Do goalie skates need to be sharpened?
Speaking from my own experience as a goaltender playing up to and including the international level, I almost never used to allow anyone to sharpen my skates. I hand stoned them for many years and had them sharpened very infrequently. The reason for this was that I could never get them sharpened properly. Because the blade of a goalie skate is much wider than a regular skate, the hollow must not be as deep. If an inexperienced sharpener does not adjust the radius of hollow, the edges may be too pronounced. This will cause the goaltender to catch an edge while going from side to side and make him/her fall down. Also, because the blade is wider, the skate holder must be adjusted to make sure that the center of curvature of the wheel meets the center of the blade. Usually, a separate holder is used to sharpen these skates so that the adjustments to the holder are minimized. It was not until I learned how to sharpen my own skates that I appreciated the benefits, and found that properly sha
