started with 1" grinds... did the whole shuffle thing, etc.. I could spin around on a dime but what does that do for you? I moved my way down to 1/2" where I stayed for a year or two... then after talking with a younger goalie who was half my weight said he was skating on 7/16th and getting it cut every week, I had to try it out. I stumbled at first with that much bite, but I got comfortable with it in a couple hours on the ice and soon it became my normal grind.

[BeesHockey]

i use a 1/2 hollow been using it for a while now i like it.. just enough grip

[ThePM]

Agreed Barren. The bite is what does it for me. First time I got on the ice after switching from 1" to 3/8th was a huge adjustment, but man the b-fly pushes and just general grip have improved exponentially.