Can someone explain this?!?

[tpedersen3118 58]

From Warrior's Facebook page...

 

dang it! Picture didn't load!

 

let me try to explain the image. It was taken at the Condorstown Outdoor Classic and shows a guy playing hockey with NO LACES in his skates! At first I thought it was just a sick flop, but no. Shins come all the way down to the tops of his feet. If anyone can find and post the picture I'd appreciate it. 

[DarkStar50 679]

Darryl Evans, LA Kings alumni.

[tpedersen3118 58]

9 minutes ago, DarkStar50 said:

Darryl Evans, LA Kings alumni.

That's him. I wonder how he can skate like that, unless his skates are that small that he has no movement and his feet are crammed in there. 

[strosedefence34 175]

this is the picture I believe @tpedersen3118 is referring to.

and this is Darryl Evans who @DarkStar50 is referring to. 

 

Same idea no laces in the skates.  I have no clue how they do it.  I undid the top lace in my skates and felt like I had no support.

[DarkStar50 679]

I believe that is two pictures of the same guy. The skates match in both pictures.

[strosedefence34 175]

@DarkStar50 I believe your right.  I didn't even notice.

[boo10 323]

When I was a teen, I worked as an instructor at a hockey school run by a former NHLer.  He used to have us do that for about 5 minutes on the first day of each session.  It was to demonstrate to the kids that your skates don't have to be super tight.  It's really not that hard once you get past the mental block. First time I tried, I thought I was going to break my ankles. 

[SipHockey 1]

Those are some pretty huge shin pads in the picture of him playing outdoors.  Also kind of looks like his sock covers his whole foot. 

[puckpilot 312]

Old time hockey, like Eddie Shore. :p

 

[psulion22 402]

3 hours ago, DarkStar50 said:

I believe that is two pictures of the same guy. The skates match in both pictures.

 

3 hours ago, strosedefence34 said:

@DarkStar50 I believe your right.  I didn't even notice.

Yep, they are both of Daryl Evans.  He played in an outdoor Alumni/Celebrity game before that AHL game that was played in the rain the other day.

http://www.ontarioreign.com/news/detail/reign-and-condors-clash-in-outdoor-classic-tonight

[chippa13 1844]

I've heard tell of one of Steve Heinze's brothers going entire high school practices without tying his skates.

[IPv6Freely 2082]

The guy who runs one of our local rinks was a former Red Army guy and he said they routinely were required to practice with no laces in their skates. 

Now, why Darryl Evans is doing it is beyond me. 

[Jamarquan 201]

5 hours ago, strosedefence34 said:

this is the picture I believe @tpedersen3118 is referring to.

and this is Darryl Evans who @DarkStar50 is referring to. 

 

Same idea no laces in the skates.  I have no clue how they do it.  I undid the top lace in my skates and felt like I had no support.

Cannot imagine doing that. 

[DarkStar50 679]

Two words : heel lock.

[Kgbeast 195]

Speed skaters skate without much ankle suppor ... especially back when this chap started. I saw a grandpa, probably 85 years old, about a month ago in very old, tube type speed skates and he was doing ok. You do not see younger crowd being able to do this... 

[DarkStar50 679]

Actually speed skates have tremendous ankle support which allows for skaters to lean so dramatically on corner turns. Also, before there was ever a Bauer One90 skate using the negative space concept, there were carbon shell speed skates. These skates would be baked over 20 minutes before fitting. We did this in our shop over 10 years ago for a competitive speed skater.

[Zac911 317]

Food for thought... Bobby Orr is / was highly regarded as one of the best skating players all time.  Look at all the ankle support his skates offered ;) 

[chippa13 1844]

You should check out the amount of tape Orr had on those ankles at times.

[Vet88 673]

The outcome of the recent generation of extra stiff skates, players are learning to skate without using their balance or ankles properly. I try to get everyone I teach to do this, not to this level but at least down to the 3rd eyelet. 9 out of 10 players can't do it and the ones that can are the ones I find that have the best balance and foot mechanics and learn the quickest.

[chippa13 1844]

The thing I've had trouble with at times is the higher cut of skates these days over skates from my younger days. Not tying to the top feels wrong for me since I can feel the sides of the boot and even though it isn't loose, it "feels" loose.

[flip12 698]

34 minutes ago, chippa13 said:

You should check out the amount of tape Orr had on those ankles at times.

Let's!

Look at that aversion!

Among the best of the best skaters in today's NHL, most of them utilize ankle aversion in their strides to a greater degree than the rest. Last week this was on perfect display when Grabner had his hat-trick and one replay of his game-winner on the breakaway showed the race from head on. Shorter than Jones by a few inches, Grabner actually looks to have the longer stride: full return under his body (not that that's always necessary, witness Gartner for a strong counter-example) applied at an extremely deep bight angle due to full ankle aversion. Another good example is MacKinnon.

Why this facet of skating is deemphasized I could only guess is due to the pressure to sell more skates. To sell more skates, make them feel good right away, even before players get acclimated physically to the rigors of skating. Make skates that assume a high degree of physical strength and coordination and you'll see a lot of people complain or simply move along to another skate. It seems CCM's going a little shorter these days, which could be a good sign.

[Larry54 243]

1 hour ago, chippa13 said:

The thing I've had trouble with at times is the higher cut of skates these days over skates from my younger days. Not tying to the top feels wrong for me since I can feel the sides of the boot and even though it isn't loose, it "feels" loose.

I felt the same way when I switched from my old CCM 752 Kevlar Tacks to Reeboks and then Bauer Flexlites. Even though I wasn't used to skipping the top eyelet, I persisted because lacing to the top made my skates feel like casts. When I got VH skates, I noticed that the top eyelet on the lower cut boot was at the same height as the second eyelet on the Bauer and Reebok skates. I can lace to the top now but even then I keep the top slightly loose to allow for just the right amount of forward flex, and it allows me to roll my ankles just the right amount to use my edges effectively.

[YesLanges 126]

Evans says that he played with "some tape" but without tying the last 5 eyelets of his skates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiDjpIsK4Ec

I'm just in awe of guys who don't use the top 2 eyelets, let alone 5 eyelets or skating without any laces. There's no question that the best skaters are usually the ones with the least-restricted ankles; but I believe that's not really something you can learn to do later in your hockey life if you didn't start out skating that way as a kid. A couple of my current teammates skate that way and it's amazing to me. You could probably do it only by re-learning how to skate if you were willing to skate at 50% of your normal skating strength for quite a while.

I believe there are some parallels between that and the difference between trying to learn new languages and musical instruments as an adult instead of as a child. I'm pretty good on my edges with a heavily-taped locked ankle, but I rely on the hinges in my skates to allow flexion and I tape up with my ankle flexed because I want the lateral support without restricting forward flexion. If I didn't tape up, I don't think I'd even be able to control my edges well enough to do anything, because I literally learned to skate in my Langes (Esposito's in them in the background of that Orr picture) and I never developed the neurological memory to skate on unlocked ankles...and forget about leaving loose eyelets. I also think it's a misnomer to refer to having "strong ankles" because I don't think it's strength; it's mostly neurological coordination that takes place in your brain and not a matter of muscular strength. It also explains how hockey players managed to skate as well as they did in the early 1900s when their skates were little more than high-ankle shoes on top of blades; but that's what they learned to skate in.

These are the oldest clips (1929 & 1932) that I've found except for a couple of turn-of-the-century clips of men in topcoats and hats or women in ankle-length skirts just swatting a puck (or ball) around. Check out the Zamboni at the end of the 1929 clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDmc6n79ek0 (1929)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjAKF1SnyNg (1932)

 

[Larry54 243]

^^^ Love those clips!

[puckpilot 312]

1 hour ago, YesLanges said:

I'm just in awe of guys who don't use the top 2 eyelets, let alone 5 eyelets or skating without any laces. There's no question that the best skaters are usually the ones with the least-restricted ankles; but I believe that's not really something you can learn to do later in your hockey life if you didn't start out skating that way as a kid. A

 

It's not as hard as you think. At age 30 I stopped using the top eyelet. A couple of years ago at the age of 40, I went from not using the top eyelet to not using the top two. It's just like anything else, you just need to get used to it and build up a little extra strength. I went to stick and puck and did a bunch of edging drills along with a lot of stops and starts, and after a week or so, I wasn't even thinking about it anymore. I've even tried not using the top three eyelets. Didn't find significant enough difference to stick with three. Two seemed optimal for me.

And to be honest, I think I'm an average to above average skater at best.