There are thousands of reasons why ice skaters and hockey players love synthetic ice. One of the main reasons why it is so popular is that it can be easily installed just about anywhere. If you have a flat, level surface that is hard enough to withstand ice skates, you can install ice panels and skate from anywhere in the world. Can it replace the smoothness of real ice? Well, that all depends on who you talk to. As for being able to do a hockey stop on synthetic ice, the short answer is yes. However, it depends.
Quality Matters
When it comes to synthetic ice and other types of hockey flooring the manufacturer has a lot to do with whether or not the ice skating experience will be comparable to real ice. Sniper’s Edge hockey has a high-quality polymer plastic type of synthetic ice that comes equipped with a built-in lubricating system. When it comes to hockey products such as slick tiles and balance boards for hockey it is best to purchase the products from a company that is committed to excellence and only sells hockey products.
High-Quality Polymer Plastics
Polymers are naturally occurring in most of the physical matter that is on our planet. One of the most famous polymers is the DNA chain. Being able to create a product based on the molecular structure of a polymer chain puts a whole new level of quality in the object. Developers can create synthetic polymers that create whole forms, such as high-density polymer-based plastics that are specially designed for ice skates and the abuse that they can dish out.
Ice Skating on Real Ice
When a skater skates across ice, behind the scenes, science is at work making sure that the blades of the skates can easily slide across the surface without much drag or any resistance. The way that this works is when the ice skate blades dig into the ice they cause enough heat to melt the ice a little. The melting ice produces a lubricating effect as the blades of the skates glide across the surface.
Ice Skating on Synthetic ice
Back when synthetic ice was first created it had to be manually lubricated in order for people to be able to skate on it. On top of the constant lubricating, the flooring had to be constantly scraped and cleaned in order to avoid the silicon solution causing buildup on the surface. The synthetic ice of today, as we mentioned above, is made out of highly advanced plastic so that it is able to hold its own lubricant and cause a constant supply of lubricant to be present as the skaters skate across it. It is very much like real ice but does have its noticeable differences.
There are a slight drag and a bit of resistance that is not present when you skate on real ice. The resistance on synthetic ice is noticeable, but not so bad that it actually hinders a skater’s ability to skate. In fact, the extra drag causes the skater to build more muscle and strength.
Can You Hockey Stop?
When you have high-quality synthetic ice, you can do everything on it that you can on real ice. You can figure skate, skate fast, skate slow, and stop on a dime. It may feel a little different at first, but once you get used to it you are golden.
***Sniper’s Edge Hockey loves Canada! We proudly ship all of our products to Canada and offer the same return policies as we do for everybody else. We realize the exchange rates for the Canadian dollar are not the best right now, so we’re trying to help by giving you free shipping and no customs/duty.***
