Puckstopper

Mine was the X-stiff option and I thought it was perfect. Stiff above the knee but flexible at it. For me it's an absolute home run. The blocker allows you to be so accurate with your rebound placement and is light and well balanced. I know there were a couple rough early sets posted, but the stuff that's come through the store has been bang on perfect since shortly after launch. We only had one set that was a little rough, nothing compared to what Jake showed us. It sucks that the set he got soured him on the company, as I'd recommend their stuff to almost anyone.

I agree. The feel of the glove would be my only knock on my G5 set. Other than that they are absolutely top notch and I'd recommend them highly.

True Custom boot with the CCM XS holder/Step Steel. My True/Vertexx is pretty close to perfect, but I like the XS just a little better overall in terms of mechanical components.

Struggling with the same thing lately. I've had repeated MCL strains/pain for the last year or so in both knees and now a meniscus I tore in early 2019 is acting up again. Unfortunately I don't have much encouragement to offer, as I'm pretty annoyed with all of it at the moment. The fact that I've got nearly new gear gathering dust instead of being used makes it even more irritating. In the grand scheme of things I know I'm pretty lucky health-wise, but at this point my goal of playing for another 15-20 years (into my 60's) is looking very questionable.

I regard it as a win-win. They get someone who's passionate about gear and knowledgeable about playing net and I get to try out multiple new sets of gear for what a single set used to cost me. All for giving up 1-2 Saturdays? Yeah, I'll take that deal.

Pretty much my situation as well, except I only put in a day or two a month. Still, the discount means I can buy more gear and still spend less than I used to, so my wife also views it as a win. Although her first comment when I told her I got a second job at a hockey shop was "Ah crap, now I have to get a second job so we can afford YOUR second job".

I do this with most of my pads that I order a +2 on. It works out really well.

This was exactly what I was thinking reading the original post. I've played with soft to stiff and everything in between. I'm currently rotating between Axis, EF5 and as of tonight Hyperlight. Basically, my rule of thumb has been the stiffer the pad, the looser I have to wear it for it to work properly. Loosening up the professor strap and any other straps below it will allow your pad to move easier on the skate when you're heading into the corner or moving around the crease. If you let the pad come up off the skate just a little bit you'll find movement much more natural. You may need to loosen up on your toe ties also. I had to replace the elastic cord in my Axis set with a slightly weaker one for those to feel natural.

Plus, it's not like anyone but you is going to see most of the green once you've got your gear on anyway. If it really bugs you that much 2 minutes per skate with a Sharpie will solve the problem.

They got here about a year ago. I'm going to do an Axis vs EF5 comparison once I get a few more games in the EF5's and I'll put pics there.

That one piece kneeblock is absolutely a huge upgrade (assuming they do it as well as Bauer has). After just a couple games in a demo set of Hyperlites I never want to use anything else. My concern though, looking at that more closely, is that it's not a full, integrated single piece like Bauer's. That looks like a traditional block made up of multiple pieces, just layered on top of a section of the gusset that was extended. Time (and maybe @TheGoalNet) will tell I guess.

LOL, I can't WAIT to show that pic to my wife the next time she tells me I have a problem!

The store I work at got in a demo unit. I'll have it on the ice Thursday, but spend last night getting it fit. It's not as easy to move in out of the box as my 2X Pro was, but feels much beefier and presents bigger at the shoulders and has quite a bit more rib padding. I had a squeaker between the arm and body last Sunday that wouldn't have been an issue if I was wearing this thing. My Digiprint ProCustom order was 7 weeks exactly. Just picked them up last night and will share once I get good pics taken.

No video (for me anyway).

You'd be stunned how often this happens. Given the increase in volume it's not surprising but we deal with 2-3 per week minimum at my job.

Agreed. But they were foam core, and there was a bunch of variation in those. I have an old Canadian flag pattern Sher-Wood Lalime in the basement and it's definitely got more of a curve to it than a Quick, but not quite as much twist as a P31/Bishop/Crawford.

Does anyone know where to buy the heavy duty elastic they use to make mask harnesses? I actually need it in 1/2" instead of 1" for a mod I'm working on with a SK2000, but any info would be great.

I just got off the ice after borrowing the demo Hyperlite pads from the store I work at. Suffice it to say that once my Hyperlite set shows up my EF5's are going to be begging for ice time. The Stabiliflex knee block in absolutely unreal in how connected it makes you feel. It did take a LOT of playing with the strapping to get the pads right, but once I got things right (professor strap snug, everything else super loose) these were unreal. I wasn't even thinking about the pads about 90 seconds into warmups and loved how the pad literally WOULDN'T go to the ice without rotating. Short version: I think you're REALLY going to like these. As far as matchy-matchy goes, I was fugly as all get out tonight. White/royal blue Hyperlite blocker and pads, red EF5 glove, white orange and green jersey and for a little extra spice I broke out my new black Cooper SK2000 w/Hasek cage for the first time since I picked it up a couple weeks ago. I had more shots glove side than I've seen in forever and one of the opposing players even said "all I can see is that damn red glove!"

Good call. From what I've seen the 3X line is top notch and I think you'll be really happy in them. Can't wait to see them on the ice!

Probably COVID/supply chain related. I did a 3 pack of EF4's a couple years ago and placed the order in April. The margins on retail product are better than on custom, so I'm not surprised that they're dedicating every resource (both people and materials) to the retail route until they've got that channel completely fulfilled.

Man I can't wait to try out the US glove. Another week or two...

My 3 week old EF5 600 already closes better than my nearly year old Axis. I haven't tried at 580 in years so I can't really compare puckhandling directly between the two breaks. What I can say is that shooting the puck is a strong part of my game and I don't have any issues with the 600 break.

It's very much personal preference. I enjoyed matching my team colors for a few years, but my favorite set to date (Dark grey, Navy and yellow Axis) doesn't match any of my teams, but I love the U of M/Preds colors so I enjoy wearing it. My upcoming Bauer set will match absolutely nothing as it's a tribute to the Scots side of my heritage and is in the clan tartan, but I 100% DGAF. It'll make me happy and will probably be the only set I hang onto once my playing days are done. The other thing is that sometimes the graphic can dictate the colors. If Axis hadn't had a giant M stuck in the middle of it I probably wouldn't have gone U of M colors, but once I went down that rabbit hole nothing else I did (and I did about 30 different designs) popped as much for me. Edit: In reflecting more, unless you LOVE your team colors I'd go your own way. I did the matchy matchy thing because I wasn't quite paying full price for the gear. If I'd have been paying the full load, I'd have done the colors I loved and said screw the rest.

I like the idea of the marine epoxy. I have some at my place up north. I'll have to bring some back and try it out.

If it runs the same as the forward skates you'll probably want to order a 1/2 size down. The wides run slightly bigger. I was very much caught between sizes on the forward skates, but fortunately I suck so much at skating out that it really doesn't matter.