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Five words. hand warmers in the cup

Are you talking about clothing-wise? For me, it all depends on the weather, but always starts with layers. Out in CA, it doesn’t really get that cold in the mountains so I just wear pants with some stretch for the bottom, an undershirt, hoodie, and jersey for layers up top, wool socks on my feet, and if it’s really cold a beanie on my head. When I was growing up in the Midwest, I’d wear thermals top/bottom and maybe a second layer of socks, plus a scarf or gaiter for my neck/mouth. I’d also throw some hand warmers in my pockets for when my hands got cold. At some point my feet would inevitably get cold so I’d take my skates off and use the hand warmers on my feet, but in general I heat up quickly so it’s better to be able to take layers off rather than overheat and soak your clothes. If you’re talking gear-wise… skates/gloves/stick (obv), and if I’m playing a game, shins and possibly a helmet. A lot of the surfaces I play on are deeper lakes which are black so I have orange and white pucks which are easier to see vs a standard black puck. I also never go on a lake without a hand drill and ice picks. Gotta be safe and too many people die every year because they didn’t take necessary safety precautions before enjoying the ice.

I personally wouldn't clamp anything other than the heel. even then, if you need to use a clamp, the skates are prob off by quite a bit in terms of fitment. You should use your hands to mold the boot around you foot. Then wrap it. The wrap serves to allow the boot to cool in the exact shape it's conformed to your foot without it naturally relaxing. As posted in other pages, this is how I wrap mine.

Two things, then I will be done. 1) I was actually going to acknowledge that with the relatively recent marketing and proliferation of profiling systems the "knowledge" of the existence of profiling is increasing. 2) Again though, if you do the math, a good chunk of players are older, casual players who don't pay attention to that or would not be aware. For those that aren't older, again, still casual and not paying attention to those types of things. The marketing is being done to the small chunk of players who have gobs of disposable income and spend $1k on skates alone. That is not the majority of players. Without the actual market research, this is all speculation, but until very recently (last two years), I still stand by my assertions. I'm done arguing speculation based on experience though. thanks.

I am pretty confident in my assessment that most don't know. Heck 50% rec players don't even know what ROH they skate on. They take them to a shop who sharpens them and that's the extent of their knowledge. Then 25% know what ROH they get, but don't know what it is, then there is another 25% that actually know what it is. That last 25% may be an overestimation though. I have sooo many humorous anecdotes about the extent of this lack of knowledge that it is sometimes sad. In the case of profiling though, I am quite confident that for the vast majority, "profiling" is this mythical thing that some people get if they are really concerned about their skates. Within that minority, for those who have taken the time and effort to figure out what profiling is and what different profiles are, they know. I am quite confident that the majority of the hockey populace have no clue what a profile actually is, let alone the details. People corresponding on this forum are in the tiny sliver of a minority that know what the heck things are. I don't have quantitative data to back it up, but quite a bit of empirical experience. I am willing to have somebody with actual market research to show me I am wrong though.