CJ Boiss

Take a look at the Warrior GT2 line; very light gear, very well-made. And if memory serves, Senior Warrior gear uses the same outer material as their Pro gear, with the internals from the previous line (GT2 Senior uses GT internals and GT2 Pro outer; G4 Senior uses G3 internals and G4 Pro outer); can save you a nice bit of money if you're buying new, though you'd have a longer break-in time to contend with.

These are awesome! XD

Western (Pacific and Central Divisions) and Eastern ( Metropolitan and Atlantic Divisions) Conferences. The naming conventions make much more sense than they did previously, as they now refer to the geographic location of each team, so you can (usually) identify what division/conference a team is in by their city. Top three teams in each division make the playoffs, with the final two playoff spots in each conference being Wild Cards. Not as simple as 1-8 in each conference, but not that confusing either.

Straightness is actually why I got a set of Step Steel: my Bauer were quite significantly curved, to the point where I could look down the blade and see it deviate from true. But I also jammed my blades into the posts a few times last night that, with my Bauer, would've chewed the outer edge to pieces, but my Step blades still look fresh. Maybe that's because my Step blades are wider, but it's a definite improvement nonetheless.

Wearing Bauer S190's, just had my first skate on my new Step Steel (coming from the stock Bauer steel) Difference was night and day. Just... wow. I know why Bauer doesn't want Step Steel making blades for their skates: Bauer steel is such utter trash compared to Step that they can't compete on any front. I'll probably be switching to CCM's when I need to buy new skates, but I'll almost definitely get a set of Step Steel to put in them.

I put way more stock in my Sv% than my GAA. And I temper those stats based on the team in front of me. As a goalie, my job is to stop pucks. I can't score goals, and I can't stop guys from shooting at my net. If my team is newly made and way out of their depth then my Sv% and GAA may look something like this (.793 Sv% and 8.98 GAA); or, if my team has been together for years, plays a very structured game, and does a very good job of controlling the play in our zone, my stats may look something like this (.934 Sv% and 1.83 GAA - scroll way down). Poor, sorely mismatched play in front of us will tank our stats. I just try to focus on going out and playing the best game I can.

Calgary, playing for middling teams. Sometimes we'll come up against some ex-Junior players, but mostly it's guys like me that grew up playing but never made the AA or AAA teams, or guys who started playing as adults. I could play higher level hockey if I wanted to, skating out at least. There a few guys I play a summer shinny with that were pro in Europe, and though I'm not nearly as skilled as they are I can skate with them and make their lives difficult. But I like the guys I play with, and that's more important to me than playing at the highest possible skill level.

Yeah. I'm going to make a point of getting my team to hire my photographer friend for a playoff game or something, once she's taking customers.

That one didn't go in, actually. Puck squirted out to my blocker side and I didn't realize, so my defenceman dove over me knock the puck away. I'm laughing as I watch the play go down the ice in that photo.

Some more photos from another skate, with a different team. This one didn't go so well, a 10-4 loss, which is a pretty typical result with this team; in this league, I'm the only goalie averaging over a shot per minute played, and the only goalie with a higher shots against has played five more games than me. My team got placed a couple divisions too high, but we're getting moved down at least one, maybe two divisions come the weekend, so things are looking up (at the very least, I might be able to steal us a win or two once the shooters aren't so skilled)

I've never tried to fight, or been challenged, by another goalie; but once (when I was playing defence) I did grab a guy in a LVNR and drag him down to the ice when he tried to horsecollar my 'tender. (I got a game, he got eleven XD) There was this other time some old fucker came charging in from the blue-line, trying to get at me during a scrum I started after one of their forwards chopped my hands after the whistle. Refs intercepted him before I could put my blocker through his teeth, and he got tossed.

I disagree on this point, slightly. Individual Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores don't set the prices on their products, they are required to sell their products at the advertised price. People selling used hockey equipment are not. They own the stuff, they set the price, and they can change the price whenever and however they want. Growing up, I was given to understand that prices on second-markets are open to negotiation/haggling, unless the seller explicitly states otherwise. It's being a dick about it ("You're never gonna sell it at this price!") that's the problem.

Only if you play deep in your net, which I don't. We see a foot of net over my shoulder in these pics, but they were taken from slightly above crossbar height (you can see the white of the netting behind the crossbar); the puck doesn't see that open net, because it's coming from ice level. If you play the angles well then you won't get beat over your shoulder. It's harder if you're not tall, granted; I'm about 6'2" so it's not particularly hard for me to play this way, but a smaller goalie might struggle with it if their defence can't be trusted to cover the backdoor/cross crease passes.

Thanks for posting this; helped me snag some sweet new-to-me pads on the cheap.

Can't overstate the importance there. You don't want to "drop" into the butterfly, you want to drive into the butterfly. When I go from my ready-stance into a butterfly, my upper body doesn't move all that much; I'm crouched down so low that, once I'm actually on my knees and get my chest upright, my shoulders are close to the same height as when I'm in my stance. Take a look at these two pictures: In the first pic, I'm ready in a deep crouch, out a bit to cut down the angle on an incoming shot. In the second pic, I'm playing the puck out to my left, away from an attacking player and towards my defenceman. In both pictures there's about a foot of net visible between the top of my shoulder and the crossbar, even though I'm on my feet in the first one, and on my knees in the second one. Getting low in your stance is what lets you butterfly quickly and close off that five-hole.