Overdrive Blades

[gkatyal]

I am a new goalie (since June 2014) and have stumbled across something called Overdrive Blades. These are blades that are attached to the front inside edge of the cowling on goalie boots. It is supposed to provide an additional blade to help with lateral movement and getting up from the ice. It has been banned by the NHL and USA Hockey but it is legal within the Canada Hockey Association. I am curious if any of the goalies on the forum have used or are using them and what are their thoughts on them. Also I am curious in the ethical response in regards to using them as I do play in a recreational league as a player and am hoping to venture into the net at some point.

link to overdrive blades:

http://www.overdriveblade.com/index.html

[undercoverbrother]

Interesting thanks for starting this topic.

I am interested in the responses you get.

I don't play goal, but I have a little goalie. I wonder how this affects your technique.

Maybe it's the mom in me, but is it a blade on the side of the skate? I can see someone getting hurt pretty quick with those, no?

[gkatyal]

These blades stick out only a few millimeters from the cowling and are under the leg pad.

[bc-chris]

i had them on my first set of goalie skates that i bought. i don't really think they helped me... mind you, i started playing goal at the age of 34 and had no instruction/training at all

if you want them, go for it, i don't see any 'ethical' issue with it. does the rec league you play in enforce any current 'nhl standards' for goalies (pad/blocker/trapper size)? if not then it should be fine

i found when i switched to my current set of pads (rbk 18k) this past summer that they vastly improved my lateral movement. they are true butterfly pads and are a lot lighter than my old pads

[Northendzone]

my son is a second yr pee wee goalie - this seems like an interesting device.

my worry would be that it would change his push technique to a point where he is relying more on it that the skate blade itself. it would be cool to try it out for a bit though.

i know that bauer has recently changed thier boot cowling to grind away part of the boot to allow the blade to contact the ice at a lower angle - i have been told that many higher level goalies are swapping out thier current cowlings to bauer becasue of this new feature.

do you ever sharpen this blade?

my thoughts on the ethics of it is - it is rec hockey, not the show. i am sure there are guys with illegal curves on their sticks......and the reality is that it is unlikely anyone would ever notice it unless you showed it to them. and the only guy who may notice them on your rec team is a guy who is a goalie parent or ex-goalie.

given that it has already been banned by a few high profile leagues, my guess is that it won't get a lot of play from guys.

[gkatyal]

I am not sure if it would change technique, but in regards to sharpening, it is not to be sharpened like a skate blade at all, actually it is not designed to be sharpened in general.

[gkatyal]

Well, I got them installed from Source for Sports. They were $24 for the blades and then $12 for the labor. Tried them out on Tuesday evening, and learnt that my stance will need to change a bit. I did not have any issues with slide out and felt more in control when moving from side to side as well as getting up. Nice thing is my leg did not shoot out when i was trying to slide so I was not quite a sore in the groin or hip area the next day.

[Northendzone]

for a young goalie i could see where they might get to a point where they start thier push from their toe rather than having thier whole skate blade of their drive leg flat on the ice......

why do you need to change your stance?

[gkatyal]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

for a young goalie i could see where they might get to a point where they start thier push from their toe rather than having thier whole skate blade of their drive leg flat on the ice......

why do you need to change your stance?

Bad habits probably. I just started in June at the age of 35, so I have had no formal training, just woke up one morning and decided I wanted to try playing net. When I go down the side of my feet are flat on the ice and I don't rotate my ankle to properly push off. These blades made that very apparent. I think I also have been a little too focused on keeping the pad completely flat on the ice thus not letting me lift enough to get the blade to bite into the ice for a push off.

[Envitro]

So I tried these one time on my old set of skates.

They didn't really work for me all that well and I wasn't impressed. I found that working on my toe push while in the butterfly helped me more.

IMHO the overdrives were better for not having your leg slip out in a wide stance than helping with a pushoff in the butterfly.
My current set of skates have a better cowling profile so this isn't an issue for me.

[gkatyal]

Originally Posted by Envitro

So I tried these one time on my old set of skates.

They didn't really work for me all that well and I wasn't impressed. I found that working on my toe push while in the butterfly helped me more.

IMHO the overdrives were better for not having your leg slip out in a wide stance than helping with a pushoff in the butterfly.
My current set of skates have a better cowling profile so this isn't an issue for me.

Actually now that you mention the leg slip out for a lower stance, I noticed that big time. I was able to stay lower to the ice without losing footing. I am going to keep trying them out for a few weeks of ice time before I make a final decision better or worse.