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Found this in my buddy's basement and first thing I said was what the hell do I have to do for you to give me this stick? Traded him a QR1 with a curve I no longer use for it and voila, nostalgia at its best. Stick is still in great condition aside from paint chips that the ONE90 was notorious for. Now if only I can find a XN10....

I actually won something in hockey! \o/! Well, I'll chalk it up mainly to my team (tournament - a largely random assignment from the player pool) who played great, but we took home the silver and I'm pretty damn proud of how I played. (and four games in two days oh man.)

After a long bye week, we had a game against the reigning champions on the weekend, and let's just say it didn't go well. After a few standard saves, had a shot from the point that I had covered, where my defenceman thought it would be a good idea to tip the puck over my shoulder and in. What came for the rest of the game will be tough to move past. My defenders decided they were going to be everywhere except where they should. Cutting a long story short, we lost 12-3, at least eight of the goals came from passes behind the goal line to the unmarked centre right in the slot, but I saved more of those shots than I let in. I felt like I was working hard and moving well, but they just kept scoring. It wasn't until after the game when I could see the stats sheet that I could see why it was such a tough game. 56 shots on goal to 17. While it was a long way from my best game, that stat showed I was working on my own for a lot of it. We play again Thursday night against the first team we beat, so I need to clear my head and get back in the game.

@badger_14 Something told me you have heart. Heart is what impresses your teammates, heart gets you noticed. I have nothing but love for the rest of y'all- but our buddy badger_14 has heart in spades! I know the rest of y'all have it, too! Just keep on keepin' on, matey!

Cat Herding Report: A bunch of youngin's with their stupid parents were shooting one after the next after the next. Then I was comandeered into playing no-defense shinny. It was a nightmare. One kid with wheels kept going through my crease and I incidentally head checked him (I say this in jest; I did not head butt him or anything like that) as he buzzed me in the crease. My fibreglass SK2000 that he ran into knocked him on his bum. I was not surprised when I had heard that he was kicked off of his team for the way he was playing. He's a little bastard in training. Ugh.

Tournament Recap, Day 2: Game 3: Green v. Black. Green won, and I am currently blanking on the score. It was at 9am, but we did quite well (though a few of our fellows dragged themselves in under the wire to get dressed). It took me a little while to get going - I was tired by virtue of being up at 6:30, but I woke up quickly enough and didn't let it any particularly dumb goals. I did let in one that I remember being stupid, I was caught off guard because I thought one of the Black skaters was off-sides and spent a second or two too long on him. I stonewalled absolutely everyone in the third. Black even pulled their goalie at the end to put on an extra skater, which just made me feel better because no one has ever considered me enough of a threat to need six skaters to score on me. ;) There was a two-hour break between this and our fourth and final game, so I had a donut and tried not to take root on the lobby benches. Was definitely starting to feel the sluggishness by 11:30 or so. Game 4: White v. Green. White won, 11-8. All of Green was tired by this point, and this was White's first game of the day. I started off okay, by the second my body recognized that we were playing the 4th hockey game in two days, and I let in several stupid goals that if I had been faster or thinking more clearly, I should've had. I woke up again in the third, mostly by sheer force of will, and only let in one. Three friends came to see me play, and I could not be more grateful. I had a lot of fun playing and met some super nice folks from all over - there was a team from Albany, from NYC, people from Montreal, Wisconsin, Denver, other parts of New England, and Atlanta. And Boston, of course. A good number of people complimented my goaltending, and the White team specifically addressed my tenacity and unwillingness to give up at any point. My team captain said he thought I just got better and better as the tournament went on. I think that was true - tired, of course, but tracking the puck well and moving well and making mostly good choices. Oh, and also: we medaled! Second place, which is a damn sight better than losing every game, and second out of five isn't bad at all. I feel like I did my best, and I feel like I earned it.

Personally I'd be disappointed with a length fit like this for custom skates unless you specified that length (I know players who do have their toes around 1cm off the toe cap to help prevent broken toes from pucks). Your toes look to sit around 1cm off the toe cap and that is one size too long. However length may not be as important with customs if the rest of the boot fits perfectly and your heel, ankle and rest of the foot are locked in securely.

The perks of being anal about measurements (the insoles are stock/unmodified--if I wore socks, it'd basically disappear--no fitment issues length-wise nor width-wise!):

Vapor x7.0 LE & Graf Ultra F60 swiss made both with black holders and black edge runner

Funny about how CCM is promoting the hard plastic as "new tech." I just got back into hockey a couple years ago, so I do not know what was happening in 2005, but I know that my CCM CL and CCM U + 12 shoulder pads both have hard plastic, with vents at the sternum. So, this "Vent Shield Technology" does not seem newly engineered for QLT; they just changed the color of the plastic from red to black, changed the areas of coverage, and are branding it as "new." That being said, I am loving my 130 LE shoulders (I have 2 sets of gear for 2 continents, thus so many pads). The U+12s and CLs have been rock solid as well.

Never had a chance to try the infamous One95, but found one on eBay finally with my preferred curve and flex for $40! In USA colors: