Patrick Personally-Designed Skates

CHICAGO, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/—Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane will unveil and use personally-designed skates and sticks during the upcoming Bridgestone NHL 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field in Chicago on New Year’s Day.

Kane, working with designers and developers at Bauer Hockey, designed the skates and stick this past summer for exclusive use during the outdoor game. Only 88 skates and 88 sticks were created for this special event and Kane will personally sign and auction off a portion of the limited edition product to raise money for breast Cancer research in Chicago and his home town of Buffalo.

“It’s something I’ve been interested in from the beginning - designing your own skates and stick is a pretty unique experience,” Kane said. “It’s really exciting to look at a skate and design it to exactly how you want it to be made. To be able to give back to the community makes the whole experience even more special.”

The Nike Bauer Vapor XXXX skates designed by Kane feature the traditional black, white and red colors of the retro Blackhawks uniforms that will be worn during the game. The skates feature white patent leather tongues and a unique Patrick Kane logo exclusively created for the limited edition product. The word “Showtime” is printed on the tendon guard of the skate, referring to the high level of anticipation for the outdoor game as well as Kane’s exciting style of play. The Kane-designed Nike Bauer Supreme One95 stick is completely red and features the same logo design as well as a “Candy Kane” pattern to celebrate the holiday season. In addition, ‘Winter Classic PK88’ is written in the stick’s namebar to commemorate the memorable outdoor game.

“The skates and stick are the colors of the Blackhawks and should go well with the uniform, but at the same time, it’s a little bit of showtime,” Kane said. “Hopefully when I step out onto the ice, people will say ‘Oh wow, look at the skates Kane’s wearing.’ I’m fortunate enough to be the only one wearing these designs so it makes playing in the game even more exciting. You know the old saying, ‘Look good, feel good, play good.’”

Each skate and stick auctioned will be personally signed by Kane, individually numbered and accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Kane and Bauer Hockey. To access the online auction, which will run from Jan 1-10, 2009, visit NikeBauer.com

Bauer One95 Hockey Skate Review

Buy from Amazon at Bauer Supreme One95 Ice Skates





Looking for a less expensive skate? Check out the Bauer Hockey ONE15 Senior Ice Hockey Skate

Leave Your review of this skate in the comments.

CCM Vector U+ Pro

U FOAM
Space age foam that becomes your foot's best friend

ROCKET RUNNER
Fast feet from weight reduction where it matters most

LIGHTWEIGHT MOLDED TONGUE
Low profile lace bite protection fuses to the foot

LIGHTWEIGHT CARBON COMPOSITE OUTSOLE
Maximum energy transfer

ULTIMA DRY® LINER WITH ANTI-MICROBIAL TREATMENT
Quick drying moisture wicking liner

SR: 6-12 C,D,E Full/Half 13 E Full
JR: 1-3 D,E Full 4-5.5 D,E Full/Half
YTH: 8-9 D Full 10-13 D Full/Half

More videos from Hockey US.

Leave Your review of this skate in the comments

How to Take Care of Your Skates Video

Bauer Buys Mission-Itech

Bauuer has just bought up rival Mission-Itech Hockey. All future products will be branded exclusively Bauer Hockey. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, as both companies are private.

Bauer Hockey is a "three to four" times larger organization with a larger infrastructure capable of handling many of Mission-Itech's capabilities, Davis explained in an interview yesterday.

The companies sell complementary products. Bauer is the leader in skates while Mission-Itech is the leader in facemasks, goal equipment and other protective gear, the company said.

Bauer had just under half the global market for hockey gear with between $200 million and $225 million a year in sales before buying Mission-Itech, Bauer spokesperson Steve Jones said in an interview yesterday.

Roustan was born in Sherbrooke, Que., and grew up in Montreal playing hockey from the age of 3, according to his company's website. The company, Roustan Capital, makes investments of up to $300 million. He teamed up with Kohlberg & Co., a U.S.-based private equity firm, to buy Bauer back from Nike earlier this year. (in 2004, Mission Hockey merged with Itech Hockey.)

NIKE Sells off Bauer Hockey

Big News from Nikebiz

On Feb 21 Nike announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its Bauer Hockey subsidiary to an investor group led by Kohlberg & Company and Canadian businessman W. Graeme Roustan for $200 million in cash.

Nike originally paid $430 million for Bauer. Ouch.

"We're pleased to have reached an agreement for Bauer with strategic buyers who have a passion for hockey and are committed to continue to invest in Bauer's long-term growth and brand leadership," said Nike, Inc. President and CEO Mark Parker. "Nike Bauer Hockey has been part of the Nike family for 12 years, and its team has done an incredible job. Selling this great hockey company was a tough decision but one that was in the best interests of Nike and Bauer as we each look to maximize our respective growth opportunities."

Under the terms of the deal, Bauer will continue to use the Nike Bauer Hockey trademark on existing products for a period of up to two years.

Thermablades Receive Bad Reviews

Gretzky's blades a dud.

NHL union balks at endorsing $400 Thermablades after receiving bad reviews from 4 of 5 athletes.

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.

While Therma Blade received approvals for its blades from the NHL, Hockey Canada and USA Hockey months ago, the poor reviews from Draper and Lapointe have prompted the NHLPA to balk at signing off on the fledgling product.

And without the approval of the players' union, the heated blades, which are attached to boots of existing skates, would no longer be able to be used in NHL games, which would be a key marketing tool for the Quebec company.

Sam McCoubrey, Therma Blade's VP of sales and marketing, said they have sold 2,500 pairs of blades to Canadian and U.S. stores. He also said the company would try to persuade other NHLers to test the blades.

5 years and 5 million dollars in R&D?

How Hockey Skates are Made Video

Interesting video on how Hockey Skates are made.



From the "How it's Made" show on the Discovery Channel

Coming Soon!!