Skate sharpening for hockey skates

New skates need to have their blades sharpened.

Yes you need to get them sharpened at the minimum.

For my kid growing up playing competitive hockey everytime he received new skates the first thing was to take the skates in to be profiled. Here they grind the blade to the correct angle from heal to toe, percent of blade touching the ice (rocker), blade hollow (how much bite across the blade edge, etc.

The profiling is crucial to performance and the sharpener generally asks a fair bit of questions to try and match a players game. Some questions are do you play forward or defense, is speed or agility more in your game....get an idea where to dial in the profiling.

Profiling sets up all the parameters to maximize skating performance and tailored to a players customizations.

A straight sharpening is all that is needed for beginners or recreational skaters, although if playing hockey or a better skater I would definitely recommend profiling first.

When sharpening the majority of places sharpen to a standard hollow, if you prefer a different hollow then you tell them and they will dress the wheel accordingly.