Mounting holders on hockey skates for over pronation

[smu 29]

16 hours ago, Kgbeast said:

Not sure how  shimming up both side at the front will compensate for turns. When you tilt the holder while keeping its front to back plane, you will see that only one side of the front mounting flange will remain in contact. Other side of the front flange will lift, and both sides of the rear flange will lift off ( in case of pronation, the inner side will lift more that outer, but both will be up nevertheless). This is because the front mounting flange is much wider that the rear. So you might want to insert properly sized spacers to fill both of the sides at the heel (medial side spacer will be thicker in case of pronation), as well as one on the medial side of the front. Perhaps it was the reference to that you thinking of. 

I am not sure if this is a must, or it is ok to be less anal and live with slight misalignment caused by one sided shimming.  Likely, In most shops, you'd get just heel shimmed on one side.

I tend to agree, but just have heard otherwise!

Thanks, Alan

 

[Mimizk 114]

Sorry I couldn't understand well what I have been said.

I took this picture from toe.
Then also inserted little thicker one to medial side of the front, little thinner one to rear as same.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Mimizk

[Jordan 13]

@smu you should discuss this with old trainer guy. He does a lot of custom work and he is also a VH fitting center.

[smu 29]

On 3/6/2017 at 11:20 AM, smu said:

 

Mimizk, If it is posted on the outside o the boot between the oder& te boot it must be laterally placed or certain!!!!!

Alan

Edited April 12, 2019 by smu
name

[Jason 65]

I can't remember if I read it on this forum or somewhere else, but I remember reading someone's personal experiences with over pronation. I have minor over pronation on my right foot and it has driven me nuts over the years. I have tried various solutions like shims and mounting the holder slightly to the inside of the boot and nothing could ever solve my problems. When I read the other person's write up, they mentioned that the only thing that really helped them was to do exercises to strengthen the foot muscles as well as skating with their skates tied very loose. I started doing that and my problem has dramatically improved. I would suggest working on your feet this way rather than messing with your skates too much. Best of luck.

[Vet88 673]

19 hours ago, Jason said:

the only thing that really helped them was to do exercises to strengthen the foot muscles as well as skating with their skates tied very loose. I started doing that and my problem has dramatically improved.

Not only will it dramatically improve but if you keep at it and even try getting to the final stage of skating with no laces or at least the first 4 eyelets dropped (this is for training, not game time), your pronation in skates will eventually disappear. Deep deep power turns take more effort and training to stop the foot collapsing inwards but for skating in a straight line, stopping, transitioning etc (ie 99% of your skating) you will skate neutrally aligned aka directly over the top of the blade with your ankle, knee, hip etc correctly aligned.

It's not as easy as shifting the holder or shimming but it is the ONLY way you can properly fix pronation in skates.

ps - do a lot of one foot backward skating, particularly inside edge work. Because you are more on your toes with less heel support the leg has to work harder to stop the pronation. Pronation is not just about the foot, the entire leg is involved. Skating backwards places more stress on the arch, side stability muscles of the ankle and achillies and the upper outside hip muscles a lot more than forward skating.

[BenBreeg 488]

On 4/14/2019 at 12:14 AM, Jason said:

I can't remember if I read it on this forum or somewhere else, but I remember reading someone's personal experiences with over pronation. I have minor over pronation on my right foot and it has driven me nuts over the years. I have tried various solutions like shims and mounting the holder slightly to the inside of the boot and nothing could ever solve my problems. When I read the other person's write up, they mentioned that the only thing that really helped them was to do exercises to strengthen the foot muscles as well as skating with their skates tied very loose. I started doing that and my problem has dramatically improved. I would suggest working on your feet this way rather than messing with your skates too much. Best of luck.

I hav been doing this and while I haven’t had the time to do it a lot, you do get some pretty quick benefits.  The first being feedback.  With no lacing you can feel how your foot is working in the skate, where different pressure points are as you go through maneuvers, how your right foot feels vs left when doing them, etc.  once you get that you can start building on it.  But i felt slight improvement in laced skating even after two unlaced sessions.

[z1ggy 81]

On 4/14/2019 at 12:14 AM, Jason said:

I can't remember if I read it on this forum or somewhere else, but I remember reading someone's personal experiences with over pronation. I have minor over pronation on my right foot and it has driven me nuts over the years. I have tried various solutions like shims and mounting the holder slightly to the inside of the boot and nothing could ever solve my problems. When I read the other person's write up, they mentioned that the only thing that really helped them was to do exercises to strengthen the foot muscles as well as skating with their skates tied very loose. I started doing that and my problem has dramatically improved. I would suggest working on your feet this way rather than messing with your skates too much. Best of luck.

Do you remember what the exercises were? As far as the no/loose lacing, how many minutes per session and what kind of skating did you do?

[BenBreeg 488]

51 minutes ago, z1ggy said:

Do you remember what the exercises were? As far as the no/loose lacing, how many minutes per session and what kind of skating did you do?

 

As for exercises, you can look up things from the “minimalist running” movement.  There is a lot of stuff there for strengthening the feet/ankles.  From just spending a lot of time walking in your barefeet to sitting using your toes to pull something toward your foot to other stuff.

For me it isn’t just the ankle, everything works in concert, knees, hips, etc.  So my right knee tracks in which is either a result of or contributor to the pronation.  I do a lot of single leg step ups and focus on keeping my knee from tracking in, pistol squats, toe-in calf raises, and just sometimes balancing on one foot.  Lateral walks with bands around your ankles or knees, lateral leg raises with ankle weights.

Skating-wise, here’s what I do.  First I just skated, just paying attention to where my weight was as I transitioned from left to right skate.  It told me I was nice and centered when I was on my left (non-pronating) foot and on my right I didn’t shift my weight as much.  Whether this was because of my pronation or a result I don’t know, but then I just kept skating at a normal, easy pace just getting my weight where it needed to be on both skates.

Then I just started gentle turns, seeing how my skates reacted, how were my feet “working” in the skate.  I found on my “good” foot when I turned on the outside edge I was putting pressure on my outside heel while my bad foot didn’t get to the outside half of my foot (no surprise).  You will discover some differences in where your weight is laterally but also front to back which I was a bit surprised about.

Then I just started doing crossovers, tight turns, backwards, backwards crossovers, pivots, etc.  You will learn something from each skill.

Subsequent sessions I did less total things and focused on a couple of them at a time.

Then I think part 2 is that when you do lace up, instead of just skating, try to do some of the same things and pay attention to the same things and how that feels.  Try to apply the lessons learned, don’t just get lazy and let the boot do the work and throw that work out the window.

These are my observations, Vet88 has much more expertise here.

[z1ggy 81]

13 minutes ago, BenBreeg said:

 

 

As for exercises, you can look up things from the “minimalist running” movement.  There is a lot of stuff there for strengthening the feet/ankles.  From just spending a lot of time walking in your barefeet to sitting using your toes to pull something toward your foot to other stuff.

 

For me it isn’t just the ankle, everything works in concert, knees, hips, etc.  So my right knee tracks in which is either a result of or contributor to the pronation.  I do a lot of single leg step ups and focus on keeping my knee from tracking in, pistol squats, toe-in calf raises, and just sometimes balancing on one foot.  Lateral walks with bands around your ankles or knees, lateral leg raises with ankle weights.

 

Skating-wise, here’s what I do.  First I just skated, just paying attention to where my weight was as I transitioned from left to right skate.  It told me I was nice and centered when I was on my left (non-pronating) foot and on my right I didn’t shift my weight as much.  Whether this was because of my pronation or a result I don’t know, but then I just kept skating at a normal, easy pace just getting my weight where it needed to be on both skates.

 

Then I just started gentle turns, seeing how my skates reacted, how were my feet “working” in the skate.  I found on my “good” foot when I turned on the outside edge I was putting pressure on my outside heel while my bad foot didn’t get to the outside half of my foot (no surprise).  You will discover some differences in where your weight is laterally but also front to back which I was a bit surprised about.

 

Then I just started doing crossovers, tight turns, backwards, backwards crossovers, pivots, etc.  You will learn something from each skill.

 

Subsequent sessions I did less total things and focused on a couple of them at a time.

 

Then I think part 2 is that when you do lace up, instead of just skating, try to do some of the same things and pay attention to the same things and how that feels.  Try to apply the lessons learned, don’t just get lazy and let the boot do the work and throw that work out the window.

 

These are my observations, Vet88 has much more expertise here.

 

Oh gosh, pistol squats... my bane. I think that's probably the end goal, is doing them totally unassisted, but right now I can't. Mainly a weakness issue but probably balance, too. I have to hold on to something to help and I also can't go to the femur parallel point yet.

 

When you did these to just start with... did you just do a simple loosening of the laces or did you go full out totally unlaced? This is probably something I can do during the first few minutes of stick time on the weekends before we randomly end up breaking out into a game. Right now it's only my left foot that pronates too much, I suspect there's just a lot of weakness in that anatomy from old injury and somewhat relatively flat feet.

[BenBreeg 488]

Just now, z1ggy said:

Oh gosh, pistol squats... my bane. I think that's probably the end goal, is doing them totally unassisted, but right now I can't. Mainly a weakness issue but probably balance, too. I have to hold on to something to help and I also can't go to the femur parallel point yet.

 

When you did these to just start with... did you just do a simple loosening of the laces or did you go full out totally unlaced? This is probably something I can do during the first few minutes of stick time on the weekends before we randomly end up breaking out into a game. Right now it's only my left foot that pronates too much, I suspect there's just a lot of weakness in that anatomy from old injury and somewhat relatively flat feet.

I always skated one lace down and then I did two, but then I just decided to loosen them completely and that is a completely different thing.  I say give it a shot.

Pistol squats are hard, do the step ups instead or elevated rear-leg squats.

[Vet88 673]

8 hours ago, z1ggy said:

When you did these to just start with... did you just do a simple loosening of the laces or did you go full out totally unlaced? This is probably something I can do during the first few minutes of stick time on the weekends before we randomly end up breaking out into a game. Right now it's only my left foot that pronates too much, I suspect there's just a lot of weakness in that anatomy from old injury and somewhat relatively flat feet.

To start with I always suggest this to my students, start by dropping 1 eyelet. If that feels like it doesn't make much difference drop another eyelet. Keep dropping eyelets until you find it has become much harder and different to skate (normally this starts around 3 down). Now go and skate as you normally would but taking it easy at first until your muscle memory begins to change to support you. As soon as you start to feel comfortable / getting the hang of this then drop another eyelet and start the process all over again.

Doing it this way allows you to progressively build towards a totally unlaced skate whilst still skating at a level that is near to where you currently are. The big change really starts when you get to the 4th and 5th eyelet down, at this point all the support the boot gives the ankle basically disappears and things begin to get really interesting.

Or you can just not tie your laces and jump into the deep end. I have had players do this as they have wanted to step up to the challenge from day 1. This is rather brutal and a big eye opener of how you skate. It hides nothing and suddenly you realise how bad your technique is if you have any flaws. Your feet will seem to collapse on everything you do and be prepared to fall / stumble a lot until you start to improve. If you do go this way ffs take it slow and easy until you get used to it. Just as Benbreg said, start slowly with simple straight line skating and also do one foot balance drills in a straight line. then add turns then cross overs etc etc as you begin to rebuild your skating skill set and muscle memory.

If the only chance you get to skate like this is before a game then you could try using 2 laces in your boot. 1 to lace up to whatever eyelet you are at and another lace that is thru the rest of the eyelets but undone when you jump on the ice (if you are only 1 or 2 eyelets down its most probably just as easy to use 1 lace and then lace fully up when the game starts). After a while you can then try with just laces loose, 

[z1ggy 81]

15 hours ago, Vet88 said:

To start with I always suggest this to my students, start by dropping 1 eyelet. If that feels like it doesn't make much difference drop another eyelet. Keep dropping eyelets until you find it has become much harder and different to skate (normally this starts around 3 down). Now go and skate as you normally would but taking it easy at first until your muscle memory begins to change to support you. As soon as you start to feel comfortable / getting the hang of this then drop another eyelet and start the process all over again.

Doing it this way allows you to progressively build towards a totally unlaced skate whilst still skating at a level that is near to where you currently are. The big change really starts when you get to the 4th and 5th eyelet down, at this point all the support the boot gives the ankle basically disappears and things begin to get really interesting.

Or you can just not tie your laces and jump into the deep end. I have had players do this as they have wanted to step up to the challenge from day 1. This is rather brutal and a big eye opener of how you skate. It hides nothing and suddenly you realise how bad your technique is if you have any flaws. Your feet will seem to collapse on everything you do and be prepared to fall / stumble a lot until you start to improve. If you do go this way ffs take it slow and easy until you get used to it. Just as Benbreg said, start slowly with simple straight line skating and also do one foot balance drills in a straight line. then add turns then cross overs etc etc as you begin to rebuild your skating skill set and muscle memory.

If the only chance you get to skate like this is before a game then you could try using 2 laces in your boot. 1 to lace up to whatever eyelet you are at and another lace that is thru the rest of the eyelets but undone when you jump on the ice (if you are only 1 or 2 eyelets down its most probably just as easy to use 1 lace and then lace fully up when the game starts). After a while you can then try with just laces loose, 

Thanks so much for the help and insight.

 

When dropping eyelets gradually, do you actually remove the lace out of the eyelet or just leave it extremely loose. I can drop 2 eyelets no issues by pulling the lace out and just tying up as normal, but I think once I hit 3 or 4 undone, the left over lace will get pretty annoying.

 

I actually did do 2 not tied/extremely loose prior to my game on Sunday and wowww like you said, it pointed out so many flaws right away. It was so tough and so weird feeling, I could only last about 1 minute before I went and laced up as normal on the bench.

[Vet88 673]

6 hours ago, z1ggy said:

When dropping eyelets gradually, do you actually remove the lace out of the eyelet or just leave it extremely loose. I can drop 2 eyelets no issues by pulling the lace out and just tying up as normal, but I think once I hit 3 or 4 undone, the left over lace will get pretty annoying.

Dropping eyelets I find it's best to take the lace out of the eyelet, this allows you to tie up and still get some support from the boot whilst gradually introducing you to less support from the boot. The extra lace is a pia, big bow ties, a loose wrap around the ankle or tucking the extra lace under the tied laces are some ways of dealing with it. Or as I suggested use 2 laces once you start to get 3 or 4 eyelets down, this way you can tie up and leave the top lace in but just really loose. I won't deny it, laces are a hassle but sometimes good things just take time and effort🙂 

Congrats on giving it a go, you won't believe how many players wont even stand up in their skates with the laces undone let alone skate in them but the benefits are just so huge. 1 minute is a start, just keep at it and I guarantee you will get more comfortable and better at it which will improve your overall skating.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Vet88

[z1ggy 81]

Yeah I could not believe how hard going 2 down was! Felt like a little baby fawn, couldn't imagine trying to do hockey stops or going backwards... just skating forward was an interesting adventure. I think this will really help not only improve balance but strengthen my ankles and feet quite a bit, hopefully correcting a bit of this pronation.

 

Typically, how fast did you see improvement from your students?

[Vet88 673]

7 hours ago, z1ggy said:

Typically, how fast did you see improvement from your students?

It really depends on 2 things, how bad any issues you have are (ie degree of pronation, knee alignment, hip alignment etc) and how much time and effort you put in. I've had players start at 3 down and after about 10 minutes of skating were comfortable (but they had great alignment to begin with) and others who went one down and it took 6 months before they felt they could drop another. What you have to remember is that you are basically learning how to walk again but this time you are balanced over an 1/8" wide bit of steel. Your brain has to work this out and if it is having to deal with alignment issues at the same time then the whole thing just got a lot more complicated. However in general if you can spend say 30 minutes each skate and do this twice a week you should see good improvements over 3 months. You can tell yourself how well you are tracking, every time you get on the ice you get to a point where you start to feel you are getting the hang of it. The first time you try it this may be never in the session but 4 weeks later you start to feel at the end of the session that things are getting easier. Then after 3 months you are hopping on the ice and after about 10 minutes it begins to feel good. This time keeps dropping the more you practice until eventually you step on the ice and it's as natural as if you have laced all the way up. And then you drop another eyelet and it starts all over again....

Don't despair, every time it feels hard you are getting better regardless of how many eyelets you are down. This is the thing about it, every skate is making you better and improving your technique.

I have had beginners say to me they want to learn to skate first before they start this. This is the wrong approach, if you are learning how to skate now then this is the time you should be dropping eyelets. Learn correctly from the start, don't develop bad technique.

[z1ggy 81]

50 minutes ago, Vet88 said:

It really depends on 2 things, how bad any issues you have are (ie degree of pronation, knee alignment, hip alignment etc) and how much time and effort you put in. I've had players start at 3 down and after about 10 minutes of skating were comfortable (but they had great alignment to begin with) and others who went one down and it took 6 months before they felt they could drop another. What you have to remember is that you are basically learning how to walk again but this time you are balanced over an 1/8" wide bit of steel. Your brain has to work this out and if it is having to deal with alignment issues at the same time then the whole thing just got a lot more complicated. However in general if you can spend say 30 minutes each skate and do this twice a week you should see good improvements over 3 months. You can tell yourself how well you are tracking, every time you get on the ice you get to a point where you start to feel you are getting the hang of it. The first time you try it this may be never in the session but 4 weeks later you start to feel at the end of the session that things are getting easier. Then after 3 months you are hopping on the ice and after about 10 minutes it begins to feel good. This time keeps dropping the more you practice until eventually you step on the ice and it's as natural as if you have laced all the way up. And then you drop another eyelet and it starts all over again....

Don't despair, every time it feels hard you are getting better regardless of how many eyelets you are down. This is the thing about it, every skate is making you better and improving your technique.

I have had beginners say to me they want to learn to skate first before they start this. This is the wrong approach, if you are learning how to skate now then this is the time you should be dropping eyelets. Learn correctly from the start, don't develop bad technique.

I'm not sure how bad it is in terms of degrees or whatever but the left is definitely worse than the right. Could be ankle, could be knee.. could be hip. I'm working on a glute and hip strengthening program too to help at least try to also correct any issues that way.

 

As far as me...Been skating for like 15 years now so I'm not really a beginner but obviously going just 2 eyelets down made me feel like I was in learn-to-skate, so I have a lot of progress to make. Schedule right now is 2 skates per week, 1 game and 1 practice. Game time I can probably lace down for 5 minutes during warm up, then during my practice I could go as long as 2 hours, just depends on the day. 

[Vet88 673]

The one thing this does, as I'm sure you now realise, how long you have been skating counts for very little, it's all about how well your muscles can control the skate. That 2 hours practice is the key, lots of one foot balance drills front and backwards. Power will come later, at the start it's all about balance and muscle control. As an aside, I always recommend you do a vid of when you start and then at regular intervals, seeing the improvement helps a lot.

[z1ggy 81]

Gosh 1 foot backwards laced down sounds brutal, but I'll work on it. Watched a few videos on youtube of guys going basically laceless and they were extremely good skaters and they even looked pretty challenged. Hopefully this is what really propels me forward in advancing my skills, thanks.

[KelpFries 21]

This is a bit of an older thread, but I figured i'd throw my 2 cents in as i've frustratingly dealt with over-pronation and maybe someone might read this and it may help them. I am by no means an expert, i'm not an podiatrist either, but what I do have is experience with just this type of thing. I've thrown money around and wasted time trying to overcome it. I've only been skating for about 9 or 10 months now, and the first few months were ridiculously infuriating, to the point where I was going to give up my dream of being able to skate well enough to play some hockey because I was not getting anywhere with my learning process and was being ridiculously limited in my ability to do certain things because I just could not gain an outside edge, my skates were just leaning inward too much.

So here's what I learned in my trials and tribulations. There are 2 things that can help with over-pronation, a short term fix and a long term fix, and I would recommend both. The long term fix is a second on the advice from Vet88 who helped me along the way and gave some great advice just as he's done in this thread. I still use a short term fix when playing in games, but use the long term fix doing practice skates.

1) Short term: Wedges and inserts. I must have read a million threads and a million articles on over-pronation and fixes for it for ice skating. However, every single thing I read related to wedges and insoles were completely wrong. I even read an article where one bloke was going into detail on how to create wedges out of a flip flop to fix over-pronation in a skate, and it was completely wrong missing the point of the mechanics. I spent hundreds or even thousands for wedges, inserts and even $700 for custom orthotics and all of these not only did not help fix my pronation, they made it worse. It's about the mechanics of an ice skate. You can help with pronation by using inserts and wedges designed for over-pronation, but only in a shoe or trainer. In a shoe your foot lays flat, in a shoe with a flat sole, on ground that is flat, Your shoe is not going to rock from side to side, it remains flat, so if you have an insole in your shoe that raises the arch in your foot, it's going to raise your foot all the time and will help alleviate issues with over-pronation. And I do recommend inserts or wedges in shoes or trainers for anyone dealing with a pronation problem, especially if the pronation is causing foot pain. However, in a skate, you do not have a flat sole resting on solid ground, you have a thin piece of steel that will allow your foot to rock side to side. Your foot is going to be in the position it wants to be in when you put pressure on the skate. If you have over-pronation your foot is going to cause the skate to rock inwards because your foot wants to be in a specific position when you put pressure on it. Now add an insole or wedge that is trying to raise the inside of your foot. When you put pressure down on the skate, your foot is still going to want to be in a specific position regardless of the insert or wedge underneath it, and because the skate can rock from side to side, when you plant your foot it will force itself into the position it wants to be in and will only cause to skate to rock inwards even more and you have now exacerbated your pronation issue. In a skate, for the short term as a quick fix, you need to deal with over-pronation from a wedge and insole perspective as over-supination. I still use wedges that I created in my skate, but only during games and will continue until I have reached a point that I do not need them anymore, which is rapidly approaching, however, I use the wedges as if I was trying to fix an over-supination problem, on the outside of the foot. I created wedges to lift the outside of my foot in the skate. This may sound silly and counterintuitive, but it's about the mechanics of a skate. I know that my foot will force itself into a position it wants to be in. By adding wedges to the outside of my foot in the skate my foot still goes into the position it wants to be in, but now because of the wedges my skate tilts outwards and allows the blade to sit squarely on the ice and allows me to gain an outside edge. No matter what you do, your foot will still position itself in the way it is naturally going to be regardless of what position the skate is in. With wedges or inserts it's not a matter of fixing the over-pronation, that's just not happening with wedges, inserts or even insoles, it's a matter of getting the skate into the position it needs to be relative to the position of the foot inside it. Think of it like this, your foot will always remain in the same position relative to the ice, with over-pronation it will be tilted inwards on an angle relative to the ice surface, you can't change this short term. The only thing you can do is try to get the skate around your foot to be positioned differently. If you use pronation wedges or insoles you're not going to change the position of your foot, you'll only change the position of the skate around your foot, so if you use pronation wedges or inserts on the inside of your foot, you'll only push the skate inwards more and your problem will be even worse. With wedges or insoles for the outside of your foot, again, you're not going to change the position of your foot relative to the ice, but what it will do is change the position of the skate to make the skate lie more outwards which will help align the skate to the ice. You can also accomplish this by shimming, which would move the runner into a position square to the ice. I personally never went for this route though simply because I felt it would hinder me in the long term because the whole boot is still in a rocked inward position, only the runner is square. And also moving the holder laterally is an option, but I also never wanted to do this either because I wasn't comfortable having holes drilled into my skate or having the center of gravity moved inward relative to my foot. With trial and error and different thicknesses, I created an insert (I formed one out of plastic and tapered so I cannot feel it) for the outside of my foot that gave me the correct adjustments I needed in order to be able to gain an outside edge and get my skates into the correct position. As I have been strengthening I have been grinding the edge down thinner and thinner as needed.

2) Long term: Ankle and arch strengthening. I took the excellent advice from Vet88 and have been gradually skating with eyelets open during my practice skates, i'm now down to 4 open eyelets and damn is it hard. But it does work wonders. I do this as much as possible, along with doing arch strengthening exercises constantly where I scrunch up my toes which brings up the arch in my foot, hold it for 5 seconds and release for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, release for 5 seconds. I do this over and over, all day long. These 2 things have made a massive impact on my pronation problems.

I hope that no one goes through what I went through, especially beginners, even at my old fart age, because this is a great game with great people and for anyone that has to deal with pronation issues it can be an extremely frustrating problem, so frustrating that some people my actually just give up, just as I almost did, and they'd be missing out on the fun of this wonderful game.

One other thing, the skates you wear are also very important when you have an over-pronation issue. If your skates are loose in anyway, it will cause the skate to roll inwards more. Make sure you try on every skate you can and make sure they are snug, not cripplingly tight, but snug enough so that your foot does not move around in them. I drove the sales guy crazy when buying my latest pair of skates, absolutely crazy. I was trying on skates for hours. Every line from both Bauer and CCM. Different sizes. I would try a size and style and walk around for 30 minutes, getting into my hockey stance, walking around in a hockey stance, yes I was the crazy old fart walking around in skates crouched down like I was mental, I didn't care. It's a lot of money to plonk down and the most important piece of equipment you'll buy. I finally settled on CCM Ribcor's for a couple of reasons. Firstly, man oh man are they comfortable, like slippers. Locked my heel in really nicely, zero pain or foot aches from day one. Secondly, CCM's 90 day return policy. Can't go wrong, don't like them, bring them back. Thirdly, Ribcor's have great lateral stiffness which helps with pronation, however, they have unbelievable forward flex, even when all of the eyelets are tied. This helps my pronation immensely because I could never tie the top eyelet in my other Bauer Supremes as there was no forward flex when tied all the way up to the top and I would constantly feel as though I was on my heels. In my Ribcor's I can flex forward all the way and get my hockey stance down without any effort while still having great ankle support from having the boot tied all the way up.

[z1ggy 81]

@KelpFries Can you post pics of the plastic piece you made? What material you used, etc.

 

Great post by the way.

[KelpFries 21]

@z1ggy Thanks! I'll throw a pic up in the morning.

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

Personally after reading all of this.... it's being way over thought.  

One major issue I keep finding on boots is where we might think blade center is is not necessarily center. And definitely not center for each individual. 

 

I have started mounting or recounting blades with 1 rivet in the front and one in the back where I feel it's right for that customer. So far the success rate is far higher than when I would guess were center might be and make it so. 

 

Using the inside of the center of the boot on the heel has been huge. And its amazing how far off some skates are. Including customs and top of the line skates.