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In fact, some may even give you a 1/2 in unbeknownst to you, because they think they know better. It's happened to me before. As if I wouldn't be able to tell. When approached, they told me they wanted to prove to me that it wouldn't make any difference. Needless to say, I don't go there anymore.

My girls really stepped up their hog showmanship yesterday at our county fair. Oldest daughter has shown 4-H pigs for 5 years, but this year she decided to enter some jackpot shows. She was consistently beaten by a couple of kids from other counties (one was her hog breeder) and had a challenging week at the State Fair two weeks ago. She stepped into the ring yesterday and showed her A game and took Reserve Grand Champion Senior Showmanship in her first year in the senior class. She then took 5th place market hog out of 200 entries--she picked out the weanling pig back in March and bought it herself at auction. She worked her ass off all summer to train her pig and her efforts really paid off. Little sis was in her 3rd year, and watched big sis intently while she showed. She stepped into the ring and upped her game about 1,000% but hadn't worked her hog as hard this summer. While she was ready to show at the top level, her piggy was not! She got called back for the final junior showmanship class, but her pig didn't want to have anything to do with it and between laying down, rolling over, biting her, and trying to get into 3 fights (which the kid stopped without outside help) finally stepped on her foot and rolled onto her leg, pinning her on the ground. She bravely kept showing and took 3rd place in Junior...and the tears flowed freely once she got back to her stall. She's going to be very prepared next season. I love the life lessons they're learning--radically different from hockey--but a fresh challenge in the off-season.

I aim for basically blue line and in, and definitely want to see play at the net. It may take a couple tries for you to get the angle right. Once it is, use an actual screwdriver to make sure it's all super tight so it doesn't move. As for how high to put it, I basically put it as high as I can reach. The higher then better, really. Eventually you get to the point where you can just look at it and see if it's aimed too far up or down. Looking forward to seeing your new angle!!

Finally got my inline conversion done. Bauer Supreme 7000 with Mission Aluminum Vanguard chassis.

Thursday Drop In, a.k.a. Exit Out of Benderville: Bad turnout the last two days. Yesterday was crummy, as in not worth reporting. The last week was not worth reporting. Today was. I stopped a lot of shots in a 2 vs. 2. Of course I was tired, DEAD tired. But I finally figured out one guy had the same move all of the time. Of course there is NO defense in 2 vs. 2. My crease movement is slow when there is no D. I actually felt better, as a whole month with benders doing 85 dekes taking five minutes on a penalty shot took it's toll on my ability. I was offered the new job. I accepted. I should start 1 September. Looking for a league as we speak.

For sure. I'm sure this will happen a lot. A good day followed by a bad one. But, it's just like the pain after working out... if there was no pain then it would just mean I haven't been pushing myself. Gradually the bad days will start to go away.

those are some fine looking hogs. i grew up in a butcher shop, so i only usually saw them after slaughter. my oldest boy is pestering me for a mini pig. (yes i know, very chichi animal these days) I'll have to show him your pics of a REAL hog and tell him he can have one when he can handle it, like your girls can :D

So, I think you should stay away from the VH during plays like @ 50 seconds. I think a butterfly or a reverseVH would be better here. Since you said you are relatively new to goal tending I'd focus strictly on being square in plays like that. Personally I'd say just be in a square butterfly and that should do the trick, it'll keep you more mobile and make it easier to control the rebound. I can tell you when I play against starting goalies and they go into the VH I get happy as they always give me some net to shoot at. I can't tell if this is the case here because of the camera angle, but I'd suggest against using the VH for most starting goalies. At 55 seconds make sure you are square to the shooter, I think you should be challenging more here as well but I can't be sure again because of the camera angle. I understand you are worried about the person back door, but you have to ensure you are square to the shooter and not cheating, you are pretty good at sliding so your abilities will be able to cover the backdoor fairly easily. Also, when playing a lower level of skill I feel you can give up those passes a bit, since the chances of the players making a good pass and then getting a good shot off are pretty small. Since defensive coverage in rec is spotty to begin with, it gets worse in lower levels (understandably), if I find myself in 3-on-1/0 or 2-on-1/0 situations I'll just play the shot, since the pass requires 2 players to make decent plays just to get a shot off. You also favour your left leg a lot, what I mean by that is when in the butterfly your left leg sticks out while your right is directly behind you (see 1:12). Now I understand why you did it, since you pushed from the left to right and it naturally happens, but it does leave gaps and I think the players ended up shooting towards your right leg where those gaps occur. I have had issues with this the last few years and basically cheat to one side, and it is something I have been trying to fix. Ideally you'd just be square in the butterfly and have fast enough legs to cover the far corners, it is just something to look out for as it can get you into trouble (it certainly has for me).

So, I guess my try out went well. We won the championship last night, over our rivals that had beaten my team in the final in a shootout two seasons ago. 3-1 final score, and I played one of the best games I ever have, and certainly the best of this season. From the start of warmups, I felt good. We scored early, and then I kept us in it after that. Saves through traffic and on deflections, I stopped a 2 on 1, and like 2 pass outs from behind the net. I've finally gotten comfortable in the RVH, and it's really improved my game down low. We scored another in the first, and it ended 2-0. The second period was more of the same, and we scored another. Their goalie was really good that period also, it could have easily been a 6-3 game. But the second ended 3-0. My team clamped down on defense in the third, and I wasn't quite as busy. Though I still had to make some key saves. They did score one, and it was weak. Their player deked my defenseman and went wide, and I got stuck between RVH and staying in my stance. I ended up getting off the post (should have been in regular stance as it wasn't quite to the hash marks), and he beat me short side. 3-1 final score, should have been a shut out for all my hard work. After the buzzer my team pretty much tackled me and proclaimed me the first star. It really felt good, especially with how well I played and what I went through at the start. It's also interesting how equipment can really affect things. I've been struggling to get my pads to feel right. I've pretty much done that finally, but I just wasn't getting the performance I wanted. Rotation issues, and poor sliding. and even weak pushes and slip outs. I've been looking at new pads this past week because of it. Well, I got Maltese KTPs about 2 months ago. They were pretty comfy, and not bulky at all. So I was pretty happy. But I kind of felt landing was uneven with them - sometimes I'd land on the center of the disc, sometimes I wouldn't. And times where it felt askew are more often when I had performance problems. So after a rough game in the semi, I decided that I would just go back to the telescoping pads in my pants for the Final. What a difference. Pads felt great, sliding all came back, no more rotation problems, push strength came back, and no more slip outs. It was definitely the reason for my great play that game. SO now I guess I'm looking for a different knee protection option. Maybe the Bauer sleeves

Seccond in with Super Tacks, got 272 Lightspeed Edge holders put on and all is right in the world. Also added SuoerFeet Carbon insoles, didn't notice them which I guess is a good thing but also didn't notice any profound improvement, still a step up from the stock memory foam insole. The most noticeable thing was post skate, very warm rink and we skated for a good 1.5 hours and the liner on the skates weren't even the slightest bit wet or damp. Very impressed considering how hot the rink was and the amount of sweat.

Personal Details Male 6'3” 210 lbs Forward/Defence B-D level hockey Usage time: 10 Skates Price: $150 Glove History: Mission Fuel, MF2 4 Rolls, Warrior Retro Remix Prototypes, Reebok Sty2, Sherwood N10, Verbero Dextra Pro, Warrior DT1, CCM CL55, Reebok 11K, CCM QLT, Warrior Covert QRL Pro How I wear gloves: To get a better understanding of fit, I wear my gloves with my hand pushed all the way in. I feel this gives me the most secure feeling and encases my whole hand in the glove. This is also why I can feel the seams of the finger stalls more than most on the webbing of my finger. My statements of fit reflect this so keep that in mind if you wear your gloves a different way. Overview: Very special thanks once again to Warrior for selecting me to be a #WarriorVIP during the #CovertQRL #LightningQuick VIP run. I got selected to get a pair of gloves after some of the initial posts I made about the Warrior Covert QRL stick. I ended up choosing the QRL Pro instead of the QRL gloves for a couple of reasons, mainly I am not a huge fan of the wrap around SmartPalm+ palms and I liked how the QRL Pro gloves have plastic inserts on the outside of the hand for extra protection whereas the QRL is thicker foam but without any plastic. I was also a fan of the all red colourway and must admit I like the more plain nylon vs the Covert Mesh that is on the QRL. Initial Thoughts: Since I thought the Warrior DT1 gloves were fairly mediocre and I haven’t been a fan of the Warrior QR1 or QR Pro gloves, so these Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves had to be pretty good to impress me. Warrior added the AxyFlex cuff that seems to harken back to the Reebok 11K floating cuff, but Warrior has taken it to a different level with the cuff flexing 360 degrees compared to the relatively limited flex in the 11K. One of my issues with the older Covert line of Warrior gloves I have worn was the lacking of premium feel to the gloves when you first put them on, I had no issues with comfort while playing but I never thought they were $170+ gloves compared to the competitors. For the Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves this was never the case, and the first time I put them on my hands they truly felt like a top of the line and premium glove. The palm was much softer than the old QR Pro and DT1 gloves and the inner liners feel nicer to the touch (although I still think the Wartech Polygene blue liner isn’t the softest liner on the market, it isn’t bad at all). Fit: My DT1 were 14 inch gloves and I always thought the finger stalls were slightly too short and the joints of the stalls would come in contact with the webbing of my fingers, this made the gloves slightly uncomfortable but made me realize that I needed a 15 inch glove with Warrior. Putting these on I was instantly greeted with a very tight and anatomical fitting glove especially at the wrist area. The fingers and backhand is tight, but just not feeling as tight as the wrist area. With some 15 inch gloves I have found that they are so open they have can be prone to falling off under certain circumstances and I haven’t come close to having that issue with these gloves. I think stretch gussets would help with adjust to finger length and width and would prefer them on these gloves. 9.5/10 Comfort: Like stated in the initial impressions Warrior really increased the comfort and feel levels on these gloves compared to what I have worn in the past. The palm is much softer and feels of higher quality without the need for extra layer of material. The Wartech Polygene blue liner is nice but not the most comfortable liner on the market, but I do really like the branding aspect of it. Warrior did an excellent job of covering seams with a soft almost spandex feeling material on the insides where your wrist touches the spaces between the AxyFlex cuff and the rest of the glove. The AxyFlex cuff area is actually my favourite part of the glove in terms of comfort, the Wartech liner here is covering a thick and very soft padded area that feels great on the wrist and adds to comfort and protection with the flexible cuff design. Since these gloves do not have mesh gussets like the Covert QRL gloves do they run a bit hotter without the airflow coming through the fingers. After a game my hands are pretty warm and hotter than when I used other gloves recently, and when shooting outside in the summer I noticed my hands heating up and getting sweaty faster than other gloves I have worn. It isn’t the most comfortable thing but isn’t really a dealbreaker either. I wish the finger gussets were made of spandex like the CCM QLT gloves for added breathability and a softer feel on the fingers while as well allow the finger stalls to stretch with your hands. While these are the most comfortable gloves I’ve worn they are a huge improvement over previous Warrior gloves, and are a nice glove to wear. 8.5/10 Weight: Just like most gloves today I don’t feel you ever really notice the weight. These feel slightly heavier than the CCM QLT but only when you really think about it, they never bog down your hands when playing with them or hinder movement at all. 296 grams 9.5/10 Mobility: These gloves are yet to be completely broken in and they still feel great on the hands in terms of mobility. Fingers and backhand move well with your hand and the new AxyFlex cuff is fantastic for keeping your wrist protected while still allowing full movement of your hands. Warrior also did an interesting design with a rubber plate on the backhand of the glove that allows the cuff (where Warrior is embroidered) to more easily slide down the face of the glove to allow greater wrist mobility. 3-piece segmented index finger and 2-piece for the remaining feel natural with finger movements. The Axis Flex Thumb is pretty stiff and honestly not that flexible compared to the CCM QLT and Bauer’s 3 piece options. It is a nice improvement over the static thumb piece in the Warrior DT1 gloves I had before. A great design of this glove is how well the glove moves across your hand really giving the feel of a padded extension of your body. Moving my pinkie and thumb together is easy and not hindered by the protection and makeup of the glove. 9/10 Break-in: These gloves are still not fully broken in and still feel pretty similar to how they did brand new, which is perfectly fine since they were very mobile out of the box. If the thumb breaks in more and becomes more mobile this score will increase. 9/10 Protection: The AxyFlex cuff is an awesome feature I am happy to see return to the glove market. The wrist protection it gives is fantastic and currently unmatched from other retail glove options. The outside hand protection the Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves is much improved over the DT1 gloves and my preferred style compared to the more expensive QRL model (since I haven’t tested the QRL model I can’t comment on the protection qualities of it). While this piece is improved over my Warrior Covert DT1 gloves I feel it still could be improved on and my recently reviewed CCM QLT gloves do a better job in this area with a thicker and wider foam piece with a top plastic layer. The plastic outside pinkie finger protection on the Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves is lacking and basically non-existent like it was on the DT1 gloves. Warrior does such a fantastic job on the index fingers I wish they could translate that to the outside of the pinkie in some way. The finger protection is really well done and my fingers never really felt the impact through my testing, but the odd thing to note is how the finger protection would actually rotate around my fingers after being hit with the impact. The rotation of the finger protection is something I’ve been noticing lately on more gloves, the issue goes away once you close your hand and I can’t really see it being an issue while playing since the protection does its job protecting you from impact and your hands will rarely be fully stretched out like I do in my tests (making a fist keeps all of the finger protection in place after being struck). The inside index finger protection is still some of the best (if not the best) on the market today, the thicker protection blocks do a great job of protecting the finger while also ensuring mobility and dexterity is not hindered in anyway. The thicker style blocks ensure your index finger is not exposed and does an excelled job at minimizing gaps in protection. The backhand of this glove is fantastic and is mostly one of the best I have ever tested besides the very outside of your hand. In my testing the only place I could feel anything was on one of the segmented pieces (watch the video to see), this wasn’t pain but rather more noticeable than the rest of the backhand of the glove. The Axyflex thumb of the glove is a place I’d like to see some protection improvements, considering how great the backhand of the glove is I wish the thumb felt more protective. All along the whole thumb piece I could feel the impacts more than I was expecting and more than I’d prefer, by no means do I think these gloves leave you exposed but considering how great the backhand feels I believe this is an area for improvement on the Warrior Covert QRL Pro gloves. Unlike the DT1 gloves the cuff on these QRL Pro is fantastic and is much improved. I believe this has to do with the Axyflex floating cuff which ends up pushing the wrist away from the main cuff. The Axyflex cuff as well is a huge bonus in protection compared to other gloves on the market. While it isn’t the most protective piece and you can still feel impacts through it, having this extra piece of padding cover what would be completely exposed skin is a huge bonus. I personally wish it was longer (with perhaps a flared lip at the top to go over and around elbow pads) I am very satisfied and believe this feature should push this glove above most others on the market. 8/10 Durability: I have not used these enough to comment on this. So this category will be left scoreless for the time being. The one thing I can say is that when brand new the palms were bleeding black onto my orange Tacki-Mac. I haven’t noticed it getting worse after the first 2 skates. Palm: I was not a fan of the palm in the Warrior Covert DT1 and QR1 gloves I tried before and I am happy to say the all black palms on the Warrior Covert QRL Pro and QRL gloves are a big upgrade. The black palm feels much softer than what was previously used and so far doesn’t show (or can you feel) a single spot of wear. I understand it is early in the review, but even after a few games with the older style you could see and feel some pilling on the palm and fingers. This palm isn’t as soft as the CCM QLT gloves but it is still nice to touch and does a decent job gripping the stick. The QRL Pro gloves don’t have the added grip patches the QRL gloves do, so I don’t have any interference with the grip on my sticks and the glove palm themselves. The black residue on my Tacki-Mac is a bit of a worrisome area in regards to longevity of the palm and I will report back how they hold up in the future. 8.5/10 Intangibles: Just like on the DT1 gloves the raised index finger protection (even though I think it looks unattractive it certainly does its job) is a nice design feature adding to the protection of the glove, and combined with the fantastic AxyFlex cuff these Covert QRL Pro gloves are a great option. I am curious to see what the new custom gloves options are (if there are any) as actually being able to order a single pair of custom coloured gloves would give a huge benefit to this line. While the design of this glove follows the previous design patterns of the Covert series I think these are the best ones yet. I am still not a fan of the Covert mesh and am happy the QRL Pro use more standard and simple nylon. I do wish the red colourway I chose didn’t have the black outline on the Warrior lettering on the cuff...but that is nitpicking. The fact that Warrior offers their top of the line gloves with the SmartPalm+ and more complex nylons while also offering a more traditional line without really sacrificing protection or performance is a huge bonus to me. 9/10 Conclusion: I really think Warrior did an excellent job in the Covert QRL Pro gloves. They made huge improvements over previous iterations while also picking up and improving on a feature that has left the market for a few years. While i think there are some improvements here to be made (perhaps a softer palm and inclusion of spandex gussets) the Warrior Covert QRL Pro glove line is one that I will recommend people looking for a comfortable and protective glove while not sacrificing on mobility. While I stated the CCM QLT gloves feel like an extension of your hand these feel like a padded extension where they feel slightly bulkier and thicker but don’t hinder mobility, they are just a bit more noticeable on your hands. I really cannot give enough praise for the AxyFlex cuff, and between the latest gloves I have reviewed which one becomes my primary is a toss up. I like the feel of the CCM QLT a bit more but the protection with the AxyFlex cuff on the Warrior is fantastic, perhaps a 1A and 1B situation will happen. With the Covert QRL Pro gloves Warrior created an upscale feeling glove with re-innovated features and solid protection without sacrificing mobility, this is a glove that should be on everyone’s radar when looking for a new pair. 9/10 Glove is light weight. Axyflex 2-piece thumb. Plastic inserts on outside of palm. I'd prefer if these were stretch spandex gussets, these do not allow for a lot of airflow. Palm is greatly improved over Covert DT1 gloves, soft to the touch and doesn't wear as fast. Shows the good use of spandex like material to overlap any seams. Stretch mesh to give the Axyflex cuff great mobility. Showing the mesh under the main cuff. Cuff flexes with your arm movement. Fingers offer great protection. Showing how the cuff slides over the Axyflex plate. Another look at the improved palm. Axyflex thumb doesn't flex much when bent with just your thumb. Full range of thumb's flex. Cuff comparisons to other gloves: