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Vet88

Doughty lacing pattern?

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They're Shot Blocker XT's, they attach to the laces and protect the laced area and have a thick flap that sits in front of the tongue to protect that area.  I tried them because I had a spurt when I got hit, in both feet, in that exact same area multiple times (3x in one game at one point), unfortunately they didn't work well since I put my shins over the tongue and they kept coming out or pushing the shins up, if we ever play again I may try them upside down attached to the bottom of the shin instead (I think I've seen a handful of payers wear them like that, or something similar).

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14 hours ago, Vet88 said:

If I see this right, Doughty laces the top 3 eyelets under the tongue? Anyone ever heard him say why?

9af2dbeac7889e60_small.jpeg

That girl in the background is making a hilarious face. 

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12 hours ago, xstartxtodayx said:

unfortunately they didn't work well since I put my shins over the tongue and they kept coming out or pushing the shins up

Thanks to all for the replies. I'll have to look into these as I have an exposed area beside the side of the tongue. Maybe thats why doughty wears them that way as it looks like he goes tongue under shins.

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He does go tongue under. If you search him on GettyImages and sort by oldest first you’ll see he was lacing loosely to the top until partway into his rookie season in the NHL and then started skipping the top eyelets. He continued with that setup for a while before adding the shot blockers. My guess is it was the best way to add protection to an otherwise prone area, since he had a few inches of ankle protected only by the skates’ tongues, while avoiding adding too much bulk, since mobility has always been one of his key assets.

Speculating further, maybe he lets the top of the shot blocker flap out to avoid messing with his forward flex. I’ve tried a lot of different tongues in my skates and have surprisingly found that tongue stiffness is one of the most important factors to how a skate feels and responds. My preference is for the softest tongue possible if the boot has any stiffness at all. My Graf 701s have minimal stiffness, so they pair better with a stiffer 703 tongue.

Edited by flip12
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Looks like Doughty started skipping the top eyelet in March 2008 and added the shot blockers in April 2012.

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He also runs short tongues and no socks.  Got to see the team practice a few years back in NJ.  Looked like the tongues are short enough to not really need to be tucked under. 

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