CJ Boiss

If a puck hits the blade squarely, the blade pops out of the runner. Every time an NHL goalie has lost a blade mid-play? Bauer runners. I had it happen to me multiple times when I was using Bauer skates, and it wasn't even high-level rec. The shot speed was average, at best, and the blades still popped out. If I can't trust my blades to stay attached to my skates during a play, then I won't wear them.

I'm pleased to see my instincts were right, and that skates are moving towards a hinged ankle system to maintain lateral stability while increasing forward flex. Very interested in seeing where this goes, though I adamantly refuse to wear skates with Bauer runners until they fix their godawful blade retention system.

Only time I broke a composite goalie stick was when I smashed it into a post after getting scored on. What are you guys doing to your sticks?

Yup. And the way that gets called is only going to change if a goalie gets hurt.

The way games are called now, it'd probably be a good goal. Remember that time Neal broke his stick across Hellebuyck's face?

Contacting the goalie in the head with your stick should be a penalty 100% of the time, even if we're down in a butterfly. Possible exception being if we're prone on the ice and someone is digging for the puck. High sticking is, essentially, a penalty for not having safe control of your stick. If you're hitting the goalie in the head with your stick, then you don't have safe control of it.

Is there a pocket for a player cup in those?

Frankly, something like this that runs from my groin to my knee would make me feel pretty safe. An option that goes groin to knee, and then knee to ankle (to cover the Achilles), would also be nice.

I bought the blades for my AS1s; I think they use the "Attack Profile" cowling? I don't know if you'll be able to find this steel for True runners, given CCM bought Step.

Havent found any links, but yes, we are talking about JRZ the equipment manufacturer.

Ryan Earle; he owns the Stick Fix pro shop at Great Plains arena in Calgary. I go to him for all my goalie skate stuff. I actually got my JRZ blades last night (originally ordered back in early August, it was a bit of a saga), had them installed and played a game with them. Phenomenal performance.

On the topic of Step Steel, my understanding is that the brand has since been binned after being bought out by CCM. The blades are now being marketed as JRZ Pro Steel, and JRZ is manufacturing them in Canada, with Canadian steel. Blades with the black coating (whatever Step Blacksteel were) should be available in the next few months.

Duly noted, thank you.

I didn't realize I needed to explain that vaccinations are a good thing; I figured the whole "the benefits vastly outweigh the microscopic associated risks"-thing was pretty self-explanatory. And Dr Malone, so far as I can tell, isn't arguing against the efficacy or safety of the vaccines. He thinks (incorrectly) that the government is doing something illegal by enforcing vaccine mandates. (he also goes on about topics which he is emphatically not equipped to speak on, like 'mass psychosis' and the political history of early 20th century Germany, and he sure seems to enjoy rubbing elbows with conspiracy theories. This is a good reminder that just because someone is very educated about one very specific thing doesn't mean they know anything about anything else) Look, you're obviously very good at arguing on the internet (by which I mean, perfectly willing to raise and drop points as they suit your needs without any regard to whether or not they form a coherent worldview), but unless you've got something salient to discuss I'd like to take my leave. I have better things to do and, frankly, so should you.

1. Look at the seven-day rolling average to get the most accurate COVID statistics. Numbers fluctuate for all demographics, not just children, if you looks only at daily case counts. 2. The risk of myocarditis is several orders of magnitude higher from a COVID infection than it is from the vaccine. This would be like complaining that there's a chance of someone breaking a bone in a car crash if they use a seatbelt. 3. The "Great Barrington Declaration" is an astroturfed think tank group. The overwhelming consensus of the scientific community disagrees with them. 4. Nobody has ever said that the vaccine will prevent everyone from getting and/or spreading COVID. It does prevent more serious outcomes in everyone who gets it (not just vulnerable populations), and it does decrease the amount of time a person is symptomatic, both of which are unequivocally good things and . Again, we're back to "if this is what you think, that's a You problem". Also, that study was looking at Delta, not Omicron, and is in preprint, which means it hasn't been peer-reviewed. 5. Your godfather not dying of COVID is an anecdote, not data. I'm glad he's OK, but you can't generalize his personal experience. 6. People with "pre-existing conditions" (a uniquely American term that was invented to justify kicking people off of private health insurance plans, which has now infected the rest of the world with it's stupidity) account for, by some estimates, over a quarter of the general population. "COVID isn't a problem unless you have pre-existing conditions" isn't actually a helpful argument, and treads dangerously close to that eugenics thing you expressed interest in avoiding. Where you ended up is what happens when you reject scientific consensus, believe conspiracy theorists, and think that your twenty-minutes of Googling leaves you better equipped to know the answer to these staggeringly complex issues than people who have literally spent their entire adult lives researching the matter.

Ah, yes, "vaccines"; famous for not eradicating things like polio, tetanus, hepatitis A and B, rubella, mumps, measles, rotavirus, pneumococcal disease, diphtheria... Hey, while you're at the care home telling everyone that their lives are less important than kids playing a game, ask them about the small circular scar on their upper arm. You might learn something.

Go to a care home and tell everyone there that your desire to watch kids play hockey on the TV is more important to you than their health and lives, see how that goes over.

Vaccines are not, and never have been, a magic cure-all that prevents you from catching or suffering symptoms of COVID, and they have never been marketed as such. If that's what you think they are, that's a "you" problem. Yes, mental health issues can (not often, in fact) sometimes lead to destructive or high-risk behaviour that can (again, not often) lead to death. Still not as bad as dying outright. Our economy has not failed, and is nowhere near that point at present. It is struggling, no doubt, but it's not like we're looking down the barrel of a 2008-style global financial collapse. The US and Canada are not in any danger of turning into Venezuela, South Africa, or 1930's Germany. And, as I said before, if you think that sacrificing lives at the altar of The Economy is a good idea then you've lost the plot. There's nothing further to discuss here.

You might be overthinking it. I was just explaining the geometry of the body mechanics. I don't ever hit the ice and think "yeah, I need my blade to make a perfect 40° against the ice when I push", it's a feel thing; if I find myself losing my edge on a push then I go "alright, need to bring my knee up a bit more", and I adjust accordingly.

No, the opposite; if your blade is parallel to the ice when you're trying to push off you won't go anywhere.

The vast majority of hospitalizations/ICU patients (and deaths) are unvaccinated people, and we have enough of those in our province to swamp our healthcare system ten times over. And while lots of those people are simply refusing to get vaccinated, a significant percentage of them can't. That's the biggest issue right now. If you want to avoid a repeat of the 1930's/40's, let's start by not engaging in what's effectively a eugenics program by saying "fuck anyone who can't get vaccinated, you're on your own". The cancelled flights in Alberta (WestJet come to mind) are because all of their staff are catching COVID. Thankfully, because of the vaccination policy required for air travel, these people aren't ending up in hospital. The cancelled flights are a temporary hiccup. Mental health struggles, lost jobs, struggling businesses, etc., are problems that can only be addressed by people who are alive (they are also, incidentally, all problems that I've personally had to contend with during the last two years). Death is worse than depression, or a lost job; people who are permanently disabled by Long COVID are going to suffer a great deal more throughout their life than any of us do by not going to a concert. The economy is a social mechanism that exists to serve people, and I am not willing to sacrifice lives so that some tax-dodging CEO fuckhead can pocket an extra half-a-percent on their stock option bonuses this year. If you're in favour of sacrificing lives for the economy then you've lost the plot.

South Africa's population is extremely young compared to ours, with comparatively low vaccination rates; it's not generalizable to Canada, or Alberta. Our population is approximately 80% double vaccinated, so while we might see fewer severe outcomes that doesn't necessarily mean Omicron is any less dangerous than Delta, or the previous strains. And with approximately 20% of our population not having any vaccinations, Omicron being massively more infectious and only slightly less severe would still result in horrific outcomes. "Everyone everywhere" saying that omicron is "mild" doesn't actually mean anything. It may well turn out that way, but we don't know that it will, and we can't act as if it will. The consequences if we're wrong could be thousands of deaths, tens of thousands of long-term disabilities, hundreds of thousands of cancelled surgeries and delayed procedures, and an overwhelmed healthcare system resulting in even more deaths and long-term disabilities. This isn't an opinion borne of ignorance, fear, or a desire for authoritarian rule. It's borne from a respect for the scientific process, appropriate caution, and a desire to not see more Albertans dead of a historically mismanaged response to a public health crisis.

We don't really have enough data to determine whether or not it's as severe. And it would need to be significantly less severe to avoid overwhelming our healthcare system, basically equivalent to a cold, and there's no evidence to suggest that.

Look at Saros' movements at half-speed: the knee of his pushing leg is more than twelve inches on the ice (in fact, it never drops lower than that), and his pushing foot is coming almost as close to his planted knee as his pads will allow (he also isn't fully extending on those pushes). At full speed it doesn't really look like he's raising his knee and bringing his foot in, but he is; he's just really fast. Most of the time, when I see guys having trouble sliding in the butterfly, the knee of their pushing leg barely comes up off the ice, and their leg stays more-or-less extended like they're making a save. No grip, no power.

To avoid spinning, make sure you're bringing the ball of your pushing foot in line with the knee of the leg that's down on the ice. Also, lead your slide with the ball of your other foot. This is good practice for taking away the bottom of the net, and getting a good seal on the post if that's where you're going. To keep from "not moving", bring your pushing foot closer to your sliding knee. Your issue here is probably lack of "grip" on the ice, i.e. the angle formed by your blade to the ice (you'll hear it referred to as "attack angle") is too small/shallow. You can increase your grip by switching to a sharper hollow (lots of NHL goalies will use 3/8in or 1/2in hollows), but best practice is to make a mechanical change; bring your pushing foot closer to the center of your body, and the angle (thus your grip) increases. If you're having trouble bringing your foot in, think about raising the knee of your pushing leg up; the rest of your leg will naturally follow.