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When traveling for a hockey tournament, rule 306, always keep your fridge stocked to stay hydrated....

I have still not discerned if my problem with shots to the ribs has to do with a lack of positional coverage or a lack of external coverage (i.e. padding). Now I have a fine looking bruise on my upper right ribs. Upside: that shot did not go in. I actually don't remember most of the pickup today, because I have (yet another) respiratory infection. I played reasonably well. I may have let in fewer goals than the other goalie. No one screamed at me. Some players who haven't played with the group in a while are back and surprised at my progress, which is nice. I am noticing that I slide backward (toward the net) when butterflying or dropping, which probably means I am canting my shoulders and torso forward instead of throwing my hips out and down, and that's something I need to work on. I'm thinking about splurging on another goalie lesson sometime this month or early next (perhaps as a "yay I got through a whole year playing goalie" present to myself). Last year, I went to a guy who works out of the rink down the street from me, and had a good experience. He usually works with kids, but that's about where I am. There is also a group goalie clinic after my Saturday pick-up, but if I do that I'm SOL on a ride home or to the T. ;)

Placed order today!

He really seems to be struggling to find where fits in a roster. He's got second line skill but coaches just keep bouncing him around the top 9. It has to be frustrating. It would be nice to see what he can do with some continuity.

I was really hoping that he would work out long-term in Pittsburgh. Just could not recapture the lighting-in-a-bottle that he had when he first came over from Edmonton. I hope the change of scenery does him well and he finds his goal-scoring touch again.

I didn't want to post my experience until I got a couple of games in. I ended up forgetting to post a review and now have done quite a bit of skating with them. I picked up the junior size as I am using some older 5.5 Vapors. Started with the shims in there but it didn't feel very good on my feet. At times it felt too tight and my toes went numb. After taking them out, they felt much better. I posted earlier in this thread since some people who were right at the Junior/Senior cutoff had the same questions. I think the junior size fit my Vapors fine. I don't think a Senior size would be much of an improvement in fit. I wasn't expecting much from these since they were so inexpensive. I figured I could try them out as a cheap experiment. As I read more of the reviews, I started hyping it up in my head too much. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't skating circles around people when I first started using them. I didn't see that explosiveness or speed increase that others were talking about. But now that I've skated a while with them, I do notice that my skates are a lot more comfortable with the Powerfoot inserts. One benefit that I get from being comfortable is having the confidence that my skates are going to do what I want it to do. I don't know if I'm explaining it clearly. But it feels like my skates are more part of my foot rather than something I throw on to my foot. It feels very stable and I don't think I'd want to skate without these anymore. Of course everyone's experiences will be different and maybe a better, stronger skater would see more improvement than I did. Yeah, I'm not going to be lightning fast with a small pad I threw in to my skate. But the comfort improvement alone has helped my skating in other ways that I never thought was an issue. I will recommend these for my friends and teammates. Since the price is so reasonable, I may pick some up later for some Christmas gifts.

I can finally say I've created the perfect fitting skate for myself. C width MX3s with Speed Plates and Powerfoot toe inserts. Steel is 10' with a +2 pitch. It's like wearing a pair of Jordan's (albeit instant response) on the ice. Threw my X100's in the pic because I acquired them around the same time for a grand total of $650 :)

PFFT! 39 took a dive on that play at 0:29. did he get the call from the ref?