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I am back at it as of this past Monday. Thanks for your well wishes.

As others have said, I went down 1/2 size from Bauer. Pre-bake my feet barely fit in the boot and I thought there was no way these were going to fit. Post bake they fit absolutely perfect. After a season of play they’ve opened up slightly but not enough that I would have been able to drop an additional 1/2 size.

I scan as a 7.5 Fit 3 Bauer and wear 8EE Makos. When I tried TF9 skates, 8W was clearly too big, 7.5W felt like the right size before baking and 7W was really hard to get my foot in and my toes were hard against the cap. I still went with the 7W, after baking they still felt a bit short, but after about 10 hours of skating, I was glad I went with the 7W vs. 7.5W. So, I would try them on, but keep in mind that the right size should feel too small before baking. If they feel like the right size before baking, they'll likely be too large after baking and break in. A half size down from Bauer is a good starting point, but every foot is different.

Definitely at least half size down, but the sizing is very different so best is to try them on. I'm a 9E in Supremes and wear 8.5R TF9, could probably do 8R or 8W for a "performance" fit, but I prefer the comfort. I also don't pass the pencil test in TF9s, but don't have lace bite (only skates I do pass the pencil test in are Nexus and Tour).

I decided to send back the AS 2001 ALLPRO-SC as I already have an SSM unit which accepts SSM, Blackstone and ProSharp profiles. No need to have a $14K unit that can only profile when I already have a profiling machine. Regardless, I am disappointed in both ProSharp and Bauer. I guess I expected too much.

Get the Marsblade chassis!

The mechanics are different. For example on inline your weight needs to be over your heel/rear wheels whereas with ice you’d place your weight more to the centre of your holder. The wheels do require you to lean into the edges as you can’t remain upright on them.

Thanks, it’s kinda why I chose them. Although I would’ve wanted to try the hyperflex outsole I’m really happy with these after 2 months of playing in them.

The following is from the other side of the fence, something I doubt very few of you have ever seen. Pardon the length but it's relevant. Around a month ago I was at the rink training during a public skate (I adjust my work day so I can skate during the day). A family turned up, the 2 boys hopped on the ice. One of them came up to me and asked for some tips on how to skate. I took one look at how he was standing and thought hmm, this could be interesting. He was from New Caledonia and on holiday visiting our country, ice skating was on the bucket list. He had never skated / skateboard / ski in anything before yet there he stood in crappy plastic / no edge / blunt rink rentals and he was balanced perfectly over the skates. 1 hour later and he could: cross over both sides, 2 foot stop both sides, had an outside edge on corners (the first time I showed him his outside edge he got so deep he fell into it and to the ice) and we were working on his backward crossovers when he had to go. This kid was skating dna on steroids. It didn't matter what I showed him, he got it immediately. To him it was as natural as walking. If I could have signed him up I would have on the spot. He was skating better in one hour than other skaters I know who have been skating for years. Why? Because he was perfectly aligned over the skates blades. It wasn't his skates, it wasn't his strength, it wasn't his skating skill set, it was all down to how naturally he was aligned and balanced over the skate blades. Very rarely do you see someone like this and I have coached thousands of skaters over the years. So the next time you go for a skate in your 2S Pros or you are having a debate as to which stiffness of skate you should buy, have a think about about where your skating ability really sits. As I said in my first post, it's not about the skate.....

Pretty interesting discussion. When I was a teenager, I worked as an instructor at a hockey school run by a former NHL player. The first thing he did when a new group of kids showed up was explain that they should not be tying their skates too tightly. He then had the instructors unlace our skates and run through a couple of drills to demonstrate that the laces are really just there to keep your skates on. The first time you do it is unnerving because you fear that you might break your ankle. After a few minutes you relax and it gets easier. I have no idea if there is any real benefit, but it does let me know if I'm not centred over the blade.

And I had this discussion a while ago with other coaches at a seminar. It's not in US LTP programme, we have never heard about it, that's not what I was taught etc etc are the excuses. Me - Why are you telling the to tie their laces tight? Reply - Oh, because it makes them more stable. Me - Yes - but it doesn't fix the problem..... Yet ask them about a skater who drops 1 eyelet. this is perfectly acceptable. What about a skater who drops 2? Or 3? Or 4? When does this become "I've never heard of that"? Tell that to the young elite NHL skaters coming thru atm and are dropping eyelets. Bottom line is you either give it a go or not, I'm not trying to sell anyone snake oil here or ask you to sign up for a service or training programme or try to take your money. It's free advice based on hard experience and been involved in a (so far) 3 year long varsity research project looking into specifically this issue. And this is the consistent thing, the deniers are those who have NEVER tried it yet everyone who I have had try it (from beginner to experienced) has never said it didn't help..The degrees of improvement are based on your bio mechanics..

I'm a level 2 certified coach, been coaching ice and inline for 15 years. But I didn't invent this, other much better qualified coaches than me have done this. For example look at this . Wally Kozak is one of the most respected coaches out there.

No, you have biomechanics, can’t be avoided. They are either contributing to or detracting from your skating. We all have dominant sides, habits that we have developed over the years. My right foot pronates AND i am left leg dominant. Even off the ice if I am standing I tend to default to weight on my left foot. I skate unlaced at public skate now. If you pay attention to whats going on when you do this you will make quick improvements. I am 45 and have been skating since I was about 10 and was able to ID several issues right off the bat. You get feedback that a tight, stiff skate laced up will hide. I have seen improvement after only doing this only a handful of times, can’t imagine what I could do if I did it once or twice a week. I am still in an old Bauer Supreme 7000 which by this point is probably a fraction of the stiffness of these new skates and don’t feel it is holding me back, although I will be forced into new skates soon since they are literally starting to fall apart. Just because everyone doesn't teach a certain thing doesn’t it is or isnt valid. Laces undone has been done for a very long time.

I put it like this - when are you making the most mistakes? When you are learning. Training, regardless of the frequency, is pointless if all you are doing is repeating the same mistakes over and over again. If the skater is unbalanced at the start, extra stiff skates, more training etc does not address this, at least in a quick time frame. Sure, skate for 10 years and you will slowly improve. Or you can fix your alignment issues and start to skate better from the beginning. As to figure and speed and any half decent skating teacher, they should haul your ass of the ice immediately and start fixing your alignment with holder movement / shimming if they look at you and see you aren't aligned over your skates. Both figure and speed worked this out years ago, hockey tried with MLX then it got buried. And from many other posts in this forum and others, skaters have commented about going to camps run by ex NHL players and other qualified trainers and them asking players to undo their laces. It doesn't make things worse, it just makes it harder until you learn to control your muscles. Ironically those who pronate really badly get the most benefit instantly because of the feedback they start to get from their feet with laces undone as opposed to the quasi ski boot approach and lace up as tight as you can. Been there, done that, coached and seen dozens of skaters instantly improve with it.