I purchased the skates from HockeyMonkey.com. As for the slew of questions....here we go...LOL.
Do you use fundamentals or do you just chase the puck and get off a shot when you can? Fundamentals
Are you fast or do you like to slow the game down? Fast
How long have you been skating? 25 years
How often do you skate? 1-2x week
How often do you play? 1x week
What position are you? Right Wing
Do you take long strides or short strides? Short strides
What skates have you had in the past? Most previous 2 pairs of Bauers, but also CCM Tacks (two pairs), then Bauer while playing youth hockey. The current pair that I have is the Bauer Supreme 8090 size 8.5ee. They are nice skates, but my wide foot makes it impossible to enjoy skating.
What did you like and dislike about them? I liked the CCM Tacks since they were wider, see above regarding my Bauers.
Do you work out? Yes
Is that muscle or fat? Both, but mostly muscle.
Again, I appreciate your time and effort, it seems the hockey shops aren't able to provide this much insight....
Cheers,
Darin
Darin,
Hockey shops are made to sell horrid high priced products for people who have no idea what they need. I could easily sell a $200.00+ Warrior stick to a twenty-two year old kid (even though I am only twenty) that scores six goals a season in sixteen games for his mens league last place finishers. No one today knows what the hell all of this technology means unless they really force themselves to learn it via reading while alone.
Buying a wider CCM skate is obviously the direction that you wanted to go. Based off of your previous skating needs, you made the right choice so far even though I personally would never go that route. I too, however, have a fairly wide foot, but because of my preference in skate I make sure that I do everything that I can to get a boot that fits my foot extremely tight and has a baking ability. The CCM, depending on the size that you purchased, should be very tight to your foot, but now you have the chance to heat mold that skate. Again, I am going to recommend that you go out and buy a Dr. Scholls insert and cut it to fit inside the skate perfectly, which may not be the same as the grid on the insert will suggest. Take the laces out of the skates when you receive them in order to get this down properly. I will say it one last time. For you, a player who has trouble getting a comfortable skate, you need to make any skate that you buy comfortable on your own. No stock skate will feel good for you so be prepared to spend an extra $40.00 to $100.00 making these skates yours. You already saved by only spending $129.99. Now you have extra cash and you are going to need to use it. Use this coupon, go to the local drug store, and buy
this exact insert! It is able to be heat molded through the baking process, so cut it (again) to fit EXACTLY to the inside of the skate. Pay attention to when the toes are laying. When you bring you skate to get baked leave this pad in.
You are also going to need a pair of waxed laces. Again, laces are going to become hot and each strand will expand (open up) to make the lace more flexible. Leave your skates on through the baking process! Waxed laces will come out nice and warm and expanded so you will get a few extra inches out of your laces. 120'' will be way too big for you. Get a 108'' laces size, completely waxed. They will run about $8.00 at most.
Now you have the layout that you need to get your skate on. Go get your skate baked.
Once they give you the skate you need to do two very important things. Put the skate on your foot and kick your heel back. The man at the shop will complain and tell you not too. Say okay and do it again. This will get your achilles tendon molded with the skate and for a hard, fast skater that is going to be key. Sidney Crosby has a high ankle sprain because he is an idiot and listens to the tools that call themselves trainers. Now you need to tie your skates super tight, but leave the top three lace holes open and kick your heel back again. Then tie the top three and cut off the circulation. If you feel uncomfortable during this stage, good! Tie the skates tighter! That is all for the baking, but you will need to stay seated with your toes pointed up for about twenty minutes, so have someone to talk to who knows hockey or bring your iPod.
When you get your skates sharpened you want to get specific, so do not go to a place that you have never been to before or someone that is a complete moron. Go somewhere that you feel comfortable and make sure the person understands you. If they make recommendations they do not know what they are talking about. If you tell them the following they will go "yeah, that sounds perfect, nice." Tell them that you want your blade customized. If they do not do custom profiling leave. You want an eleven foot radius. This means that if you were to draw a big circle, it would be eleven feet around. Your blade obviously is like the bottom edge of a circle even if you do not know it, so you are never flat. Tell them that you want the profile towards the back so that the heel is bigger than the toe and point about where the "P" in performance is on the blade. This will make your skate have a high-low effect. Feel free to use the words high-low with the guy, but point to the "P" in performance as where you want the profile to be. Do not have your skates sharpened that day. Bring them home. Come back the next day and tell the man that you want your skates sharpened to a "three-quarter inch cut." This is going to be just off a half inch cut obviously, but it will give you stability at high speed and balance when you really need it.
Rob
