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7 weeks post op from neck surgery, cleared for PT. Doc said everything is looking good, road of recovery rumbles along!

Congrats on taking the leap into adult hockey! I only started this hockey journey a few months ago but finally feel like I'm getting through the "teething" period with my skates (I also bought Vapors but the X700 version). I started off with arch pain as well which sounds to be quite a common issue. I have low arches and tried the original insole, the Bauer Speed Plates, and ended up with Superfeet yellow. The heel lift in the Superfeet was just enough to take a lot of the pressure off of my arch. This still left me with pain which I learned was caused by a bone called an accessory navicular. I had the skates punched out and this pain is no longer present. I was still struggling with a throbbing pain after about 15 minutes of skating. I even experienced lace bit which was clearly caused by me tightening the laces way too tight and ended up with a big lump on the front of my ankle. I tried various lace tightness, lacing methods, and lace types. In the end I think what helped the most was finding the right lacing method (for me it was wax laces, over/under lacing method, snug over the foot/really tight at 3rd and 4th holes/fairly tight in the ankle) AND getting my feet/ankles used to skating by skating a LOT! Do you feel any arch pressure/pain when you lace up the skates? If so, looking at different insoles might be a good place to start... Do you get any blisters? In only a few months, I've managed to skate/play hockey at 5 different ice rinks as I'm doing whatever I can to condition my body to the sport. Like any sport, there's a steep learning curve both physically and mentally so get out there as often as you can. :)

Just wanted to say I have read this all the way through, and I genuinely have enjoyed reading your experiences. There isn't a huge deal of relatable content about learning to play ice hockey as an adult. It seems like if you didn't start as a child, it can be hard to know where to start as an adult, especially as I'm from the UK. Although we do have a little bit of ice hockey here, especially where I'm from, it doesn't have as big of a community. So reading this topic has been awesome, because it is so interesting to see how your journey begun and how you've progressed. Please, I know it has been a year, but keep up with the updates. I really feel invested in your hockey journey! Hopefully, not hijacking your thread here. But thought I'd post a little about my journey! I'm looking to start playing hockey as an adult, although younger than when you began, but I am WAY off at the moment. Can barely skate. So I got some cheap bauers (Vapor X300s, I think) just to get out of those awful rental skates. But I have the same issues with my arch hurting. I'm not sure if it is because I'm so bad at skating that I don't move enough, or maybe lace bite?? Or perhaps just a poor fit? I know nothing really about skates, but they felt good in the shop, and the guy helping me seemed pretty confident with them. I've played around with lacing and it means I can be on the ice for 15 minutes or so, which is better than the 5 I was managing in the rentals, but then they hurt again. So I'm not sure. They feel pretty good off ice, but maybe that's because I'm not standing. I don't know. Anyway, signed up to lessons to learn how to properly skate, and they start in a week. As for the hockey side of stuff? Well, I'm working on the skating part first, but I hope to join a local rec team, that is mixed male and female. The only problem is they don't get priority ice, so the practice starts at 11, and finishes at 1 in the morning. Like I said, we don't have a big hockey following here. Although, I have two other rinks nearby, so could look at their rec teams, but I really like the premier league (not sure what level that would be in the US) team for my local rink, so would feel like I was "betraying" them.

Very Slight difference, but shouldn't be something that should sway someone that was using a 65 in an A6.0 into trying the 68 in the XC9.

Also any time crossing into the US where I don't get detained is always a plus.

One of my medic classmates is a queer lady goalie and we're becoming fast friends over hockey, goaltending, queerness and EMS. It's great times.

Being born and raised in California, I haven't had too many opportunities to play pond....I played in the New England Pond Hockey Classic in Meredith, NH earlier this month and had a blast!