There has been some debate recently in the hockey science world on whether or not players should lace their skates through the top eyelet. I’ve actually experimented with both throughout my career and I’ve read some good and interesting opinions on the topic. Based on some of the research I’ve read, I’ve created my own opinions on this topic and wanted to share them with you.
Theoretically, by not lacing your skate through the last eyelet, you are allowing your ankle to move more in the sagittal plane, having more dorsiflexion range of motion. This will allow players to get lower to the ice and use more range of motion from the hip, knee and ankle to push off rather than being stiff as a board. Is this ideal? Let’s take a look at the research.
Upjohn et al. (2008) looked at lower limb joint kinematics in forward skating between high and low-caliber players. Their results showed that the high caliber players were more flexed at the hip, knee and ankle and used more range of motion in these joints during forward skating. This indicates that faster skaters use more dorsiflexion range of motion at the ankle. Lafontaine (2007) also looked at dorsiflexion angles during take-off tasks and found that as the the ankle increased dorsiflexion angle from ice contact to push off, almost as a preload of the gastroc and achilles tendon. Having greater ankle sagittal plane range of motion will allow for greater elastic energy storage in the gastroc, which has been shown to be more active during acceleration than steady state skating (Buckeridge et al. 2015), and the achilles tendon. This may allow for greater acceleration speeds.
Based on these articles, it is clear that ankle range of motion in the sagittal plane is an important factor in being a high-caliber skater. But this does not settle the eyelet debate. And I think it gets a little more complicated than just increasing available ankle range of motion.
Looking at one of the fundamental human movements, the squat, we can also see that ankle range of motion plays a role in the depth of the squat, just like it would play a role in the players ability to get low to the ice, as Upjohn et al. (2008) showed in high-caliber skaters. However, the issue is that not everyone is proportioned the same. Some have long femurs, some have short tibias, and this will change the body levers used to propel the body. These levers can influence how much ankle range of motion they will need in order to maintain their COM within the base of support to avoid falling forward or backwards. Take for example Zdeno Chara, 6’9”, compared to Tyler Ennis 5’9”. Both of these players will have different levers and will have different ankle range of motion requirements in order to get optimal movement from other joints (hip and knee).
We also have to take into consideration what the position of the player. Wu et al. (2016) found that backwards skating had less forward trunk lean and used less range of motion at the hip, knee and ankle for propulsion. For these players, more ankle stability may give them an advantage, therefore tying the top eyelet would help with overall ankle stability. We also can’t forget that these players are literally standing on two 3mm thick blades. By not tying the last eyelet, we are gaining mobility at the expense of stability. Some players may do better with more ankle stability, especially the young novice skater.
I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer to this debate. Whether you should tie your skate through the top eyelet or not depends on multiple factors. Based on the research, it makes sense to not tie the top eyelet to gain more range on motion. If you are an advanced skater, dropping the top eyelet may give you that extra step on your opponent you’ve been missing. But for young skaters, having that extra bit of stability will help them learn to skate before focusing on gaining speed and agility. I know I made the switch from tying all the way up to dropping an eyelet late in my career, and found it made a world of difference for me.