Full lace up or drop the top eyelet ?

[noupf 42]

Curious to what the pro's and cons are of using all the eyelets on a skate vs dropping down one eyelet ( not using the top eyelet ).  I looked a little, but didn't really find out much of why or why not.....

I started playing when I was in my mid 20's and at 44, I think I'm a half way decent men's league skater.  I've always dropped one eyelet for as long as I can remember.  No idea if it helped me or hindered me in terms of skating over the years, but I still drop the one eyelet till this day.  However, I've recently thought about it more and more, what benefits would it give, if at all vs not doing it?   

I seemed to have read that you want as much ankle articulation as possible ( to also help get your knees bent more during the skating stride ) and when I would do a full lace up, i felt like I lost that articular.  The few times I have done the full lace up in the past, it was usually due to an ankle injury or pain.  My thought process here was to do so bc it would help with the support of the weakened ankle and it usually worked.  The downfall though, was I felt like i lost that ankle articulation and it definitely threw off my skating stride.  As soon as I was able to, I went right back to the dropped top eyelet.

I'm curious though, should I give it a try to see if I can get used to it, if there's a benefit for doing so of course?

What does everybody else do or like and why?

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by noupf

[Ogie Oglethorpe 14]

I drop the top eyelet for better forward flexion and mobility. Just my personal choice.

[boo10 323]

If you're able to skate well with the dropped eyelet don't change.  If you're going to experiment with the top eyelet done up, you need to keep the skates pretty loose.  Laced up to the top with really tight laces will prevent you from getting proper knee bend.  You'll likely have the sensation of nearly toe picking with every stride.

[xstartxtodayx 343]

I lace to the top but skip the second eyelet from the top.  I started this a while ago after skates started becoming much stiffer than they were in the 90's and I felt like I couldn't get enough flex (and skipping the top felt too loose), this method seemed to be the perfect option for me.  There was a similar thread on here years ago where it was discussed, many pros use this method as well (Crosby is the one I can remember but I know I've seen others as well).

[OzziesDad 89]

I've never looped nor laced the top eyelet.

In fact, when I first get into a new pair of extremely stiff skates, I'll drop the first 2 eyelets for the first month or so (I skate 4 nights a week), then eventually just go back to only the top eyelet not being laced.

[Monty22 832]

I was going to suggest the "skip the second form the top" eyelet xstartxtodayx mentions above. Both my son and I do this. Feels like the best of both worlds for stability vs. forward flex. 

[stick9 890]

16 minutes ago, Monty22 said:

I was going to suggest the "skip the second form the top" eyelet xstartxtodayx mentions above. Both my son and I do this. Feels like the best of both worlds for stability vs. forward flex. 

I do the same. It works extremely well.

[beedee 227]

I have always dropped the top eyelet and used the 2nd one down and never had any issues. However on my newest pair of skates (purchased in February), Vapor 3x's, I lace all the way up with about medium tension (upper 4 eyelets) and flex my foot forward to help loosen them a bit more before tying them. This allows a bit of forward movement still. However, that being said, I have noticed that I have toe-picked a handful of times. Not sure if that is attributed to lacing all the way up, or the taller steel of the new skates? Maybe tonight in my game I will leave the top one undone and see how it goes?

[Beflar 53]

I have my foot flexed forward while I tie them all the way up.  Then I tweak it from there.

[SolarWind 23]

Few years ago mods would have merged this thread with about a 100 others we had on this topic lol

bottom line is - to each his own! There is no hard and fast answer since it depends on a player (not just skating style and level but height/weight/strength/femur length etc), playing style (contact plays big role calling for extra stability) and of course the model of the skates. The only general rule is that if you are unable to bring ur knees over your toes then your ankle articulation isn’t sufficient for proper shin angle. 
Otherwise I personally skates both with top eyelet done and undone, but in custom true they are allowing me to go as low as my ankle flexibility allows even with the top eyelet laced up. 
even top players like Barzal flip flop - from dropping the top eyelet to lacing all the way And taping ankles!

[Sniper9 529]

I have to drop the top with true bc of the wrap. But if I try to drop the top with Bauer or ccm it feels way too low to I use all the eyelets on the latter two brands, just not as tight. 

[puckpilot 312]

IMHO, there are immense benefits to dropping eyelets. The better mobility you have in your ankles, the better you'll be able to align your blade to ice properly. The drawback is you will lose some support, and depending on how much you rely on the skate for support, the greater the adjustment it will be.

That's the short of it. But there's more. If you're willing to go further, there's more to be gained by dropping more eyelets when practising. It's a whole new world if you can do this. For a while I experimented with not tying the top 2 eyelets during stick and puck. Eventually, I went to not doing up 3, and then, I finally tried with laces completely undone. Skating this way gave me better feel for the ice, how my edges were aligning, and helped me identify the flaws in my skating more easily and let me identify what I needed to do to fix these things. From the point I decided to go without lacing during practise my skating has taken significant steps forward. I'm almost 50. I did not expect to get much better than was.

The more I practised without lacing up, the less tight I needed to tie my skates during games. For the most part, I really don't use the top 3 eyelets now, and I found with that much mobility I'm able to roll way over into a steeper angle on my edges and drop way more weight onto them when I'm crossing under and pushing off, giving me more power and bite. Now, this obviously isn't for everyone, and it took a significant amount of work to get here, which not everyone has the time to do. I goto stick and puck at least once a week to specifically work on stuff. Been working on this since before covid, but it was worth it in my eyes. The better skater I am, the longer I'll be able to play and maintain what I have.

[Cavs019 708]

I don’t lace the top eyelet.

Compared to my competitive days (think Vapor XXX or XXXX era) skates today are like ski boots with no flex whatsoever laced to the top. 

Edited June 25, 2022 by Cavs019