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Christmas came a few days early to me thanks to Sherwood and Total Hockey. Have loved my EK15 from the day I picked it up and now I can't wait to hit the ice tomorrow with the vintage version.

thanks ice warehouse, for having ridiculously low priced RPD Max clearance skates, now I have two pairs of alkali lol. Guess I can use the Teams for concrete, and wont have to switch out the wheels in between.

I passed my NREMT exams! Who has two thumbs and is a nationally certified EMT-Basic? THIS GUY.

Congrats! Got a story for you... Buddy of mine (Newton like us) left an EMT training in Boston and some guy got shot 5 times...he and another guy helped save his life and gave a description of the car that sped away

2 of the last 3 games I have played in I was slashed, slew footed and cross checked for no reason. Both games really dirty to the point of a player in the last game purposely ran our goalie and punched him while he was on the ground... So our goalie goes after the guy, and their goalie skates the length of the ice to fight ours. This is the second lowest division in the league, we have 2 girls on our team and 1 of them was on the ice when all of this happened last night. The goalie who fought also happens to ref this league...so he refs and plays in the same league... It has gotten to the point it feels that we need a goon player just so crap doesn't get out of hand in games because the refs don't do anything. Last year it happened multiple times even after complaining to the league and the team we complained about ended up breaking my teammate's leg in 3 place and then standing over him telling him "get up it isn't broken." I think I am done with "competitive" hockey. It isn't even competitive! But adult hockey players show up to the rink drunk and start crap like this far too open. /rant

Figured Id toss this up Have a few SMU items, but they work great IMO Helmet: Bauer 7500, Visor HDO Pro Clip Shoulder: CCM RBZ 130 Pants: Bauer Nexus Havok (SMU between the 600 & 800's) Gloves: Warrior Franchise 2.0 (SMU for Sportchek) Elbow: Warrior Dynasty AX1 Shins: Bauer APX2 Skates: Bauer Vapor LTX Pro + (SMU similar to X90's) Stick: (not pictured) CCM RBZ 130 P40 Hossa & CCM Ribcore 30k P40 Perron

Just my two cents: It's good to have options for yourself and for your customers if you're a retailer. I personally use spinners for FBV and single-point diamonds for ROH's. The reality is that the single point diamond is only capable (at least for now) of creating radii, and as others have pointed out, using that method, you can dress very slowly, which allows you to feel and hear every granule being removed from the face of the grinding wheel. Also, whether you're dressing the wheel to 1/4"'s or 2" using a wissota, blademaster, blackstone, fleming gray, dupliskate, etc., it all comes down to one simple thing: A diamond is a diamond. Even a radius arm that has some wobble--causing the wheel's highpoint to shift up or down, or a diamond that's down to its nub--can still ultimately dress the wheel to an accurate curvature. However, with the spinners it's a little trickier. Right-off-the-bat you're counting on the accuracy of a manufactured piece of metal that is your final contact point when dressing the wheel. Assuming the metal's fabrication process is always spot on, there's also the accuracy of the diamond encrustation. Wear on thousands of tiny encrusted diamonds is harder to inspect than one ball-bearing-sized diamond on a quill. The points on diamonds also need to be exposed for a good fracture of the wheel. If I'm aggressive with my single-point diamond and, say, fail to rotate the quill, and the tip on the diamond is a little dull, all it takes is a few twists and a couple of up and downs on the stone and a sharp point is exposed once again. With the spinners, you need a trained eye to spot the fangs being translated onto the skate blade, let alone tell whether the imprint is still as crisp as it once was or if it's time to invest in a new spinner. But like I said, at least there are options nowadays for those that want to skate on something other than a hollow. Whether it's FBV, Z-channel or BFD, if that's what you like, or if that's what a customer wants (and is willing to pay for), so be it. Regardless of which cut you go with, my personal belief is that a good sharpening comes down to three important factors: consistent bite, keeping the blade's contour intact, and of course, level edges. If the amount of bite you receive each time you get a sharpening varies, your profile is altered significantly, and the edges are unlevel, there's a good chance you won't be a happy skater.

Bought a ragged pair of Denver Univesity Vapor XXXs, sent them off to George's Hockey repair and they came back today. For someone who's only done repalms with FIBM (What a fool I've been) I'm amazed by the quality and craftsmanship here. Turnaround time was unbelievable, they only had them in the shop for 2 days.

Not really a contribution to this thread as much as a thanks for all of you for the great contributions in experiences and opinions here on this forum. A lot of what I've read as a non-registered and now a registered user has been immensely helpful. I'm looking forward to refreshing some of my older gear this spring well in advance of next season, and the equipment threads have given me a lot to think about. I've generally been a "Bauer guy" when it comes to skates and some protective (I still wear my Supreme 5000 shin guards - the ones with the hinged kneeand my pair of Vapor 10's which replaced a stolen pair of 8's.) For future questions I'll ask in the different forum wings, but I wanted to thank you all in this one for what you've added and helps shorten my learning curve a little bit, at least in terms of research and opinion.

I spoke with the trainer from Caps one day when he was hanging out at our rink for his son's hockey game and I specifically asked him how many guys on the Caps were using FBV and the only person on the Caps is Jason Chimera. I wonder how many pros are actually using and have stuck with it. I know the Caps are a small sample group, but I'm surprised only one actually likes FBV. Of course Chimera's main thing is his skating so I guess it makes sense.