The Thermablade Story

Tory Weber worked the midnight shift monitoring the boiler room in the basement of a posh hotel in Banff National Park. It was a boring job for a college student in his early 20s, but the pay, and the dollar-a-day room and meals, made it hard for him to quit, especially with a new silver Mazda RX7 parked outside.

So Weber put his feet up on the desk, his hands behind his head, and thought, "God, you'd just about have to kill me for me to change my life."

Seconds later, a chunk of concrete fell from the ceiling, which was being remodeled. It severed the hotel's main gas line, just 20 feet from Weber's desk. Natural gas hissed out of the punctured 1-inch steel line near two flame-shooting boilers.

Firefighters said it was pure luck the hotel didn't explode. For Weber, that second chance was a catalyst to follow a dream hatched in childhood.

Inspired by Spud Gun

A few years before the hotel incident, Weber had an idea that stemmed from another accident. Painful, but not nearly as dangerous. It was a cold February day at his parents' house in Calgary. He stepped into his shoes, which had been sitting on a heat vent, and walked out onto the icy stairs to get the evening newspaper. His warm shoes melted the ice and sent him reeling onto his rear end.

The same thermodynamics class that eventually landed him the boiler room job made Weber ponder the effect his heated shoes had on the ice. Like most men in Canada, Weber had grown up with a stick and a puck and a number of idols in the NHL. As Weber nursed his aching back, the idea struck him: What would happen if hockey players could skate on heated blades?



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Thermablade Skate Blades Review

While Thermablade has yet to obtain approval from the NHLPA, there's a chance the AHL players might start heating up the ice.

On Jan. 25, Thermablade's Tory Weber meets with the AHL board of governors to pitch his product.

Thermablades are a heated skateblade powered by a battery. The theory is that the reduced friction of the blade gliding on the ice will allow you to skate faster, with less effort.

"Skating is possible because there is always a thin layer of water on the ice surface. By warming the steel blade the microscopic layer of water is increased and numerous skating benefits are realized for hockey players."

Thermablade Battery

The batteries are designed to give you least 75 minutes of ice time between charges. The battery automatically shuts off when you are not on the ice, the reheats back up to 5°Celcius when you're back on the ice. They can usually be recharged within an hour, 2 hours if the battery is fully drained. The extra components are fully waterproof and only add about an ounce of weight to the skate.


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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?