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I wish more people hd your view of things. Fun first, place multiple sports. As @shoot_the_goalie noted if the kid has that kind of talent it will become obvious. As a former coach (just JV and house league... nothing insane) and educator I see so many parents pushing their kids too much and way too many of them think their kid is going to get a college scholarship of some sort. In my opinion. Its wrong minded and hurts the kids in a variety of ways. Stay in school, study hard, play lots of sports and have fun! If your kid is 6'3" 210 and skates like the wind people will notice!!!

I wanted to post some thoughts about being a hockey parent and see what others’ perspectives were. My background is I played through high school then when I came back from college played some men’s league and started coaching high school and ACHA. I eventually stopped playing and focused on coaching and then when I went to grad school and my kids were born wasn’t doing anything hockey-related. My son is 7 now and started Learn to Play this past Feb, did a spring ADM, and over the summer we just do stick time every few weeks. He is doing a camp this week, just an hour a day but the beauty is there are only 4 kids signed up and two coaches. It is worth 5x the money I paid and the main coach is great with the kids. I am also a huge proponent of kids playing multiple sports (and multiple activities in general, not even just sports) and specializing as late as possible. I am basically a nerd and love reading up on the latest research on these topics as well. Even given that I actively try to think this way, the reality is that you have to continually check yourself and be honest about how you are approaching your kids with regards to sports. One of the best things I learned from the U8 USA Hockey module was that the average 8-year-old’s mental maturity is 8 +/- 4.5 years (or something very close)! I see this in baseball especially. I had one kid who was physically advanced, knew tons of situations, asked me why I had player X in the cleanup spot because he wasn’t a cleanup hitter, etc. Then my son wouldn’t be paying attention to the batter and play in the dirt. The crap I hear about from other parents is ridiculous. I just heard about a parent berating his kid as he came off the ice because he didn’t play well. This was 10U. Other kids are leaving orgs because they need to play against better competition with the Pens Elite. There is a summer full-ice U8 league. Etc. It is tempting to push your kid too hard, despite best intentions. I kept asking my son if he wanted to go “practice his stickhandling” in the driveway. Not a real strong response to that, as you could expect. He was usually done in 5 minutes. Then he made up a game where we had to walk around and stay on the lines between the individual concrete slabs, and could only pass after answering a math fact! WTH?!?!?! But I said ok and we played for like 15 minutes because he thought it was fun. Now I just ask him if he wants to play a little hockey, or he asks me. Perspective. Kids are going to progress as individuals. Literally, in the two hours he has been on the ice the last two days he has made these huge strides that he didn't make all spring. And I am learning a lot from watching this guy coach this age group (and stealing his drills/games!). But it takes some discipline even for the best-intentioned and informed parents to not get caught up in this race to create mini-professionals. Both when I am coaching and when I am talking to my son after he does something sports related, I make sure to mention fun first before asking about anything specific as far as the game or practice, and I have stopped even talking about anything he could have improved on. There is plenty of time to work on that stuff later and in a better context. Curious to hear your thoughts.

I'll chime in, as I live right in the middle of all this. First off, I would avoid all the Pure Hockey's within reasonable driving distance, with the exception of the one in Marlboro that is considered an "outlet store". This isn't a knock on Pure Hockey at all. Its just they are pretty much all the same, and never really offer anything tangibly cheaper or harder to find than any of the others. The store Marlboro is pretty solid, and you can find a lot of discounted retail offerings. Not a ton of pro stock stuff though. They do have a ton of lefty sticks always on clearance. The Hockey Monkey in Norwood is huge. Its generally a pretty good place to find clearance retail sticks (both left and right), in a decent array of flexes and curves. They pretty much have everything at retail level you could possibly want here. I never have much luck in regards to pro stock anything though. When I make the trip to Hockey Monkey, I generally always drive a bit further (5-7 mins) down rt. 1 to check out what Play It Again has in stock. Its very hit or miss. Massachusetts being a hockey state, a lot of stuff seems to find its way into this store from places overstock. Its very hit or miss. However, when you hit- you hit big. I've found a lot of sought after stick models here in new condition, and incredibly cheap. TSR is a must checkout. As others have said- its worth the drive to check it out. Grear store. Not much I can add to whats already been said. However, I would start my search for sticks at the pro-shops at the Foxboro and Walpole rinks. Each generally has some great sticks for very good prices. Each will have a decent amount of pro stock sticks. Generally a lot of Bruins players. However, a bunch from the guys that frequent those rinks in the offseason. All the MA associated guys (Eichel, Yandle, Vesey, Hanafin, Hayes bros, just to name a few off the top of my head) all play there a few Wednesday's in the summer. Hope this helps.

I've talked to some former NHLers and some players who've gotten to the higher levels of pros, D1 college, and major junior levels. I've also talked to pros in other sports, particularly tennis. The one constant I've heard is that at some point in their development, a whole bunch of people started to take notice that they had the potential to play at the elite levels. It's not a couple of people who are being complimentary or inflating egos...it's many people, and many times people that are not in your typical circle. (meaning press, agents, other organizations, etc) The point I'm trying to make is that if a kid truly has the potential to make it to the elite levels, they'll have many indicators to let them know, and those indicators will seek them out. On the other hand, typically, if the parents are seeking them out, their kid probably doesn't have what it takes to play eilte (although there's the rare outlier from time to time)

Thread is a bit old but I just got Quad 0 on new steel in order to prolong my Supreme 7000's life until I get new skates. I expected one of two things 1) I would fall and have trouble adjusting 2) I wouldn't notice much. Neither. As soon as I stepped on the ice I was solid. I love the longer radius on the back of the blades! And as soon as you take off you are on the shorter radius and good to go. I think my old ones were radiused too short, but I can't remember what they were. When I started to tire out the front of my shins would get fatigued. Also, it always took 20 mins or so before the bottom of my feet would stop hurting, this has gone on for years. I always thought this was boot related but it didn't happen the other day for the first time in 20 years. Maybe my feet were fighting against the contour/pitch of my last profile. Anyway, I wasn't expecting it to be this different and it was, in nothing by a positive way.

Been a long time since I posted something here. Likely due to the fact that I don’t skate out anymore... Ive been eyeing this since it came out. It’s the best fitting most comfortable helmet I’ve ever put on. Tacks 710. I thought the re-akt was comfortable. NOT EVEN CLOSE. I also grabbed myself a new twig. I couldn’t resist with the name on it 😉 Bauer Vapor X700 LITE - P92 MATTHEWS - 77 flex

Put that money into college savings, I say! Can’t add anything else!!!

Unless there is something specific the player is asking for ( I have seen some players ask for lacing patterns to be cut back etc etc stuff like that )- No. The process and materials are the same. It's even in one of the videos they did. Scott himself said it- We don't have a Pro Stock Version and a Retail Version. They make the skate exactly the same way for the Pros as they make yours.

You’re not?!?

I am so sorry to read about this. Sending mojo to you and your family.

Sorry to hear that. Back when my mom passed she had been declining for a while due to small strokes and dimentia. It was strange when the day actually came because we had basically slowly been grieving the loss of her for a couple of years as her mind was lost long before her body.

That’s horrible, sending positive thoughts to you and your family. Take care.

Hey just chiming in here since i think i can help. All retailers that have the CCM 3D Fit Scanner have the option of the 3D Custom Molded and Total Custom skates. There is a Retailer-Finder at the bottom of this page: https://ccmhockey.com/en/3d-fit-scanner#sm.000xztiij19kmdpsto12lifraaojx Hope this helps you out. JS

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