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this picture was taking at our first ever game after founding our team, the Glasgow Mustangs. We won 5-4 and it was just a fantastic afternoon of hockey. And we got Al Goold, who takes pictures for the Pro team Braehead Clan (where Drew Miller played during the lock out) to take pictures for us.

Had a little fun on the pond today

Pro Stock NXG wheels, double felt tongues, LS3 steel and some other nifty additions Bruins "Advanced" Franchise & Newer model Caps Easton Gloves

On the goalie front: It's nice to see Graf immediately integrate their new MCI construction into the goalie boots, and that they continue to offer three different widths (Narrow, Regular, and Wide) in their goalie boots. The updated Graf cowlings began to trickle out on the 7500-series skates last year, and have thus been labelled as the '7500 cowlings' though Graf doesn't given them that designation in the catalogue. In addition to a new replaceable runner and improved stainless steel, they offer a MUCH more streamlined profile than any previous Graf cowling in order to compete with the Bauer Vertexx and Reebok/CCM Customlite cowlings. In fact, our own man jimmy has found in his testing that the Graf cowlings may actually offer greater attack-angles to the ice (in at least some sizes and situations) than the Bauer or Reebok offerings. The '396 yellow' option is something different, certainly, and novel as far as I know (apart from the yellow-and-green dyed leather cowlings that the California Golden Seals' goalies used!), but they might have got more mileage out of black. Apart from those changes, the basics of the cowling remain the same: a much shorter blade with a much shorter profile (~24'-26') than most, a standard goalie-width 4mm blade, and a more rounded appearance. On the goalie stick front, Graf has five offerings this year -- but, unfortunately, only *four* paddle sizes, and only offers *any* option in paddle size on two of their five models. The "100%" carbon-based Ultra G7500 and Supras G5500 (which are, apart from 55 grams, otherwise undifferentiated in the catalogue) and the fibreglass-reinforced wood foam-core Ultra F750 are only offered in a 27" paddle height ("SR"). For 25" ("INT"), 23" ("JR") and 19" ("Tyke") sizes, you'll need to look to the "30% carbon" Supra G4500 or the fibreglass-reinforced solid wood Supra F450. It's nice that Graf is offering a goalie stick under 20" at all, but a 4" drop from 'junior' to 'tyke' sizing leaves a huge range of goalies out in the cold. Without knowing how Graf has measured their sticks, my guess is that none of the 'Senior' options would be usable for me; I'd be limited to the 25" 'intermediate' size only available in the 4500 -- as would many fully-grown goalies with properly-sized paddles. That's not to say the sticks aren't good, but that I probably wouldn't be able to use them, and I'm not exactly a midget.