Puckstopper

Sadly, it could be worse. A couple years prior to COVID we had a technician at a place I used to work have his girlfriend call in for him and claim he was in the hospital, having suffered an aneurysm. A couple days later she called us and told us he'd died. Obviously the whole office was fairly upset, but she said we shouldn't/couldn't really do anything as the memorial would be across the country in Oregon and his parents were wealthy so she and his other roommates didn't need anything. We picked up his truck and tools, gave her some cash that we'd collected and moved on. 3 months later his former supervisor ran into him at a grocery store. He admitted he hated the job and didn't want to get payroll deducted for a $2000 meter that he'd lost, so he made the whole thing up and went to visit family out west for a month. People today are messed up...

I think agreeing to that was probably the only way to get the team moved for next season, so everyone just held their nose and did it. I'm sure the owners don't like forking over a billion dollars to this clown after all the revenue sharing they've sent his way in the last decade plus. I truly hope the guidelines this guy has to hit are so stringent as to be almost impossible. I've got to think that when paying rent is a challenge and paying hotel bills is impossible getting your ducks in a row to build a rink won't happen in a million years.

But they're not referred to in that way in common dialog. You don't run around talking about the new "kit" "Montreal HC" will be wearing this year. At least, I hope you don't. I'm really curious to see what Utah does with the jerseys. I'd like to see them go with a similar red to the 'Yotes as their primary color (a little more orange in tone in my perfect world) and add other earth tones around it. I get that you don't have to tie your team colors to local geography, but there's some pretty spectacular scenery in Utah that they'd be crazy not to tie into.

This is why I still prefer 1 hard strap behind my knee/calf instead of all velcro.

I liked Blizzard, but felt like it overlapped with the Avs too much. Similarly, the Avs have the Yeti paw on their shoulders for a minute. It feels like Utah deserves something with a unique feel to it. I guess if the owner is letting the fanbase have a say, they'll find something that they feel represents them and at the end of the day that's what matters.

Agree. Let the Soccernistas think they're sophisticated by not having team names. Stick to the traditions of the sport/league that you're joining. Cool meme bro, but you appear to be in the minority on this one.

These all sound like ECHL/AHL names.

Interesting that they're following Warrior's lead in thinning out the upper portion of the vertical roll.

My wife tells me this applies off the ice as well... They were beautiful to look at but holy cow did they not work for me AT ALL. Try Perani's. The damned Mid/Quick pattern is all they order Warrior sticks in apparently. I'm legitimately amazed they work for you, because I have absolutely no clue how to do anything with them. It's not like I can only use one pattern, I like both the Bishop and Mrazek patterns from Warrior and use 4-5 different patterns fairly interchangeably when I skate out. I swear, I'd legitimately be better off playing with a full right stick and playing the puck backhanded than fumblefarting around with a Quick curve. It's embarrassingly bad.

One of my favorites was was calling a guy who perpetually flew the zone looking for a breakaway "Stephen Hawking" after stoning him for the 5th time in a game. His own captain looked at me funny and said "he's not that smart", to which I replied "yeah, but he's all wheels and no hands...".

That's insanely fast. As others have said, beautiful set. I'm interested in how (if at all) the new toe ties affect things.

I'm an old geezer with stiff hips and have no problems with Stabilislide in my Hyperlite setup. I spec'd the Stabilislide over Stabiliflex because I'd tried it and liked it, and at the time I placed my HL order we hadn't recieved our HL demo pads with the 'flex knee blocks. Honestly, when the stock HL's showed up, I didn't notice much difference between 'slide and 'flex, both were a huge improvement over anything I'd used previously or since.

Sorry for the quality, but at the Canes/Wings game and noticed that Kochetkov has made the change to CCM.

Pretty sure the replacement steel comes with a basic 30' profile.

I agree with the rack and fan solutions being most effective, but adding some Scenturion in my gloves and skates has ensured that they stay funk free for life.

Man, that's awesome! If you've got the patience it's got to be super rewarding. For paint I had better luck with automotive paints than anything else I tried. They're a little more expensive, but there are so many good options for color and topcoat effects, plus the primer helps cover minor scratches.

I worked for a pro shop for several years and prior to that, have been down the journey you're on, trying to get by on a pair of skates that weren't right, but were what I could afford. So I have experience to back up what I'm going to tell you, AND significant empathy for your frustration. At risk of being overly direct, you're spending an awful lot of time, effort and money trying to make a bottom of the range pair of skates feel like something they just aren't ever going to be. When you have a hard to fit foot the best solution is full custom. If you go that route, you'll never want to go back. Your next best option is finding something you can live with, and understanding that it's just not going to be perfectly comfortable. You may get lucky and your next pair of skates will be the magic bullet, or you may find yourself spending as much or more than you would have on custom skates. YMMV. A few specific things: As I'm sure you know, the materials in each skate line are the biggest differentiator between the lines. A major misconception is that the top line is the "best". You should buy what works for you, both in terms of price and performance, as top end skates aren't the best performers for everyone. As you'd expect, the materials in bottom of the line skates are not as strong, durable, moldable and resilient as the materials used as you go up the line. When you buy better skates, you get different materials that allow you to bake/mold more of the skate for a better fit, AND allow you to bake them more often without breakdown. I wouldn't recommend baking bottom of the range skates more than twice. Beyond that you run the risk of losing more in stiffness and boot life than you're gaining in comfort. You're reaching that point of diminishing returns and I'd be extremely cautious with further baking. Contrast that to top end custom skates. Our old True rep stated that my custom boots could be baked as many times as I wanted without compromising the materials. When pressed, he admitted that baking them monthly probably wouldn't be a good idea, but that if I felt the need to rebake several times throughout the life of the skates to dial in fit or account for wear it wouldn't be an issue. To your specific question: Cello wrap works wonders with composite skate boots that will hold the shape they're baked to after they cool. It will do very little for bottom or even mid range skates. We actually tried it for a former co-worker and a couple customers, hoping to reduce stress on the eyelets. The consensus was that it wasn't nearly as effective as using the laces with most skates. I've had my True custom skates since 2017. I play 1-3 times a week on average and am absolutely fanatical about their care. I'm talking blades dried, footbeds removed after every use and I dry them in front of a fan. I unpack my bag immediately upon getting home no matter how tired I am. With that level of play/care the skates have held up beautifully and have no issues recommending them. On the other hand, I've seen players treat them poorly and the skates will not last nearly as long. If you're going to buy a Ferrari, treat it like one.

I have learned that the hard way. The best paint job I ever did was the first one because I was meticulous (for me anyway) in my sanding, dust removal, etc... and when I made a mistake I started all the way over and did it all again. Future endeavors were not as successful due to lack of patience. Going forward, it's a "pay the man" sort of thing.

You're not going to make wallets out of them are you?

All of this^^^ If you're actually seeing color build up rapidly you're probably spraying too heavily. Also, using a good quality primer that matches that paint being applied over it and working in a dust free environment are equally crucial. Good paintjobs cost a bunch because it's meticulous, time consuming and detail oriented work. Great paintjobs require all of that plus experience and an artist's touch. I've never even managed a mediocre paint job, and it's largely because I get impatient with the amount of detail work in the prep. Edit: I forgot to wish you luck. You probably won't actually save money painting your mask, but it's worth trying at least once for the opportunity to learn.

But did you use any patented, custom, exclusive FX? Nah, just kidding. Absolutely beautiful work that should be visible at a distance but have extra meaning up close. This is top notch!

I'm a huge True slappy, but I get wanting to keep new(ish) steel. I'm with ZG, look at the HF2. The Elite won't feel like much of an upgrade, more like a lateral move.

I'd agree that you won't find anything lighter than the Warrior stuff. The flatter blocker is supposed to be slightly heavier, but it's so well balanced that it feels like wearing a player glove. Combine that with the ability to accurately put rebounds where you want them due to the more uniform surface and it's one of 2 blockers I've ever owned that's elicited a reaction from me beyond "eh, it's a blocker". To be fair, the other is my Bauer rocket launcher. It weighs more, but the rebounds come off it with noticeably more velocity.

You do have options. You can buy custom, request extra break-in time and pay more. Personally, I prefer to do the break-in myself to ensure that it's done to the shape of my hand and done the way I prefer, but the option is there to pay more for a premium service. Overall the pro level gloves produced by most companies ARE game ready with significantly less work that used to be needed. The fact that you had an awful experience doesn't mean that your experience is typical. I submit that your issues demonstrate one end of the extreme, and were compounded by the choice to have the glove worked on by a 3rd party instead of spending that money shipping the glove back to the MFG for repair/replacement. I get that the 3rd party guy made a bunch of statements that support the need for his services, but my preference would have been to have the people who designed and built the gear be the ones to determine if there were issues. Again, not trying to diminish or blow off your experience, it sucks and I don't blame you for being frustrated. But I do feel like you're making a sweeping statement out of a single data point. I'll admit that CCM gloves are probably the best example of his point. They're not great and the ones I tried on recently felt worse than the EF4 and Axis gloves that we got in back in the day. But he's talking about Brian's, and almost every single one of their gloves I unwrapped were butter smooth, and the worst Brian's pro level glove I can think of was still better than anything by CCM/Lefebvre. He absolutely got a lemon glove, but it doesn't mean they're all, or even mostly, bad.

Ouch! I've jacked up both MCL's over the years and that injury is no fun at all. Your point A most certainly describes me to a tee, so believe me, I sympathize and feel your pain. It's certainly good advice to test the fit and function of the gear. I find it interesting that people are finding Bauer's bungees too tight. I had to tie a knot in the front of mine (in front of the toe bridge) to get them short enough to feel right.