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"It's for the dream, not the money".

We don't move across the world, uproot our careers, families, leave good jobs, to make money. We don't practice before the sunrises in the morning, workout after our full-time jobs, meal plan and prep during our little amount of down time, so we can get into the best clubs, and have the most Instagram followers.

We do all of these things, simply because we love the game. We love to play. For most women's hockey players, we have a passion for the game, and we don't make our entire living on the salary. And, if we do, we certainly aren't saving anything.

In comparison to the lavish lifestyles and extravagant elitism that our male counterparts experience, it's alarming.For as long as I can remember, the women's movement has had a feeling of waiting. Waiting for the NHL to step in, waiting for investors to help, waiting. Through the tumultuous years, from the splitting of leagues, to the walk out, to the folding of the CWHL, and beyond... It's always felt like in North America, the women's hockey movement has been relying on men. Biding their time, until the bigger, older brother can step in. This mindset is in direct contrast to the way we are brought up. We are taught to be independent, strong, free-thinking, and hard-working. We are taught to never rely on outside forces, to work and accomplish things on our own without challenging the status quo.

Hockey in general, has taught me a lot of lessons. It has let me face adversity, shown me how to have resilience, and to live with success. I've learned to fail, I've learned to care, and I've learned to make the most of the opportunities I've been given.

I've been involved in women's hockey for most of my life. I've been a coach, a fan, and a player. I've been on the ice at the end of a game, and I've been a bench player. I've waited for my chance eagerly, patiently, and I've had the disappointment of seeing that chance never come to fruition. Yet, even in that disappointment, in that failure, and in that loss, I've always come back. I've always shown up. In the days and practices that followed, even when I didn't want to show up, I did. Looking back, that's what I'm the proudest of. That I learned to show up. That I learned to come back. That I was strong. That I was a good teammate. That I waited for my chance and I made the most of it when it came.

Objectively, one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports is the hockey rivalry between the US and Canada. Especially in women's hockey. There have been more than 20 years of intense games, overtimes, penalty shots, fights, goals. Each year, the game has intensified. The women's movement has become a focal point of women's hockey, and sports. At the end of the day, the men's Olympic hockey is roster after roster filled with players making millions of dollars. To them, they are wearing just another jersey, with just another helmet, on just another day. They come onto the ice, skate around, with teammates from their home countries, and it's a glorified All-Star game. These NHL players have nothing to gain, nothing to lose from the outcome of the game. In fact, they could even lose money if they are injured, making their effort subpar at times. Gone are the days of amateurs, giving it their all to play for their country.

One of my favorite movies is Miracle on Ice. The passion for the game can be felt in that movie, it practically oozes out from the screen. The way the boys played, against the goliath team, against reason, against any doubt. And, against the odds, they won. Because they wanted to, they willed it to happen. That's the beauty of sports, when money isn't the final objective. When it's simply the glory of representing something greater than yourself, and as Herb Brooks exclaims in the movie, "The name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back"

Oddly enough, through serendipity, fate, or some other stroke of luck, a documentary about my former team came out today. In my first of two seasons playing in Sweden, we had a person follow our team, and a few specific players. It was truly profound, seeing my teammates speak to the exact topic I was focusing on. They had vocalized the epitome of what makes women's hockey special, and the documentarian brought it to life.

As the 7 th season of the Professional Women's League in North America begins, it's a new feeling. With the changing of the name, there is a new and refreshed sense of independence. Of freedom, of joy. As this new dawn begins, the era of the game is more about the future than it ever has been. It's more about the girls watching the games in the stands, about creating a product that is everything the NHL never could be, and that's beautiful. For everything women's hockey may lack, it has something that men's hockey never will. It has a raw sense of passion, of sacrifice, and of giving. Women's hockey is not men's hockey, and it doesn't need to be. It's for the dream, not the money.

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"It's for the dream, not the money". We don't move across the world, uproot our careers, families, leave good jobs, to make money. We don't practice before the sunrises in the morning, workout after our full-time jobs, meal plan and prep during our little amount of down time, so we can get into the best clubs, and have the most Instagram followers.

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Why Buy Synthetic Ice?

The popularity of synthetic ice has skyrocketed in the last few years. Since it made its first appearance in the early 1960s, developers have been teaming up with scientists all around the world with a determined goal to create a flooring that is just as slick and seamless as traditional ice.

Synthetic ice flooring is not only better for the environment, it is much easier to install and maintain than frozen water. The fact that it is lightweight, and can be assembled and disassembled in a manner of minutes makes it the perfect solution for ice skating enthusiasts to skate and practice in the comfort of their own homes.

If you play ice hockey, or like to ice skate for whatever reason, the reasons why you should invest in your own synthetic ice flooring far outnumber the reasons why you shouldn't. Once you understand how beneficial synthetic ice flooring really is, the question quickly changes from "why buy" to "why haven't I?"
Technology
Technology has come a long way over the last decade. It is not hard to see how much of an impact it has had on our society. Although it may be hard to consider synthetic ice as a type of technology, once you understand how it is made you will be able to connect the dots.

Synthetic ice is made out of polyethylene plastic, which is created from synthetic polymer chains. High-quality synthetic ice such as Sniper's Edge synthetic ice panels is constructed out of highly complex polymer chains that include additives and lubricants that can be activated as the skaters glide across the surface.

Much like frozen water creates its own lubricant from the water that is formed from the melted ice as the blades from the skates cause friction upon the surface, Sniper's Edge synthetic ice is designed to create its own lubricant so that skaters never have to worry about adding gliding agents or other additives to the flooring. This type of technology allows for the flooring to be as much like actual ice as possible - without having to be kept at freezing temperatures.
Bring the Game Home
One of the greatest things about Sniper's Edge synthetic ice is that you can install it right in your home. All that you need is a flat, level surface that is hard enough to sustain the weight of the people that will be ice skating on it.

In many instances people place a layer of plywood on top of the area that they are building the rink upon in order to add an extra level of support. For example, you can build an ice rink on top of carpet or grass as long as you install plywood panels, or a comparable solution.

Since the panels are compact and lightweight it does not take an overwhelming amount of effort to build the rink. The panels simply lay flat on the floor and are snapped together by tabs that are on the outer edges of the panels. It is possible to build an entire skating rink, ready to skate on in less than a couple of hours.
Save Money
The biggest difference between building a skate rink in your home with synthetic ice and with real ice is that it will cost a lot less to install synthetic ice panels than it would to build a frozen ice rink that has an environment that will keep the water frozen when the outside temperatures rise above the freezing point.

To build and maintain an ice rink it could cost upwards of what it would cost to build an entire home.

With synthetic ice all you do is purchase the amount of flooring that you will need to build your rink, plus whatever expenses it will entail to get the job done. After that you are all set with your rink and you will not have any more expenses to incur for maintaining your rink.
Builds Strength and Stamina
Although Sniper's Edge synthetic ice is of the utmost quality, and is as close to true ice as it gets, there are differences between the surfaces. When skaters glide across the surface of synthetic ice flooring they will notice an increase in resistance. Synthetic ice will have a little more drag than traditional ice. It is not enough of a difference to hinder the skater from being able to move across the flooring, but it is enough to cause a little bit of an extra strain in order to maneuver around.

It is a proven and known fact that whenever people raise the resistance in a workout that they build strength as they do so. The way that weight trainers build strength is that they add weight to the amount of weight that they work out with until the amount of weight that they use becomes comfortable. Of course, they keep adding more and more weight as time goes on so that they continue to build muscle.

By training on synthetic ice, the skater will experience an increase in resistance as they skate. When the skater continues to skate and push through this resistance, they begin to adapt to the extra amount of drag until it becomes comfortable.

By training on a surface that makes a person work harder to maneuver, it causes the skater to build strength, endurance and stamina. This way, when they do go out on a traditional ice rink and play a game, they will be stronger and faster than ever.
Easy to Install
We mentioned above that synthetic ice comes in the form of lightweight, and compact panels that are easy to install. Imagine having your very own ice skating rink without having to go through all of the headaches that it takes to install a traditional ice skating rink.

Simply place the ice panels on the area that you are going to turn into a skating rink, then snap them together.

Although you may have to go over the flooring and tamp the edges down with a rubber mallet before it will be ready to skate on, installing the panels is just as easy as putting together a large jigsaw puzzle.

Be sure to start building from the inside of the area to the outside so that you don't have to worry about matching the inner makings of the rink with the precise measurements from the outside.

Features & Benefits of Synthetic Ice
Shooting
Since synthetic ice was created in order to mimic real ice as closely as possible, the way that the puck slides across the surface of the flooring has to be as slick and seamless as the way that it would if it were on real ice.

Sniper's Edge synthetic ice panels are of such high quality that whenever the puck moves about the surface it is so close to the way that it glides on real ice, that it is hard to tell the difference. Whether it is practice training, or actually playing a game, the way that the puck and the stick interact with the flooring is as close to the real thing as possible. Taking shots on Sniper's Edge synthetic ice is just like taking shots on real ice, it's just not as cold.

Since the flooring is so similar to real ice, the skater can stop, go, and pivot in the same fashion as on real ice. What this means is that shooting goals on the flooring can be done in the same way that they are done on real ice.

Practicing shots on synthetic ice flooring with a hockey shooting tarp is extremely beneficial because it trains the shooter to hone in on those hard to make shots and helps to push the limits of training because the shooter can shoot repetitively over and over again.
Stickhandling
Dangling and stickhandling on Sniper's Edge synthetic ice is much like stickhandling on real ice. The smooth surface of the panels do not cause damage to the stick as it comes into contact with it. No lagging or snagging on the flooring means a great way to maneuver around the rink and shoot dekes to score winning points.

Even with real ice there can be problems with snagging and chipping on the stick. You might learn that you can stickhandle even better on Sniper's Edge synthetic ice than you can on a traditional ice rink floor.

The best part about synthetic ice is that you can install it practically anywhere and be able to practice whenever you want. Whether it is taking shots, ice skating, or stickhandling - or all of them combined the more practice that you get, the better you become.
Skating
Ice skating on Sniper's Edge synthetic ice flooring is smooth, easy and seamless. Training on synthetic ice helps to build strength, endurance and unending stamina. Although anybody that is used to skating on real ice will immediately be able to tell the difference, once you realize that it is only a slight difference, and get past the initial shock you will see that skating in high quality synthetic ice is actually pretty awesome.

By installing an ice skating rink in your own home you will be able to practice ice skating at any time that you want, during all of the seasons...hot or cold. You will never have to worry about your rink melting from the heat because synthetic ice works great in any weather.
Passing
Passing on Sniper's Edge synthetic ice is graceful and smooth because the pucks glide across the flooring with ease. The slick surface combined with the virtually seamless layout of the panels create a flooring that is perfect for hockey pucks to flow as if on ice, and the sticks to easily maneuver across the surface as well.

One of the best ways to hone the passing skills is to invest in a hockey rebounder and put it to good use on your synthetic ice panels. With a rebounder you can practice your shots, and your passing skills at the same time while you skate around on your new flooring. With a puck rebounder you can control the heat that comes at you from the rebound. Either softly nudge the puck towards the rebounder, or slap it full force and learn to receive as well as pass at high speeds and hard hits.

The Sniper's Edge Synthetic Ice Difference

What makes Sniper's Edge synthetic ice stand above other types of flooring? Sniper's Edge takes pride in providing synthetic ice that is of the highest quality and sturdiest standards. Here are some of the perks that you can expect from Sniper's Edge synthetic ice panels:

Self-lubricating: Sniper's Edge synthetic ice has self-lubricating properties, which means that you never have to add any lubricants or additives to experience a slick, smooth skating surface.

Double-sided: being reversible, the ability to use both sides helps to lengthen the life of the tiles, and makes it more durable and long-lasting.

Size: Having large rectangular tiles makes for fewer points of connections, leading to a smoother finish and seamless surface.

Quality of Material: Having better materials will always lead to a longer life for the products, better experience for the user, and other benefits. Sniper's Edge synthetic ice is UV protected, so they will hold up in the sun, and other outdoor conditions.

Price: you want to be able to get the best product you can, but not at a price that will break the bank. Sniper's Edge is affordable and practical so that all hockey players have access to the finest products available on the market.

Sniper's Edge Hockey Synthetic Ice has been perfected over the years with a significant amount of engineering, improvements, and time. The tiles are designed to withstand time, weather, skates, and more. They improve as they are used, and they allow people to improve their on-ice game, at home.

We chose to extrude our panels to create the best experience, without any need for sprays, wax, or anything else directly out of the box.

The History of Sniper's Edge Synthetic Ice

While other companies rushed into the market to make Synthetic Ice, the Sniper's Edge Team took time to learn and understand the science behind the products, and to make the best possible experience for the skater. The longer answer is that it took us well over 50 revisions to come up with the ultimate version that blends together the ultimate recipe to supply our customers with a product that will perform very well on any hard, flat surface. There are many different versions of "plastic" that exist in the Synthetic Ice claims. Please understand there are differences that even a 5-year-old will notice as when using real ice, they will learn quicker and be able to perform more "on-ice" moves such as mohawks, power turns and full-on hockey-stops that you cannot get from some versions that exist.

In 2018, the first pair of skates slid along the panels. Since then, we settled on 2-foot by 4-foot panels that are 5/16inch thick. We've tweaked and perfected the formula to create a special sauce that makes it durable, tough, slippery, and safe to be driven, skated, or walked on. It can handle intense amounts of sunlight, blades, pucks, balls, and even tires being on top of it. It's double-sided, and it has properties that lubricate the material as it is activated on the surface through use.

In our research, we used real hockey minds to develop a product that we could produce with the end user in mind. There are two conflicting schools when it comes to off-ice training, and using a skateable panel or tile.

The first is that being on skates is always good because it brings the player closer to the real situation of practice and games, and it allows them to work on their edges, and shooting on skates is a great tool to become more comfortable on blades for players at multiple levels.

On the other hand, there are coaches and trainers that believe it isn't the same as ice, and trying to adapt with skates on will only inhibit and negatively impact the players form and precision on ice. Instead of learning how to shoot, they are learning how to stand on their skates, being discombobulated and off-balance mechanically.

Knowing both of these schools, we developed a product that would be able to be used on skates and with shoes. This versatility has become one of the best features our Synthetic Ice has to offer. The puck slides with ease, making shooting, stickhandling, and passing just like on ice, and on skates or shoes, the player is going to improve their game performance on-ice. Having the option to skate on the panels is a great way to try out both schools and decide for yourself, or your player which is the best for them. Shoes, or skates. It all depends!
Benefits of the Sniper's Edge Synthetic Ice:

Skateable

Smooth surface

Sturdy enough to withstand the weight of a car

Specially coated with UV protection

Never needs any sprays or coatings

Easily locks into place with a rubber mallet

The Best Skateable Synthetic ice panels are designed to create a better skating experience as they get used more. Small shavings peel off as you dig into the ice, similar to ice. The synthetic ice sheets contain properties that are a heavy-duty polyethylene plastic, long lasting and durable.

With the classic interlocking design, the tiles are knocked into place with the rubber mallet, and stay in place with ease and confidence.

While nothing will ever seriously be able to recreate the experience of on-ice skating. Ice is after all, ice. Creating something at home that can be more challenging, yet still give the same ability for turns, stops, strides, and puck handling. This can help you improve! It will make real ice feel easier. Stronger, better. That's all we really want, at the end of the day.

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Why Buy Synthetic Ice? The popularity of synthetic ice has skyrocketed in the last few years. Since it made its first appearance in the early 1960s, developers have been teaming up with scientists all around the world with a determined goal to create a flooring that is just as slick and seamless as traditional ice.

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It's about that time of year again. Summer programs are coming to an end and tryouts have either started or are just around the corner. For many players this is a very stressful time. The uncertainty alone can be mind crushing.

You may be questioning if you're good enough to make the first team, if all the hard work will pay off, or if you'll like the new coach?

Let's unpack all that stress you are essentially putting on yourself. You either did one of two things this summer. You put the work in or you didn't, PERIOD. (If you didn't, then this article won't help you much. You have now left your fate in the hands of chance alone). For those who put the work in, how do you know if you did? You've trained relentlessly on and off the ice at least 4-5 days a week, were consistent all summer, and worked specifically on areas you needed to improve on.

If you put the work in, then the rest is just mental. It's all in your own head. Some of you might say you know that already, but that awareness will really put it all in perspective. When you say it out loud you start to think, "Yeah, I'm prepared, I'm ready, let's get this thing going!" It's simple to say, but not easy to do. This is the first step. You put the work in, so tryouts are the time to show everyone and yourself what you're made of.

Another tendency that comes up is players immediately start to compare themselves to other players before tryouts. They overhear parents talking about who will be there and how it will be a tough tryout this year. The ball starts rolling in your head and before you know it, all you're thinking about is how good everyone else is, instead of your own game. You start making excuses about how you won't make the team because of this or that to simply set the bar low for yourself.

STOP! Like the first step, this is self-induced and can easily get mediated by FOCUSING ON YOUR GAME! Take a sheet of paper and write 3-5 skills that you are really good at. It could be as simple as backwards skating or as complex as being able to find soft spots in the ozone under pressure. Focus on executing these skills consistently. This turns the focus on YOU versus others, allowing you to be more engaged in the present moment.

Now, those are two big mental hurdles we cleared, but what about on the ice? Playing your game will allow you to play at your best. Doing so will give you the best chance to get noticed. One other sure-fire way to get noticed is to play with HIGH COMPETE, BATTLE, AND OUT WORK OTHERS. At the end of the day, it's hard to say no to a player that plays with a high level of compete. Not to mention it's difficult to play against, and will lead to you getting more time and space to play your game.
"Worry less about looking "cool" and focus more on playing your game with a high level of compete."
In closing, these tips won't guarantee you will make the team, but it will allow you at the very least to turn heads. Sometimes teams aren't a good fit and that's ok. The only way you will flourish as a player is if you have a coach that trusts you, lets you play your game, and gives you a good amount of playing time. To review, you want to mediate the stress of tryouts by first creating the awareness that you put the work in and you're ready to go. Next, you must minimize how much you think of others and focus on playing to your 3-5 strengths. Lastly, you need to play with an incredible amount of high compete.

Thanks for reading and good luck at tryouts!

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It's about that time of year again. Summer programs are coming to an end and tryouts have either started or are just around the corner. For many players this is a very stressful time. The uncertainty alone can be mind crushing.

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As we watched the summer Olympics and saw inspiring stories of athletes fulfilling their lifelong dreams, realizing their passions, and claiming their place as the pinnacle of athleticism. There was a gripping connection to the past traditions. When the flame faded, and the closing ceremonies eloquently bid goodbye to the world's greatest athletes, we were left in awe. Left with our new dreams and inspirational heroes of the next generation. Like a bird flying south for the season, the back-to-school sales, and the leaves changing colors, the harbingers of a winter fast approaching. Enjoying the summer and trying new sports and activities is crucial to becoming a well-rounded, athlete.

Many players in the NHL golf, play tennis, softball, pickleball, and other activities in the summer. Developing skills in many different areas is great to increase your on-ice production. It improves your body control, gives your mind a break from hockey, allows you to stay active and have fun, make new connections, and then regroup and come back to the game. Now is the perfect time to focus before tryouts, and make the final push before the season. Six weeks of work at home and prepare you for the season and get you ready to succeed.

A few simple ways that you can get ready for the season:

Improve your mind: watch hockey. It may seem simple, but immersing yourself in the game and watching someone in your position teaches you to have a greater hockey IQ. It teaches you trends in the game, the flow, and specifically how your position moves throughout different situations on the ice.

Improve your body: athletes can do a simple bodyweight circuit to promote injury prevention, strength, and stamina before the season gets into full swing. Doing something every day will help prepare your body for the strain of the season to come.

Here is a simple one to try on your own, no equipment needed! (You can add a kettlebell, medicine ball, or even a backpack filled with pucks if you want to make it harder) Check out our YouTube channel for a walkthrough of the workout!
3-5 Rounds, 10 reps each exercise, (each side when applicable)

Burpees with Push-up (Full Body)

Skater Jumps with a pause (reload) on landing (Lower Body and Balance)

Mountain Climbers, opposite knee to elbow (Abs)

Squat Jumps (Lower Body)

Spiderman Stretch with Twist (Full Body)

Single Leg Backwards Lunges (Lower Body and Abs)

Fire Hydrants (Hips)

Alternating Dead Bugs (Abs)

At Sniper's Edge, we have products that will help you increase your strength and balance as well. For example, our is a great tool to improve the muscles that you use during hockey. Another is our or weighted pucks , to increase wrist strength and improve your shot. Mobility and stretching should be a part of your routine during the day.

Your Fundamentals: Starting with the simplest of drills and exercises, just focusing on getting a feel for the puck and stick again. Start off just stickhandling in the driveway for at least ten minutes a day, naturally will help you get back into the swing of it. We have a plethora of stickhandling and shooting drills to keep you challenged and help get you ready for the season. Check out our website for awesome training tools, like our PassMaster, Shooting Tarp, and
stickhandling aids like the Attack Triangle and Sweethands.

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Getting Back into the Hockey Season Many players in the NHL golf, play tennis, softball, pickleball, and other activities in the summer. Developing skills in many different areas is great to increase your on-ice production. Now is the perfect time to focus before tryouts, and make the final push before the season.

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Playing on the team that is right for you can be the difference maker in your development. You want to play at a level that is competitive and challenging, but also where you can touch the puck and improve your skills. Playing in a league where players are more advanced than you can be detrimental. It can cause a lack of confidence, skill development and more. Especially as a young, developing player, it is important to play and learn more about the game. Getting as many touches and as much experience as possible.

As tryouts loom just around the corner, it is important to have a great perspective. Making the top team might seem like the only possibility. It might seem like the world will end if you don't. I've been a youth coach for young athletes at many levels, and I've had a lot of tryouts. I've made a lot of teams, and I've been disappointed in the reveal of the rosters. I learned that seeing it as a "demotion" or a "failure" won't help anyone, especially yourself.

Instead, I tell my players to see it as an opportunity to be a leader on their team, to learn how to control the game and be more of a force on the ice, and to develop their resilience and to have fun. It's like being the big fish in the little pond, instead of a minnow in Lake Superior, struggling to swim. Hockey is about more than the skills that we learn to perform on the ice. It is also about learning to face adversity, be a team player, adapt to unique situations, and to be a better person. All youth sports teach us these things, and it is what makes athletics such an invaluable experience. But, in the moment of getting cut, it can be hard to see it that way.

At Sniper's Edge we want to help you become the best hockey player that you can be. We want to help you make the team. We create our products to help challenge yourself at home, to enhance your off-ice experience and, above all, to help you improve. The more you practice skills and handling the puck, the better you'll become at all aspects of the game. By making things more challenging, like heavier pucks, and tools that make you emphasize certain movements, it helps to slow the actual game down and makes the fundamentals that much easier. Being a master at the fundamentals of skating, , and stickhandling will help you learn the game more effectively.

Making the team that is right for your development is the best thing for you, and that is not always purely making the top team. Keep practicing off-ice and outside of practice, and don't get discouraged. The right team is the team that you can contribute your best towards, and keep improving and being the best that YOU can be is the only way to be the best teammate. Good luck, and keep training hard.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog. As a token of our appreciation you can save 10% on your next order with us this month by using the coupon code SAVE10OCT at checkout.

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Making the Right Team for You Playing on the team that is right for you can be the difference maker in yourdevelopment. You want to play at a level that is competitive and challenging, but also where you can touch the puck and improve your skills. Read more

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Anyone who has built a backyard rink, or has a friend or neighbor who does, knows that while building a rink is no simple feat, it provides tremendous joy and satisfaction for those who persevere and get it done! The boards and brackets are expensive, each year you need a new liner, shovel, and/or replacement boards, plus all the countless hours shoveling, resurfacing, and trying to undo weather damage delivered by Mother Nature. Last year a friend joked that he logged more hours preparing and maintaining his ice than his family actually spent skating on it! But alas, it's a labor of love for hockey families, and in the north there is no better way to spend a crisp winter day then with your friends and family in the backyard!

I have learned from both success and failure with backyard rinks over the years, and in this article my goal is to share the issues I wish I knew before building my first rink.

How much slope in my yard is allowable?

This is arguably the most important issue to consider in your yard, and unfortunately for many homeowners a tough issue to overcome because most yards are built with a gentle slope to allow for proper water drainage. A few significant issues regarding slope to consider:

1. Too much slope and your boards may not interlock together the way the manufacturer intended. You might get around that by trenching slightly underneath each board to create straight vertical alignment, but then your boards will look like "stair steps" and sharp corners could injury a skater who falls there. If your boards are plywood, you could cut or sand the surface to remove the injury hazard.

2. Consider board height vs elevation change. Ice generally needs at least three inches of thickness for safe skating, and many boards are knee high at 24" tall. But if both of those factors exist, then your elevation change could not be any greater than 21" from low point to high point or the water will literally flow over the edge. Consider using taller boards in the area with lowest elevation, if that is an option.

3. Keep in mind that water will naturally flow to (and thus, put the most pressure on) the lowest elevation area, so extra reinforcement is required behind those boards. I used 10-15 stakes of rebar behind my wood boards at the low elevation point, and boards still angled back slightly from the water's pressure. Without such reinforcement, the weight of the water could literally burst through or knock over your boards during filling and ruin your rink.

4. Having proper board alignment is also critical to combatting this issue. If there is slope in your yard, then there's a good chance that there will be gaps either under or between boards. Water will try pushing into those nooks and crannies, so if gaps between and under boards are not plugged, then the water will push the liner into those crevices and could create a "popping balloon" effect during your fill. If you have wood boards, the easy solution is to fasten small strips of wood to wherever there are gaps (and be sure to screw from inside to the outside, to minimize chances of puncturing the liner). If composite boards, try to get them flush vertically, and then plug gaps along the bottom with sand bags, lumber or other hard objects that can prevent water from pushing the liner outward.

How do you know how much slope you have? There's no easy answer, unfortunately. Ask that handyman friend or neighbor if they have an altimeter, a leveler, or other tools or home remedy to solve this problem. Otherwise you can eyeball it and take your chances.

When to do initial fill?

You will need a reliable weather app and a calendar to figure this out. I'm not a scientist, but have researched this topic extensively over the years and believe the following research to be the most credible I found (http://lakeice.squarespace.com/ice-growth/). In short: ice should freeze at rate of 1 inch per day when it's 17 degrees (i.e. 15 degrees below the freezing point), more rapidly when colder and less rapidly when warmer. Thus, as an example, if average temperature is 20 degrees (or 12 degrees less than freezing point), then 12/15 inches of additional ice is likely to be created that day. Next, a snow event prior to ice being fully frozen is catastrophic for your rink, so you'll need to ensure you get 2-3 inches of top layer frozen before the snowfall. Third, a person needs to account for how long it will take to fill their rink. If your rink will take 24 hours to fill, then you need to back-up your timetable even further.

Conventional wisdom is that three inches of ice thickness is required prior to begin skating (probably depends on your weight). Outdoor ice freezes from the surface down, so seeing water underneath the ice layer is not uncommon even if the ice is strong enough.

For many frigid northern climates like Minnesota and North Dakota, the answer of when these conditions exist is usually sometime between late November to early December, but every once in a while Mother Nature blesses us hockey fans with early cold temps, so it is wise to have your boards up and liner ready to unroll in case you are fortunate to have a Thanksgiving skate.

How long does it take to fill?

This is another math exercise. First you need to calculate how many gallons of water is required. Each gallon is 7.48 cubic feet. Cubic feet = length x width x height (or ice thickness, in our case). So take the average desired ice thickness across your entire rink (which for me was three inches of water in some areas, 18 inches thick in others due to slope, so overall roughly an average of 10 inches) x 50 feet length x 25 feet width = 1,041.67 cubic feet x 7.48 gallons/cubic feet = 7,800 gallons! That's a lot of water.

Next question is how are you going to fill the rink? In the Twin Cities, there are several tanker truck companies that can deliver you water, but it's not cheap at $400-500/truck and generally each truck can only hold 5,000 or 6,000 gallons, so that gets pricey. Or, you can use your garden hose. Many variables such as faucet PSI, hose length and thickness will determine flow rate of a garden hose...but many commentators believe it's around 12-13 gallons per minute (or 720-780 gallons/hour). So at 7,800 gallons, my rink should take ~10 hours to fill...which is about accurate.
Other considerations:

Water will flow to lowest elevation area first, and will slowly expand outward from there. It may take literally hours until water covers the entire base of your surface before it begins rising vertically.

Consider whether your exterior faucets remain on during the winter, or do you have the sprinkler company turn them off? If they are off, then consider two solutions: 1) hire the water truck, or 2) consider running a hose from a laundry room or utilities room inside the house. Yes it gets messy and requires a longer hose, but it works.

How do you know when fill is done? In the highest elevation area the water would only need to be three inches deep, so use measuring tape or homemade dip stick to dip into water at that point (assuming it's along boards, of course) to estimate the depth. Err on the side of >3 inches if you can, just in case there is a slight leak somewhere.

What is optimal rink size and board size?

This is a personal preference that depends on many factors, but bigger is not always better. Consider the following:

Rink size. The bigger the rink, the more time, expense, and logistical challenges you will face, such as finding a flat enough area of your yard (see my commentary on slope above), backyard liners are more expensive and awkward to lay out, filling takes considerably longer, shoveling and resurfacing takes longer, set-up time takes longer, and requires more space for offseason storage. That said, a rink of 1,200 SF will be great for elementary age kids playing 3-on-3, but gets rather crowded if numbers increase any more and/or bigger skaters are present. You will also want to consider distance from your house to the rink, and whether that's an issue for the skaters in your family. If a smaller rink is footsteps away, vs a bigger rink that is 100 yards away, which one will your 8 year-old want to skate on?

Board size. There's no doubt that taller boards are great for keeping the puck in play and allowing your kids to practice lifting the puck off the boards, but there are also issues to consider. Taller boards make it tougher for smaller kids to get onto the rink itself (unless there's a door), requires a larger liner (assuming you want your liner to go up and over the boards), tougher to get snow up and over the sides while shoveling, and without a door will be nearly impossible to lift a snowblower onto the ice. That said, consider that knee-high boards (24" high) generally end up with even less height from ice to board top, depending on whether your yard's slope and how many inches of water was required at the point. With lower boards the puck will bounce out of play more often, and there's greater chance that a kid will occasionally trip and fall over the boards throughout the winter.

Taken altogether, there are tradeoffs either way so make sure you have your eyes wide open about the challenges with either strategy.

What is the ideal size of liner compared to rink size?

Conventional wisdom is to use a rink liner that is at least 5 feet wider and 5 feet longer than your boards, but the real answer depends on a) height of your boards, and b) do you want the liner to go up and over the boards (which we recommend), or do you intend to trim back the liner after freezing. If your boards are two feet high, then 2.5 feet on each end (or 5 feet longer, or 5 feet wider, in total) should be fine. But if your boards are higher on one of both side, then you need to consider rink length + board height on both ends plus 12" inches of slack (6" on each side). If you have four foot boards all around, for example, then you will want a liner 9-10' taller (and/or wider) than your rink. If you have excess liner after filling and freezing, then just trim off the excess if you wish.

You will also want to leave some slack in the liner when filling so the water can fully reach every inch of the ground within your rink without stretching the liner at the top. You'll also want to secure the liner to top of your boards just enough so that the entire liner stays above the water line during filling, but still with slack, and then after filling is complete you can create tighter fit with your liner all along boards.

Which liners to use and where to buy?

Like you, I struggled for years to find quality rink liners at a reasonable price. First, in terms of quality, don't take a chance on anything less than 5 mil or 6 mil. You have made substantial investment or time and money on the rest of your rink, and there's a narrow window of time to fill and allow freezing, so you simply can't risk water leakage during filling. Home improvement stores generally don't have the quality 5 mil or 6 mil liners, or if they do not in large enough sizes (and take it from me, you want a single sheet because trying to tape two liners simply doesn't work). The farm stores carry 6 mil liners during the summer, but a) generally only sell in bulk sizes (which you'd have to haul to your house, unroll, measure, cut, and store), and b) most farm stores only carry these liners during the summer for agricultural customers and therefore may not still have inventory in the winter. The companies who manufacture rink boards sell liners, but you'll want to double-check the shipping charges because these are big and bulky items, so that can sometimes run you $50-100 or more for shipping. Plus, given the surge in new families who bought and put up backyard rinks in 2020, there's going to be many more families buying replacement liners in 2021, so if you wait too long to get your liner this winter then can you still rely upon them still being available in the size you want? Lastly, in most climates there is a narrow window of time to start filling with water as soon as temperatures are consistently below freezing point, so you'll want to plan ahead and get your liner today so you'll be ready when optimal weather arrives.

Is the liner reusable?

Theoretically you can re-use your liner the next year, but I have never heard of anyone who was able to. First, often times the liners get punctured by skates, ice chunks, errant screws sticking out of the boards, or when disassembling the rinks. Second, even if they remain puncture-free, the liners are nearly impossible to roll back up, get really heavy from being covered with wet leaves and moisture so are tough to transport, and take up too much room to store. Third, if you can solve the roll-up and storage issue, sometimes you don't realize your liner is punctured until you roll it out and start to fill the next winter. What a terrifying experience that would be! You might only have a narrow window for that initial fill, as previously mentioned, and it's difficult to find affordable last-minute liners in December. Can you try to mend the puncture? Perhaps, but not guaranteed. Duct tape is not strong enough to hold back water during initial water filling...there is always seepage underneath, however gradual, that will impact your freezing. The FlexSeal tape option seems appealing, and if you just have 1-2 small patches to fix then maybe that's worth a shot. But the tape is difficult to apply on uneven ground and in cold weather, and if you have a significant tear you are gambling that the water will freeze at a faster rate than the water will leak under the tape.

In this writer's opinion, don't horse around...just bite the bullet, order your new liner right away and have it ready to go.

Lastly, nearly everyone I know that built a rink last year wants to build an even bigger rink this year. Don't you? Obviously as your rink dimensions change you now need a new liner.

When and how to lay down liner?

Immediately prior to filling! That way you reduce the chance of leaves and branches falling on top, having the wind blow the liner away or out of position, or a snowstorm arrives and now you have to shovel what lands on the liner (which inevitably leads to puncture). For the installation process, we recommend that you recruit a friend to help you roll out the liner across your rink, straighten out the wrinkles, and then tuck in the corners. In our experience, it's best to wear socks while walking on the liner to reduce risk to reduce "pulling" of the liners that can happen with grippy boots (or risk something sharp on bottom of boot). Also be prepared to go on hands and knees to straighten out wrinkles and tuck in corners.

As mentioned above, I recommend that you leave some slack in the rink liner when filling so the water can fully reach every inch of the ground within your rink without stretch the liner at the top. You'll also want to secure the end along each side of liner to top of your boards so that the entire liner stays above the water line during filling.

Resurfacing.

It's a challenge for everyone. The Nice Rink resurfacers are the best I've seen, but they require a hose connection, which means you have to bring hoses out each day and put them away after use or risk them freezing and breaking, you have to consider where will you connect the hose (are you going to keep an exterior faucet on during winter and risk pipes bursting, or pay a plumber to swap out for frost-free faucet), or run a hose to your basement utilities room? Plus the resurfacers are $250 to $300 with shipping, so not cheap for an imperfect solution. They leave a smooth surface, however. Most backyard rink enthusiasts have some other homemade option such as a cooler with water spigots or garbage cans (but where do you fill them up...and do you have to lift over boards with water in?). A hose could also work, but is better for initial filling and smoothing out ice mountains because it doesn't create a smooth finish. I tried them all...and honestly my best results for my 1,250 SF rink was to use a handheld flower watering can and take 8-10 trips back into the house to fill up with hot water from bathroom sink.

Taken altogether, building the backyard rink is an arduous journey that require many factors to come together, but for those who love outdoor hockey and family time it is truly rewarding to create a successful rink. Having had both successful rinks and failed rinks, I hope my lessons learned can help inspire you to make the right decisions with your rink this winter so that you and family can spend more time skating on the rink than working on the rink.
David Shuler is CEO of Sniper's Edge Hockey, Inc. He lives in the greater Minneapolis area, where he grew up playing pond hockey, and today coaches mite hockey and plays some beer league. His backyard rink also includes a wood-burning fire pit, music (Kidz Bop, mainly), spotlights, cocoa and plenty of on-ice silliness. He welcomes your comments on this article, plus any of your outdoor rink tips and lessons learned, at david@snipersedgehockey.com.

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Backyard Rink: Tricks, Tips and Lessons Learned

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Anyone who has built a backyard rink, or has a friend or neighbor who does, knows that while building a rink is no simple feat, it provides tremendous joy and satisfaction for those who persevere and get it done!

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There is no better time than now to start shopping for your loved ones. Get a jump start on the season and get your gear while it is still available.

If someone in your life is a hockey player, and they've done a particularly good job this season - or not - you might want to give them a little something just to show your appreciation. Giving hockey gifts to that special hockey player in your life is a great way to show them that you've been paying attention and that their chosen sport matters to you!

Whether your special hockey player is in youth high school, college, or even professional hockey, it can be a very meaningful gift, knowing that you support them. With that being said, the art of gift-giving definitely isn't something that everyone is born with, and for those of us that don't have that gift, this can feel like a huge challenge. Hopefully, we can help point you in the right direction so you can be sure that the special hockey player in your life feels appreciated.

Sometimes the actual process of finding a good hockey gift can be a little intimidating, especially when there are many options to choose from! Fair warning, though, finding holiday gifts for hockey players may be a little more fun than you would anticipate.

Get Them Some At-Home Hockey Training Aids

One of the easiest and best ways to show the hockey player in your life that you appreciate what they do and understand their accomplishments is to get them some tools that they can use to further their training while in the convenience of their own home. Getting training both on and off the ice is incredibly important for hockey players because they need to hone their skills so they can always be as sharp as possible during matches. With that in mind, you have a lot of options to choose from in this category, and picking the right one can be as simple as knowing what your player needs to work on.

It is common knowledge that the only way to get really good at something is to practice. When you give the gift of a training aid, you are also giving the gift of excellence. If your player needs to work on ice skating skills, shooting skills, passing skills, or whatever...the best way to hone those skills is to work on them.

Here are our top 5 hockey training aids that make magnificent gifts!
1. Sniper's Edge Synthetic Ice Flooring
What greater gift to give a hockey player than to give them the type of flooring they can use to build their own ice skating rink? Synthetic ice panels are lightweight but very durable. It only takes a little while to place them on a flat surface and snap them together in order to create a seamless flooring that allows for hockey players to ice skate in the comfort of their own homes.

Sniper's edge synthetic ice panels are created with the type of technology that not only lasts a long time, but provides hassle-free self-lubrication so that you can enjoy a smooth, slick surface without ever having to add any extra additives or gliding agents.

Synthetic ice flooring is a perfect gift for somebody that wants to be able to ice skate at any time no matter what part of the season it is...hot or cold.

Although there is a slight difference between the way the skates glide across the ice flooring and the way that they glide across synthetic ice flooring, the extra little bit of resistance that the flooring puts off, actually strengthens and tones the skater in a way that helps them to become better, stronger skaters when it is time to play a real game and win.
2. Sniper's Edge Slick Tiles Dryland Flooring
For the hockey players that prefer to play hockey on inline skates, or in sneakers, Sniper's Edge Slick Tiles are an incredible gift idea. These compact, durable, yet lightweight dryland hockey flooring tiles are easy to install and tough enough to withstand even the rowdiest hockey players, not to mention your Hockey Dad's pickup truck!

The slick surface of the flooring is smooth enough to shoot pucks across with accuracy and flawless grace. You can practice shooting, stickhandling, passing all while protecting that expensive stick! "It all starts with the flooring." The Slick Tiles are semi-permanent, you typically "set and forget" them, but should you need to move your area, you can disassemble and reset them up easily! Slick Tiles are designed to be used with both tennis shoes or in-line skates.

Once you have your flooring, you have a designated area in your garage, basement or driveway to hone your skills. Once the flooring is installed, it's very easy to add other items such as a hockey passer (link to PM), stickhandling aids (link to SweetHands) and a hockey target (link to Ultimate Goalie) or goalie (link to Shooting Tarp) to shoot on. Think of this process similarly to setting up a home gym.

Slick Tiles Dryland Flooring
3. Sniper's Edge Hockey Shooting Tarp
The Sniper's Edge hockey shooting tarp is the perfect gift to go with a synthetic ice rink, or a dryland hockey practice area, or even just a regular old garage floor. It is built to endure even the toughest hockey shooters regardless of skill level.

The large canvas is made out of tough material that is built to last. The whole idea of the shooting tarp is to protect the walls, appliances, vehicles - and even people - from being assaulted by fast-flying hockey pucks. Nobody likes to see their walls and other areas of the home scuffed up by black puck marks.

In addition to the protection, the design of the tarp is to help the shooter hone in on the difficult to make shots by practicing with repetition and building muscle memory. After a time of regular practice and perseverance, those one-timers and dekes will come second nature to persons wise enough to regularly train on a hockey shooting tarp.

The Sniper's Edge hockey shooting tarp is easy to install and even easier to use. It simply hangs from a beam or a stud by strong eyelets that allow the tarp to be pulled away and stored out of sight when not in use.

This is a perfect gift for the passionate hockey enthusiast that wants to learn how to shoot and score with precision and ease.
4. Hockey Passer / Rebounder
Another no-brainer gift for a hockey player is a Passmaster hockey passer and rebounder. With this heavy-duty hockey training aid, the player can practice the way that they pass and receive pucks. They can also work on shooting one-timers from rebounds from the passer.

They control how fast the puck comes back at them when they pass it.

One of the greatest features of the Passmaster is that it is in the shape of a triangle and has three sides to rebound from. It is designed to be able to mimic real-life situations on the rink when playing a game.

Since passing and shooting are a huge part of the success of the game, every hockey player must master these skills and continue to keep them sharp. A hockey rebounder is a great way to keep sharp during off-times.

PassMaster Passer/Rebounder
5. Hockey Shooting Pads
A perfect gift idea for an up-and-coming hockey champion is a high-quality Sniper's Edge hockey shooting pad. They come in three convenient sizes and are built to endure the abuse that a hockey player will supply when they are training to win.

All the player has to do is place the shooting pad on a flat surface where they can get a good swing and they will be able to train for shooting, passing, and stickhandling all at the same time.

Having a hockey shooting pad combined with a hockey shooting tarp is the ultimate way to get the most out of any training session. The player can stockpile an arsenal of biscuits on the pad and shoot shots over and over again without having to skip a beat.

Repetition and practice builds muscle memory that kicks in at the time that the player needs it the most.

These shooting pads are very lightweight and can be used to practice just about anywhere.

Hockey Balance Board

One of the best ways to build core strength and hone in the balancing skills is to make good use of a balance board for hockey. The Sniper's Edge hockey balance board is geared to bring the most out of every player's experience on it. There are numerous exercises and drills that one can use on a daily basis to master the art of balance.

What makes a hockey balance board such an amazing gift is that it can be used just about anywhere a player has a little bit of room. Outside in the grass, inside in the living room, in the garage, on a playground... wherever. It is lightweight and just as easy to carry around as a skateboard.

Building the core muscles is an integral part of being a healthy and strong hockey player. All of the muscles that the hockey balance board strengthens are the ones that keep hockey players on their feet and help them to avoid injuries. A strong core is absolutely necessary to be competitive in the game, so the more it is built upon, the better off the player will be.

Hockey Merchandise as Gifts

Of course, there is always the go-to favorite Hockey team mug, jersey, or signed Merch by your avid Hockey player. Here at Sniper's Edge, we wear our hockey merchandise proudly, especially on game days.

There are many retailers online, including Amazon, that we think are a great source for all the Hockey merchandise gifts. Here are some of our favorite places to buy hockey merchandise:

What is Better than Gifts for Hockey Players for the Holidays? Nothing

Ask any hockey player or fan and they'll tell you that a hockey gift will always be a one-timer shot. Hockey players love hockey. Plain and simple.

If you get them a gift that they cherish close to their heart, you can't go wrong. No matter what holiday you celebrate, hockey gifts are the best way to go for real hockey players and fans.

When you are looking for high-quality hockey products the best place for you to find them is somewhere that is just as crazy about the sport as your player is. Sniper's Edge. Owned and operated by hockey professionals that know all there is to know about hockey. Shop now, and get the best there is.

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Searching for the Best Hockey Gifts for Your Champion? Check Out Our Top 5 Ideas!

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There is no better time than now to start shopping for your loved ones. Get a jump start on the season and get your gear while it is still available. If someone in your life is a hockey player, and they've done a particularly good job this season - or not - you might want to give them a little something just to show your appreciation.

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Description The easiest way to a harder shot is to practice with a hockey training aid that helps to build muscle strength. The Sniper's Edge Hockey Stick Weight does just that, by slightly increasin

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The Evolution of the Hockey Shooting Pad: Made with Hyper Slide Technology

Don't accept imitations. The Sniper's Edge Hockey Shooting Pads and Mats are perfect for anyone looking to improve their on-ice game, whether it's shooting, stickhandling, or passing. They simulate the smooth, slick feeling of ice so you can work on your passing, shooting, and stick handling skills at home. You'll also protect the blade of that expensive stick from getting chewed up by the concrete or asphalt in your driveway or basement.

All of our Hockey Mats are extremely durable and will last season after season of your wrist shots, snap shots, slap shots, and backhands.

We've designed our Hockey Shooting Pads and Mats with a beveled edge to make it easy to get pucks up and onto the mat, plus the handle makes it easy to pick up and carry.

The Sniper's Edge Hockey Shooting Pads are the only shooting pads made with silicone infused Hyper Slide Technology, to give you the most realistic ice-like surface.

Drastically improves your stick handling, shooting and passing skills.

Simulates the smooth, slick feeling of real ice

Available in 3 sizes

Designed w/ beveled edges and carrying handle for ease and convenience.

Protect your sticks from concrete and rough asphalt in your driveway, garage, or basement.

Engineered to last, season after season after season ...........

All Star (30" x 60")

Veteran (28"x52')

Rookie (24"x48")

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Don't accept imitations. The Sniper's Edge Hockey Shooting Pads and Mats are perfect for anyone looking to improve their on-ice game, whether it's shooting, stickhandling, or passing. They simulate the smooth, slick feeling of ice so you can work on your passing, shooting, and stick handling skills at home.

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Ultimate Goalie Shooter Tutor Hockey Target

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DESCRIPTION ULTIMATE GOALIE SHOOTER TUTOR ONLY - NET NOT INCLUDED! This is the best and toughest goalie on the market! Featuring a Lift-Up Design for easy puck retrieval - A Coach's Dream! Made

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BEST VALUE & QUALITY

Our Snipers' Edge Hockey Shooting Tarp Is The Best Value & Lowest Cost Without Compromising Quality! Available in both a 7' H x 16' W and 8' H x 16' W Version. Designed for Tough Impact, Our Tarp Absorbs Regulation Size Pucks & Slap Shots of Any Magnitude.

HEAVY DUTY DESIGN

Constructed from The Markets Most Durable & Toughest Vinyl, Withstand Repeated Impactful Shots in Any Temperature! The Snipers Edge Shooting Tarp is also Reinforced with Nylon Edging so Objects Behind the Tarp are Safely Protected.

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Not Only Built to Last, Our Tarp is Also Easy to Install. Save Time, Effort, & Energy Setting Up & Tearing Down Like No Other Product of Its Kind. Typical Installation Takes 20 Minutes or Less!

INDOOR & OUTDOOR FRIENDLY

Can Be Easily Rolled Up and Stored with One Person Alone! Safe for Indoor & Outdoor use - Garage, Basement, Dryland Training, & Dry Wall Friendly! With Practice, Develop a Harder, Stronger & More Accurate Shot in Any Season without Holes & Dents in Walls

PHONES' DOWN, STICKS UP!

Get the kids to put the electronics down and pick up their sticks at home! The Sniper's Edge Shooting Tarp is FUN and will Build Confidence into your Player's Game! Play a Game of SNIPER or Around the World with a Friend and See Who's Got the Best Snipe!

The Sniper's Edge Hockey Shooting Tarp is a hockey mom's dream come true. Get the kids to put their phones down and No more: holes in sheetrock, broken windows, puck marks on walls, dented garage doors, or pucks ricocheting off the cross bar.

With the Sniper's Edge Shooting Tarp you can become a pure goal scorer. Practice your wrist shot, snap, slap or backhand in your own home training area. Work on your shot either inside or outside, in the basement, garage, in the driveway or on the patio. The Sniper's Edge Shooting Tarp is as tough as the meanest defenseman and made to last season after season. Take your hardest slap shot with real pucks and become a Sniper.

Super Durable

"d This is a heavy-duty tarp and easy to hang w/ gromets. I have a 12-foot-wide space inside my garage, so I doubled over 2 feet on each side and it hangs nicely. I really like the 5 target holes and how sturdy it is. I have only about 1 foot between tarp and wall which is enough for sure b/c of the tarp weight killing the speed. Very please with this product. "

Order Today, Ships Within 24 Hours.

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Many orders will arrive in branded packaging with images and product details on the outside of the box. If your order is a gift or you want it to be a surprise, consider having the Ship To address be a work address or a friend/neighbor's address.

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Our Snipers' Edge Hockey Shooting Tarp Is The Best Value & Lowest Cost Without Compromising Quality! Available in both a 7' H x 16' W and 8' H x 16' W Version. Designed for Tough Impact, Our Tarp Absorbs Regulation Size Pucks & Slap Shots of Any Magnitude.

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Sniper's Edge Hockey is your ultimate source for the top hockey training aids to help you improve your hockey shooting skills. Become a goal-scoring machine and take your hockey shooting skills to the next level with our wide selection of hockey shooting aids designed to drastically improve your shots accuracy and power. From shooting pads and dryland flooring tiles to stick weights, hockey shooting tarps, and more, Sniper's Edge has everything you need to create your own home hockey training area, where you can learn to dominate the competition.

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Hockey Shooting Training Aids | Hockey Shooting Pad

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Sniper's Edge Hockey is your ultimate source for the top hockey training aids to help you improve your hockey shooting skills. Become a goal-scoring machine and take your hockey shooting skills to the next level with our wide selection of hockey shooting aids designed to drastically improve your shots accuracy and power.

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BEST VALUE ON THE MARKET
Sniper Edge Hockey Brings You the State of Art Technology of Synthetic Ice, Sized and Priced Right at roughly 30 Square Foot Per Pack! Each Pack Consists of 4 Panels at 2 X 4 FT. Designed for Basements, Garages, Indoors & Outdoors with Easy Assembly Interlocking Panels. Now, Only a Fraction of The Price as Other Brands with Best Quality Guaranteed! *NO RUBBER MALLET INCLUDED*

INDOOR & OUTDOOR FRIENDLY
Sniper's Synthetic Ice is designed and built with a special UV Coating that is capable of withstanding outdoor elements in the toughest of environments that places like MN, MA, AZ, FL and CA have to offer! In addition to outdoor use, these tiles work amazing indoors in basements, spare rooms and even garages.....YES, you can even park a truck on them!
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SELF LUBRICATING & DOUBLE-SIDED PANELS
Snipers Ice Synthetic Ice is a Premium Grade Special Formulated Product Designed to Self-Lubricate. No Messy Sprays needed! Unlike other Synthetic Ice on the Market, Sniper's Ice Synthetic is double-sided and can be flipped over for extra years of use! Designed to outlast than most hockey careers!

GAIN A COMPETITIVE EDGE
Practice All Year Round with Snipers Edge Hockey Synthetic Ice. Developed by Hockey Enthusiasts That Have Brought You the World's Most Renown Hockey Training Products to Date! Dominate & Thrive by Giving Your Child the Ice Time They Need to Master Their on Ice Skillz with Snipers
Synthetic Ice!

PORTABLE, DURABLE & TOUGH!
Utilized by Athletes of ALL Ages & Experience, Our Snipers' Synthetic Ice Was Designed to Take on The Toughest of Challenges. Durable & Built to Last, Set Your Rink Up Inside or Outside in Minutes! No Need to Look No Further, Our Ice Gives You a Real Ice Feel!

PROUDLY MADE IN THE USA!

To Us, Quality Is Everything! That Is Why We Have Engineered, Tested, And Manufactured Our Synthetic Ice Here in The USA!

More time "on the ice" means more time to develop the fundamental skills to take your game to the next level. Practice quick feet, power turns, c-cuts, stopping,cross-overs, shooting and power skating. Our Synthetic ice tiles, also known as fake ice, plastic ice or artificial ice, has been professionally tested and a single kit is perfect size for players who prefer to shoot pucks off of skates versus tennis shoes. Add additional synthetic ice tiles to deke, dangle and practice your power turns, quick feet and stride. Each synthetic ice panel is 2'x4' and are sold in kits that include four panels. We designed these at 5/16" Thick which allows for superior joints & smooth/durable connections = SEAMLESS SKATING

Pays for itself!

"Son loves it, it will pay for itself in 50 uses instead of spending money on a clinic. He is
using it for hours at a time stick handling and shooting, blasting the music and
allowing him to build a love for the game without any pressure. "

Order Today, Ships Within 24 Hours.

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Many orders will arrive in branded packaging with images and product details on the outside of the box. If your order is a gift or you want it to be a surprise, consider having the Ship To address be a work address or a friend/neighbor's address.

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Sniper Edge Hockey Brings You the State of Art Technology of Synthetic Ice, Sized and Priced Right at roughly 30 Square Foot Per Pack! Each Pack Consists of 4 Panels at 2 X 4 FT. Designed for Basements, Garages, Indoors & Outdoors with Easy Assembly Interlocking Panels.

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Dryland Floor Tiles - Slick Tiles - Red and Blue (10 Pack)

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These smooth and excellent quality blue and red line hockey tiles will convert your home training area in a realistic hockey rink. The slick tiles help to improve and sharpen hockey skills.

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SHOES OR IN-ILNE SKATES: Sniper's Edge Slick Tiles Dryland Flooring work great for both shoes or in-line skates! Made SPECIFICALLY for HOCKEY, regulation pucks glide with ease unlike other products on the market.

IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS with Sniper's Edge Slick Tiles Dryland Flooring Tiles by shooting, stick handling and passing in your very own home hockey training area. Perfect for hockey players who want to take their game to the next level, Slick Tiles Hockey Floor Tiles allow you to have a dryland training area almost anywhere.

CREATE YOUR OWN HOME TRAINING AREAlike the Pros. Our 12" by 12" dryland hockey floor tiles easily assemble in seconds, and let you develop sick hockey skills. Available in White or Ice Blue, you'll get the feel of real ice as you are becoming a better player. Using cutting edge materials, Slick Tiles will allow you to handle the puck just like on synthetic ice. You can even add Red/Blue Line Slick Tile Dryland Flooring Tiles to make your dryland floor training area just like a real sheet of ice!

GET THE BESThockey flooring tiles. The Sniper's Edge Slick Tiles Hockey flooring tiles are the best value on the market. Extremely durable and specifically made for hockey.

USED by MORE NHL TEAMS and PLAYERS, hockey training centers and youth players worldwide.

If you find a comparable dryland, non-skatable product for a better price per square foot on the market we will match or beat it.

Email us at support@snipersedgehockey.com.

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SLICK TILES HOCKEY FLOOR TILES - DRYLAND TILES - 20 PACK

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SHOES OR IN-ILNE SKATES: Sniper's Edge Slick Tiles Dryland Flooring work great for both shoes or in-line skates! Made SPECIFICALLY for HOCKEY, regulation pucks glide with ease unlike other products on the market. IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS with Sniper's Edge Slick Tiles Dryland Flooring Tiles by shooting, stick handling and passing in your very own home hockey training area.

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Ice Hockey Training Aids & Products | Snipers Edge Hockey

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Hone your skills with our tried and tested hockey products to get better at your game. These superior quality and original hockey training aids are available at the right price. Shop Now.

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Why would somebody need a hockey passer? Hockey is a very competitive sport, with many skilled players. If you want to be good you absolutely have to practice and push yourself harder than the average Joe. With all of the fantastic hockey training aids like synthetic ice and hockey shooting tarps, there are no excuses for anybody to skimp on training. While practicing on your own at home may not seem like it does much for you, keep at it and see for yourself the benefits of continual practice and constant determination. Practicing your passing skills is extremely important if you want to bring your team to victory every time. Here are some of the reasons why everybody who plays hockey needs a hockey passer.

Reason 1: One-Timers

Imagine being out there in the game and slapping in those one-timers flawlessly every time. OK, so this might not be completely realistic, but it is possible. The advantage of practicing with a passer/rebounder is that you can pinpoint your weaknesses as you realize them, and work on each one exclusively without having to worry about any distractions or interruptions. This is a double-edged training sword. When you put that puck exactly where it needs to be in order to come right back to you perfectly you hone your passing skills. Once it comes back and you pound it into the goal with a one-timer shot you sharpen your shooting skills as well.

Reason 2: Teamwork Skills

It may not seem like it, but when you practice your passing skills, you are sharpening your teamwork skills. The Sniper's Edge Passmaster Hockey Passer and Rebounder is designed to act as if it were your teammate. You place it where you think it would be most valuable to you for practice and work with it to hone your shooting skills into razor-sharp masterpieces. If you have the room to move around freely you can practice long shots and put the puck exactly where you want it within the size of a pinprick on the passer. You can even set it up to hit the goal from the rebound of the passer. Hand-eye coordination exercises help to bring aim to the point of laser beam accuracy. Being able to be precise under pressure is priceless. Building this type of skill is crucial when it comes to being better than your opponent.

Reason 3: Speed

There are plenty of reasons why speed is important during a game. The quicker you respond to a critical occurrence, the better you can benefit from it. How many times does the puck come at you slowly and easily in a game? Do your opponents gently slide it towards you so you can have a chance to get it if you need to? Of course not! Those pucks fly at super high speeds. Any good player knows how to slap that puck and put some power behind it so it gets where it is supposed to go with authority in its glide. This is where the hockey passer comes in handy for practice. If you have a high-quality passer that can handle the heat you can put some strength into the passes and learn how to get shots from lightening quick rebounds.

Snipe With a Purpose

Sniper's Edge is passionate about hockey. Not only the game but all of the hard work and determination that goes into it. To get the most out of any training aid the key is to practice with a purpose. Each pass, each deke, each snipe do it with meaning and purpose behind it. Practice like a champion and you will be one. #snipewithapurpose

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Why would somebody need a hockey passer? Hockey is a very competitive sport, with many skilled players. If you want to be good you absolutely have to practice and push yourself harder than the average Joe. With all of the fantastic hockey training aids like synthetic ice and hockey shooting tarps, there are no excuses for anybody to skimp on training.

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How Fast Hands Will Help You Dominate the Game

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How Fast Hands Will Help You Dominate the Game

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Sniper's Edge Hockey's Fast Hands is designed to take average hockey skills and transform them into championship-level skills. Using this trainer, combined with some willingness to push yourself and a lot of practice, you can hone your skills with this dynamic training tool and become great on the ice. If you want to become the best player you can be, give the most versatile stickhandling trainer on the market a try. You will be able to feel the difference in no time. Here are the skills that the Fast Hands will help you develop.

Develop Speed

The Fast Hands training aid is built to help you develop speed with your hands and your brain. The hand-eye coordination that it takes to practice the in-close puck handling drills helps to create muscle memory so when you hit the ice, you can stickhandle quicker, without thinking. You can start out slow with your training drills and as you progress, you can speed up your training and continue to build on that speed as you get better. When your hand-eye speed increases, the thoughts in your brain go faster as well. This tool helps you to move the puck faster and with more control while at the same time helping to exercise the way you think and react. Critical thinking and fast moves are crucial when it comes to lighting the lamp and winning the game.

Develop the Dangle

There is no one, specific, set way to use the Fast Hands training aid. It is shaped sort of like the letter "U" but with a sight "V" at the bottom. There are 5 points of entry for the puck to go through. You can set it up and stand outside of it to force yourself to stretch in order to catch the puck at the top and bring it back to you. You can also bring it in close and practice short quick stickhandling movements that increase your forearm and shoulder strength. The purpose is to slap the green biscuit, or the puck through the spaces and catch it with your other side. Left to right, right to left, and so on. This is close up, in your face, high-speed training that will push your game to the next level.

Develop Agility

The reason why cats can jump in and out of trees, on the table, on the fence and everywhere else without getting hurt is that they are agile. Cats, unlike humans, are born agile. It is in their DNA. As for us humans, we have to develop our own agility through practice and determination. Although it takes a certain amount of agility to be able to skate, it takes much more to be able to rip up and down the ice with a puck on your stick. When you focus on training with a Fast Hands training aid and you increase your speed, you begin to increase your agility as well. The thing about this particular training tool is that it is so versatile that it can be used in multiple ways. You can choose to practice in your shoes or on your skates while maneuvering your body.

Conclusion

Sniper's Edge Hockey believes that everybody should train and play with a purpose in their hearts. We love the game and hope that you do too. Stay focused and committed in all that you do. Success comes to those who work hard at achieving it. Train hard and Snipe with a Purpose!

#snipewithapurpose

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How Fast Hands Will Help You Dominate the Game

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Sniper's Edge Hockey's Fast Hands is designed to take average hockey skills and transform them into championship-level skills. Using this trainer, combined with some willingness to push yourself and a lot of practice, you can hone your skills with this dynamic training tool and become great on the ice.

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The normal flow of the sports calendar has been pushed back in 2020 because of the global pandemic that shut down North American prod sports for months. But now, a few months later, sports are back and the 2020 Race for the Cup is officially on!

The Bubbles

The NHL restart has begun and the league has set up two different protective pandemic bubbles to ensure player safety and make sure that the Race for the Cup can start and finish without interruption.

The league invited 24 or its 31 teams to the restart which began on August 1, 2020, and placed the Western Conference teams in Edmonton and the Eastern Conference in Toronto. The early games pitted the lowest-ranked seeds against the teams that were in traditional playoff spots to see who would move on to the final 16.

These opening pre-payoff series pitted seed 5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, and 8 vs. 9. After the dust settled on the opening bubble games, the Penguins, Rangers, Panthers, and Maple Leafs were eliminated in the East and the Oilers, Predators, Wild, and Jets were knocked out of the West.

The First Round

Now, the playoffs have started and, for the most part, it seems like any other playoff year. There may be no fans in the arena but everything from the excitement on the ice to the playoff beards are there in full-effect.

The first round has already produced some amazing hockey that none of us will soon forget. There was a big upset, with the 6th seeded Islanders taking out the 3rd ranked Capitals and an EPIC 5 overtime thriller between where the Lightning triumphed over the Blue Jackets.

The Race for the Cup

Now the Race for the Cup is on! There are 4 teams left in each division (Flyers, Lightning, Islanders, Bruins and Golden Knights, Canucks, Avalanche, and Stars) and who will hoist Lord Stanley's Cup is up for grabs.

This is the most exciting time of year for any hockey fan, even if it is a few months late. For anyone who has ever laced up the skates and picked up a stick, holding the Cup up over your head is the ultimate dream.

These players who are vying for the cup started on frozen ponds, backyard rinks, and early morning ice times like everyone else. Now, their talent, hard work, and dedication have brought them to the highest levels of the game.

In the next few weeks, they will leave it all on the ice in the attempt to join the legends of the game and have their name etched on the most famous trophy in all of sports. Their lifelong dream could be realized and they could be immortalized along with some of the most famous names in the game like Maurice Richard, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, and last year's Stanley Cup MVP, Ryan O'Reilly.

Conclusion

The truth is, most hockey players will never make it to the NHL and participate in the #RaceForTheCup. Those who do though get there by out-training and outworking the competition. If you or your favorite hockey player dreams of racing for the Cup one day, check out all the hockey training products at Snipers Edge Hockey to get started.

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The normal flow of the sports calendar has been pushed back in 2020 because of the global pandemic that shut down North American prod sports for months. But now, a few months later, sports are back and the 2020 Race for the Cup is officially on!

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Training At Home? Here is what you need to take your game to the next level.

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Training At Home? Here is what you need to take your game to the next level.

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At Sniper's Edge Hockey we would like to give you some information that you may find useful when seeking a competitive advantage for your player.
home training area
First, consider how a typical youth hockey association allocates ice time. For the youngest levels, Mini Mites, Mites / U8, they will be given one to three hours of ice per week. For the Squirt and Peewee age groups, 9-12 years old, they will typically receive maybe three to five hours per week. For all remaining older levels, teams are on the ice most days, getting four to six days off per month.

At the younger levels, there's a desire for more ice time. Parents will look for ways to feed that hunger for additional instruction. They will schedule time on a skating treadmill, working with a technical stick handling or shooting instructor and look for before school on ice opportunities. These scenarios create complications with timing and schedules. So what can you do?

An excellent solution is to create your own at
in your garage or basement. The benefits are obvious as your player can train conveniently 24 hours a day and get those extra repetitions that will soon separate them from the rest of their peers.

Here are some recommendations of the top hockey training products for your home:

Young kids tend to spray the puck around when shooting, so the Snipers Edge Shooting Tarp is the perfect solution to protect walls from missed hockey shots. The five openings also will challenge the player to increase shooting accuracy.

Next, with the price of hockey sticks these days, you do not want to stickhandle or shoot off of concrete or asphalt. This will very quickly ruin the bottom of the blade, and you will be out another $200-$300 for a replacement stick. Getting an area of flooring is going to be money well spent. The Slick Tile Hockey Flooring will solve this issue. Make sure you get enough so your player can make stickhandling patterns moving forward, ending with a tight shot, and also backwards, ending with a hockey shot from far out.

When looking for additional hockey training products, focus on ones that can recreate off-ice, what regularly happens on the ice. The PassMaster Hockey Passer and Puck Rebounder brings on-ice training right to your house. You can practice making passes, receiving passes and shooting one-timers off the pass.

Finally, with the holidays right around the corner and if you are considering great hockey gifts, you will want to look at the SweetHands Stickhandling Trainer. Because you have to lift your stick up and over the connecting arm when going through each opening, this will increase hand and blade quickness. There is an infinite number of drills or patterns that can be done with this hockey training aid; you just have to be creative and see what works.

A great coach once said good players show up and work hard at practice, but the great players are made away from the rink spending their own time doing the extras that make them into champions. Since all of us are stuck at home right now it's the perfect time to improve your hockey skills. We realize it is a difficult time for families financially right now so Sniper's Edge Hockey is proud to announce that we are now allowing our customers to finance their purchases. We have teamed up with Affirm to let you shop stress-free, with no late fees and no surprises. Just select Affirm at checkout. Click here to get started.

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Training At Home? Here is what you need to take your game to the next level.

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Training At Home? Here is what you need to take your game to the next level. At Sniper's Edge Hockey we would like to give you some information that you may find useful when seeking a competitive advantage for your player. First, consider how a typical youth hockey association allocates ice time.

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Every year around the holidays players are settling into their team and things are starting to gel. We always have enjoyed asking players on our teams what they would like for gifts over holiday break. Sometimes those lists align with their hockey skills, sometimes they don't. Regardless, it's always entertaining. We hear lots of the usual: video games, iPhones, iPads, gift cards, etc. We have even have heard some of the strange: underwear, pogo stick, and the best, when a player actually wanted a Chia Pet.

Each year we also get some great 'hockey' responses, and they are always from the kids who live and breathe the game. They want a new stick, fresh mitts and even rolls of tape as stocking stuffers. These are the kids that you want on your team all day every day. They wake up thinking about hockey and how they can work hard to take their game to the next level. And also how they can use a holiday to get moretools to improve their skills and their game.

So what is on your list this holiday season? Are you asking for the gifts that will result in more time on the couch in front of a screen, or gifts that can help you grow as a person and a player. There are so many cool training aides available that make it both fun and enjoyable to improve your skills. So what are you waiting for?

Are you heading into the holiday season wishing you would have shot more pucks over the summer? Or maybe practiced your passing a few more times? What about your stickhandling? Or better yet, did you ever master that puck trick?

These are all things that you should think about when you are making a list, and checking it twice. And with any luck, some of the tools that can help take your game to the next level might just show up under the tree, regardless if you've been naughty or nice (after all, we are hockey players).

At Sniper's Edge Hockey we would like to give you some information that you may find useful when seeking a competitive advantage for your player.

First, consider how a typical youth hockey association allocates ice time. For the youngest levels, Initiation, Mite, Novice / 5-8 years old, they will be given one to three hours of ice per week. For the Atom, Squirt and Peewee age groups, 9-12 years old, they will typically receive maybe three to five hours per week. For all remaining older levels, teams are on the ice most days, getting four to six days off per month.

At the younger levels, there's a desire for more ice time. Parents will look for ways to feed that hunger for additional instruction. They will schedule time on a skating treadmill, working with a technical stick handling or shooting instructor and look for before school on ice opportunities. These scenarios create complications with timing and schedules. So what can you do?

An excellent solution is to create your own at home training area in your garage or basement. The benefits are obvious as your player can train conveniently 24 hours a day and get those extra repetitions that will soon separate them from the rest of their peers.
Here are some recommendations of the top hockey training products for your home:

Young kids tend to spray the puck around when shooting, so theSnipers Edge Shooting Tarp is the perfect solution to protect walls from missed hockey shots. The five openings also will challenge the player to increase shooting accuracy.

Next, with the price of hockey sticks these days, you do not want to stickhandle or shoot off of concrete or asphalt. This will very quickly ruin the bottom of the blade, and you will be out another $200-$300 for a replacement stick. Getting an area of flooring is going to be money well spent.The Slick Tile Hockey Flooring will solve this issue. Make sure you get enough so your player can make stickhandling patterns moving forward, ending with a tight shot, and also backwards, ending with a hockey shot from far out.

When looking for additional hockey training products, focus on ones that can recreate off-ice, what regularly happens on the ice.The PassMaster Hockey Passer and Puck Rebounder brings on-ice training right to your house. You can practice making passes, receiving passes and shooting one-timers off the pass.

Finally, with the holidays right around the corner and if you are considering great hockey gifts, you will want to look at theSweetHands Stickhandling Trainer . Because you have to lift your stick up and over the connecting arm when going through each opening, this will increase hand and blade quickness. There is an infinite number of drills or patterns that can be done with this hockey training aid; you just have to be creative and see what works.

A great coach once said good players show up and work hard at practice, but the great players are made away from the rink spending their own time doing the extras that make them into champions.

Thanks for reading and remember the key to on-ice domination is off-ice training.

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Every year around the holidays players are settling into their team and things are starting to gel. We always have enjoyed asking players on our teams what they would like for gifts over holiday break. Sometimes those lists align with their hockey skills, sometimes they don't. Regardless, it's always entertaining.

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So you have a young hockey player that is showing a real passion for the sport. You are a parent who wants to help your hockey hopeful along the way, but don't know where to start. As a former pro hockey player, I would like to give you some information that you may find useful when seeking a competitive advantage for your player.

First, consider how a typical youth hockey association allocates ice time. For the youngest levels, Initiation, Mite, Novice / 5-8 years old, they will be given one to three hours of ice per week. For the Atom, Squirt and Peewee age groups, 9-12 years old, they will typically receive maybe three to five hours per week. For all remaining older levels, teams are on the ice most days, getting four to six days off per month.

At the younger levels, there's a desire for more ice time. Parents will look for ways to feed that hunger for additional instruction. They will schedule time on a skating treadmill, working with a technical stick handling or shooting instructor and look for before school on ice opportunities. These scenarios create complications with timing and schedules. So what can you do?

An excellent solution is to create your own at home training area in your garage or basement. The benefits are obvious as your player can train conveniently 24 hours a day and get those extra repetitions that will soon separate them from the rest of their peers. Here are some recommendations of the top hockey training products for your home:

Young kids tend to spray the puck around when shooting, so the Snipers Edge Shooting Tarp is the perfect solution to protect walls from missed hockey shots. The five openings also will challenge the player to increase shooting accuracy.

Next, with the price of hockey sticks these days, you do not want to stickhandle or shoot off of concrete or asphalt. This will very quickly ruin the bottom of the blade, and you will be out another $200-$300 for a replacement stick.

Getting an area of flooring is going to be money well spent. The Slick Tile Hockey Flooring will solve this issue. Make sure you get enough so your player can make stickhandling patterns moving forward, ending with a tight shot, and also backwards, ending with a hockey shot from far out.

When looking for additional hockey training products, focus on ones that can recreate off-ice, what regularly happens on the ice. The PassMaster Hockey Passer and Puck Rebounder brings on-ice training right to your house. You can practice making passes, receiving passes and shooting one-timers off the pass.

Finally, with the holidays right around the corner and if you are considering great hockey gifts, you will want to look at the SweetHands Stickhandling Trainer . Because you have to lift your stick up and over the connecting arm when going through each opening, this will increase hand and blade quickness. There is an infinite number of drills or patterns that can be done with this hockey training aid; you just have to be creative and see what works.

A great coach once said good players show up and work hard at practice, but the great players are made away from the rink spending their own time doing the extras that make them into champions.

Thanks for reading and from our hockey family to yours, Happy Holidays!

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Building A Hockey Player, Gift By Gift So you have a young hockey player that is showing a real passion for the sport. You are a parent who wants to help your hockey hopeful along the way, but don't know where to start.