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WHEN THE FIRST skin of ice appears on the nearest pond, it is time to start thinking about winter blades. Although there is an ever expanding variety of skates available, if you are looking for advice on a proper fit, talk to a hockey player. In Kelowna, B.C., where I live, the fount of blade wisdom is Chevy’s Source for Sports.

Owner Greg Evtushevski (Chevy, for short) played for the Western Hockey League’s championship Kamloops Blazers junior squad in the 1980s and later played professionally in Germany. Hockey is the name of the game at Chevy’s, but custom fitters such as Dale Mason, a 30-year veteran, can find you the right pair of skates whether you’re a hockey player, a figure skater or just interested in taking a spin around the local ice sheet.

Skates have come a long way since the carefully stitched all-leather creations worn by Bobby Orr and Guy Lafleur in the mid- 1970s. Today, myriad combinations of nylon, hardened plastic, carbon fibre and quick-drying synthetics make modern models that will put wings on your feet. To create the kind of instantaneous response that enables a forward to accelerate or a defence player to whirl around to break up a rush, skates must be stiff and light and fit precisely — a proper fitting can take between 20 minutes and two hours.

“There’s a skate for every foot,” says Evtushevski, “but not every foot will fit a certain skate.” As a result, the store stocks about 50 different models.

Determining your foot shape and size is the first step in the fitting process. Certain models are known for fitting certain types of feet. “We take a look at the shape of your foot,” says Mason, “then we look at the individual characteristics of your foot — bumps, bunions and other irregularities that may cause problems.” The most important part of the fit is that your heel and ankle bone sit snugly in the heel pocket of the skate. When lacing, Mason advises a relatively loose fit over the forefoot and instep, all the way to the fourth eyelet, then “kicking” the heel back into its pocket and tightly lacing the final four holes.

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