An Improved Hockey Lace Extender: HLacE Development

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The product under development is a skate boot component that offers improved skating performance once installed on any hockey skate, regardless of the boot manufacturer. Currently, skate boot lacing systems provide the support design required for performance but inhibit the movement required of optimal stride mechanics. In order to achieve greater flexion, players often neglect to lace up their skates in the way they were initially designed, and in doing so sacrifice the lateral support properties inherent in the skate boot. This typically results in boot-related friction injuries such as lace bite and bone spurs. The proposed prototype, the adjustable "True Stride Lace Extender" (TSLE), is an innovatively designed device that can be attached to any brand of skate boot and has the potential to not only provide the required lateral support of the boot, but also increase forward ankle flexion which is required for optimal stride mechanics, resulting in increased balance, speed and an extended range of motion. Since support and flexibility are the fundamental qualities of a desired skate boot, they should be complementary offerings as opposed to settling for one or the other. It is proposed that the TSLE can either be manufactured and marketed independently as an aftermarket attachment or licensed to skate boot manufacturers for integration into skate boot design. Although this project is specific to hockey skates, the TSLE concept can be adapted to other discipline-specific boot designs such as figure skate boots, ski boots, snow board boots, and extended beyond the sporting realm to construction, hiking or combat boots.