Vet88

Your tongue is sliding to the side because your foot is twisting in the boot, even as well as if may fit. The general cause of this is a foot alignment issue, mainly because of pronation, so you may want consider looking at this as well as tabs on the tongue.

If I recall right the Black range was built on a different last to everyone else at the time (1 size larger than everyone else). I had Mission Blacks in a size 7 and am now in Alkali 6.5 which I consider a perfect fit for length, toes just brushing the toe cap until laced up when they are around 1mm off the toe cap. As a guide, my feet are 26cm's long.

I don't know what the "official" definition of a narrow heel is but I have to disagree with the IW statements. The CA range (I had CA9's) fitted a narrow heel and then they increased the volume in the heel considerably through subsequent releases. I had the RPD Max and took to it with clamps to try and get a better heel fit, I moved the boot 1cm inwards in the area under and just forward of the ankle. Somewhere earlier in this thread I posted measurements of the heel pocket widths between the CA9 and RPD Max and the difference is a lot. The current design is more suited for a medium width ankle, not a narrow one, and seems to be getting wider.

Keep your front foot on the ground, don't lift your body up as you swing back and shift your weight onto the back foot (eg watch how your head rises as you swing back), as you swing forward you have to shift your weight from the back leg to the front leg and rotate your hips and shoulders (rotating over the front foot) so they should be facing forward at the end of the swing.

Some other things - Don't get the back swing so high, focus on form and getting your weight transfer working smoothly instead of power at this stage. Don't open the blade so much during the back swing, keep it parallel to the ground. Keep your left arm straighter as you swing back, you are bending it to much. In the first vid you can see you are hitting off the toe to much, ideal contact point for slap shots is just behind the middle of the blade.

I made my own to solve a lace bite issue, which it does, and for this reason alone they are worth more than gold to me. Subsequently I've made a bunch more for team mates and had a number of MSH members make them up, it's easy enough:- 4mm thick leather offcuts from a leather shop or manufacturer of leather items (or buy a leather belt and cut it up) 5mm - 7mm eyelets (also known as grommets) from online or a marine shop or a outdoor shop or home depot etc. Make sure you get brass or stainless steel or whatever, as long as they will not rust Either buy a hole punch or visit your local shoe repair shop to get the holes punched Waterproof the leather, add the eyelets using a hammer and punch (or a press if you are lucky enough to have one of these) Secure them to your boot using either old laces (the simplest way) or t-nuts / graf nut/screw etc or screws into the eyelets. You may think of another way. I prefer using laces as it gives a little more flexibilty and stretch to the extension than hard securing them in. Mine are coming up to 4 months of hard use and are still as good as the day I made them. PM me if you want a basic design outline and lacing pattern I use. Once you fit them you will keep using them, lace bite cure and forward flex extension and a custom eyelet pattern to how you want it.

If you want to work out what radius you have this thread gives you some ideas http://modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php/topic/68943-tool-for-checking-skate-blade-hollow-radius/

Empty rink to practice in, the best kind! Back to the heads up play, this is the time when you really have to reinforce this as you are learning. Practice this drill but do these: - As you skate towards the boards to pick the puck up glance over your shoulder back up the rink, this is so you know what you are going to do BEFORE you get to the puck (is someone behind me, is a team mate already skating and open, what side are they skating to, do I release the puck immediately or do I have time to escape etc etc). - When you pick the puck up, don't look at it, try to never look at it, just cup it with the blade and continue skating. Then skate up the rink looking left and right to find your team mate and deliver the pass. - DON"T LOOK AT THE PUCK - As you continue to improve try to pick the puck up whilst you are skating as fast as possible, don't just drift in to it to start the drill, begin the drill when you are in the middle of the rink and do the drill as fast as you can. As you pick the puck up off the bottom board vary the drill by going to the back of the net and stopping, then practice escaping out each side. As a D the net is one of your best friends on the ice. And alternate the drill on both sides so you are picking the puck up on your forehand and back hand.

Nearly everyone has a dominant foot / hand / side, the true ambidextrous are rare. One of the ways to counter it as you learn is to do mutliples of the drill on the weak side to one on the better side. For example alternate bubble c cuts, do 2 or 3 on the weak side to one on the better side. Figure 8 drills you do 2 circles on the weak side to one on the better side. For stopping you can use the ladder drill but just keep going in the same direction after each stop. And just spend the next few weeks stopping only on that side.

My number one rule, Heads up! Practice not looking at the puck from the beginning, it's a hard habit to break later on down the track. During this drill try and look 2 or even 3 pucks ahead and try to picture the lines on the ice where you want the puck to go.

Both hands on the stick when you make the turn, I'd even suggest slowing down a bit and try to get half crossovers starting as you pass the halfway point of the turn then transitioning to your forward stride as you come out of the turn. I prefer getting players to do these types of drills in a figure 8 so you work both sides during the drill. I have a drill for turning that gets your feet in line and you balanced over the center of your skates. My shoulder is starting to settle down (at least I'm not chewing as many pain killers now) so hoping to be back on the ice next week coaching and I'll get a couple of drills together for you. Well done though, each vid you post you can see yourself improving and getting more comfortable on your skates.

If you want to become a better skater and puck handler then this: comfortable inline rec skates (the ones with soft sides), hard wheels, green biscuit, any smooth surface you can find (like your local park) to skate on, a wraparound for your blade or an abs blade on a shaft and then get out there and skate and puck handle. For passing get a green biscuit, a smooth board and a tape 2 tape device. For shooting you need about 20 pucks, a shooting pad and a net or tarp to shoot at. For the public skate I've often found it depends on how many turn up and how flexible they are at the rink about skating with a stick. Some rinks have a absolute no policy, some will let you skate with a stick only, some will let you stick and puck but stay out of every ones way ie stay down one end and absolutely no shooting. Ask and see what they say. For example at one rink I can stick and puck during the day public sessions, at another rink no sticks but they are fine if you take a puck onto the ice and practice kicking it, toe flicks etc. As to skating without a stick, any time you spend on the ice is going to improve your skating ability. Without wanting to sound like I'm preaching about this, you need to do a lot more one foot balance drills - with or without a stick. Here is one to show what I mean - set your camera up and skate away from the camera, then skate back towards it doing this, balance on one leg then try to do as deep a knee bend as possible on the glide leg and then stand up and swap legs and repeat. Now watch the video and see how you bring the glide skate underneath and in line with your body and the blade is vertical to the ice when you do the knee bend.

Was going to do it on Monday at my next coaching session but got cross checked into the boards today and bust my shoulder, lol McDavid has good company! Will be a couple of weeks before I'm back on the ice, will let you know when I get it done unless I can get one my students to do it earlier.

Skill wise you can become really good, age really isn't the issue but time, time that you can commit to the game and quality practices. The hardest part to accept is your engine, as you get older you can't go as hard or as quick or as aggressively and then everyone starts to beat you so you start doing dirty things to try and make up for it or playing deeper to create a 1/2 second or so more of reaction time for yourself (which just gives the opposition player more room to beat you with!) As to your backward skating you have come along really well but I'd be asking you to do a lot more one foot balance work. As you skate your knees are well bent but you are folding them inwards to much and splaying your feet out to wide. This means you are skating heavily on your inside edge so every time you go to cross over you have to roll your foot over the top of the blade to take the step. There is a drill I get my learners to do where they skate backwards in a circle and take really small 1/4 cross over steps, almost like running backwards on the spot and making the feet move as fast as they can. By rapidly repeating the weight transfer from one foot to the other your muscle memory improves much faster, you reinforce the balance point on the toes for backward skating and you very quickly start to get your feet under your shoulders and hips and therefore more upright on the blade. If you want an example I could do a vid next week. Backward bubble c cuts, bubbles in a circle, one foot slaloms and edges, these are the basics that you can never do enough of - keep it up you going well.

It depends what team you are playing in, if you all have the same equal ability then you could play anywhere but lets assume most of the others in the team know how to skate a little bit better than you. To be D you must be able to skate backwards and do it well. A center needs a big engine and ideally be a good skater. This leaves wing and is where most people start as you do the least damage when you get things wrong. Try really hard to work on your positioning, being in the right place at the right time is half the battle and you don't need to be a great skater to bang in the rebound or cut the pass off back to their D man on point. Try to find a starter league, you will enjoy it more and have fun. it's really hard starting the game playing in a team / league where everyone knows how to play.

To really improve your shooting mechanics you need to do off ice work. I'd recommend that you Invest in a shooting pad, a tape 2 tape kit (google it), a tarp (to shoot at unless you have the luxury of setting up a goal somewhere) and pucks. Shoot 200 pucks a day, nothing else will improve your shooting / passing quicker than this when off ice. If you are serious about getting better it is worth the money spent and the time you will put into it.

Well done, you only have to look at this and your previous video to see how much you have improved. As you seem to be training on your own (it's a great way to train, a rink to yourself) find drills that are really hard to do or that you have never done before. Push yourself to learn these, don't keep doing the same thing over and over except the basics (inside/outside edges and c cuts, these or similar themes should be the staple start of any hockey training). Push yourself outside your comfort zone to broaden your skill base and therefore learn quicker. Ask your coach if you can get a new drill/ skill each week for you to practice on during times you are not getting coaching. As I mentioned before, the iTrain teach the trainer videos are a great starting point.

I've helped quite a few people with foot issues and I've never seen wear and tear in the spot you have (between the ankle and heel). As Mike suggest, it looks like the L bar rubbing, I suspect your heel is lifting slightly in the pocket. Stable 26 socks with the right thickness insert would really help stop this (the possible lift and the rubbing) but a bake has to be your first course of action.

Unless you specifically spend time during the training working on stopping, it isn't "just" going to happen. Stopping is one of the aspects between the 2 sports that is the most different. You really need to get to some public skates and practice stopping, the rink may be busy but I assume they have public sessions during evenings or weekends?

Nice to see you improving. As I'm sure your coach says, stick on the ground, both hands on the stick and stick pointing in the direction you want to go. When you hold the stick in the air you can skate similar to how you do without a stick, when you put the stick on the ground in front of you with both hands on the stick it changes your skating stance hence more learning all over again. As you have a vid, vid yourself practising this then watch both, you will see what I mean. Also keep the vids and record yourself every month or 2 over the year then go back and watch them, it gives you a perspective as to how much you improve during the year as it is really hard to self analyse.

Reading his post, he doesn't have VH yet but if he does consider them then circulation is a big concern given the problems he currently has in Mako 2's. I don't think this is the thread to address numbness in the foot, plenty of other threads in the forum for that. But if VH skates are made for your foot AND you don't have any physical problems (such as Raynauds or sever pronation or any other issues) then you should not get numbness in your feet.

Couldn't agree more. Not only the PH balance but the amount you sweat I think is critical. For example 2 of us purchased some Mission Boss black inline skates at the same time, I killed the rivets in 2 months, his held out for 4 years and were still going strong. I sweat buckets, team mate hardly sweats at all. I wipe down and dry my skates (in a shock doctor bag with a blower) after every game to try and slow the process down but to no avail. Sweat eats away at eyelets and rivets and I've even had the magnesium chassis in my inlines start to delaminate because of sweat. But the equipment some manufacturers use is more resistant to sweat than others so it's not just one factor but a combination of personal circumstances and the quality of material / coating the manufacturer is using.

At the end there you are starting to get close, push the right heel outwards a little bit more as the blade slides across the ice and you are nearly at an inside edge stop. Stop skating the length of the rink to practice a stop, you can practice stopping over 10 feet. You tube has lots of videos on how to stop, I won't cover it because you can get the basics from there. What I would recommend you do is practice, practice, practice one foot skating. Inside edges, outside edges, slalom work. Frontwards first then add backward skating as you get better. Learn to balance over the top of your skates, knees bent. You have to teach your foot and leg muscles how to do this, it doesn't come naturally. Shin pads or knee guards really do help as you are learning, as well as elbow pads. Falling is part of learning and getting better. Again, youtube is your friend. Search for things like "ice hockey edge control drills" or "ice hockey stops". The Howtohockey stuff by Jeremy is quite good and I really enjoy the itrain hockey videos, - for balance control - edge control, the bubble c cuts are something you need to start learning now - for backward edges (the first drill is semi advanced) - covers forwards skating, balance and stopping (I really like these series of videos they are doing, long but worth every minute of your time) - for intensive edge control and good explanations (again, I really like these "train the trainers" vids)and for the slalom work, as you start just focus on getting your skates to change direction (turn left then right then left etc) with little weaves as you move down the ice.

I must admit the eyelet issue is one that has made me hold off on getting a pair so far. I sweat buckets when playing and have had many skates (ice and inline) fail on me because I destroy the eyelets. Paying significant $'s for a custom skate and having them fail on me after a couple of months is something I'm not prepared to do yet. Yes, you can get eyelets replaced but there is the additional cost, time, hassle and if your LHS has purchased eyelets that aren't properly coated or are made from a poor material then you are in the same boat a couple of months later, been there and done that..... Best eyelets that I have found (aside from the injected lacing version on my MX3's) are the ones Alkali use on their inline range, these are indestructible. I'd happily pay a few extra bucks to get a quality eyelet put in as opposed to what they use now.

It's a great way to cut bolts / threaded rods etc, and haven't broken a blade since....