VH Skate: The Custom Skate Company

The challenge of breaking in and adjusting to new skates is something every serious hockey player knows too well. As players grow older and reach higher levels of hockey, it is rare to find a player that does not purchase a new pair of skates every season. Stiffer boots thanks to carbon-fiber composite and dense foams make skates increasingly more difficult to break in. In most cases skates never completely take the exact shape of a player’s foot and leave the skater in discomfort for the life of the skate.

After decades of the hockey world being confronted with the issue of uncomfortable and imperfectly shaped skate boots, one company has finally been created that specializes in the making of truly custom skates. Scott Van Horne, the owner and founder of VH Skate, has been designing and refining custom skates for two and a half decades. His experiences with various speed skating boots helped him to develop what is now a fast growing hockey skate manufacturer.

Scott himself was a member of the Canadian National Speed Skating Team. His early efforts of developing skates were strictly surrounding speed skating. It wasn’t until 2003 that he began his early research and development in hockey skates. The first NHL player to contact him was Jonas Hiller who had heard of Scott’s capabilities to develop a high quality and fully customized skate. Jonas wanted a skate that he would be comfortable in and Scott did not fail him. His first pair of skates for an NHL goalie far exceeded expectations, but he had yet to build a pair of custom skates for a player.

After Dustin Byfuglien was traded to Winnipeg following the 2010 Stanley cup victory with the Chicago Blackhawks, Van Horne noticed something odd. Byfuglien was seen in several different pairs of skates from different manufacturers. Scott’s first move was to discuss designing a pair of skates for Byfuglien with Jason McMaster, the Jet’s equipment manager. He then went to work designing a truly one of a kind player skate. The rest, as they say, is history. VH Skate now caters to over 40 NHL players and hundreds of pros and elite skaters worldwide. The list of professional hockey players, (of which none are paid to wear the skates), includes prominent NHLers Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Jacob Trouba, and of course Jonas Hiller along with goaltenders Ryan Miller and Sergei Bobrovsky.

Besides the custom fitted nature of the skate there are several other modifications and features that come with purchasing from VH Skate. First, adjustable tongue placement. This allows for easy removal of the tongue and the ability to adjust a stock tongue. The tongue extends into the toecap to cover toes and decrease volume in the toe box allowing an improved feel for the ice. Second, the construction of the boot consists of aerospace grade carbon fiber and polymers that are highly durable and incredibly light weight. Thirdly, a truly a unique feature, an increased level of protection can be added to the skate to guard against shots to the foot. An added layer of carbon fiber can be built into the skate over both sides of the foot. Lastly, the fully customized VH skate is lighter in weight than even the newest skates available at retail locations. The weight of a size 8 VH Skate, including LS2 holder, step steel, and laces, comes in at 770 grams which is lighter than even the Vapor 1x that weighs 780 grams.

All in all, VH Skate offers a truly revolutionary product that pleases the best of the best. Even the CEO of ProStockHockey.com, David Duerr, switched out of his Bauer Total One’s into VH Skate.

If you thought a perfect fitting skate with unmatched comfort was only a dream, you might want to take a look at VH Skate and see what many professional players have already discovered.