Does bow legged-ness affect skating?

[hockeymom 2]

I was just teasing Kovy.. you are right - it is the passion that makes all the difference in the world.

[Gongshow11 1]

the best skaters in the show are bow leogged

And you know this because?...

fleury, gaborik, havlat, crosby, bure, afinogenov...should i go on? ive seen 4 of the guys above mentione din person, the rest in pictures, they are all bow legged, and skate like the wind

[Vic 0]

the best skaters in the show are bow leogged

And you know this because?...

fleury, gaborik, havlat, crosby, bure, afinogenov...should i go on? ive seen 4 of the guys above mentione din person, the rest in pictures, they are all bow legged, and skate like the wind

Yea I can see from pics that some of those guys are bow legged for sure. Hard to tell with others.

[MDE3 0]

Pavel Bure was such a dynamic skater but if you look at his skating in a conventionnal view, he was skating with wrong techniques. But who cares, he was a phenomenal skater, his edge and balance was awesome. His quickness, strenght, flexibility level was awesome too.

and his knees blew out how quickly?

It's important not to confuse quickness with speed....all of these guys were very "quick" skaters and had great early burst, but so do many others with a "non bowlegged" style....or should we say "over center" return of the lead foot. The difference is that the latter technique is more aerobically sound, and will allow you to play more minutes effectively with less fatigue and less long term wear and tear on the knees. The technique I am describing has only been taught comprehensivcely for about the past 10 years, so many of the current examples used are from the "old" school anyway.

Another example closer to home..for the inline crew...John Pinheiro was considered in a recent poll of PIHA players to be the "fastest skater" in "pro" inline hockey, and skated pretty much using the feet on "parrellel tracks" technique. I would grant that he might have been the "quickest" skater in "pro" inline hockey, and had hands to match his feet, but in a straight line sprint...I watched my son catch him many times from behind....using the "speed" power skating technique.

[Vic 0]

MDE3 - Can you describe the old and new method in more detail?

I'm not sure what you're saying.

EDIT - Nevermind, I re-read your posts in this topic. Makes sense.

Hard to say why Bure blew out his knees. Maybe all the falls into the boards after scoring ;)

Can't pinpoint it to his style of skating or bow leggedness

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

MDE3 - Can you describe the old and new method in more detail?

I'm not sure what you're saying.

EDIT - Nevermind, I re-read your posts in this topic. Makes sense.

Hard to say why Bure blew out his knees. Maybe all the falls into the boards after scoring ;)

Can't pinpoint it to his style of skating or bow leggedness

Not to mention the deep hollow he skated on.

Explained how he ran on the ice.

[Vic 0]

Yea that would defintely be hard on the knees.

I see alot of players do quick crossovers that look like running on ice, does that point to a deeper hollow? I saw Ovey do this at the Cap/Oilers game last Saturday. (I had great seats by the way! Gold club, 16 row :P )

Too bad the game was boring <_<

[Gongshow11 1]

maybe bure ruined his knee cuz he has 2% body fat or something like that.

JR by deep you mean a 5/8 or 3/8 i always get messed up with that

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

3/8 is deep.

He skated with a deep hollow and two of his home rinks were the worst ice in the league (FL/MSG)

[kovalchuk71 212]

Really soft ice?

[echi24 1]

im bow-legged but i dont see any benefit that it will have on skating. its most noticable with your feet together, but in any athletic stance, your feet are always spread apart for balance. generally, people who are bow legged supenate though, which means when they walk or run, they mostly use the outside of their foot, rather than the standard outside heel to inside toe motion.

[Hipster 5]

I've got a question for anyone who can help. I am more bowlegged in my left leg than the right leg. I never really noticed it until reading this thread just now.

This would explain why I always get rubbed raw on the outside of my left shin where the top of the boot rubs. I put my skates while sitting on the couch and made sure that my leg was aligned perfectly in the center of the upper boot...and sure enough, my right skate was straight up and down and my left was tilted in. No wonder I've always favored turning on the left side....my left leg wants to naturally skate on the outside edge!

If I bake a pair of Kor Shift 2's, do you think I can I get both sides of the boot to shift to the left in the ankle? It would sure be nice to not have that left outside boot digging into my bowleg.

[DEATHTRON 19]

What does the shimming look like for a bow legged player? I guess it depends on the severity.

I am bow legged, and if I position my feet in the center of my skates, they blades are turned in slightly. Always made me think that I need to shim the inside of my holders...but then my boot would be crooked. I also wear out the outside/back outside of my shoe tread.

Anyone?

Zach

[Larry54 243]

Skating ''bow-legged'' doesn't make you slower but skating ''knock-knee'' makes you slower.

I always found that Gomez looked rather ''knock-knee'' and he's a speedy little bugger.

[MrTrololo 4]

the answer

http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=4037