Here are 3 ways to help eliminate skate cuts for hockey players of all levels!

If you’re an NHL fan, you may have seen the recent injury where Evander Kane got a serious cut across his wrist by a hockey skate on 11/8/22.

Kane went down to the ice and a skate from another player sliced thru his wrist creating a deep cut.

Kane’s wrist was completely exposed between his elbow pad to his glove as the skate from another player sliced across it. Kane was in immediate distress as he knew he was in serious trouble.

Thankfully, Kane will be okay and looks to make a full recovery. But obviously it was a massive cut as he was expected to be out of action for 3-4 months!

Kane also tweeted-out after the injury…

I’m really surprised skate cut injuries don’t happen more often. If you think about it, there are 16 skaters on the ice at a time during an NHL game when teams are at full strength.

That’s 5 skaters on each team, 2 goalies, 2 refs, and 2 linesmen. Hopefully, my math is correct!

So that means there are 32 skates which can be equated to 32 sharp knives on the ice at a time! Hockey a dangerous game!

Do you remember the terrible Clint Malarchuk injury when he took a skate to the neck? That’s probably the worst cut injury I’ve ever seen and prefer not to see again…thankfully, he survived that one!

Another potential exposed area to skate cuts is the back of the leg.

So, what can you do to help prevent these types of injuries?

Here are 3 things that can HELP ELIMINATE SKATES CUTS!

#1 – Wrist Guards

One thing I do to help protect the wrist area is to use wrist guards…well that makes sense, right?

So, I actually have larger gloves as a defenseman, more so for protection defending…getting hit by pucks n’ sticks, but do know many players, especially offensive playmakers who prefer smaller gloves to enable better stickhandling and executing their nifty and quick shots.

Even with my gloves, you can see there’s a good amount of exposed area between the elbow pads and gloves. And, with smaller gloves, there’s obviously more exposed area to the wrist…this is exactly where Evander Kane got cut.

Below are my wrist guards that help cover most of the exposed area. These are A&R Sports Hockey Wrist Guards that I’ve had for over 3 years. They’re supposed to be black, but I bleached them in the wash and they came-out brown.💩😂

Although I haven’t had a skate come in contact with my guards over the years, I have taken a couple pucks to the wrist where they’ve definitely prevented injury!

These things have a molded hard plastic insert that provide protection from cuts and are about 3½ inches in length.

I’m probably due for another pair and I’ve been eyeing these Bauer Wrist Guards (below). They also have plastic inserts, are about twice as large as my currently guards at about 7 inches in length, and are about $20 bucks as of this writing.

These may be too long, but I think I may try em’ out and possibly provide an update in a future blog on how they work out.

#2 – Neck Guard

The 2nd thing that can help prevent skate cuts is a neck guard.

Now, I don’t use one of these and don’t know too many skaters who do except goalies. However, if you’re concerned about taking a skate to the neck, this may be a good solution because it can happen!

If I had a child playing hockey, I’d definitely make em’ wear one of these!

#3 – Cut-Resistant Hockey Skate Socks

The 3rd thing to help prevent cuts you may want to consider are Cut-Resistant Hockey Skate Socks that are intended to help prevent skate lacerations. Mostly for the back of your leg in the soft spot above your skate.

There’s a good variety of brands ranging in price from a $20 up to over $50 bucks on Amazon and other hockey shops. Click the links below to check them out.

TronX Cut-Resistant Performance Hockey Socks

Elite Hockey Pro-Cut Resistant Knee Socks

Swiftwick Cut-Resistant Hockey Socks

Howie’s Hockey Cut-Resistant Skate Socks