hey guys Chris from hockey tutorial here
and today in this video we're going to
be taking a look at skate protectors
sometimes also known as skate fenders
essentially what they are it's a product
that provides an extra layer of material
that sits over the top of your skate and
what it's there for is to protect you
from high impact puck shots so if you're
in front of the net and you're blocking
slap shots and snap shots and one
catches you on the ankle or the forefoot
if any of you have experienced that it
is incredibly painful and it can even
result in shattered bones here it is
again it's soo bad can really shoot it
these products have been designed to
make sure that that doesn't happen or to
minimize the chances of that happening
we're going to be looking at skate
fenders and also cf9 from edge again now
both of these products do the same thing
but they have a few differences and
we're going to touch on those
differences in this video I felt that
after having looked at a lot of the
skate protectors that are out there on
the market that these are two of some of
the bests that are available so I wanted
to show you some of the differences
between them to help you decide on which
one of these will be great for you but
it doesn't matter what level of hockey
you play this should definitely be
something in your arsenal or in your
hockey back now one of the first
differences you're going to notice when
you look at each of these to skate
protectors is going to be their
appearance or their color scape fenders
are clear whereas the cf9 from edge
again is black the reason for this is
because of the materials that have been
used to construct each of them skate
vendors have been constructed from a
polycarbonate which in other words is a
reinforced plastic now when we say
plastic for the skate fenders this isn't
in any way to give you the impression
that they're not going to be protective
that they're going to be flimsy because
they're made from plastic the
polycarbonate plastic that's used inside
the skate fenders is the same type of
plastic that you'll find in bulletproof
glass and also in eye covers or eye
goggles for protection that you get in
labs so it's incredibly protective it's
great with resisting high impacts and
it's the reason that it's been used to
create these skate fenders now when we
look at the cf9 from edge again that's
constructed from carbon fiber which as
we know is an incredibly tough and rigid
material the same thing we find in our
hockey sticks it's great for high
impacts and it's also incredibly light
and that's the reason in the CF nines
have the appearance that they do
thing else that you'll notice when you
take a closer look at the skate
protectors is the skate vendors in
particular are entirely constructed from
that reinforced high-impact resistant
plastic whereas the cf9 although they
are constructed with a carbon fiber
multi-layered weave it also has a layer
of foam on the inside of the skate
protector now the idea behind this layer
of foam isn't only to avoid scuff marks
on your skates but it's also there to
create an additional layer of protection
the way you best protect yourself from
high impacts is to create as many layers
between your foot in this case and the
object that's striking your foot
having your skate body or the quarter
package and then the skate protectors
which in this case of the CF nines with
a layer of foam in between the body of
the skate and the outside where the
carbon fiber is basically repelling all
of the impacts from ensures maximum
protection while you're in the CF nines
to minimize the possibility of you being
injured from a shot now in Reverse when
we look at the skate fenders these have
one single layer to protect you from the
high impacts that you might receive on
the ice now this isn't to say one is
more protective than the other but
having the additional layer definitely
goes a long way
but the thickness of the plastic that's
been used in the skate vendors is why
they still offer great protection on the
ice although both of these products do
the exact same job which is effectively
protecting us from high impacts on the
ice starting off with the cf9 compared
to the skate fender they fastened
themselves to our skates in very
different ways the CF 9 7 1 rubber hoop
which we use to attach or fasten the
skate protector to our skate whereas the
skate vendors contain two straps now
although both of these options for
fastening the skate protectors to our
skates work they both have their pros
and cons with the CF 9 it's simple it's
nice and clean it looks great and it
does a great job except it can be quite
tough to pull or extend to be able to
hook it to the back of the skate on the
other side the skate vendors used two
velcro straps to be able to fasten to
the skate one at the back of the skate
just above the heel and one that goes
underneath the skate now although two
velcro straps is nice and easy to be
able to fasten onto our skates and it
doesn't give you that resistance that
the rubber hoop on the CF 9s does it can
be a little bit tricky to get them to
fast and securely to your skates
depending on the make and model and also
without any excess velcro being left
after having spoken to scape vendor this
is something they are going to be
updating they're going to be reducing
the length of the velcro tabs just to
make sure that we do away with this
issue when we look at actually placing
the scape protectors over the top of our
skates with the CF 9 s being constructed
from carbon fiber which is incredibly
stiff incredibly rigid we found that it
was much harder to get them to open up
to put over the top of our skates we
were worried that we didn't want to
crack or chip the carbon fiber on
because as we know carbon fiber is very
stiff very rigid but when we look at the
skate vendors because they're
constructed to them that high impact
resistant plastic it was much easier to
open them up we felt like there was a
lot less risk of the material cracking
or breaking as we were trying to attach
it over to the tops of our skates now a
massive deal is going to be how do the
skate protectors feel on your skates
while you're skating on the ice do they
impede on your skating they're striding
your crossovers a quick answer is no if
you look down at your skates while
you're skating while you're playing
hockey you're going to see them you're
going to notice them because something
looks different but if you keep your
head up as you should be and play the
game you will not notice a thing I've
been unable to feel the weight
difference to feel any interference with
my striding my crossovers or my tight
turns using either of these two skate
protectors in terms of the weight that
they added the skate vendors came in at
196 grams that's for a size 8 skate
fender whereas the CF 9s from edge again
came in at 206 grams now you probably
think in carbon-fiber versus plastic
surely carbon fiber should be lighter
when we took a closer look at both of
these products we found that the skate
vendors were a little bit shorter and a
little bit smaller than the CF 9mm edge
again because the CF nines are bigger
although they are made from carbon fiber
which is notoriously incredibly
lightweight because of the extra size
means extra material which means extra
weight where we notice the size
difference between the skate vendors in
the CF 9 s was around the high ankle
area the CF 9 sit a little bit higher up
and they're also a little bit longer
than the skate vendors now these points
aren't to say one of these products is
more protective than the other this is
just to highlight some of the changes
that we have noticed while using both of
them the main point behind these
products is that they both protect the
critical areas of your foot that are
otherwise exposed in your skate which is
going to be the ankle bone
area and the forfeit area both of these
two products adequately protect those
areas so what types of players should be
using skate protectors I know a lot of
you that watch hockey a lot will notice
there are many many players in
professional leagues that are using v
skate protectors and the reason for that
is because they want to avoid being
injured of course now these products
aren't something that should only be
considered for professional athletes
professional hockey players because at
the end of the day if you play the game
recreationally or you're even trying to
pursue a professional career your main
focus should be on staying on the ice
staying healthy and staying uninjured
for your recreational players it's
because you have to wake up and go to
work the next day having a broken ankle
or broken forfeit isn't going to help
you in any way shape or form now on the
other side if you're trying to pursue a
professional career in the sport you
don't want to get injured you want to
make sure that you can turn up to all of
the practices play all of the games
increase your chance of moving up and
developing in the game so it doesn't
matter what type of player you are you
should always be prioritizing on keeping
as protected and as healthy as you can
while you're on the ice and that's
exactly what these devices do the last
point is going to be the price on the
day that this video was filmed the skate
vendors retail for sixty nine ninety
five dollars and the cf9 from edge again
retail for one hundred and thirty nine
dollars so your choice between these two
comes down to of course the price and
which features you prefer that we've
covered in the video if it's going to be
the two velcro straps versus the rubber
hoop that's featured on the CF 9s or if
it's going to be the case that the CF
nines are a little bit taller and a
little bit longer offering you that
little bit of additional protection or
you might prefer that clear look versus
the black carbon fiber look hopefully
this video has helped you to identify
the differences between these two
products so you can figure out which
one's going to be the best one for you
to pick up as a side note please note
that it doesn't matter what manufacture
skates you have if you've purchased your
skates off the shelf or from in a store
and they don't feature any custom
components that have been put there to
specifically protect you against Park
shots sticks lashes this goes across the
board for any manufacturer of skates not
one over the other I've seen a couple of
comments where people suggest one type
of skate is more protective than the
other but if they're from a store off
the shelf and not custom that's just not
true you're at risk and that's exactly
why these products in
necessary as always we'll pop links down
below in the video description so you
can find a little bit more information
out and of course where to pick them up
worldwide and also in North America but
thank you very much for watching this
video if you want to see more content
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