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I received mine and I'll post some feedback after my first skate with them!

Have to post this feedback :) "Amazing how something so simple can make such a big difference. Feel like I'm getting the most out of every stride." - Jamie Langenbrunner

I said I'd post my thoughts on ordering and stuff and kind of forgot. So I'll do it now. I first messaged VH through their website on the 29th of October. Rob messaged me back with a custom order form and answered my questions about the tendon guard, tracings and other stuff. I sent an email last November 1st with my tracings and that I wanted to order a pair. He sent an invoice early on the 2nd and answered some more questions. After I placed the order I remembered the 3mm lifts in my right boot so sent him an email. No problem, they would build them into the boot. I was on the fence about this since it would be a permanent thing instead of a removable plastic bit but I've skated on those lifts for over 5 years so thought it would be fine. The lifts were the only custom bit I got on the skate. I wanted all black so no other colours. I thought about going for the older style tendon guard since I preferred the look and also the older style toe cap. Rob strongly suggested the newer styles so I took his advice. My current size 8 one95's came with a 272 tuuk ls2's. Size 7.5 one95's came with 263's (except EE which were 272's) I wasn't sure whether to go with 263's or keep the 272's. Since I was changing holder/blade and not keeping my step steel I told Rob to make the decision. He went with 272 which are right at the edge of the toe. Flash forward, my only small gripe with ordering, there are no updates. I didn't really expect any but I thought it might be cool to get something like "your boot is at step 4 of 10 and expected to ship on X day". I realize the logistical nightmare and added time this might cause but could be done with something like RFID tags and would be really helpful. I have a camp this weekend (27-30) that I wanted to skates for and would have loved to get a good weekend of skating on them before I went so I messaged Rob to get an ETA. The next day he gave me a shipping number and tracking. It was a saturday (the 14th) . Shipped via fed ex economy which states 1-3 business days so I was expecting to get them tuesday/wednesday. When they were picked up at VH the tracking was updated and expected delivery was Monday the 23rd. I was disappointed but still held some hope they'd arrive before the weekend. The came on Thursday November 19th. 17 days since I placed the order. When I got them I couldn't even put my foot in them. The wrap around the top of the foot/eyelets was impressive. It was stiff. I read through this thread previously and knew this was common so I wasn't worried about it. The baking process was easy enough. I have a convection oven but it only had 200 degrees as the lowest setting (VH recommended 180 degrees). VH says you can use a standard oven so I put my skates in without pre-heating the oven and turned the heat to 200 and turned the convection fan off. I put the skates as far away from the element as possible on a cookie sheet with a towel on top of it so there was no metal-to-metal contact. I checked them every 5 minutes or so to check stiffness. This probably delayed the baking time opening the oven door so much. It was a solid 18-20 minutes before they were as soft as in the video. I put them on and laces them pretty gingerly. I could have went harder at this point but still got a great fit. I kept pressing against the heel and other areas while they were cooling and sat with my knees a little forward to simulate a knee bend while skating. The first night I had two games. I mostly referee now and was concerned a more aggressive position would hurt my backwards skating. 4-man system has a lot of backwards skating. I took them to a local skate sharpener with my old skates and just asked for the same profile. I couldn't even remember what I was skating on but it was over a year since I had them profiled so it might have been off a bit. I didn't want to experiment with specific radii and thought this would be the best bet to minimize that new skate awkwardness. I'll probably get them profiled correctly after a few more skates and I get a better feel for them. I always liked going sockless but my one95's were pretty worn out the last few years so that was impossible. I went with a thin sock for the first game. The first few minutes were pretty awkard but not impossible to skate on. They were stiff but didn't feel like shoeboxes, I still had control. By the end of the first period they felt just as good if not better than my old one95's. By the end of the game my feet felt fine and I was a lot more confident. I decided to try game 2 without socks which was a mistake. They were pretty wet and I got a small blister on my instep from the friction. This was my own fault. 3 more games on Saturday and they still felt great. I wore dry socks each time and put some body glide on the blister. It expanded a bit but wasn't too bad. 5 games in 26 hours would cause hot spots with any skate. I had a little pain in my ankle bone on the inside of my right skate but I think just re-baking that small area will alleviate that. Other than that they were amazing. The lifts were perfect. I have a small issue with the ls3 edge blade/holder with the blade on my right skate not seating in all the way. I can see part of the "D" that bauer mentions but I don't have any experience with the Edge system besides these skates. JR mentioned taking a rubber mallet to pound it in so I'll try that tonight. I looked at a few other LS Edge skates and the trigger was all the way "out" with the blade in whereas mine looks like it's still depressed a little bit. It also has that familiar "click" noise when I'm walking indicating the blade is a little loose. Probably not a big issue. It's impossible to say how durability will be with these after only 5 ice sessions in two days but I'm not that hard on my skates. I had my one95's for almost 7 years now. Since I only play scrub or stick and puck they don't get beat up from playing. The fit, however, is remarkable. It's like skating with a sneaker. There's no lag/delay when skating. When my foot moves my skate goes with it and I have 100% control over it. Not really any hot spots either besides the one on the ankle bone which I should be able to eliminate. Obviously if they completely destruct in 2-3 months I wouldn't recommend them but as it stands now these things are the real deal.

Why oh why didn't anyone tell me how awesome hockey was when i was younger?

No. Assuming you are not even on a team. Honestly, at this point, you just want to be placed on a team & then put in a position where they feel you can fit in. Then you work your tail off to get comfortable where you got slotted and hope to be called up to play at the next level. Then you're placed whatever position they feel like you can fit in. When you're good enough to say "I'm LD", it doesn't matter, because they may need you at RF and you'll just roll with that. That's my opinion & im sticking to it.

Bauer IMS 11.0 Size: Small Player info: Height: 5’9” Weight: 165bs Position: Forward/Defense Previous Helmet: Bauer 7500 Size Medium Length of use – 3/4 months Fit: Helmets always seem to fit me certain areas, but not others. The IMS 11.0 was the first helmet to give me that whole head fit. The Comfort foam layer with PORON front band and the SEVEN tech TPU pods make for a nice comfortable fit. Adjustment system is a bit different than what I am used to, but it’s quick and easy. One thing to note, with most other helmets I wear a medium, I had to drop down to small. 10/10 Protection – The former Cascade M11 (aka Messier Project) with its Patented Seven TechnologyTM impact attenuation liner system, ProFit 2TM system 15 point micro adjustment and solid one piece shell has all the talking points but who really knows. I hope I never find out either. N/A Weight – On par with my previous helmet. In fact, looking at the listed weights is 54 grams heavier than the 7500. I don’t notice it, but I am not blown away by how light it is. 9/10 Durability – No issues so far, things have held up well. However, removing the shield after a few months of use to mount a Bauer titanium cage was a painful experience. Hardware to mount the J-Clips is hard to get to, and almost impossible to hold if it’s rusted. 7/10 Intangibles –The combination of comfort and fit make it a solid choice. But on the down side, it doesn’t breath all that well. If you’re a cage wearer save yourself the trouble and buy the combo. 7/10 Conclusion - I am really happy with it. Would I recommend it to a friend, absolutely…in fact I already have. During WF I told dkmiller to try one on, he did and ended up buying two. Final score – 8.25/10