Showing Up

Yesterday I stopped by Just Hockey/Source for Sports to get John's and mine skates sharpened.  Apparently they are skate sharpening experts.  Skates are sharpened by a rotating disk that is about the same width as your blades. The skate is clamped in and the disk grinds away a small part of the blade leaving a hollow groove.  It makes a lot of noise and sparks fly, so in my mind, anyone who sharpens skates is an expert, but as in all things, some are better than others and Just Hockey is supposedly one of the best.

To be honest, I wouldn't have a clue as to where to get the best skate sharpening experience.  We go to Just Hockey on Don Mills Road, because that's where Jamie used to get his skates sharpened.  Jamie is my 18 year old stepson, who when I first met him five years ago, had dreams of playing professional hockey.  Jamie played competitive hockey in the GTHL which meant two games a week, plus practice, plus hockey camps in the summer, plus spending a lot of money on the aforementioned items.  Jamie played defense, for more experienced skaters, particularly defensemen who are often making quick changes in direction, it's essential to have sharp edges as they need to be able to turn at sharp angles without having their blades give out from under them.  John plays defense too, thus the importance of sharpening. 

I like going to Just Hockey, cause it's only five minutes away.  Madie, my stepdaughter, likes going there cause there's lots of goalie equipment to look at (she has dreams of being a goalie, presently she plays out and her goalie dreams are awaiting her financial ability to buy half of her equipment when she's 18).

To get back to the issue at hand, I was getting my skates sharpened and they were somewhat backed up, most likely due to the start of the hockey season.  I had followed a young man into the store.  "Walking wall" would probably be more of an apt description. From the conversation between he and the skate sharpener, I gathered that he had made an OHL team, but that he preferred the flat bottomed V skate sharpening that Just Hockey did, over the sharpening that his own team provided.  After I got over my momentary illusions of playing on a team that provided sharpening, I was struck by the fact "Hey, they're different types of sharping skates."  Who knew?

I subsequently have found out that there are numerous ways to sharpen a skate and if you add the realm of figure skating, you're into a whole other issue altogether.  The Internet told me that the differences between a shallow and deep cut. are that in general, a shallower cut will glide easier and faster on the ice than a deep cut. It also allows you to feel the blade edges better, which are used for stopping.

When I went back to pick up my skates, I asked the guy sharpening the skates if the way he sharpened my skates would make me skate faster.  He looked down at my 15 year old CCM 540 Super Tacks that had laces to match my old jersey, he looked at me (very little resemblance to the flat bottomed V skate guy),  he was kind enough not to say, "Hey lady, at your age and size, it won't make one iota of difference what kind of sharpening you get." But this young man was obviously raised properly and he simply smiled at me and in the most encouraging tone possible, told me, "Sometimes just showing up is enough."

I think he's right.  But, just maybe, the next time I get my skates sharpened, I'm going to try the flat bottomed V sharpening.  Who knows, maybe that's the only thing standing between me and glory?