MLX Skates and Youth Hockey Skates: Part II

As promised in my first post about the MLX adult and youth hockey skates, here is the follow-up test run.

For the first time in two weeks I've finally been able to test these out. You can blame it on the work schedule, the weather or, more fittingly, my horribly sprained ankle that just this past week finally healed up enough to test these babies out.

Having initially prepped the skates two weeks ago with the oven method, I was comforted to feel the same shape didn't let up since the cooking phase. I will admit the skates were a bit snug, but that's to be expected for a new pair.

At first I figured I'd try and actually give these a go with my left ankle brace, but the plastic of the brace was really nagging me. So I swapped it out and decided to just go with the skate's support, which was surprisingly pretty sturdy.

I took left cuts a bit lighter than right ones only as a personal concern for my ankle, but here's a bullet-point version of what went through my head during the 15 minutes of skate time:

• The skates are a bit heavier than what I'm accustomed to, but I didn't feel like it weighed me down at all. If I'm playing a game and I'm concerned about a puck going off my foot, I'll take the extra weight if it means I'm not breaking a bone or, as you can probably predict by now, sprain an ankle.
• The molding of the skate not only made the boot comfortable but it also refrained my foot from sliding around inside. This ultimately provided some better traction for the blade itself and made for a stronger push off.
  
• The ankle support is everything this skate is cracked up to be. If ever there was a good candidate to put this to the test, then it's me. The top of the boot didn't cut into my ankle, unlike some other skates I've used in the past. In fact the only discomfort was that of my own, and after 15 minutes of lapping the rink a few times (and gaining speed in the process), I figured it was enough time to make an assessment and probably best to put it to rest and not overdo it.

All in all I was pretty happy with the skate's performance. I can see why a player would consider using this over your typical soft-boot skate because this thing really is like a shell around the foot. You know that sound you hear when the puck goes off a defender's shins in a game? That's pretty much what these skates sound like when you knock on them with your knuckles. In a game where players are getting faster, gear is getting thicker and shots are getting harder, I'm a firm supporter in taking whatever foot protection I can get. The MLX Skates provide just that.