Equipment: suggestions for best ice-simulating flooring or pad?

[Jacob]

Looking to get one of those floor pad things just to practice puck handling. Not for shooting or skating, just big enough to move the puck back and forth a bit. I don’t know, maybe a few feet wide by maybe like 4-5 feet long. I see a few out there but they seem to have reviews saying they’re no better than just linoleum or even finished concrete which is not what I’m looking for. Preferably something that is safe to use (and maybe keep) outside. Anyone have any suggestions? I’ve tried the balls and plastic pucks meant to simulate the real thing for off ice training but they just don’t come close to that puck feel for me. Either they’re too light, there’s too much friction or in the case of the ball the impact point on the blade is way off. Maybe the tech just ain’t there yet.

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[Hyzer]

Get a "shooting" pad. it's usually just a piece of plastic with low friciton that stimulates the feel of the ice glide of ice. they work pretty good.

an example. just pulled this from first google search:
Hockey Training Aids, Hockey Training Tips & Videos | HockeyShot

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Looking to get one of those floor pad things just to practice puck handling. Not for shooting or skating, just big enough to move the puck back and forth a bit. I don’t know, maybe a few feet wide by maybe like 4-5 feet long. I see a few out there but they seem to have reviews saying they’re no better than just linoleum or even finished concrete which is not what I’m looking for. Preferably something that is safe to use (and maybe keep) outside. Anyone have any suggestions? I’ve tried the balls and plastic pucks meant to simulate the real thing for off ice training but they just don’t come close to that puck feel for me. Either they’re too light, there’s too much friction or in the case of the ball the impact point on the blade is way off. Maybe the tech just ain’t there yet.

I needed something as close to ice as possible to practice a stickhandling trick that I just couldn’t pull off on my slower synthetic ice, and couldn’t find anything close enough until I came across this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LG31MKV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It’s as close to ice as I’ve ever found... so much so that I can’t leaving it laying around, as it’s extremely slippery. My wife accidentally stepped on it carrying laundry in the basement and went for a skate and almost killed herself.

Don’t think you will find much better than this, but who knows.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

My problem with shooting pads was they weren't ever any good for working on stick handling. They were always too small and cumbersome to really let me dig deep on puck handling work.

I need a big area to truly work on stick handling so that I can cradle and dribble the puck all the way around my body and moving it from in tight to as far out as possible in each direction. Shooting pads didn't really let you do that.

The best solution is probably Synthetic Ice Tiles, they will probably most closely simulate cradling a puck on ice and you can arrange them to fit the exact area and dimension you need. The downside is obviously expense, they can be pretty expensive. But the upside is you can also take your skates on them and cradle the puck while balancing on your edges like you were on ice and they're pretty durable.

It's either that or a more ghetto setup like buying those pads from homedepot with a glossy finish and laying them aside each other, you might need to spray pledge or something to keep the slide going.

I remember I bought these skinny almost cardboard like boards that had a glossy white finish on top, they were like 4 feet by 6 feet and maybe only 1 inch thick. i layed a couple alongside each other and it gave me enough area to control the puck all around my body as far away as i liked, it did a decent job and they were obviously dirt cheap comapred to synthetic ice tiles. unfortunately, I forget the matieral and board type