Goalie Skates Size

Goalie Skates Size

How to Fit Your Ice Hockey Skates

Your ice hockey skates are the single most important part of your hockey equipment because they're vital to your comfort and to your ability to move on the ice. While your ice hockey stick is important to your slap-shot and your hockey gloves are vital to your grip on the stick, they're nothing in comparison to your skates. Ill-fitting hockey skates can make every game a pure misery, and greatly increase your risk of injury. Choosing skates that fit right should be an easy feat, but there are so many myths running around that many hockey players end up with skates that are completely wrong for their feet. Here's what you need to know to get the best fit for your ice hockey skates.

1. Select skates that are snug but not painful. Your ice skates shouldn't fit like a pair of shoes or slippers. You should absolutely be able to feel them on your feet-against your toes, your ankles, your heels and your insteps. If your toes are painfully pinched or you have to jam your feet into the skates, they're too small, but your feet shouldn't just slide into them like they do into your favorite pair of slippers.

2. Ice hockey skates that are a little too small are fixable. If you buy ice hockey skates that are a little too small, your hockey pro shop may be able to help. Hockey shops can stretch skates in a couple of different ways, depending on the fit that's needed. If the overall size is a perfect fit, for example, but you need to accommodate a slightly thicker ankle, the shop pro can use punch fitting which is a technique that stretches out a small area of the boot. If you need an all-over fit fix, power stretching is an all-over technique that can stretch the boot by as much as a full size. The best option, of course, is to buy ice hockey skates that fit properly in the first place.

3. The only fix for hockey skates that are too big is growing into them. In other words, unless you're buying ice skates for a child for next year, avoid buying hockey skates that are too big. The more room your feet have to move around inside the boot of your skate, the more likely it is that you'll develop blisters or bone spurs on your feet and toes. A second pair of socks or thicker socks doesn't solve the problem of oversize skates, it just gives another layer of fabric that can shift around inside your skates and cause blisters.

4. Your toes should touch the front of the boot. If your toes are against the front of the boot when you're standing on both feet with the skates laced, you have a perfect fit. Make sure that your heel is all the way back in the skate by kicking the heel against the floor once or twice to settle it back.

5. Check the length of the insole. A second way to check if you've got the proper length for your ice hockey skates is to remove the insoles and place them flat on the floor, then stand on them. Your heels should be at the back and your toes should come right to the end of the insole if you're an adult, or a fingers' width from the end of the insole if you're a child who needs room for growth.

The same tips apply to fitting roller hockey inline skates, which require a snug fit to keep your feet from wobbling when you skate. A full service pro hockey shop can help fit your feet for hockey skates, as well as give you advice on other hockey equipment, including goalie equipment and ice hockey sticks.
About the Author

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the world's MOST POPULAR
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what is the best goalie skate for a fair price?

i am looking for a goalie skate about size 7 that is good and fairly cheap. i hope to spend about only $150. i know the bauer vapor XIV looks good but is there any other opinions.

Okay you wont find a size 7 for less then $150 unless there used a new pair would be around 200.00 same thin happened to me i went asked for a new pair of skates size 11 and they told me the only ones they had were Bauer vapor used and new rbk pumps i got pumps but the vapors were 250.00 used so try used skates