Skate recommendation for Pee Wee

[rfm1237 0]

Time for some new skates for my son.  He's currently grown out of his X700's.  Looking at maybe going up a class to an x800 or x900.  Leaving the cost issue aside for a second, my concern is that a curv skate will just be too stiff and he won't be able to flex the boot at all. I know for myself I just could never get used to composite and went back to tech mesh.  He's  12, 5' 6" 130lbs size 8 skate.  .  He's tried them on and they seem to both fit.  He likes the feel of the x900, but  I'm concerned the stiffness would negatively impact his skating.  Again, cost aside, what is the prevailing opinion on a stiffer skate for a kid?  Can it hurt more then it helps?

[raganblink 82]

I would say that the stiffness of the boot is completely relative to how hard he skates. If his X700s are going soft on him or breaking down in areas, yes I'd go up to the X800/X900 series. If however they have no wear beyond puck marks / couple of scratches, then I would stick with the X700. 

 

There are only a couple of players I can recall that I have worked with that needed to be in a top-end level boot as a peewee. A size 8 skate at the peewee level is a bigger kid though so its totally possible he does, you'd know that best. 

 

If the skate is too stiff for him you'll notice a drop in skating for a bit until he either breaks the skate in. The positive side of going up to the x800/x900 is if he infact doesn't break the skate down and it is too much of a skate for him, put it back in the oven to loosen it up a bit.