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My buddy was nice enough to get some pics of me at a private pickup last week. Not bad for his first time shooting hockey!

a few members helped make these happen. True/VH boots, LightSpeed holders with Step BlackSteel. Replaced the tendon rivets with bolts, and rivets with MLX screw system

There's a sweet spot between being low enough to help out defensively in the rest of the zone and so low that it leaves too much space. It's the same idea as you can't cover everything, so give them the safer space and take away the dangerous space. Defense is about making decisions and trade-offs. I'd say the right place for a wing in beer league is about the top of the circle, in line with the dot lane. From out near the blue line, a shot is a pretty low percentage play (without a screen or deflection). You definitely don't want to be over focusing a low danger play. But, you don't want the point guy to be able to walk low enough to be in the house and a much higher percentage area, so you still need to be close enough to defend that. At the top of the circle, the wing is low enough down to stop walk outs and curls and make breakouts easier, and close enough to the point to keep the defenseman from walking in.

I wasn't disagreeing, sorry if it wasn't clear. I was agreeing, just following up for the OP and adding some more depth.

In the immortal words of Stephen Hawking...Space here I come. Thank you from humanity for everything you did.

What is this talk of Generation 4? Is the current skate then considered Generation 3? Perhaps it’s exclusive to goalie skates?

That. And they're typically more concerned with getting sticks/skates/bodies in passing lanes. At least, they should be. There are always exceptions, but I coach most teams to give the strong side point the boards as far down as the hash-marks and concentrate on taking away his passing lanes. If you're defending the passing lanes correctly, you can almost always get to the shooting lane as well; AND unless said defenseman is an exceptionally skilled shooter, he's not going to do any damage from out there, anyway. Presuming the angle is played correctly, they're almost always forced to dump the puck in the corner and get back to their positions. Gotta be careful not to let them get too low, though, because a savvy winger/center can trigger a low-to-high cycle which can be tricky to defend. Ahhhhh...the classic "Here, let me tell you how to do your job, while I neglect mine." It never gets old...