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Everyone knows you need to get your skates sharpened, but other than making sure the blades are sharp, do you really know what makes a good – or bad – skate sharpening? Sure, we all know when we have a bad sharpening because it just doesn’t feel right, but what are we feeling and why does a good sharpening feel “just right?” In this article, we will examine the key components that make up a perfect skate sharpening.

You may have gone into your local hockey shop to get your skates sharpened, and the guy behind the counter asks, "What hollow do you want?" You start to panic and have no idea what he is talking about, so you quickly blurt out, "The regular."

It's a very common answer to an important question, but its not the correct answer. Choosing the correct hollow is an important decision in the skate sharpening process and far too often, people do not fully understand how the wrong hollow can dramatically impact your on-ice performance. To fully get the benefits of a perfect skate sharpening you must first understand the concept of Radius of Hollow or RoH. Radius is the distance from the center of a circle to its outer edge (a measurement) and Hollow is a cut or depression in something. In the case of skate sharpening, it’s the concave groove that is ground into the bottom of the skating surface. So when someone asks about Radius of Hollow, or simply "Hollow" they are referring to the depth of the cut ground into the bottom of our blade.

For developing hockey players, attending hockey schools, camps and clinics over the summer has become an expected part the lifestyle. From defensemen camps to summer leagues, finding just the right one for you or your hockey player could be a full-time job.

You put on your skate, stand up and start heading out of of the locker room.

Click...clack...click...clack.

Every step you take sounds as if your skate steel is going to fly out of your blade holder. More often than not, your steel is secure, it is just loose inside the holder.  A great hack to fix this annoying problem comes from some of the game's best equipment managers in Dana Heinze of the Pittsburgh Penguins and John Sokoloski of Boston University. 

It is a question we get all the time here at Sparx Hockey - "Help! My edge checker keeps showing that my edges are not even...what am I doing wrong? is there something wrong with my Sparx machine?"

The NHL season is back and More than 25 NHL teams are now using Sparx to sharpen the skates of the best players in the world. Hear directly from some of these top NHL players, including Matt Grzlecyk, Matt Cullen, Tanner Pearson and Thomas Vanek, on how Sparx Hockey is changing the game with professional-level skate sharpening done right at home.

We recently attended the Sports Consulting Group's preseason camp in Minnesota and had the chance to catch up with some top NHL players and prospects. Sports Consulting Group is one of top hockey agencies in the world representing several of the game's best players including Thomas Vanek and Ryan Callahan. Check out the video to see how we made sure all of these elite players had the best possible edges with a fresh Sparx skate sharpening!

New England Sports Center is the largest and busiest hockey rink in New England with eight rinks and two mini rinks, hockey never stops at NESC. With four Sparx Sharpeners, NESC’s employees are able to sharpen hundreds of skates a day while also still servicing the need of their customers in the store. 

In celebration of Mother’s Day, Sparx Hockey honored hockey moms everywhere with a four-part video series. Hear from real hockey moms and their kids about what it means to be a hockey mom, the commitment and dedication it takes, and why it’s all worth it. #HockeyMom

While visiting Boston for a game against the Bruins, Thomas Vanek of the Columbus Blue Jackets sat down with us to share his story about how he found out about Sparx. He and family love sharpening their skates with the Sparx sharpener. He was amazed at the ease of operating the machine, but more impressed with the quality results he was able to achieve. It was awesome to hear such positive feedback from an NHL player who believes in our product.