Vet88

Unless you go custom or you can find a pair of high volume grafs, Nexus is it. And if you add in a narrowish heel then you are like a small percentage of us, sool. However you can address the volume issue various ways, a common fix is to use eyelet extenders, these increase the wrap of the boot.

And you are cranking down on 3 eyelets that are volume tight on you??? Try tying this area loose using the 2 laces method I suggested (or even 3 laces, tight/loose/tight), just to see if a looser tie will help. My call on the info you have supplied is that the skate doesn't quite fit you properly and as you crank extra tight thru the middle they are compressing something in your foot leading to the pain. If this is the case no orthotic in the world is going to help. As to the cracking, this isn't something I have heard before but possibly it's something from Bauer specifically. Maybe @JR Boucicaut or @Nicholas G or @oldtrainerguy28 or others in the retail game can comment on this but I talked to our LHS (who is the sole Bauer distributor in our country) and they reckon its bs. Bulging because of pressure or poor fit is common, post a pic of your boot with the bulge, again I think it's an incorrect fit.

If you think it's a volume issue / tied to tight across the forefoot you can try a 2 lace skate. Get a lace that will go through the first 6 eyelets (from the bottom upwards) and tie it very very loose. Then with a second lace tie the top 3 eyelets nice and snug. This will give you the ankle support you are used to yet you should have very little pressure on the forefoot area and still be able to skate. You can also do the pencil test for volume, this is a general guide to how the skate fits your foot for volume. With your foot in the boot and the tongue pulled out, get a pencil and place it across the eyelets. If your foot is hitting the pencil the volume is marginal. If your foot raises the pencil above the eyelets then the boot is on the small side volume wise. After you take your skates off are there any red areas on your foot, these indicate pressure points from the boot? You have custom insoles, was this for flat feet or some other foot issue?

Yes, your weight distribution on skates at home on the carpet is very different to when you skate on the ice / inline. It's why I asked if you could try with a couple of eyelets dropped, if you are distributing too much weight on the inside edge whilst skating this can stress various muscles / tendons in the sole of the foot. Skating with eyelets dropped will highlight this for you (you will know if your foot is rolling inwards in the skate as you skate along) as well as reducing any potential compression issues. Again, not asking you to skate hard, just a gentle straight line skate and anyone, even beginners, can do this. Do you curl your toes up at all when you skate? Standing around in skates doesn't bother you and once you get to the bench and stop skating the pain eases so I'd be looking at stride mechanics and what is happening to your feet in the boot as you skate,

You say you have no problems off ice after a skate, this tends to discount plantar fascitiis. And if you can stand in them for 30 minutes, even though it is stationary, with no pain then fit and arch support seems ok. Has this happened since the very first time you put skates on? If you rest for a few weeks and then go for a skate, is the pain the same? I don't think anyone here can give you an answer without seeing you, evaluating foot / body structure and gait and possibly seeing how you skate. However we might be able to suggest somethings that might help to narrow the cause of the problem down. What happens if you go for a very GENTLE skate for 30 minutes, no hard pushing, crossovers or turns, just straight line gliding and slow gentle turns (pushing just hard enough to keep moving at a very gentle pace)? And I don't know if you do it but try not to push with the toes, just the mid to heel portion of the blade only with no toe kick. You may not want to do this but I'd also suggest you try a skate with your laces undone or at least with 2 or 3 eyelets undone. Again, a very gentle skate of straight line gliding. I'd ask this because I would want to see if the fact of lacing your boot up is causing any impaired plantar flexion performance during your stride.

where in the foot do you get the pain?

You can't really make the forefoot narrower, what I suggest you do is spot heat the 2 forefoot sides with a heat gun and then crank hard on the laces whilst someone pushes the sides in at the same time (or use a clamp). You can't do this with an oven because you do not want the eyelet area to have any heat in it. If you can improve the wrap this will naturally take care of any negative space and help to reduce any extra width. It's not going to narrow the boot by 1/2" but it should move the upper sides and top inwards / downwards a little and that may be enough for you. As to the heel, you can bake and clamp but if you are looking for just heel work under the ankle I prefer to spot heat the inner quarter area under the ankle first with a heat gun, put the skate on, lie on the floor with the heated side facing upward then have someone stand on the heel area in bare feet (or with socks on). Use pucks or books to support the blade and holder. This will shape the boot around the inside of your heel. Wait 24 hours then do the other side. I have always had excellent results for heel lock doing this. Note, if the boot is massively wide in the heel you need to use padding on the unheated side of your ankle when you do the first heat. This is so your foot remains in the center of the boot as you are compressing the first side. But if you pronate then don't pad anything, moving your heel slightly to the outside of the center line will help you. If you supinate you would do the outside quarter first. My understanding about FT2's are they are wider in the heel pocket than FT1's. Why did you pick AS1's for a narrow heel? Jetspeeds or FT1's would have been a better bet and then you punch everything else out. As to heel lock, it's not the nirvana everyone preaches it's meant to be. It's what you are used to and your skating technique related to the boot you are in. I don't use laces (nor a lot of my students) and once your technique adjusts there is no issue with heel lock. Start dropping eyelets, after a while you will wonder why you even thought about it.

The one thing this does, as I'm sure you now realise, how long you have been skating counts for very little, it's all about how well your muscles can control the skate. That 2 hours practice is the key, lots of one foot balance drills front and backwards. Power will come later, at the start it's all about balance and muscle control. As an aside, I always recommend you do a vid of when you start and then at regular intervals, seeing the improvement helps a lot.

It really depends on 2 things, how bad any issues you have are (ie degree of pronation, knee alignment, hip alignment etc) and how much time and effort you put in. I've had players start at 3 down and after about 10 minutes of skating were comfortable (but they had great alignment to begin with) and others who went one down and it took 6 months before they felt they could drop another. What you have to remember is that you are basically learning how to walk again but this time you are balanced over an 1/8" wide bit of steel. Your brain has to work this out and if it is having to deal with alignment issues at the same time then the whole thing just got a lot more complicated. However in general if you can spend say 30 minutes each skate and do this twice a week you should see good improvements over 3 months. You can tell yourself how well you are tracking, every time you get on the ice you get to a point where you start to feel you are getting the hang of it. The first time you try it this may be never in the session but 4 weeks later you start to feel at the end of the session that things are getting easier. Then after 3 months you are hopping on the ice and after about 10 minutes it begins to feel good. This time keeps dropping the more you practice until eventually you step on the ice and it's as natural as if you have laced all the way up. And then you drop another eyelet and it starts all over again.... Don't despair, every time it feels hard you are getting better regardless of how many eyelets you are down. This is the thing about it, every skate is making you better and improving your technique. I have had beginners say to me they want to learn to skate first before they start this. This is the wrong approach, if you are learning how to skate now then this is the time you should be dropping eyelets. Learn correctly from the start, don't develop bad technique.

Dropping eyelets I find it's best to take the lace out of the eyelet, this allows you to tie up and still get some support from the boot whilst gradually introducing you to less support from the boot. The extra lace is a pia, big bow ties, a loose wrap around the ankle or tucking the extra lace under the tied laces are some ways of dealing with it. Or as I suggested use 2 laces once you start to get 3 or 4 eyelets down, this way you can tie up and leave the top lace in but just really loose. I won't deny it, laces are a hassle but sometimes good things just take time and effort🙂 Congrats on giving it a go, you won't believe how many players wont even stand up in their skates with the laces undone let alone skate in them but the benefits are just so huge. 1 minute is a start, just keep at it and I guarantee you will get more comfortable and better at it which will improve your overall skating.

To start with I always suggest this to my students, start by dropping 1 eyelet. If that feels like it doesn't make much difference drop another eyelet. Keep dropping eyelets until you find it has become much harder and different to skate (normally this starts around 3 down). Now go and skate as you normally would but taking it easy at first until your muscle memory begins to change to support you. As soon as you start to feel comfortable / getting the hang of this then drop another eyelet and start the process all over again. Doing it this way allows you to progressively build towards a totally unlaced skate whilst still skating at a level that is near to where you currently are. The big change really starts when you get to the 4th and 5th eyelet down, at this point all the support the boot gives the ankle basically disappears and things begin to get really interesting. Or you can just not tie your laces and jump into the deep end. I have had players do this as they have wanted to step up to the challenge from day 1. This is rather brutal and a big eye opener of how you skate. It hides nothing and suddenly you realise how bad your technique is if you have any flaws. Your feet will seem to collapse on everything you do and be prepared to fall / stumble a lot until you start to improve. If you do go this way ffs take it slow and easy until you get used to it. Just as Benbreg said, start slowly with simple straight line skating and also do one foot balance drills in a straight line. then add turns then cross overs etc etc as you begin to rebuild your skating skill set and muscle memory. If the only chance you get to skate like this is before a game then you could try using 2 laces in your boot. 1 to lace up to whatever eyelet you are at and another lace that is thru the rest of the eyelets but undone when you jump on the ice (if you are only 1 or 2 eyelets down its most probably just as easy to use 1 lace and then lace fully up when the game starts). After a while you can then try with just laces loose,

Not only will it dramatically improve but if you keep at it and even try getting to the final stage of skating with no laces or at least the first 4 eyelets dropped (this is for training, not game time), your pronation in skates will eventually disappear. Deep deep power turns take more effort and training to stop the foot collapsing inwards but for skating in a straight line, stopping, transitioning etc (ie 99% of your skating) you will skate neutrally aligned aka directly over the top of the blade with your ankle, knee, hip etc correctly aligned. It's not as easy as shifting the holder or shimming but it is the ONLY way you can properly fix pronation in skates. ps - do a lot of one foot backward skating, particularly inside edge work. Because you are more on your toes with less heel support the leg has to work harder to stop the pronation. Pronation is not just about the foot, the entire leg is involved. Skating backwards places more stress on the arch, side stability muscles of the ankle and achillies and the upper outside hip muscles a lot more than forward skating.

Do goalie boots come with shot blockers built in? If you added these (as you can add them to player boots I assume you could add them to goalie boots) then they would beef up the boot considerably.

It's not a hard skill, just one that needs lots of parts to come together. Front foot balance, open hips (look at how your body twists over the top of the leading foot), control of the front and stopping foot as they are held in the open hip position, transfer of weight front to back (instead of side to side). Everyone has to start somewhere, just keep at it and after a few sessions you will be getting there, Repetition is key, try not to skate the length of the ice and do one stop, take one or 2 strides and then stop, repeat with the other foot. 30 minutes of this and things improve quickly.

It's not the hollow but your muscle control. Your muscles are struggling to control the boot so you get chatter and drift. Just keep practicing those T stops with the stopping foot behind the lead foot. Try just feathering the ice with the stopping foot and a perpendicular blade, this helps to set your muscle memory. As you get more comfortable with the feathering, increase your speed and the attack angle of the blade (edge leading, ankle trailing, your muscles will control the amount of stiffness you need in the ankle). Then start to put more weight into the stopping foot. Your weight is in the center of the blade. Also as you increase the weight into the stopping foot, try lifting the toe of the lead foot, this helps with your shift of weight balance back onto the stopping foot. Once you get this T stop, then you start to move the stopping foot out to the side of the lead foot. As you master this the stopping foot can then move forward until you can eventually stop with it leading. It's all about muscle control and weight distribution, especially the muscle control of the leading foot as you learn to do this. As to the 2 foot stop and outside edge chatter, do the above and once you are able to stop with the stopping foot leading your outside edge chatter will have disappeared. 2 foot stops should be driven by the outside edge, not the inside edge. I loath teaching snow plow stops but its a necessary evil to get someone to stop. Once they have the basic idea of a snow plow I never work with that again, it's always outside edge drills like the one above. Not only does it teach you an outside edge but it also works hard on your one foot balance. It takes much longer to master a 2 foot stop this way but once they get there the technique is far superior to someone who started and continued working with just inside edge stopping drills. Once you get the outside edge, then work on your inside edge for stopping. As to hollow, go with whatever you are comfortable with that suits your style of skating. I doubt anyone can tell you what hollow you should be on without seeing you skate. There is nothing wrong with 9/16" or 5/8", both will work equally well if that is what you are used to.

We are just naturally skeptical of a "new" product, been there and seen it before. Some information on the web site about who he is and what he has done might give some credibility, then seeing and reading reviews about the stick would give a degree of respectability. It's not our business to chase for information, this should be present if they are serious about the product. And I think he has more issues to worry about like the company name than what members here may think.

If you want to see how well your helmet stacks up in terms of concussion protection: https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/hockey-helmet-ratings.html?fbclid=IwAR0s50p40jD44o84Du_YhFi2R2h2kWWAFQamYsTXx2qiOuQNfbXzzAC13OI

You will only gain it with a modern boot if that boot follows the general shape of your foot. A narrow heel in a wide heel boot will forever slop around. If it is a high end boot with stiff quarters you can mitigate this by compressing the sides of the boot inwards but over time the boot always wants to return outwards to its original shape. If you do decide to try moving the sides inwards, there are 2 methods I have used. 1: Heat the boot then use clamps to squeeze the sides in under the ankles. There are a number of examples of this on youtube. 2: Heat one rear quarter, I always start with the inner side first, put the boot on and lace up then lie on your side on the floor with the heated side facing upward (use books etc to support the holder so the blade remains flat and level). Get someone to stand on the boot in their bare feet so the boot shapes around your ankle and heel area. Repeat 24 hours later on the outer side.

https://hockeybuzz.com/blog/Bob-Duff/Kronwall-Debuts-Innovative-Skate-Blade/216/95256

Interesting as I'm one of these customers. Durability? I gather you would liberally paint it on so you get full penetration into the eyelet?

I'm fascinated as to how you reconcile "Kronwell wears them" and "not allowed in the NHL"? And pray tell what it is in health and safety that makes these a risk? afaik they have passed approval to be worn in the NHL, I am sure Per will clarify if that is not the situation.

I've covered this in another thread, shaping and punching the heel is extremely difficult unless you have the right tools and even then it is a very hard job. I've punched them for heel bumps but never tried to shape an entire one for a heel. imho I think it will be beyond most LHS's unless they have some specialised gear. How much volume do you have in the skate? If you have space try putting something under the tongue next time you lace up so the top laces help to push the heel into the pocket and keep it locked there. Maybe a thicker tongue will help. Downside to this approach is it may increase pressure on the top of the ankle leading to lace bite problems. As to heel lock itself, I no longer think it is as necessary as everyone seems to think. If you asked me this 2 years ago I'd have said it was one of the most important things you need in a skate fit but 2 years of skating without laces has proved to me it really matters sweet fa.

Almost like looking in the mirror. Either trim the side tab or bend it well forward so the top end doesn't sit against the tongue, this will stop it from digging into the tongue and therefore into your foot.

My son had the same problem, we trimmed the insert, no more issues other than the wear and tear on the tongue.

Yes and it helps to understand why this is happening. From the day we are born, the brain is hard wired to make our body work as efficiently as possible. Any extra energy used to do a motion is energy wasted and it can mean the difference between life and death. This is what is happening when you go lace free, your brain is now having to figure out how use muscles to skate as efficiently as possible. This also includes joint alignment and as your brain figures the muscles out it is also working out alignment issues (notwithstanding any physical defects). Over time this soreness and stress will disappear as this optimization occurs. As to overuse, I am more injury free today than I have ever been in my skating life - knees, groin, back are all good and these used to all give me issues when laced up. I'm training as hard now as I did 10 - 15 years ago and at 55+ and 15 - 20 hours a week in skates that is a good thing to say. You are never to old to learn. I see that you are starting to find your balance points on the skate and now understanding the areas where you struggle. With practice this will change and a lot of it is organic change because of the above but it does take time, sadly there is no quick fix.