Leaderboard

Absolutely - just saw where you're located and there a few people in that area who should be driving in for this.

I had roller blades like this.

Lange was ahead of its time. Using ski boot technology for stiffness, but incorporating a hinge to allow for some forward flex.

I don’t see anyone claiming it is a new paradigm, I think you are tilting at windmills. As long as I can remember people have viewed one of the purposes of skates to do the work of supporting the ankle. Tendon guards used to have eyelets, guys used to tape tendon guards to their shinguards, lace tighteners, etc. The stance of the desireability of greater degrees of ankle mobility is not a widely held view for the general population. Stiffer skates do make the problem worse. How messaging around lacing solutions is doing a disservice is a mystery. You going to convince them to make softer skates?

Paradigm or evolution? If you told any coach 10 years ago that one of the fastest ways to skate up the rink was lateral cross overs you would have been laughed off the rink. Even with his near perfect bio mechanics, could McDavid use his lateral cross overs as effectively in boots from 20 years ago? And traditional power skating techniques, aka Laura Stamm, long considered a gold standard are now been rethought with different techniques and approaches been developed. All of this because of changes in boot technology, design and analytics. Ever since boots have been made, manufacturers have been trying to make them stiffer with the belief that reduced ankle articulation would lead to better and faster skating. Reduced ankle articulation would shift the control of the skate to the biggest and strongest muscles in the legs - glutes, quads etc - and this would enable more stability and control. Lace up as tight as you can was part of this paradigm (originally they had to because the boot really offered no other support). Then over the last 10 years or so new materials in boot design created ultra stiff boots but the lacing message remained the same, generally coming from established people in the sport like players and coaches who have been around for years - that's what I was taught so that is what I will teach. My belief is that the data and research coming out now and over the next few years will alter boot design away from the quasi ultra stiff ski boot, for a technique and health perspective. The boot will evolve into a design that has different flex zones incorporated into it. From under the ankles upwards you will be able to get different, custom flex zones, the boot will still wrap around the foot but the ankle will be able to articulate within a form fitting boot. We have never had this mix of design before (stiff lower / flexible upper), graf was starting down this path with its flex zone but the rest of the boot technology was behind what other manufacturers were producing. How such a design might change or create a new paradigm for skating we can only speculate at this point but I would suggest that the changes in boot design over the last 10 years or so has led to different approaches in skating techniques and that we will continue to see this in the future as technology in boots continues to evolve and skaters learn to take advantage of this.