Pro-Gear: Carey Price Shares Toe Tie Tips

After all, the trend towards a bungee-style system had reached the point where pretty much all major brands were including those elastic and Velcro tab setups as a stock option. But then, during our first ever online meetup for Premium members last week, which started with an overview of the new Bauer Supreme UltraSonic line and spun into all kinds of questions about equipment, “Syd” asked about the need for slack in a traditional skate lace toe tie.

It led to a good discussion about the biomechanical relief it can provide to the ankles, knees and hips while in the butterfly, as well as a good point brought up by Andy Chiodo, who is the goaltending development coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins, about the possible pitfalls of leaving your laces too loose. We’ll get to both below, but first of all it was a necessary reminder that even with the trend — and several good reasons for it — towards a bungee style toe tie (and we’ll get to those benefits below too), there are still a lot of goaltenders, especially in the NHL, who are sticking with a more traditional skate lace toe tie. And that brings us back to Price.

The goalies attending the Eli Wilson Day with Price get a new set of CCM equipment, provided through Pete Martin of the Pro Skate Goalie Center in Calgary. After watching several of them strap on their new pads without bothering to add any knots, or a gap, in the lace between the pad and their skates, Price agreed to demonstrate the benefits of how loose he wears his:

Become a member to read the full article, including three videos as Price walks us through the how and the why of preparing his toe ties (plus a little bonus on how he keeps things neat and tidy), and hear from Andy Chiodo who shared some thoughts we hadn’t heard during our recent Members Meetup online.