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Goldie Laces and the 3 Ties


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This time it's too loose!

This time it's too tight!

This time - AAAHHH! - it's JUST RIGHT!

I've been meaning to throw this one out there for a while. Tying laces... I find it impossible to get it perfect every time - or even most of the time.

And once the pads on and you're out the dressing room door, that's pretty much it - unlike a skater, who can just drop gloves at the bench and re-tie.

I'd say that out of ten skates, there's about 2-3 that are a bit too loose, 3-4 that are too tight, and if I'm lucky, 4 that are just right. If I don't have it "just right," I prefer them to be too tight rather than too loose. But I've cranked them pretty good - and even bent the top eyelets a wee bit.

So am I the only one who isn't thrilled with their skate lace ties every single time...? Entirely possible, but I'd be interested to hear from the other goalies.

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17 minutes ago, bunnyman666 said:

Aha!

Ever since I started in True skates, skate lace tightness is a non-factor.

Hmmm - interesting. I'm not about to get True skates, but I wonder if there's a link there.

So you say "Ever since..." - does that mean that you experienced something similar prior?

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On 10/23/2019 at 9:47 AM, Lucky Pucker said:

Hmmm - interesting. I'm not about to get True skates, but I wonder if there's a link there.

So you say "Ever since..." - does that mean that you experienced something similar prior?

It still happened with my Reebok boots, especially with that lace lock feature.  True skates are literally so stiff that you enter them, rather than put them on. Whilst the internals have loosened enough for me to wear socks, I basically lace them up however. They literally could be worn almost lace-free. 

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1 hour ago, Lucky Pucker said:

LOL - Sorry - I should have specified that I meant skate laces in the skates :)

That makes more sense. When I first read through your initial post I was thinking this thread would just b: "lol noob, get da pro lacez roflmao". 

As for what you actually mean, I used to tie my CCM 44k's differently depending on the foot. Left one was easy and just left the op lace marginally loose, right one had a certain method of tying to get it to lock my heel and be comfortable. It was always a gamble.

So far in my Tacks I've avoided a lot of those issues, I've been pretty spot on with tying them nicely the first go. No idea if it's due to the harder composite boot or what, but it seems to work so far.

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14 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

That makes more sense. When I first read through your initial post I was thinking this thread would just b: "lol noob, get da pro lacez roflmao". 

As for what you actually mean, I used to tie my CCM 44k's differently depending on the foot. Left one was easy and just left the op lace marginally loose, right one had a certain method of tying to get it to lock my heel and be comfortable. It was always a gamble.

So far in my Tacks I've avoided a lot of those issues, I've been pretty spot on with tying them nicely the first go. No idea if it's due to the harder composite boot or what, but it seems to work so far.

That's interesting too; I have also noticed a difference in left vs right. I mean, there are various reasons for why that makes sense, but my left gives me more problems, more often than my right.

Another weird thing is that when I'm putting on the goalie skates, no issues with my "Bauer bumps." However, when I put on my player skates for my son's team's practices, they hurt a bit. They're slightly older, Pro-level Tacks - but I almost never have "lace tightness" issues with them.

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1 minute ago, Lucky Pucker said:

That's interesting too; I have also noticed a difference in left vs right. I mean, there are various reasons for why that makes sense, but my left gives me more problems, more often than my right.

Another weird thing is that when I'm putting on the goalie skates, no issues with my "Bauer bumps." However, when I put on my player skates for my son's team's practices, they hurt a bit. They're slightly older, Pro-level Tacks - but I almost never have "lace tightness" issues with them.

I know my issue is that my right foot is slightly smaller than my left so it throws off how my foot sits in a skate and how tying works.

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14 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

I know my issue is that my right foot is slightly smaller than my left so it throws off how my foot sits in a skate and how tying works.

Yeah, from my dad's issues with diabetes - and almost losing one entirely, then having a surgery to remove bones in there - well, I learned more about feet than I cared to. But apparently we all have slight - or more pronounced - differences in our feet. Nothing will really be quite perfect I guess... but it does remind me of a Brit friend who Ihad asked about skating, and he said "Well, I had wanted to try it, but I went to PIAS and tried on all the skates they had, but none felt comfortable..."

I laughed and said "Aren't you just precious; Canadian kids know - skates aren't comfortable; you just have to find the pair that is the least UNcomfortable, mate!"

:P

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I struggled with skate laces for a long time and had a very painful experience while playing when I was younger.

I had a doctor examine my feet and I have "bony tops" on my feet sorta right in the middle.  That doctor recommended I skip an eyelet over that spot on my skate and I have been doing that ever since without pain or discomfort.

I have on occasion cranked my skates down too tight and affected circulation to my feet, causing bad cramps in my toes and feet.  One time it was so bad that when I got in the room after playing and took my skate off, the cramp migrated up my leg in a chain reaction to my calf and then knee, and quad.  It was horrible. 

I do like my skates tight because I play the puck a lot and my footwork is just more dialed in that way, but man, going to tight can really suck.

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I’m still breaking in my Graf DM1050 skates (had them baked once) and I hit this all the time. My ankles are thin so getting the support I want at the top causes me to crank them too tight often.  Hoping another bake (tempted to do it in the oven at home) where I focus on the ankle seal will do it but haven’t tried it yet.  Tempted to find a place to get scanned for custom True or other brand skates since my coach has True and loves them. 

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I had the same issue for years until I started doing the following (fyi I always completely undo my top two eyelets after each skate for several reasons):

1.  First foot into first skate (I do my right, you do you), and lace up/tighten as best as possible/comfortable.  Don't knot. 

2.  Second foot into remaining skate, lace up as best as possible/comfortable.  Don't knot. 

3.  Completely loosen entire first skate.  Then re-tighten comfortably but firmly.  Knot.  (And a second knot again for me.)

4.  Repeat step 3 for second skate.

Giving my feet just a minute or so after the first tightening and re-doing it has given me a very high success rate in that I didn't have to think about me feet that last game.  I'm sure it's working for several reasons.  Just part of my routine now.  Of course, the first few times you do it, your teammates will ask if you're now leaving, and eventually they'll chalk it up to the weird goalie things category.

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For me, I've found cranking the bottom and top laces (note: I do skip the final eyelet up top) do the trick for me. The laces in between I just make them taught enough to touch the tongue and that's about it. I found cranking every lace down (which is what I was used to doing previously) was just not going to happen with my new-to-me True 2-PC skates. I found it created too much pressure on my feet. Not pain, but enough force for me to notice it. i figure this is due to to super hard boot. 

So far I've noticed this method is the most comfortable for me. I can have that 'loose' feeling with my feet and still have the needed ankle flexion, while still being able to reap the benefits of this hard boot in order to make my skates respond very nicely to what I want them to do. 

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17 hours ago, dreadlocked1 said:

I had the same issue for years until I started doing the following (fyi I always completely undo my top two eyelets after each skate for several reasons):

1.  First foot into first skate (I do my right, you do you), and lace up/tighten as best as possible/comfortable.  Don't knot. 

2.  Second foot into remaining skate, lace up as best as possible/comfortable.  Don't knot. 

3.  Completely loosen entire first skate.  Then re-tighten comfortably but firmly.  Knot.  (And a second knot again for me.)

4.  Repeat step 3 for second skate.

Giving my feet just a minute or so after the first tightening and re-doing it has given me a very high success rate in that I didn't have to think about me feet that last game.  I'm sure it's working for several reasons.  Just part of my routine now.  Of course, the first few times you do it, your teammates will ask if you're now leaving, and eventually they'll chalk it up to the weird goalie things category.

I undo top two eyelets as well.  Easier to insert and remove my feet.  I also use shorter laces as I hate having a lot of leftover slack.  

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On 10/23/2019 at 6:08 PM, dreadlocked1 said:

I had the same issue for years until I started doing the following (fyi I always completely undo my top two eyelets after each skate for several reasons):

1.  First foot into first skate (I do my right, you do you), and lace up/tighten as best as possible/comfortable.  Don't knot. 

2.  Second foot into remaining skate, lace up as best as possible/comfortable.  Don't knot. 

3.  Completely loosen entire first skate.  Then re-tighten comfortably but firmly.  Knot.  (And a second knot again for me.)

4.  Repeat step 3 for second skate.

Giving my feet just a minute or so after the first tightening and re-doing it has given me a very high success rate in that I didn't have to think about me feet that last game.  I'm sure it's working for several reasons.  Just part of my routine now.  Of course, the first few times you do it, your teammates will ask if you're now leaving, and eventually they'll chalk it up to the weird goalie things category.

So I actually tried this last night before my game. Nobody seemed to notice (they were too busy whining about only having 9 skaters, and how expensive player sticks are - LOL! Just jokes, I've landed with a great bunch of guys)

Anyway, I really wanted this to work, so maybe there's a bit of "power of the mind" magic here, but it seemed to work for me!

Cheers for the tip, @dreadlocked1 :fistbump:

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