Heated Skate Blades? WTF?!?!

by Jes

As we know, many arenas around the NHL have trouble keeping their ice in great condition. Warm climates, multi-use stadiums, people breathing ... it all leads to slushy ice. Not all arenas are like Edmonton, Detroit, or Vancouver, where the ice is in great shape and leads to better puck control and game speed. Ask any NHL player about Madison Square Garden, or any rink in Florida, and they will tell you that it's like skating on a 7-UP Slurpee.

So, does it make any sense to you that the NHL is considering allowing the use of heated skate blades??

Heated skate blades? Yeah, the "Thermablade", a device which promises to help make skaters faster.

Tory Weber was a student in Calgary and working at a lumberyard when he ran out for his newspaper one February evening. He grabbed a warm pair of running shoes that had been sitting on the heat register next to the front door, stepped out onto his frost-covered front steps, promptly slipped and landed on his backside.

And just like that, Mr. Weber slid upon the idea that Wayne Gretzky believes will revolutionize hockey.

Yesterday at the Hockey Hall of Fame, about two decades after his inspirational slide, Mr. Weber officially unveiled Thermablades - heated skate blades that reduce friction and allow a hockey player to skate faster and with greater ease.

"Put an ice cube in your hand and the ice cube slides around in the palm of your hand," said Mr. Weber, explaining the science behind his invention. "It's the same principle with the skate blade. The heated blade creates a thin film of water between the ice and the blade and acts as a lubricant."

Given how many of Gretzky's ventures have turned into busts, is he really the guy you want on board? *cough*

Now, Big Mac over at The NHL FanHouse touched on the safety aspect of this whole she-bang. Do we really want NHLers to be faster? I mean, give a 240-lbs slab of beef like Todd Bertuzzi that much more speed and you've basically made a big hitter even that much more dangerous. With all of the injuries we've been seeing lately from hitting, do we really want to make it easier to players to injure one another?

Now, I am not a total traditionalist crank, but I believe the NHL would be wise to say NO to this invention, given the safety and ice concerns. Making ice even more watery will likely lead to problematic ice conditions which lead to groin injuries, etc etc etc...

I also believe that this introduces a mechanical element to the game that should NEVER be allowed. At the very base of hockey, you have players with inanimate padding and sticks. None of these devices is mechanical, and all depend on the skill of the player using them. You might have graphite/metal sticks, but they do nothing by themselves. Heated skate blades add an element of 'assistance' that is just not natural.

If you let these in, where do we stop? Do we allow goaltenders to have springs in their pads that will make a rebound go about 100 feet away? How about allowing sticks to have mini-springs inside, allowing for faster shots?

If this was NASCAR, this would be par for the course. NASCAR, and other racing series, are all about man/machine vs. man/machine.

Of course, knowing the NHL, they will give this product their full endorsement. We wouldn't expect them to make the right call, would we?