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New skates! I think they are hideous but if they are comfortable they will be worth it.

Dallas Police team pants shells finally came in. The quality feels decent, but I kind of wish for the money we paid for them that the logo, stars, and lettering would have been embroidered instead of sublimated. I might look into getting a company to make me one at a later time, but for right now these will do nicely, and they will probably hold up pretty well.

Let me shed a tear for the shop owners... Actually, no. If you’re a craftsman, like a SERIOUS craftsman who has worked on your art for decades, you have nothing to worry about. If you seriously feel threatened by a home sharpening machine, you can’t be all that great. Lets face it, 90% of pro shops suck, because 90% of them aren't staffed by people who REALLY know what they're doing. And in reality, if the pro shops near me weren't so terrible I never would have even considered something like the Sparx. Put simply: I wish there wasn’t a market for Sparx, but there is. As an analogy, I wish something like Uber wasn’t needed. But, since the cab industry is shit, it is thriving. Cabbies are all pissed off about Uber stealing their business. And then every time I take an actual Taxi I’m very quickly reminded of why I love Uber. Regardless, you'll get the occasional cabbie on MSH complaining about Uber stealing their rides...

40 year old player getting back on the ice after 15 years off. My endurance is definitely what needs the most work! That said, I've noticed that in some games I'm still charging hard in the 3rd period while in other games I'm literally gassing out in the 1st!! I'm wondering if that swing in energy levels has to do with what/when/how I ate/drank the day of the game or even right up to the game. What are some tips on game-day diet? I heard a goalie tell me to pound Gatorade an hour before the game & drink water during. I've heard others talk about energy drinks before games, but drink lots of water during games to keep from crashing. Other thoughts/ideas? THANKS!

Thanks for the question @marka The Grinding Ring backorder situation was one that we anticipated but didn't catch quickly enough before the demand from our customers outstripped supply. This is an unfortunate, but not uncommon, problem for a rapidly growing company. I'm not using this as an excuse but letting you know what happened. I apologize for the inconvenience this is causing. The GREAT news is that we have doubled our production of Grinding Rings over the last month and are now working weekends at Sparx Hockey to build, pack, and ship product to our customers. Quality is also priority #1 for us. While we are growing quickly, rest assured that we are not cutting any corners on quality. We have the back order message on our website so that we are 100% transparent with our customers and also to set worst-case expectations. We strive with every order to beat the estimated time. In many cases these orders ship faster than the stated shipping delay. We fully anticipate to be flush with inventory of Grinding Rings and out of backorder in the next couple weeks. We will also be updating the message on the website soon since the delay to ship has been reduced from when we first posted this message. Many thanks to all of the MSH'ers who are Sparx Hockey customers. We appreciate your business and patience as we ramp up production. One silver lining from these short term shipping delays as we ramp up production is that this overwhelming demand for our product further solidifies us as a company - no worries about us being here for the long run. Sincerely, The Sparx Team

Couldn't believe it when I saw the alerts at work. The dude was a beast here in Philly (and Toronto).

Pretty much where I'm at. With the change at Pure Hockey, I'm 18 sharpenings away from paying for inconsistent cuts from all local shops. To drop almost 1K bones is asking a lot from me but I'm on the ice way too much to be dealing with unsatisfactory work. I was spoiled in college. Had a kid who never screwed up. I graduated in 2010 from school on the other side of the state haha. Sparx seems more of reality now. Whether I like it or not.

My p28's were actually a 6 lie so there isn't a ton of difference. I use a shorter stick so the higher lie works better for me.

Well not a direct competitor, but Sparx is giving people less reason to continue going to a pro shop to have a 16 year old kid butcher their skates on their big expensive Blackstone ;)

@Hills Good point. Let me explain. When an edge checker shows a deviation of 1 line from perfectly level (e.g. 1 line up on the right side of the edge checker), the opposite side of the edge checker should also show 1 line of deviation in other direction (e.g. 1 line down on the left side of the edge checker). This reading shows a combined 0.001" up on the right and a 0.001" down on the left or a total of 0.002" of height difference between the left edge and the right edge. To put this measurement magnitude into perspective, I just used a micrometer to measure the diameter of an eyelash. The micrometer reads 0.00325". The fact that the Sparx Edge Checker can measure your edges, in a repeatable fashion, to a fraction of the diameter of an eyelash is pretty impressive - speaking merely from an engineering perspective. Also, the Sparx Edge Checker and the other popular one on the market have the same measurement resolution. The lines may have slightly different spacing because the widths of the edge checkers are slightly different. Hopefully this makes sense. Cheers, Russ

Finally mostly healed from injury. Skated a total of 3 times from April until September, wasn't fun, but I cant complain too much as i've enjoyed good health and low amount of injuries the first 35 years of my life. Skating regularly again now. Starting to regain speed, but understandably my stamina is a bit off. Mostly private drop ins for now, hopefully start playing leagues again here soon. Local roller rink closed down, so the roller hockey experiment is mostly over, and I don't think I want to rejoin my tournament team for that. I would be bummed, but this means less EDM in my life, and more ice, so I'm cool with it .

Wow, that was a successful trip for the True Rep.

Those magnetic level tools are a huge pain In a high volume shop setting as they attract every speck of sharpening dust in a 12 foot radius.

Just took the plunge after being on Bauers since I was a kid. True's Pro Rep came over here to Qatar and did the fitting being a good friend of his is one of our goalies. Pretty excited about getting them, had my eye on them for awhile but since I was not going to be in Civilization anytime soon I never thought it would happen. 13 of us in the League over here will soon be sporting new wheels.

That's bullshit. You're not going to end up in the NHL, you're not going to get a college scholarship, you're ineligible for Juniors, and probably not going to the Olympics. You're at or just barely past peak muscle development (not that hockey is a game of purely muscles), and yes, you are beyond the age 10-13 window of peak skill development. Beyond that, it's pretty much up to you. Not that NW Montana is a hockey hotbed, but we have 250+ adult skaters in four league divisions. The top A division is full of people who played pro, semipro, D1-D3, and Juniors. The "less skilled" guys in the division played significant HS hockey. The B+ division below that is mostly people who played through HS, smaller colleges, and generally started as kids--and a couple of very skilled women--plus a few people who started as adults and have pushed themselves really hard over the past 6-8 years. The B division below that is full of the old (55-65+) guys who used to play higher divisions, but are slowing down; and a lot of people who started 6-10 years ago as adults. C division is all people who started as adults, from never-evers who started last year like Caihlen above, to people who have played 10+ years but never progressed beyond that stage. Could you learn enough in 4-6 months to play in this lowest recreational league? Fuck yes. I started only two years ago, at 38. I push myself hard, probably 60-70 times on the ice every year, pond skating, dropins, league, helping coach kids, and running an adult beginner skills course. I hope to get the nod to play B division if not this year next year. The bottom tier beer league is FULL of people who learned as adults, and it's a blast. Don't let the naysayers keep you from playing this awesome sport. If you truly want to play, fully commit yourself and push yourself. If you get into a novice/beginner/learn to play group, don't only learn there. Go to open skate and practice the skating skills you learned in class. Watch YouTube videos. Play pond hockey (12 year olds can humble you). Watch youth hockey games. It's hard to watch the NHL and relate as a beginner adult, but if you watch a skilled 10 year-old, you can visualize yourself doing those things. If you get on a league team, be a good teammate, don't borrow shin tape, bring beer to share, don't take long shifts, laugh if you fall down, stop if you knock someone else over, be receptive and appreciative to constructive criticism, and bring beer to share.

... just not because it is monoframe, is the point, but nice words catching

Roy Halladay