xstartxtodayx

It ain't pretty but it does the job haha. I wasn't 100% sure about it so decided to sew the front one onto an old shinguard strap and attach to the bottom of the velcro area for the thigh pad adjustment. For the back I just picked an area a little to the side that looked like it would hold, so far so good. Only thing I would adjust is make the straps shorter since they sit low right now (have to roll the socks down a bit so they don't sag too much). Untitled by Jon Schusteritsch, on Flickr Untitled by Jon Schusteritsch, on Flickr

A girdle is another option for hockey pants, sort of like naked hockey pants. Girdles are usually a little more form fitting so they move with you better and you need to wear a shell over them (this is a plus since you can have multiple shells for multiple teams you're on, this is also a negative because you can easily et addicted to buying pro stock shells lol). Girdles have been around for decades, prob since 70's at least I'd guess. They're less popular than regular pants for reasons I don't understand haha I've been wearing girdles since the 90's and have tried to go back to pants on a few occasions but always ditched them and came right back to the girdle (pants always felt too bulky and heavy to me). Super Tacks girdle:

From what I recall (I'm no expert so this may only be partially correct) the retail line has a "Team" level which is like mid tier, a few levels down from the top and available in all the usual curves/flexes where as the pro "team" line is made for college teams/junior teams to provide a more budget friendly option just a step or so down from the top of the line that is made to last a bit longer since they're made to be more durable. The pro team ones come in various corves and flexes but many come in a LK/low kick version so a Jetspeed might shoot more like a ribcor. I was on SLS before and there are a lot of the FT3 Team sticks under $100 still, honesty for the price they're a great stick.

I lace to the top but skip the second eyelet from the top. I started this a while ago after skates started becoming much stiffer than they were in the 90's and I felt like I couldn't get enough flex (and skipping the top felt too loose), this method seemed to be the perfect option for me. There was a similar thread on here years ago where it was discussed, many pros use this method as well (Crosby is the one I can remember but I know I've seen others as well).

I hate that CCM started their retail "team" stick, really confused me for a while lol As for the pro stick Team sticks, I've had good experiences with CCM FT3 Team sticks. I got a few for just under $100/ea on SLS a few months back to try a new curve, all were the LK flex which is a pro/team option only, all performed well and were just a little heavier than the actual FT3 Pro I had (also seemed to be more durable towards the bottom of the shaft, didn't chip as much as the pro model).

I own both a Super Tacks girdle and a 9K girdle (had a couple 9k's over the years). Personally I feel the Super Tacks is more protective than the 9K and lighter. The 9K feels way more mobile out of the box where as the ST took a good season or so to really break in and loosen up fully (even now after a couple of years it's still not as mobile and free feeling as the 9K but this is prob die to the added padding so it's not a bad trade off). The ST has much better tailbone protection (it has awesome padding there), much better spine protection with the adjustable spine piece where as the 9k has virtually no spine protection. Both the ST and 9K have height adjustable thigh pads which are both very similar padding wise, the main difference I found was the ST pads look like they were made for skinnier legs (overall sizing on the ST is way smaller than the 9K). Hip protection is about equal but I give the ST the edge since it seems to cover slightly more area than the 9K. Kidney protection - the St goes a bit higher than the 9K. convenience - the 9K had the built in sock velcro which I loved, no need for a garter belt or jock shorts, the ST doesn't have anything like this which I think was an oversight on CCM's part (I ended up cutting a garter belt and sewing it to the shorts part of the ST girdle so I have a built in garter belt, I use a CCM Pro jock so it was either this or wear a separate garter belt which I was getting tired of). Overall I prefer the Super Tacks girdle and after a little back and forth I haven't worn my 9K since well before covid hit. One thing to keep in mind though, any girdle or pants won't give you total protection in the butt/hip area, there's always going to be spots that will hurt like hell if you fall just right (and then you'll always happen to fall on that same spot for 3-4 games in a row because why wouldn't you? Never fails haha), so if you want to protect those in between areas you might want to add a pair of padded shorts underneath like others have mentioned.

My first thought was the 70K made to look like the newer models, I know a few of those guys never really wanted to move on from them (or whatever the model before 70k was). As for Mac.. he's still using the old school Ribcor stick with the multiple ribs which is like 6 gens old by now so you never know 😂

Starting to wonder if just buying a sheet of grip tape from a skateboard shop would accomplish the same thing at a fraction of the price.

Just noticed some shot blockers attached to the bottom of Goodrow's shinguards, I don't remember seeing those earlier in the season, I'm guessing he has a blue and a white set for home/away. You can also see some of the design he has on the skate skin shot blockers where it says Goody and has the Liberty logo.

CCM kind of messed with their numbering with the 100k... they went from 70k to 80k and then jumped to 100k as the top of the line Ribcor skate, so the 90k is really the new 78k which is why it's not a one piece and doesn't have the full tech of the the previous top of the line model. Granted the 90k is prob a step higher than the previous 78k but it's still one level down from the top so they had to hold back on some of the fancy options. I found this out when looking to upgrade my 78k's, I thought I found a steal on 90k's but then realized they were essentially just a newer version of what I already had (I completely jumped ship and went with a NOS pair of Jetspeed FT490's that I found for a bargain and have come to love).

Another vote for P90TM. I used P28's for a number of years before switching over. I never cared much for the P92, found it to be too big of a hook, preferred the open toe of the 28 more so. The issue with the P28 was how open the toe was, it made for awesome shots when you got it right but it was very unforgiving if you misfire towards the toe. The P90TM is slightly more closed at the toe which, for me, made all the difference in being more forgiving on misfires (also I found it was better for backhanders, much easier to control backhand shots and passes than the P28 was). I now have a bunch of P28's I need to figure out what to do with and have also been trying to decipher pro stock listings for P90TM's since it seems to be a crap shoot between what they describe and what it'll actually be lol

Owen Power in CCM mitts but Bauer everything else, figured he'd be in all one or the other since they tend to sign these young kids to sponsorship deals pretty early on.

Anyone know if, all things being equal, different CCM skate lines have a different pitch to them? I have been in Ribcor 78k's for the past few years and they've been breaking down and feeling a bit too soft so I wanted to try something different and found a great deal on a pair of NOS Jetspeed FT490's. They are night and day different than the Ribcors in construction, weight, and stiffness but same skate size and runners so I swapped my existing Step Steel over to them and skated a couple of times. First time I used CCM Orthomove insoles, they felt like they propped my heels up too high in the boots and leaned me forwards so I went back to my old Superfeet from the other skates, feet felt better positioned with the heel ever so slightly lower so I picked up a new pair of Superfeet. Last game my feet felt better in the skates but I felt as if my blades were shorter and I was tipping forward a bit so wondering if the Jetspeeds have a different pitch perhaps? Both skates are 7.5, 263 XS holders, Step Steel with Quad .05 profile. I'm tempted to go get the stock steel profiled to something that might be a little longer up front but not sure what would give me a more balanced feeling, I'd rather experiment on the stock steel than eat away the Step Steel I have. Any suggestions?

Someone asked this somewhere else recently and I started thinking how one might actually repair it, my only guess was an old school shoe repair shop, those old school guys can fix anything lol

I remember the same and it makes sense, my friend was obsessed with him back then and he wore his socks like that for a bit. I can't find any pics of it either, just the usual over the tendon guard look, but also I remember for a while he'd tape around the bottom/back of the heel and around the top of the foot on an angle, might've held the socks at one time and added heel lock? He was/is def a unique guy lol

Honestly I think you're all thinking too much into it, the guys who go socks over probably just like the way it looks. When I was a kid I was a socks over (some kids even wore them down around the heels 🤮), when I started wearing the modern socks that tend to be tighter I stopped going over the tendon guard because most just felt too tight when I did it. Panarin goes over tendon guard but keeps his tongues out up front which is prob the ugliest option imho, it's like a reverse mullet for your skates.

The 704's had that unique unmistakable zig zag stitching pattern on the sides of the boot which was cool looking. I had 705's for years and loved them until they fell apart, took me a few tries til I found something that I liked again (CCM Ribcors pre one piece boot models are worth trying, 78k, 80k, or the older 70k). As for telling the width, unless the tag is still on and legible I think you may be out of luck.

I have a CCM Pro jock and agree it is awesome but the biggest issue I can see is price... the pro jock is 2-3x more expensive than most of the jock combos on the market.

Ok I spoke to "the experts"... my 9yo son likes them, likes the colors and thinks the design on the reverse side is cool (has no idea who Beiber is). My 12yo daughter thinks they're lame (she's 12 and is VERY opinionated so this was an emphatic "lame!" 🤣), she has heard of Justin Beiber but doesn't know who he is or why he's famous. I mean maybe it's more aimed at local Toronto kids so maybe the rest of us are out of the loop but if it's aimed at kids I think more colorful and fun designs might be better (looking at you Dallas Stars with the obnoxious green on black that I absolutely hated at first but have come to realize it actually really works well... of course both of my kids loved it from the get go lol, I clearly wasn't the target demographic there either).

I like a layer of stretchy sticky tape over regular cloth (either medical tape from CVS if they have some nice colors, or the overpriced version of the same stuff from the hockey shops). I tried Tacki Mac for a few games but it felt too thick to me, I guess I prefer something on the thinner side.

I'm assuming it's just the graphics package that's changing but it's interesting to see CCM promoting Matthews in both the Tacks and Jetspeed skates.

I agree. Also it's off that "jetspeed" seems to be in different fonts on each stick, or at the least the top one is bold and bottom is not, neither looks good to me.

I was in a similar situation trying to find skates that felt more like the old 90's style skates. I was in Graf 705's which were so comfortable but those began to fall apart (the holders were replaced so many times from cracking that the outsole began to deform and the materials started to dry out, being stored for a few years while I stopped playing didn't help either). First I tried an old pair of Bauer Supreme One75's which weren't bad (kind of wish they still made skates in that one90 style), then I had Bauer Vapor X700's, middle of the road Vapor but it felt way too stiff and felt like it was a really high cut on the sides. I then finally found something that felt like my old skates, CCM Ribcor 78K's. The Ribcor line is made to allow more flex than other lines (they have some fancy lingo for the "tech" that allows the boot to flex more), aside from that it felt like it had more ankle padding allowing for a really comfy fit similar to my old Grafs. I wouldn't hesitate to go and try on some of the Rbcor models, no need to get the 100k or 80k, like x-axis said, going mid tier will actually get you a slightly less stiff boot which will probably feel better to you.

Looks like an FT4 Pro to me.