Leaderboard

New wheels for the wife!

Get a Bauer Re-Akt cage, you won't even notice the bars, The weight savings is also significant as well.

Don’t forget the worst of them all, SENS

You can always paint the inside of your cage white too.

Yeah the stock 2x pro honestly felt pretty bad. Just very boxy and not "foot shaped" at all. Mako is still the best bone stock offering ever made IMO. FT2 is close but the toe box isnt very anatomical although the FT2 is a touch better than FT1. Either way I'm sure my True's are going to blow FT2 out of the water with fitment. I imagine a total custom 2X pro would be better than bone stock FT2 but at that point... Might as well just go True if you're not a pro paid to play/wear.

I have a couple of V08's and have used the Profile II's for a few years (I prefer the grey or the oreo one, the bright white I didn't care for). The Profile II fits the V08 great but make sure you get the size that fits your face... I wear a large Bauer cage on my small V08, the cage and helmet don't have to be the same size. I went with the Profile because it was the closest shape to the old Jofa I had in the 90s (CCM makes something similar but their sizing is odd, medium is way too small and large way too big). As for the Reakt, I've been trying one for the past month and a half on one of my helmets and I'm still on the fence... I like the weight (which I really didn't think would be noticeable), and the color since it is less distracting, but it's a slightly different/smaller shape than the Profile (I prefer the Profile shape over the Reakt) and the bars spacing is ever so slightly different than the Reakt so it took me a while to get used to t. All in all I think both are great choices and both fit well on V08 helmets.

New for 2017, the Super Tacks is CCM's top-end girdle. Here's it out of the box: The shell is removable, with leg zippers and +1 adjustment. It has three points in which it attaches to the girdle. There is a second loop under the belt in which the shell strap hooks into. Adjustable spine pad, with D3O. Now, here's the girdle without the shell. Open front crotch. However, there is a step-in part in the seat of the girdle. Opening it up, you can see it. The tailbone pad is built in, similar to 9k. There are 4 adjustment tabs in the girdle. Two of them extend all the way up to the kidney pad and bring the back of the thigh pad up... And the other two bring the front of the thigh pad up. Hip pads are similar to 9k. There's a lot to like here. Having the open crotch is good, and there's no shortness of protection as well. However, two things could be potentially nagging - the step-in part is one. It doesn't really seem to be necessary - the points it's attaching to is the groin pad area and the tailbone pad. The second one is the lack of stretch material in the top of the girdle. The only part where there's any sort of stretch is a 1.5" piece where the velcro tab is that mates to the belly pad. I'm hoping to skate in them shortly. Any questions or additional pictures needed, please ask. Thanks goes to CCM for sending me this set. I've been a girdle wearer for almost 20 years so it's a category that always intrigues me.

Hate “Canes,” love every other aspect. I hope this Canes, Bolts thong doesn’t become a thing

@colins careful with the locktite. Some variants will actually eat away at plastics.

Ok, I've been using the blue loctite but I think I'm over cranking them with the T socket driver I've been using. I noticed it seems to cause the plastic by the runner to flare out ever so slightly from the steel right above the screws if you go too tight. colins

Thank you. I had no idea cages could be different sizes from the helmet. I was using a medium warrior on a medium v08 and it was too big. Thanks everyone.

Yes, usually players go with a more shallow hollow. I went from 3/4" to 1" 1/2" -> 5/8", 5/8" -> 3/4" , 3/4" -> 1"

No they do not. Just a moldable foam.

Just saw the video on Sportsnet of David with the Cup back home. Looks like he had a ball hockey game/tourney in his hometown and all his buddies were drinking beer from the Cup. Saw his brother Pascal in the video as well.

All of them are going to drive you nuts at first. Just have to keep doing it and eventually you notice it less and less.

Correct. Try not to refer to Fire or Blademaster BFD as FBV - neither of those form dressings have a V shape as they are an evolution of a ROH.

I assume because there is a significant difference between the Sparx FBV (Fire) and the Blackstone FBV. I tested with the Bldemaster FBV (X cut) and it also seems to work, though not nearly as well as Sparx. With Sparx using a smaller flat surface area and larger "fangs" there is a larger "sweet spot" to getting the FBV to cut properly on Flare. As you sharpen you change the overall width of the steel but the attack angle doesn't change. You always have the 6 degree attack angle until the steel is worn to a point where you would typically change it. Also, since you are going with a more flat hollow and the steel is wider I find you don't need to sharpen them nearly as often. I know many players that go 60+ hours of ice time before they sharpen them. This is good for the players but bad for pro shop owners like myself I've tested the steel wearing them down to nearly no flare being left and the entire time continue to use the same hollow I always skate on and didn't notice anything specifically. However, I skate on a relatively flat hollow to begin with even on standard steel so maybe I am just not as sensitive to the change in width and such. As I mentioned above though, many players change how often they sharpen their steel which usually prolongs the life of the flare width.

Tydan makes a good product, definitely on par with Step. My only gripe with Tydan is they're a bit pricey. Looks like that's not a problem here though.

I'm quite sad to see Gudas go. He showed up for every game, and was dependable.

And I hope you did not take it as me calling it snake oil AT ALL. I had wondered how long it was going to take to work with biomechanics on skates. It had to be there. When getting fitted on my bike, incremental differences resulted in wattage gains. If I skated out, you had BETTER BELIEVE that I would get a skate fitting from you. I believe in proper biomechanical alignment 100%.

I was having too hard a time finding current Pens Warrior 4 rolls so I had Warrior make me some customs thumb embroidery is a combo of my number and the fact that I work for our state's department of transportation.

You can actually get soakers and the best blade pouch on the market from the MSH store

Picked up some step blacksteel. Will be interested to see if it feels any different than v-steel.

If you don't need the adjustability of the Super Tacks girdle, the 7092 girdle is every bit as good, at $40 less. There are two features I like better on the 7092, and 2 from the Super Tacks: Better on the Super Tacks: Padding on the back of the thigh is segmented, and thicker than on the 7092. Not a huge deal, but a chop or a puck to the back of the leg would be better on the Super Tacks. Adjustable thigh and hip pads, and spine protector. If you like to play around with the positioning of these pads, or if you're growing and want the girdle to grow with you - nice feature. Better on the 7092: The velcro across the front doesn't extend up over your belly like it does on the Super Tacks. Personal preference here, but I had to modify the Super Tacks to be like the 7092 because my son didn't like that extra padding in the front. No crotch/leg section. It's a pure wrap, the way the Super Tacks probably should be too. Find that a lot more comfortable. I had to cut the crotch/leg section out of the Super Tacks girdle as my son found it too restrictive. Both girdle's sizing runs small - if you are a medium in a pair of Nexus pants, I'd try on the Large CCM girdle. colins

Played first pickup tonight with these, and absolutely loved them. I have been wearing these super heavy Warrior Franchise Pro Stock pants that I picked up at a team sale, which I absolutely loathe (so heavy and cumbersome and they are too big for me/ size Large when I must be a Medium in these). Before these, I was in the Warrior Dynasty girdle, which I like ok, but am not thrilled about. After just one skate, these are infinitely better than the Pro Stock pants, and noticeably better than the Dynasty retails. More to come- I do not like the attachment points for the shell; this is one area that the Dynasty "girdle" definitely has the Super Tacks girdle beat, hands down. Aside from this, I am yet to notice anything that I do not like.