6 Best Hockey Skates: Wide Feet, Women, Cheap, Beginners (2024)

From beginning to experienced players, there’s a lot to know about ice hockey skates — perhaps the most important piece of equipment to play the game next to the biscuit and the hockey sticks. In this guide, we cover the 6 best hockey skates to help you make your choice — whether you’re a netminder or whether you play right wing, or any position in between. 

No matter what position you play in the game, there are skates in this ranking for you — including young and old, and both men and women. And all with quality blades, good fit, and even some advice for players with wide feet. If you’re a bender, we also cover ankle support. 

So if you’re overwhelmed with choice shopping for your new pair of hockey skates, you’ve come to the right place. The 6 best hockey skates are coming up next.

Our Top Picks

The ice is calling. Skate through the top picks in our ranking.

A Closer Look: Best Hockey Skates

What are the best hockey skates? That answer is coming up next.

Leading off our list are the Super Tacks AS3 from CCM. Expect great fit and excellent support from these skates, with a moisture-wicking liner and extra abrasion protection. The tongue is interchangeable, and the blades are also easy to switch out. We like that the steel XS1 Black blades are specially treated for bite and a longer-lasting edge.

Among all the things hockey players like most about the skates are the high-quality materials from which they’re made. They’re incredibly light, and fit comfortably without much break-in time, even without baking them first. Based on feedback these skates connect well to the ice, with great power transfer. One player played for hours in these skates with minimal rubbing, right out of the box.

If you prioritize sustainability in everything you do, we like the all-vegan Bauer Supreme 2S hockey skates. On top of that eco-friendly manufacturing, though, players enjoy thermoformable performance, with a composite outsole for torsional stiffness, and a felt tongue with a metatarsal insert. 

Otherwise, the footbed on the 2S is LOCK-FIT, adding stability. There’s also a Tuuk lightspeed holder and Tuuk LS3 stainless steel runners, holding their edge well, based on feedback. While most bake them first for a better fit, many call the skates supportive with great feel and control, especially for tight turns, stops, and crossovers. Players also like the stiffness, with good feedback and feel on the ice.

Players with particularly wide feet can have a difficult time finding skates that fit. For these players, we recommend the Bauer Supreme 3S with three widths to choose from. Otherwise, the skates are built with a quad profile, adding four zones of performance. 

There’s also a 3-piece tongue for that locked-forward fit, which many players prefer, and a lightweight, fully thermoformable composite design for comfort. Those who’ve skated on the 3S call them great. The best they’ve ever used, in fact, with minimal break-in time. The Reflex tendon guard is another not-to-be-missed feature.

To support a new hockey player while they’re just learning to skate, we recommend the Ultima Softec Sport recreational hockey skates from Jackson.  Comfortable and ready to go right out of the box — an important quality for beginners when they’re just getting started — these are the best skates many have ever owned, based on feedback.

Contributing to the quality is the thinsulate lining with a nylon upper and tongue. These skates also come complete with factory-sharpened leisure blades and foam padding. All combined, they’re comfortable with great ankle support, and they lace up in no time. And we found few skates coming more highly for beginner and intermediate skaters than Softec.

Skates can be spendy, but some are more affordable than others. But just because you save some money, it doesn’t mean you should expect less quality. That’s just what we found with the Vapor X2.7 ice hockey skates from Bauer. 

These skates have a low profile design, with a one-piece 3D Polycarb quarter for added flexibility. We also like the Microfiber lining, memory foam padding, and Tuuk Lightspeed EDGE holder. Hockey players who’ve tried the skates call them awesome, offering good bang for the buck. They provide good fit and solid support, especially for entry-level skates. They’re also incredibly light and responsive on the ice.

Female hockey players can, of course, wear whatever hockey skates that fit them, but for women seeking a pair of skates fine-tuned to the shape of their feet, we recommend True TF9s. 

Available both standard and wide, these skates offer a personalized fit system for low, mid, and high arches, with a co-molded carbon fiber and thermoplastic one-piece shell construction for a thermoformed fit. The tongues can also be swapped out to fine-tune the fit. 

Reports from the ice call these skates super comfortable with high-end features and a reasonable price tag. There’s also a HydroFoam liner, with moisture-wicking properties. Otherwise, these skates feel amazing, remaining light and quick, even after skating as often as 6 days a week.

Our Process

For this guide on the best hockey skates, our team spent 5 hours researching the 30 most popular options from a variety of brands and manufacturers big and small. We then read through user reviews (both positive and negative) to discover what shoppers thought about each pair of skates. After comparing this data, we narrowed our list down to the top 6 pairs of ice hockey skates on the market. You can count on this research to guide you to a mindful purchasing decision.

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