stackem30

He died in 2010 in Ontario, Canada. Source: Wikipedia

If there are sticks still available, sure—otherwise, I'll pass, thanks. I appreciate you putting it on my radar.

Thanks for the tag, @coopaloop1234—I am very interested in the Hebert/Snow sticks, but I don't use Facebook. Does that person have any contact info listed that you might be able to provide?

Interesting that they're inconsistent on the flipping the Vaughn logo. My guess would be that @SaveByRichter35 was lucky, and probably caught a sales rep who either didn't know that this is something Vaughn does not offer, or was just a nice guy who was willing to make an exception. Either way, Vaughn seems to be pretty steadfast about not flipping that thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Mike is aware that a few gloves with properly-oriented logos have made it out of the factory, and may have told employees that they are not to offer this customization in the future. I should note that I don't have any experience with Mike Vaughn as a person, but I've gotten the impression through some anecdotes here that he can dig his heels in about things like logos, colors, etc. I get branding and consistency and all of that, but there's something to "the customer is always right". Especially when: The customer is already spending $$$$ on a custom order It's a very small change that has zero ramifications The flip really makes sense, and looks better

They remind me a bit of Reggie Lemelin's Aeroflex pads... am I mistaken in thinking I once read that Brian Heaton was involved in those (or even flat-out invented them)?

Great pickup—I don't know anything about the H5, sorry to say. Mostly just bummed to learn that GSBB is completely wiped—even when it was a dead forum, those old threads (like the Heaton ones) had some great information, much of which is probably going to be "lost to history" at this point. Of course there will be people who owned/know a lot about older gear like Heaton, but it's unlikely they're going to redeposit that knowledge on the internet for posterity.

Personally, I am not in favor of banning the lacrosse goal. It is exceedingly rare. It is difficult. It is exciting and attractive to fans. I agree with the "if you are given the time and space and opportunity by your opposing professional hockey players, and you have the nerve and talent to do it against a professional goaltender with the knowledge that teammates, opposing players, fans, and analysts will all roast you if you don't get it perfect, go for it" rationale. I think the most egregious "highlight" play that should be banned is the "slow walk-in with 12 dekes" shootout attempt. A shootout is, of course, a gimmick, an individual skillset—it is not really the game of hockey, in the sense that there is no passing, defense, teamwork, etc. But it should at least attempt to mirror the realities of the game of hockey, and that is where the slow walk-in shootouts are more of an aberration. There is virtually no situation in a game where a forward would have that much time to execute so many moves. Even when a player has a clearrrr-cut breakaway from the penalty box or from a shot-block on the other side of the ice, they still hustle and get that shot off ASAP. They know there are several opposing players skating hard behind them. The easy solve would be to add a shot clock for each shootout attempt. I'm not talking about anything too brief—maybe 3 or 4 seconds (it's not as quick as it sounds). Kane's attempt, from picking up the puck to it crossing the goal line, was just under 6 seconds by my count. A shorter timeline would generally ensure that players need to get in there and take a shot pretty quickly. If they elect to sprint their ass off to afford themselves a little more time to deke or shoot, that's their prerogative. Not perfect, but anything would be an improvement over this bullshit...

It's funny, I never liked the Helite 5's very much when I was a kid. Of course, this was entirely based on graphics — I had no knowledge of the pad's features. I didn't like how the legpads were a patchwork of color-blocking and geometric shapes (and dots), but the glove and blocker had a pointed wave graphic on them. I thought the Helite 4 and 6 line looked better, and was relieved that Brodeur never wore the Helite 5 graphic. That type of thinking seems so laughable now... those pads look sooo nice, I'd wear them (and their "matching" glove and blocker) in a heartbeat. It's a combination of the graphic growing on me a bit (probably because I'm not wild about the direction pad graphics have gone since those days) and the overall beauty of the pads (the thigh taper, the rolls, the boot, the straps, that big curvy logo) transcending any minor gripes about the graphic. In short, those Helite 5's have grown on me, and I've revisited this page to stare at @Naz's score three times now!

Goddamn @Naz, those are beautiful! Congrats on the score... I want to say I've seen those pads for sale online for a while?

1. I was referring to @seagoal saying the cord is less fussy than skate lace. I just forgot to quote him. 2. I was being facetious about 'clean', that word means nothing anymore. 3. It's safe to assume I'm never really serious.

You might even say it's "clean"

Man, nice job with the cord! The whole mask turned out beautifully, you must be so pleased.

@mr_shifty1982 I see you're struggling to juggle your "I'm angry about this because it's stupid and useless!" and "Hey man, I don't care, whatever works for you! : )" personas... probably because you're talking out of the opposite sides of your mouth. Either commit to the notion that those who disagree with you are wrong and ignorant, or go with that "being a reasonable, easy-going guy" act, because you clearly can't do both with any credibility. If "whatever feels comfortable" and "others can do as they please" are acceptable trains of thought, then it's a waste of your time to rant about how wrong you think others are, isn't it? There's a difference between being a straight shooter and stating your opinions to help people, and just being an argumentative prick on the internet. You may not be able to tell the difference, but others can...

Oh man, I cannot believe the red and black rumor... that would be ridiculous considering how many teams already have those colors: Devils, Hurricanes, Senators, Blackhawks. The Flames are kinda there, and the Golden Knights aren't thattt far away. Then almost half of the rest of the league has red in their color scheme: Red Wings, Canadians, Panthers, Rangers, Blue Jackets, Capitals, Jets, Wild. We're good on red and black, and there's more than enough red in general. I'm hoping for green and yellow. Or green and navy. Or hell, I'm open to anything purple (though I'd prefer the Kings just reclaim it). Even if they came up with an absolutely gorgeous black and red uniform, it would still be pretty boring, just because those colors have been done. And done, and done...

It's easy for a young man like me to forget that Playboy was front-and-center game-time material back in the day, and not just some novelty you find at a hip bookstore.

70's Playboy is where it's at — I've bought a few at thrift stores.

Somehow just saw that they were going out of business — came to commiserate. Like many of you, I have pretty mixed feelings about Don Simmons. I was obsessed with their catalogs in the late 90's / early 00's — if you'd given me a choice between a Playboy magazine and a Don Simmons catalog, I probably would have gone with the Simmons catalog. I looked at them until they were worn-in to the point of falling apart. I'd pour over them in the back of my parents' car on road trips, running through my (mental) gear customizer and imagining how I would design every set if I played for each NHL team (wasn't childhood before iPhones the best?). My family took a trip to Toronto ~2000 (I was 11 or 12) and my Dad and I took some time to head over to the store one afternoon. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Every inch of the floors was covered with pads, and there was an endless array of gloves, blockers, and masks on the walls. I don't believe we even bought anything — I was just happy to be surrounded by so much gear. So much of my early gear was Simmons — I had some Boddam pads (I forget which line), and the Simmons Platinum gloves with the Kolzig-like stars on them — that was my first "real" glove, and I carried it around the house like Linus with his blanket. Later, I wore the Simmons Excalibur line (the one designed to look like the old Vaughn Visions). I also had Simmons pants/chests, and a Van Velden Simmons mask. Ordered many Heaton sticks and skates, too. When I grew out of my Excalibur gear, I ordered my custom Koho 580s from Simmons. I drifted away from Simmons after that. They stopped carrying the brands I wanted to wear. Once I was older, I didn't like that they copied other brands' graphics. And once I got online, I saw lots of negative posts from Don Simmons about Vaughn, and I recall Don Simmons was always censored on the goalie boards with a bunch of asterisks. I don't exactly recall what the story was, but it definitely had to do with them being over-protective of their image in a way that seemed ridiculously petty for a business. Hopefully someone can remind me what the deal was. Either way, it became all too easy to become disenchanted with the brand over the years. Not surprised they're closing their doors — but they had a great run, and for a while, they were the undisputed kings of online / mail-order goalie retail. And they certainly supplied me with a lot of happy memories. Pretty sure I have some old catalogs in my childhood bedroom at my parents house... might have to dig those up.

One of the nicest jerseys out there IMO, nice.

Correct -- he also works a full-time job, last time I checked. All things considered, it's amazing he can produce the amount of high-quality, custom masks that he does. And on top of it all, he's a lovely person to deal with. Guys like Michel are a dying breed in every industry.

Personally, I found his Twitter persona insufferable... just Barstool-based bro humor to the max. "Ha ha, I love Chipotle! It's kinda my thing." Those emoji recaps he made after games were the worst*. Not a bad guy, but I was happy that New Jersey traded him, both in terms of his goaltending and in terms of his personal 'brand'. *Believe it or not, I do like when players show off some personality and sense of humor — it's fun, and I think it will go a long way to making players (and the game) more marketable. Still, I had a little trouble wrapping my head around an adult pro athlete making cutesy emoji-recaps within minutes of every win... especially when Kinkaid and the Devils were losing handfuls of games in between said emoji recaps. They'd lose 5 straight, he'd be playing sub-par, and when they'd finally eek out a win against a bad team, the first thing he'd do when he got off the ice was type up some emoji-story? I know I sound like an old grump who's arguing that players need to Be Serious During Sports, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. But mostly, I just found him terribly unfunny. Oh well, better luck in Columbus.

Lucky you — I'm unable to refrain from spending stupid amounts of time looking for "the right little thing", both online and in real stores. Smart to hold out until it's been painted — my guess is you'll be fine with a plain white cord at that point, and you can get that at any hardware store. I'm surprised I missed the car door liner trick as well — I'll have to look into that.

I'm such a gear-head that I didn't even notice there was a skull in there... too busy studying your mask. Sweet setup! Could I ever convince you to ditch the skate-lace holding up your dangler in exchange for some navy or baby-blue nylon cord? Obviously it's only my opinion and a *complete* matter of personal preference, but I always thought the skate-lace looks a bit sloppy/high-school (I know Holtby still rocks it) and takes away from the rest of a mask, visually. If you prefer it, any particular reason? Also, is that clear tape at the bottom of your mask's chin, or is it some sort of rubber? I used to put tape on the bottom of my chin to avoid any chips, etc. Curious what your approach is.

You're speakin' my language, Southpaw

Thank you! Stomp was owned by Darren Stomp, who made gear for Brian's and Heaton back in the day. I always loved those companies' gloves, so Stomp was a good find for me. I basically asked Darren to make a big 'ole Heaton-style glove, and it came out great. Sadly, the Stomp brand seems to no longer be in business — not sure what Darren's doing. BHG stands for 'Brian Heaton Goalie' — it was Brian Heaton's line after Heaton was acquired by The Hockey Company (I think... I'm a little hazy on the details. Heaton's was under the CCM brand from ~2000 to 2005, and after that, everything was labeled as Rbk — same for Koho). BHG made some really excellent stuff, and a lot of guys on the old GSBB had some really beautiful gear from BHG. Sadly, Brian passed away in 2009. There's a thread about him in this forum, and the old one on the GSBB has some great pictures of his gear. I was very lucky to snag my BHG off of eBay (the only time I've ever used eBay) when London Source for Sports put it up. Kind of incredible, my color scheme and everything...

I don't think I've ever posted a family photo here... Leg Pads: Kenesky (custom) Glove: Stomp (custom) Blocker: BHG Eyewall Mask: Protechsport (Brodeur mold) Stick: CCM E-Flex III Chest Pad: Koho AB490SR Neck Guard: Brown 2100 Skates: Vaughn GX Pants: Tackla 6000 Knee Pads: Brian's Pro II Jock: Brown2000 Chest pad is long overdue for an upgrade — I'll be looking into a Kenesky for sure. Skates are okay, wish I'd sprung for the GX2s or a pair of Grafs (mine were on clearance). Blocker needs a new palm and some beefed-up finger protection the second my season is over, and the glove needs some repairs, too — but I love them both too much to give up on them.