LAMP - Need some advice

[GrimFandango]

I haven't been on ice skates for the past 19 years, however i used to play rollerhockey in a league setting. Anyway, tonight i went ice skating and had a pretty fun time. However it led me to a few questions. While i surely wasn't a beginner, i was nowhere near comfortable on these skates. This could have been because of several factors and that is for you all to tell me because it is likely that most of you know what i am talking about and can confirm or deny my thoughts.

 

1) Outdoor rinks are a crapshoot as they are chopped to hell and have big chunks taken out of them. Is this normal from rink to rink (indoor or outdoor) and you just have to skate through it, or was i on a crap ice surface? If so, how much does that make a difference?

 

2) Those brown nasty skates didnt seem sharp at all. Granted the edge means a ton for the pros, but is it noticeably different for an amateur? I was slipping a bit on the slicker surface and i wasnt sure if that was due to dull blades, etc.

 

3) Those brown nasty skates had the toe-pick. How different is it skating in hockey skates? I am guessing it is easier and has more of a fluid feel, is this right?

 

Any other advice you all can give me before i start devoting expenses toward gear and devoting time to learning how to play on the ice? I am sort of just wondering if my lack of comfort was due to my surroundings or if it was due to the fact that i totally suck.

 

Thanks for the input.

[Doohickie]

It was probably the brown nasties. Rental skates suck; that's a universal constant. Get some decent hockey skates and you'll see a world of difference. I picked up ice hockey while in college, so I was just a bit younger than you. I picked it up pretty well, and I bet you can too.

 

To start, though, I would buy the cheapest f-ing equipment I could get. Besides getting good skates, only spend serious money on a helmet (gotta protect the coconut, eh?) Most of the cheap stuff will last pretty well for at least a year, then if you decide to continue you can upgrade a little at a time.

[Taro T]

I haven't been on ice skates for the past 19 years, however i used to play rollerhockey in a league setting. Anyway, tonight i went ice skating and had a pretty fun time. However it led me to a few questions. While i surely wasn't a beginner, i was nowhere near comfortable on these skates. This could have been because of several factors and that is for you all to tell me because it is likely that most of you know what i am talking about and can confirm or deny my thoughts.

 

1) Outdoor rinks are a crapshoot as they are chopped to hell and have big chunks taken out of them. Is this normal from rink to rink (indoor or outdoor) and you just have to skate through it, or was i on a crap ice surface? If so, how much does that make a difference?

 

2) Those brown nasty skates didnt seem sharp at all. Granted the edge means a ton for the pros, but is it noticeably different for an amateur? I was slipping a bit on the slicker surface and i wasnt sure if that was due to dull blades, etc.

 

3) Those brown nasty skates had the toe-pick. How different is it skating in hockey skates? I am guessing it is easier and has more of a fluid feel, is this right?

 

Any other advice you all can give me before i start devoting expenses toward gear and devoting time to learning how to play on the ice? I am sort of just wondering if my lack of comfort was due to my surroundings or if it was due to the fact that i totally suck.

 

Thanks for the input.

I haven't been on an outdoor rink since I was a kid, but skating on a rink with chunks taken out of it will make skating much more difficult than it should be. And I've been on indoor rinks after high school coaches got done teaching their kids a lesson for dogging through their last game and the ice was literally unplayable until it had been cut 3-4 times.

 

Skating on dull blades will definitely effect your skating. Figure skating boots are much different than hockey skate boots and can effect it as well. The bigger effect though will be that rollerblades have a "blade" that is about 3-4" longer than a hockey skate blade. Pushing off, and not having a wheel beyond your boot will take a couple of weeks to a couple of months to get used to. My guess is that is more of the reason for the "slipping" you were feeling than the quite likely dull blades.

 

I played roller hockey for about 8 years after going 3 without playing at all. It was a big transition getting back into ice hockey. It took about 3 weeks to get reused to ice skates vs rollerblades (just the difference in the length of the blade). It took more like a season to get used to changing direction with a true hockey stop and/or a tight turn rather than that wider turn that is typical on rollerblades (and this is coming from someone that can do a hockey stop on rollerblades).

 

Advise to you. Get a good pair of skates (used or new) and used equipment for what you need that you either don't use playing roller hockey (shoulder pads, etc.) or may need to upgrade (pants, etc.). Start going to skate and shoots in the area and ask the local rink management what league teams need players. (All leagues have at least 1 team looking for players.) Be honest with yourself about what level you should play because you won't enjoy it nearly as much if you are too good or too bad for the league.