Per Mårs has always taken training seriously. After his hockey career stopped in the early 2000s, he began to toy with new technology for skates.
“When I was testing the prototypes around 2008-09 I noticed how much I loved the feel,” Mårs said. “I felt that it was something all hockey players should take advantage of.”
Mårs’ journey started with inline skates designed for off-ice training and it quickly became popular for players to use to the point where superstar NHLers like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews use them for training during the offseason.
His company is composed of just 10-12 people and Mårs stated he’s proud of how far they’ve come since launching.
Per Mårs holding up a Marsblade ice skate.
Marsblabe was then founded in 2011 before it picked up steam and now it’s still a blossoming company that’s based out of Sweden.
“My partner started giving me those ideas to test with the ice holder and then we started on some prototypes,” Mårs said. “Right away I realized something was there, getting the steel on the ice longer was the immediate benefit.
Being a performance product everything needed to be to perfection, especially with the hockey players being very picky and sensitive to changing equipment. After the first prototypes in 2011, the first version came out in 2017.”
Former Detriot Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall used the brand new technology during his final seasons in the NHL and the rest is history.
“We then started on the second generation of the ice skates and launched it a couple of years ago,” Mårs said of improving the skates. “Now here we are, that’s the background for where we are today.”
Nashville Predators forward Gustav Nyquist is in the middle of his third season wearing the skates and for him, it’s been about the feel and he said he couldn’t go back to the traditional skates even if he briefly put them back on.
“The challenge is to get guys in the NHL to try them because they don’t want to change anything like that,” Nyquist said. “Summers are big for trying something new so that’s how I got on it.”
Being balanced out on the ice has made the biggest difference and Nyquist hopes more professional players start using them soon.
“I have more blade to push off of and in out of turns I have more speed as opposed to recent skates,” Nyquist said. “I think it’s just helped in the skating league that we’re in to keep up.”
While the ice skates are for performance the main attraction for Marsblade as a whole has been the training skates for inline when players aren’t out on ice.
“The goal in mind for the roller is to mimic the feel of skating on ice to challenge your balance and stability. That way you become better on the ice and then can utilize the performance ice skate holder,” Mårs said.
Mårs calls it the ‘Flow Motion Technolgy’ a flat bottom and a rounder upper part that rock against each other. The main difference between the two holders is that the ice skate has movement from the center and back which produces the firm support out on the ice.
“It keeps the blade on the ice longer and gives you more of a natural movement and keeps the blade there longer for more power and efficiency,” Mårs said. “All holders have a pitch angle, the angle between the foot and the ice, but with ours, we have a moving pitch angle.”
Nyquist reaps the benefit of the skates and his consistent performances have continued with the Predators.
Since Oct. 28 of this season, he’s been on the top line with Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly centering them. Through 56 games Nyquist has 43 points with the Predators.
Marsblade ice skate up close.
Mårs always needed the NHL players to grow this product and to his credit, he’s pulled in some high-value customers.
“Now on the roller blades we have hundreds of NHL players using them,” Mårs said. “Including McDavid and Matthews and the premium players. We’re not there yet with the ice holder but that’s our take. Once you get the best players the rest will follow.”
For Mårs, he’s hopeful other players are curious and with their limited marketing the word-of-mouth method has seemed to work well for now.
Earlier on in Mårs’ first few years with his company he had former Vancouver Canuck forwards Henrik and Daniel Sedin using the rollerblades for training in Sweden with their skating coach.
Fast forward to 2020, Mårs said they saw a significant boom in production since players were training during extended downtime, and before COVID Mars had NHLers reaching out.
“Players like Evgeni Malkin, Max Pacioretty, Brent Burns, and Joe Pavelski were all interested,” Mårs said. “Some of them heard from teammates while some heard about it from skating coaches and it’s really cool to hear from them.”
With a new way to train Mårs is hopeful for his credibility to grow and for the company to shift the minds of hockey players as they approach being at their best on the ice.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Marsblade & Nashville Predators
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