Fitting your hockey skates is a key step in the process of getting on the ice. Hockey players spend hours practicing their skills and know that if they don’t have properly fitted skates, they could risk injury or even worse. Luckily, you can lace up a pair of hockey skates yourself with just a few simple steps!
This blog post will teach you the best way to lace up your skates and some extra information that you should keep in mind.
You may aslo enjoy
- What equipment do you need to play hockey
- Best Insoles For Hockey Skates
- Best socks for ice hockey skates
- 15 physical benefits of playing ice hockey for kids
What is the best way to lace up hockey skates?
Here’s the step by step and easiest method to tie ice skates:
- To lace up your skates securely, start by holding the skate’s tongue and pulling it back towards the heel. This will give you access to lacing holes on both sides of the skate. You want to create a nice flat area with no overlapping parts in your laces.
- Next, begin threading one end through each hole from bottom to top until you reach the top where there is no space between eyes (where the strings meet). Tie a knot at that point so that your lace cannot slip out.
- Once you have reached this step, grab another section of laces. Begin threading this new section onto its neighboring holes and continue around until they meet back up with themselves at the top again, doing as you did before to create a knot at the top.
- Keep this pattern in mind as you continue down: one section of laces meets up with its other section from above and places itself between lying sections (the vertical spaces) every time you reach the bottom
- Finally, once you have reached the bottom, there will no longer be any room for extra lace, so take your last section of lace and weave it through each space on both sides that another lace has already occupied until you reach the bottom again where you can make a knot to secure all of these sections into place.
By following these steps carefully, you should be well on your way to creating a snug hockey skate fit! Although it may seem tricky at first, practice makes perfect, and you’ll be lacing up your skates faster than you think!
Best way to lace hockey skates avoiding lace bite
Lace bite is a common issue that leads to blisters and abrasions on the sides of your feet. It occurs when the loop of your shoelace ends up pinching against you during movement and rubbing against layers of sensitive skin.
Less expensive skates will typically have soft tongues made from leather or other similar material; shoelace bite tends to be an issue with more expensive hockey skates equipped with hard plastic tongues commonly known as tongue lock systems.
Choosing the right laces and keeping them tight enough while walking around will help greatly in reducing lace bites (while also increasing performance), but it will not eliminate it.
The best way to avoid lace bites is through proper knot tying: make sure you tie a bow instead of just making an overhand knot, as the bow will hold lace pressure better. Also, make sure to tighten up your skates extra well and double-check them before you find yourself on the ice.
How do I tie my child’s hockey skates?
If you are a parent whose son or daughter plays hockey, you might have been asked by your child to lace his/her skates. This can sometimes be quite stressful for parents. However, if you don’t know how to tie skates, do not worry! Here’s a quick guide to teach you how it is done.
Create a wide square knot where the lace is threaded in and out of the top holes on both skates. If you can’t get it to look like this, don’t worry.
Next, thread the lace through one side tightly until it comes back out around the bottom hole. Then bring that same end through the opposite side and pull tight. Do not worry about making knots too tight; ice hockey skates are designed to be worn that way, so as long as they fit securely, they should be fine.
Repeat these steps for each remaining hole down each skate; just make sure there is only one piece of lace coming from each hole on each skate before you tie them together with your final bow at the ankle (don’t tie it too tight but make sure it is snug).
How tight should I tie my ice hockey skates?
This will greatly vary from person to person, but the best thing you can do is tie them as tight as possible without causing any pain or discomfort. Make sure they are laced all the way up to the top buckle on your skate.
The first time you lace them up, it will feel a little uncomfortable in your foot – but that’s what you want. If the skate feels too tight after lacing it up, leave the tension loose until you get used to how it should feel, and then tighten them back down again when needed. You can play with tightening the skates up while on your feet or off your feet using a mirror.
Tightening the laces can help improve performance by having better control over each stride you make on the ice. Keep the lace length comfortable enough.
Do NHL players use waxed laces?
There are many advantages to using waxed laces instead of standard plastic laces. Hockey laces made from wax fit much snugger than normal shoelaces and improve performance by making it easier to skate faster and harder for longer periods of time without your skates feeling too loose.
Skate Laces can be easily untied at any point when you need rest without having to stop completely; this is a huge benefit if you have sore feet or ankles but still need to continue playing hockey.
With regular cowhide leather laces, they typically start very tight, lose their stiffness over time, and end up becoming too loose to tie properly; with waxed laces, there is no decrease in stiffness which allows them always to be tied very tightly.
Do you lace skates over or under?
There is much debate about whether to ties laces over or under. Either way will work fine, but it all depends on the preference of the skater.
This is purely a matter of preference. Both ways will deliver the same results, so how you want them done is up to you. It also depends on what style of skate; lace your figure skates differently than hockey skates.
Conclusion
There are various methods to lace up hockey skates. However, it’s essential to wear good-fitting skates and lace them properly because a well-laced skate will minimize the risk of injury.
I hope the above guide is helpful. If you have any tips to add, please leave them in the comments below!
