caveman27

So, I sent my skate blades to them because there's no one local to re-profile. There's a questionnaire you fill out and send to them if you are interested in a combination radius, and they give you a recommendation based on your answers. The recommendation includes pitch, ROH, what radius' to use in the front and back part of the blade (and middle if you are going for triple radius or quad radius job.) It's kind of costly to get a combination radius done, but its reversible. Or, maybe you want a single radius but you want to make it shorter or longer than stock. They do that too. Or maybe you just want a different pitch, same profile and ROH, they do that too. Everything is explained on their website. You don't even have to ask them for advice if you know what you want. Just order a profiling service and enter in the values for profile, pitch, ROH that you know you want. That's what I do. I wasn't happy with the combination radius and went to a single 8' radius. It cost me to change the radius, but it worked out.

Call up the people at no icing sports https://www.noicingsports.com/ Changing profile and/or pitch may help as it pertains to getting rid of the feeling of being on your heels. OEM blades may have a negative pitch out of the box. It won't fix your footbed/low arch issues. That is to say, re-profiling may help you get better balance and agility, but you'll still have arch pain while skating.

Width of a skate (any skate brand) has to do with the distance from where the big toe's phalange meets the metatarsal to where the pinky toe's phalange meets the metatarsal.

I just wear Adidas ankle socks. 😂

CCM is way ahead of you. Tongue of the now discontinued Tacks. Its used in the insole of the Tacks AS1. Also in the insole of the JetSpeed FT2

Just to follow up on my own thread, I've played two games so far. I wore a patellar strap on my left knee. I think it worked. My knee didn't feel like giving out. The second game, there were only 3 defensemen so I was on the ice more often. My knee didn't feel like giving out. I'm seeing an orthopaedic surgeon about it. He saw my knee years ago for something else.

I have Speedblade 4.0 in the high-polished version. I'm not going to switch. I happy with the weight of the skate and the amount of angle I can go without needing taller blades. I had step steel with my previous Bauer Supremes on a lightspeed 2 holder. The plus with Step Steel blades is the steel is nicer. They kept their edge longer between sharpenings compared to stock Tuuk blades. They are taller so you can go deeper into a turn. Minuses, they do weigh a bit more.

Interesting picture. Crosby has newer 70K CCM skates with the old-fashioned e-pro holder. I've never noticed that until now. Most NHL players in CCMs switch to Tuuk holders. Anyone like the e-pro holder? Who knows how many of those blade holders and blades the equipment manager has to have stashed away. That's not made anymore. Anyway, he also skips the second from the top eyelet.

Are you in the US or Canada? If you are in the US, prostockhockey.com sells pro stock sticks at a good price.

I see. There's a lot of skating drills to improve balance and doing deep edges and tight turns, and working on posture and stride to maximize acceleration... all with the skates laced up as one would wear during a game. I see that wearing laces undone is kind of like doing a barbell bench press as opposed to machine bench press, in that you are forcing yourself to use secondary muscles to balance the bar in addition to using primary muscles to push the bar. I'm not opposed to your method, but I think that balance/control and speed can also be attained in other methods where skates aren't loosely laced.

Well, I guess that's true. My last skates were the Bauer Supreme 6000s. I know they were a tier or two down, from 8000s or 9000s, I don't recall, but they were a bit lower quality. Before then, it's a long stretch between, but I had Bauer Supreme 100s in the 1980s, which were top of the line at the time. Now, the stiffness level of the 6000s were fine and I skated in them for years. I come from a time period when sticks were made with wood and when skates were made with real leather. And, so I saw expensive skates as upspec'ed skates, i.e. you pay more, but you got more. Low-end hockey skates would be something I saw as rental skates.

Oh. I've never touched a 1S or 1X in person. I like the heel lock very much in the JetSpeed. Not only do I get better feel in forward strides and cross-overs, but a much better feel in backwards c-cuts than my Bauer Supreme 6000s (which were a tier or two lower than the top-of-the line in the mid 2000s). They are also much lighter in weight, but JetSpeed to Supreme 6000s is like comparing apples to oranges. I just happen to switch to CCMs last year since they were in my price range and I couldn't find Bauer Supreme TotalOneMX3 in my size.

That's interesting. I've never heard of down-spec'ed ice skates. I'm not saying they don't exist, I figure it would just be easier for the equipment manager and the skate company just to get an off-the-shelf skate that is one tier lower, like 7K.

I wear the "OG" JetSpeed. I bought them on clearance after the FT1's had been introduced. It's their top-of-the-line, where CCM has intermediate and beginner versions of that skate. So, there's a difference between skating with all laces loose and not tying to the top eyelet. Not sure if you are equating that to be the same.

You mean Connor McDavid? He's wears CCM JetSpeed. That's the top end, unless he's upgraded to FT2 or whatever it is now. Marleau is in 9K. They are old. But when they were sold as new, the Reebok 9K was top-of-the-line. So, back in that time, late 2000s early 2010s, lower-end models were designed with a number lower than 9K.

Or maybe, you quit your team. Sounds like, and I am assuming things, the issues from last year that you wrote about have not changed. Maybe you can just be available as a substitute, if your league does that kind of thing.

Interesting. I've never heard of sleeves getting slimmed down for the NHL. I recently got new elbow pads, same brand, better model, and the elbow pad size is huge. Fortunately, our team uses Athletic Knit which has big sleeves.

Well, the concept of skating with laces undone to get a feel for the edges and developing better balance and having a stiff boot for game-time play seem to be two different things to me. You have a video of someone achieving better skating skills but running drills with laces tied loosely and he's not in a game. That seems okay as one is using more muscles to achieve balance to make up for less ankle support. But you can correct me if I'm wrong, would you or do you skate like that during a game. Dropping eyelets allows the ankle to flex forward, but that is different than going to a less stiffer boot where side-to-side flex is greater than a top-of-the-line skate. No young elite NHL skater is going from a Bauer 2S Pro to a S25. I don't know of any NHL-level player who wears a skate with a less stiff boot than a pro-level boot, or an Olympic level figure skater who is wearing an intermediate or beginning level boot instead of an expert level boot. Are they all "crappy" skaters who are relying on stiff boots to adjust for poor fundamentals of ice skating? Actually, pro level skaters require stiffer boots, whether its ice hockey or figure skating, for the amount of stress they are putting on them. Intermediate level skates flex too much.

Well, ice skating involves fundamentals like bending your knees and keeping your posture up. But I've never seen completely new skaters being told to keep their laces loose while learning to skate. My children go to Learn To Skate classes, which is a US Figure Skating Association program for children learning to skate and figure skate. In every case where a student is seen with loose skates, an instructor ties them to be tight.

Interesting video. I watched it all. So, skating with laces loose appears to be an edge work type of exercise for an advanced skater, not for a beginner learning new skating skills.

Well, that's an odd approach. What skating or hockey school are you associated with?

I'd have to disagree with this thought. No one who is learning to skate does so with the laces undone. That makes things worse. I've never heard of any ice skating teacher, hockey, figure skating or speed skating, telling all the students to undo their laces so as not to use it as a crutch.

Try out Bauer and CCM.

If you are a advanced beginner, you probably want to wear the skate that is more comfortable. When your "skating" skill level improves, you will want a stiffer boot.

Oh, What brand or company did you get these jerseys from? curious.