Ice skates are made to come in all shapes and sizes for different forms of sport with unique features that serve specific purposes. One such feature is the toe pick in skates’ blades which helps make flashy jumps and spins. Figure skaters primarily use toe picks since they need extra power in their skates to perform different forms of moves.
Ice Hockey being such a physical sport also involves a lot of movement, and so one might wonder if hockey skates also have toe picks or not. Keep reading to find out what toe picks are, what they do, and if they are necessary for hockey or not.
What Are Toe Picks and Why Do We Use Them?
Toe picks are a group of sawlike teeth located on the front end of a figure skate. They assist the skaters in making jumps and executing their spins. Skaters dig the toe picks in the ground and push off them to get extra power in their jumps to launch themselves into the air.
Apart from jumps, toe picks also assist in landing safely after jumps by absorbing the impact. They are essential to figure skaters as they are required to make some specific twirls and flips as well.
Are Toe Picks Necessary for Hockey Skates?
Toe picks are not necessary for hockey skates, in fact, they are not used in hockey at all. Hockey involves a lot of movement but their skate blades are made to accommodate mobility differently than how the figure skates’ blades do. Toe picks are used in figure skating to help skaters perform jumps and spins, but they would get in the hockey players’ movements.
Just like the blades for hockey skates, toe picks come in all shapes and sizes, aiding players based on their needs.
But unlike the fluid motion of figure skating, hockey players need to make a variety of fast movements, such as skating backwards and making sharp turns. All of these can be performed without using toe picks, rather, they’d make it harder to achieve such movement.
Toe picks are also not necessary for other actions involved in hockey like stopping or shooting the puck. While toe picks are essential to figure skaters, they have no use in hockey; hockey players use their bodies and their skate edges to control their movement on the ice.
Conclusion
To summarize, even though both hockey and figure skating involve controlling your motion on the ice, both sports use different methods to achieve that and toe picks are not used in hockey. Toe picks are only used by figure skaters to be able to get more power in their jumps and perform some specific movements.
7 Best Ice Hockey Socks to Maximise Your Performance in 2025
In regard to hockey, they are useless and even harmful to the overall performance since players need to make sharp turns and skate backwards, both of which would be difficult with skates having toe picks in them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do ice hockey skates have toe picks?
No, ice hockey skates do not have toe picks since players rely on their skate edges designed specifically for hockey and their bodies for control over their movement.
Why do hockey skates not have toe picks?
Toe picks would get in the way of the agile and sharp movement of the hockey players such as making sharp turns and skating backwards. Toe picks would end up slowing the players down, so the skates do not have them.
Are toe picks not necessary for hockey?
Toe picks are not necessary for hockey. Hockey players can perform all the movements they need to without the toe picks.
Can I use figure skates for hockey(and vice versa)?
While it is somewhat possible to use figure skates for hockey, it is not recommended. The toe pick can get in the way of your movement and make it difficult to make sharp turns and similar movements. Hockey skates should also not be used for figure skating since the lack of toe picks would make some movement methods difficult to use.
