Leaderboard

Not an old wives tale at all. A lot of people (most) lace their skates by pulling up and with decent force to tighten skates. When the boot is still hot and pliable, this motion can easily cause an eyelet to separate from the backside of the leather and pull apart from the boot. With pulling the laces in an outward motion, you are avoiding putting tension on the eyelet anywhere, and can still achieve the desired result of getting them tight enough to mold.

For the shrink wrap it depends, if the fit isn't great across the forefoot / arch then it should be wrapped also. A 1/2 size too big is a 1/2 size too big, it doesn't go away. Yes, you can remold the boot and squeeze / wrap / clamp the sides in but then they only stay there if your mechanics are good. If your mechanics aren't good then the boot is going to expand out again quickly. Don't be fobbed off with a rebake, if you believe they are made a 1/2 size too big (this happens all the time) you should be asking for a remake. These are customs skates built to fit your foot and you are paying for this.

As others have said, it's business, so that drives the deal. I've had AK jerseys in the past and they do offer a lot of options and are not a bad company at all. I mean it could be wayyy worse... imagine if ECHL signed with Mens League Sweaters and all the players had to figure out how to fit their arms in the sleeves that were 4 sizes skinnier than the body of the jerseys 😂 AK is def not a bad choice when some of those cheapo brands are out there.