Panthers Seek an Edge and Sharpen their Bite
After an initial flurry of signings in the early days of July, it has been chiefly quiet days in South Florida. Head Coach Peter DeBoer seems to be comfortable with the players at his disposal and feels confident that they can continue to develop and challenge for a playoff spot this upcoming campaign.
Overlooked among the paper speculations, names and numbers of the colorful free agent signings, is what happens behind the scenes; how everyone, from the front office to the staff to the players – all prepare themselves for the new season ahead.
Here I will uncover how the Panthers are using a new groundbreaking technology in its bid to constantly improve. And, according to both players and studies made, this new technology can actually make a huge difference to their on-ice performance and give the Panthers an edge on the opposition.
To find out exactly what this new technology is all about and how it came to involve the Florida Panthers, we need to first travel north of the border, as is often the case in hockey, to the roots of the sport.
From Vision to Realization
In Kingston, Ontario, we can find the home of Blackstone Sports and its co-founders Murray and Steve Wilson. A father-son team, who ten years ago took the first step in realizing a modest vision of being No.1 within their field. They took the step over the precipice and set out from nothing to realize their dreams. Well, maybe it wasn’t that modest, but today it seems like they are well on their way of doing what they set out to do – with a double digit growth over the past decade.
It was an “exciting journey” as the co-founder of Blackstone Sports, Steve Wilson, put it. Working with engineers, this father-son team had to create a brand name and try to come up with something that would give them an edge in their field. And the field in question? Skate sharpening!
It is a subject that Steve knows most there is to know about. Having started working in his father’s hardware store at the age of twelve – sharpening skates of course (this is Canada after all!) – later this came to pay for his college studies and has been a pivotal part of his life ever since.
And from the abovementioned humble beginnings in Chatham, Ontario, the profession of his choice would eventually take him to Southern Florida; where a Panthers equipment manager and veteran player would soon come to play a big role in the spreading of a new groundbreaking technology that Blackstone Sports had developed – called the Flat Bottom V.
The Flat Bottom V Technology
In their quest to optimize an old system of skate sharpening that had been largely unchanged during the previous century, Steve Wilson and his engineers came up with the ‘spinner system’ which dresses the sharpening wheel differently – than the traditional single diamond system. It creates a different shape that allows for “a more consistent and more efficient way to dress the wheel” as Florida Panthers Head Equipment Manager Chris Scoppetto clarifies.
The Flat Bottom V technology came from working with this spinner system and the engineers eventually guided the process toward what would become the Flat Bottom V (FBV) shape. “The Flat Bottom V allows the wheel to be shaped in a new way, allowing the skater to have the best of both worlds. Traditionally if you had a deep hollow you would have more bite for agility but less glide because you were digging into the ice,” Scoppetto goes on to explain.
In other words, with the traditional system of skate sharpening; a player had to choose between agility on the ice or speed. With the FBV technology that is no longer the case.
The below pictures can illustrate this difference:
Comparing the FBV technology with that innovative breakthrough with hockey sticks; namely the graphite composite hockey stick, is not wide of the mark. Difference here is that FBV skates are not likely to shatter whenever a Panthers player is trying to clear the puck from deep within their zone…
The Prototype Sensation that got Stillman on Rails
Panthers Assistant Equipment Manager Chris Moody had been using the spinner system for the dressing of the sharpening wheel even before Scoppetto arrived from Detroit – and now the two Chris’s work closely side-by-side. So, the Cats had early on, an established working relationship with Blackstone Sports and, in 2008 when this new FBV technology was still on the prototype stage, Steve Wilson was in South Florida on a routine visit. He brought with him the Flat Bottom V prototype, and as it happened, veteran winger Cory Stillman was in the dressing room at the time and was asked if he wanted to try something new. “He did, and he loved it!” Steve recollects. “He wouldn’t let me leave with it!”
Indeed, so enamored was Stillman by the FBV technology that Steve had to leave the prototype behind. Chris Scoppetto explains why the player felt such a difference in his own recollection of the event:
“Cory Stillman was on an inch and a half hollow which is almost flat (no edges). He tried the Flat Bottom V and skated like he was on rails. He did not have to slow down while turning/stopping/ or going into the corners. Other guys began to try the Flat Bottom V and remarked how they were less fatigued because they were not sinking deep into the ice. Because it was a ProtoType Spinner, Steve was not sure he could leave it with us. Stillman liked it so much (as well as a handful of other players), we were able to keep the ProtoType in Florida”.
By the end of the 2008/9 season, Stillman was not alone in using the Flat Bottom V. Among the Panthers team were: Nathan Horton, Ville Peltonen, Rostislav Olesz, Anthony Stewart, Bryan McCabe, Nick Boynton, Keith Ballard, David Booth, Michael Frolik, Kamil Kreps, Richard Zednik, Nick Tarnasky, Radek Dvorak and all three Coaches – using the FBV.
“Like dominos, more players tried the new Flat Bottom V and more switched to it. This was uncommon because at the NHL level players usually are not open to drastic changes,” says Scoppetto.
“Thanks for Adding 3 More Years to my Career”
Since then the technology was introduced upon the market, it is now spreading rapidly word-by-mouth among hockey athletes. Steve tells me that they currently have six to seven weeks of backorders – due to the heavy demand. And so, whilst being first in the NHL to embrace it, the Panthers will no longer have this technology to themselves and will hence perhaps lose some of that initial edge on the competition – before soon – although they’ll no doubt continue to spearhead the technology in the National Hockey League.
Studies undergoing at the University of Ottawa have confirmed that the FBV “blew competitors out of the water” as Steve puts it, in their tests – adding as much as 5-6% of speed (whilst additional agility is more difficult to quantify). The players certainly feel the difference and some have even thanked Steve for “adding 3 more years to my career!”
In a time of salary cap crunches and long contracts, that certainly is not a bad compliment to this new technology and something everyone can gain from. Not least hockey fans; as a faster more exciting brand of hockey is suddenly possible, in the wake of this great skate sharpening innovation.
Leap of Faith
So what else is on the horizon for Steve Wilson and Blackstone Sports?
They are at the moment trying to keep up with the demand and backorders on the Flat Bottom V, but are also looking at how to use and adapt the technology to other ice skating sports; such as figure skating and speed skating. No doubt the technology could turn out to be an as great innovation here as it is currently proving itself within the hockey world.
About his experience with the Panthers, Steve says he “feels great to be a part of the Florida Panthers” who he feels he has “a great working relationship with and holds in high regards”. He also says that Florida’s Head Equipment Manager Chris Scoppetto and Assistant Equipment Manager Chris Moody “took a leap of faith” when utilizing the new FBV technology.
And hence, some of the credit for the rapid spread of this new technology must go to the Florida Panthers, and in particular aforementioned Chris’s, and not least veteran winger Cory Stillman – who is now officially on rails – thanks to the FBV and Blackstone Sports.
