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Therma Blade Increases Testing
by Paul on 02/15/08 at 02:47 PM ET
Comments (4)
TORONTO, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ - Therma Blade Inc. announced today that following preliminary testing of its heated skate blade prototypes by five NHL players, it will expand product testing to include some of the 50 NHL players and NHL teams requesting production models of the product.
Four NHL players who have been testing Thermablade prototypes to date will participate in an expanded testing program in which Therma Blade will make its latest production models available to them and to additional players and NHL teams that are on the company’s waiting list for full production models.
“We are in fact expanding our testing, working closely with the NHL and with the National Hockey League Players’ Association,” said Sam McCoubrey, VP of Sales and Marketing for Quebec-based Therma Blade Inc. “As we have said all along, our initial testing with players to date has been extremely successful in providing feedback and there is tremendous interest in our proven technology among a growing number of NHL players and teams.”
Thermablade heated blades are designed to maintain a consistent temperature of approximately 5 degrees C using a small battery and a microprocessor stored within each skate blade holder. The warm blade acts to increase the thickness of the water layer between the blade and the ice surface, dramatically reducing gliding friction and starting resistance for skaters.
Filed in: Hockey Equipment | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Thermablades,
Comments
Ted, I actually heard from someone that deals with Therma Blade and basically was told the story was not correct.
Guess this release may prove that point.
Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 02/15/08 at 04:12 PM ET
Even if four of the five who tested the blades didn’t like them, five people is not very many to base an opinion on. More feedback is always a good thing in marketing, I would think.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/15/08 at 05:09 PM ET
i wonder if these skates eat up the ice faster. seems like melting the ice faster would break down the ice as a whole a lot faster if everyone was using them. a few players out there with them is one thing, but if 15 or more players on each team are using them all night and there is any additional “wear” on the ice, it could really make it rough in a few of the arenas already known for bad ice.
Posted by Paul Nicholson from Nashville on 02/15/08 at 06:39 PM ET
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I recall this from earlier. What’s changed??
==============================
Great One’s blades a dud, players report
NHL union balks at endorsing $400 Thermablades after receiving bad reviews from 4 of 5 athletes
Feb 09, 2008 04:30 AM
Rick Westhead
Sports business columnist
Wayne Gretzky boasted during a packed press conference at the Hockey Hall of Fame four months ago that $400 heated skate blades developed by a Canadian company would “revolutionize the game of hockey.”
He called it “the most significant advance in skate blade design in at least 30 years.”
Trouble is, most of the NHL players who have tested Therma Blade Inc.‘s heated blades since their October debut don’t agree with Gretzky, one of the company’s owners.
Of the five players who were sent the heated blades – Toronto’s Mark Bell, Chicago’s Martin Lapointe, Detroit’s Kris Draper, Edmonton’s Marty Reasoner and Calgary’s Matthew Lombardi – Reasoner is the only player who professed liking the blades.
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/301964
Posted by Ted from Innisfil, Ontario on 02/15/08 at 04:10 PM ET