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From: citrin@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Wayne Citrin)
Newsgroups: net.sport.hockey
Subject: Re: Putting on skates
Message-ID: <11343@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Fri, 3-Jan-86 05:15:17 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.11343
Posted: Fri Jan  3 05:15:17 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 4-Jan-86 05:10:19 EST
References: <11322@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <595@ihu1e.UUCP>
Reply-To: citrin@ucbvax.UUCP (Wayne Citrin)
Distribution: net
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Lines: 40

Well, I tried putting on my skates first last night and I think it made a
difference.  It helped me get through my dressing faster for some reason.
(I think that putting on the skates are the most time-consuming item,
and when they're left for last it slows you down when you get caught up in
the locker room banter.  Somehow I also seemed to have more energy to tie
them when I put them on first.

Anyway, the procedure is as follows:

1) put on stockings. (I, too, cut off the stirrups on the bottoms of my 
   stockings because it let my feet seat better in my skates.  It took me
   a few years to figure out why my skates felt so much worse with full gear
   than at public sessions.)

2) put on (and tie) skates

3) slip shin guards into stockings, attach garter, put on rest of equipment.
   (I wear a Cooperall with a short shell.  I think it would be easier to
   slip conventional pants over skates than Cooperalls and a shell,
   but it can still be done.)

I've heard that advise about leaving the top eyelets unlaced.  I tried
unlacing the top two pairs but lost all support.  Sometimes I unlace the
top pair, but I'm still not sure that I get any advantage to it.  This
was recommended to me by a guy in the Boston area named Zwicker who sold
me my skates (size 7 Ultra-Tacks with narrow heel for a size 9-1/2 shoe).
Supposedly Zwicker is one of the gurus of skates.  (By the way, I insisted 
on the small skate, he didn't suggest it, but that's what I prefer.)
He suggested getting the tendon guards notched to increase their flexibility.
To compensate for any loss in support, some extra stitching is done around
the ankles.  I'd like to try it, but unfortunately I'm here in Berkeley, not
Bedford, Mass.  Notching apparently increases the length of the effective
stride, and makes a lot of sense to me.

The final result of puting my skates on first?  Two assists, but I got
two assists in the last game and I put my skates on last.  The jury is
still out...

Wayne Citrin 
(ucbvax!citrin)