bunnyman666

It’s unfair (to a degree) that his graphic rip offs have overshadowed his good building skills; of course taking forever and a day doesn’t help his reputation, either.

If not, that would be CRIMINAL. Love the Flower. Great goaler! Cool bloke!

Definitely! 50 in St. Louis, as he was the hot hand that led them to their first Cup!

At least the innards aren’t felt these days!

Sno sealed the block:

That is a beaut!

Usually I get your jokes, Matt! I think I was a bit off. D’oh! I will now play with my swear word leather gloves in my corner LOL

Since a small percentage of the world is left handed, likely, your catch was designed by a right hander, even though a total mirror image of a right hand glove. Finding the catch that works for you in FR is going to be a journey, just as it was finding the perfect glove for the right hand.

All GSBB vets will get the reference. The gear is definitely good. I understand why people were still willing to spend money with him. These have been heavily campaigned, as evidenced by the patching. I am reducing the finger curl in the trap. I need to patch the thumb plate on the blocker.

Just a bit shorter. But the stock Graf blade is quite tall.

Graf makes one of the tallest cowls, as Step did not make extreme blades for that cowl. That being said- a cowl may still be lower than most holders.

I played in a pair of stand up TPS pads Wednesday. I did add a modern knee flap, but the knees were wrap around on these Xhales. It was rough playing hybrid, for certain; my low, five hole stick saves were pretty solid, as all that extra material around the boot stopped those shots cold. But butterfly was miserable. The bonus was that the coverage made up for the lack of mobility. I would actually like a pad built like that in modern dimensions and with some modern characteristics, as I like how the old school pads move with you. All the elastic in the world on modern pads can’t hide the fact that the modern pads are still leg worn blockers.

The gear I saw in that photo looked contemporary for that time period, as two piece sticks were pretty standard for veterans and the CCM HT2 helmet was still in heavy use at the time. The year was 2003, and box pads were starting to take over, but a majority of veterans liked faux stuffed pads (hd sheet foam with foam worms “stuffing”). Of course that was the year all of the teams were playing with throwback jerseys for a few games. The Blues looked out of place as they used their regular gear (gloves, breezers, helmets, etc.) in those games. Of course they had a terrible owner at the time. But we will still blame the first Heritage Classic for the silly faux retro theme.

A few mods, as well:

Wood blades and 4000 gear doesn’t make it retro. I understand where you’re coming from, but I think there were a few two piece/wood blade guys still back then.

This isn’t in terrible shape, except that the palm STUNK, besides being in awful shape. What does a rabbit do when a block is perfect except for the palm? Install a new one. The process is pretty straightforward: remove palm, sew in a new one. It is by no means finished, but here are progress pix:

There are some WC sweaters I love. Then there are the others LOL That Avs sweater is HIDEOUS!!!

St. Louis had their WC, and that’s kinda when it started becoming quite silly. And I am a rabid Blues fan.

I loved the first few. Fixing bobble hats onto the goalie helmet was novel; now it just looks stupid. It’s like Bettman wants the NHL to have their “must see TV” event that equals the Super Bowl. I get it- $$$ is what makes their world go around. But it’s gotten to be silly.

I know what the patent answer is from the league: “this goes back to the roots and origins of the game.” Meh. Most of the winter classic and the other outdoor games use kinda weird looking colours, such as dirty white, faded blue, and others. The Blackhawks and the Blues have the best looking WC unis, IMO. Brown and white (or “dirty white”) breezers look silly. And of course you have to have a weird coloured helmet and tan nylon gloves to evoke true faux retro. Ugh. It’s just another game that is better seen on TV than in person. It’s so disconnected from the fans. The beauty of hockey is how relatively close you are to the action. For those who love the WC and other outdoor games, I am glad you like them. I am not trying to pee in your porridge. But I think the WC could be a LOT more interesting if they played with wood sticks, tube bladed skates and everything protective would be leather lined with felt. THAT would bring the game back to its roots!

At least Tim Thomas didn’t participate in a signing. That makes me respect him more. There must be significant money to be made signing those masks that they either don’t care or they feel like they own the art work.

Why? That’s actual Greg Harrison paint! What a bunch of wankers!

I have heard nothing but bad about this entity. And @motowngoalie used the correct term: con artist. Reproducing art without proper licensing is just low beyond low.

They are bespoke enough to do something like that, I would hope. I truly think these are the only knee guards that could get me away from my FM knee guards, as I have had great service from mine. I have replaced the elastics once and will need to again sooner than later. That anchor strap at the base of the RXS is GENIUS.

Replaceable elastics? That would be the deal breaker for me. When/if my FM knee guards bite it, these would be my go to IF the elastics could be swapped. What I love about my FM knee guards is that every component can be replaced.