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I have been the biggest fan of ModSquadHockey since day 1. I came over from Corebeam. I loved visiting this site...finding out about the latest gear and talking with other fanatics while getting expert insight into the little details we all care about. This week Bauer officially debuted their new Supreme skate and CCM released the new Tacks skate and helmet. I came over here to read reactions...crickets. What has happened? Is the market stagnant and no one cares anymore? There hasn't been a product review in a year and a half or a new catalog in over 2 years. What does the community see as the future here? Sorry if this is posted in the wrong section

The reason for the perceived "slow down" on MSH these last few months is because nobody is playing or watching hockey right now. Nobody has seen anything to get excited about. On top of that, for many people hockey is extremely far down the list of priorities as they deal with the pandemic, home offices and home schooling, work uncertainty, and unemployment through no fault of their own with no end in sight. I am one of the lucky ones that can work from home and doesn't have to deal with educating children or caring for older relatives. Many don't have that same luxury so we'll have to excuse them if they aren't doing cartwheels over the latest Bauer reveal. The broader topic of less catalog reviews and the like is due to the shift in the industry. With manufacturers taking a firmer hold on when and how their new product is dropped, there is less opportunity for pre-launch buzz. MSH enjoys a positive relationship with the manufacturers and isn't about to jeopardize that. With their embracing of social media, manufacturers want to control their message and timing of information and MSH respects that.

Thanks, Man...much appreciated.

I can't see adult players getting that excited about equipment unless you play enough to actually wear gear out. I'm on here because I have a child that normally plays eleven months a year. We really go through the equipment. I'm almost always buying top of the line gear but it's never current model. We broke a 1N and 1S sticks this past winter and went from size 4.5 1S skates in October, to 5.5 2S Pros in December. Now we suddenly have ice, both teams we're involved with are practicing, and I'm scrambling for I think 7.5 or size 8 skates! So to me the equipment cost is really a big concern. I still can't go out and buy new top of the line skates even at the second mark down. But hey, we just bought a new 2S Pro stick for $125. I guess stuff is so expensive now I feel like I got a great deal. I've never bought any pro stock equipment. As far as skates go, I avoid it on purpose. Too hard to know what you're getting.

Can I get my new Bauer skates with a P91 Curve on the Tendon Guard instead of the P28 curve pictured?

When everyone gets back to the rinks I imagine it'll have a direct impact on the volume of discussion here. Personally, I've been looking more at inline and ABS blade info lately, strictly due to circumstances. Focus is on off ice training/practice opportunities and that doesn't need much in terms of the usual on ice equipment. I'm using my Sparx beer koozies daily, but my sharpener not so much 🙂

The message from Dark Star is about shields and Covid. Placebo or not, DS is getting word that people of snapping them up thinking they will be better protection than a cage.

That's not related to what this post is about. 🙂

Given that there will be no new FFS from Bauer this season, I thought it was in the public interest to share the information for those thinking of moving from wire to a bubble. I think you may have misunderstood my post. 🙂

My thoughts as someone who is in product development and plays and has a young son playing. -The “innovation” is so incremental in many areas as to be meaningless. -They still haven't nailed the skate fit problem. It is confusing to consumers and the weak link is the value chain, store employees often don’t know what they are talking about. At the same store my son got fit by someone who knew what he was doing while I got the dunce. -Too few brands honestly, it makes things less interesting to me. You get similar design language from the big players in all their stuff. I remember when there were still a lot of other players listed in the Great Skate, Ocean, Kemps, etc catalogs.

I agree with all of this. As player who also owns multiple hockey stores and also does team sales I think we have hit a point where the only innovations are decreases in weight. The problem is the materials they are incorporating to decrease weight by such a very minimal margin are also making equipment less durable and more costly. The good news is that the second or third from the top price points are now just as good as the top of the line product from a year or two ago. So anyone thats not playing at a ridiculously high level no longer needs to buy top of the line sticks and such to get a high quality product. For example, the new AS3 skate is very nice and I don't see many people wanting to spend the money on an AS3 Pro unless they are wanting to go custom. Otherwise it seems like a poor investment, unless you are getting it for cost, your team is paying for it, or you have money laying around and want to waste it. I think other companies such as TRUE are also recognizing this as well with their retail strategy. Lastly, the market has been flooded with pro stock items so even if you want to go with a top of the line product you can usually find it the very same thing in pro stock with equal or better specifications for significantly less than retail. There is an equipment manager for a WHL team that sells a ton of stuff on the side and he has made my life miserable for some time now. Why would anyone spend $250 on a top of the line stick when they can get the same stick in a pro stock model from him for $100?

To be fair - gear has stagnated completely and either innovation is at an all time low, or we’ve reached a point of diminishing returns on currently available materials. I have a hard time getting excited about CCM moving their logo from the bottom of the Ribcore shaft to the top, or Bauer adding different pops of chrome every year and calling it a new stick. Protective hasn’t really gone anywhere in about 8 years since the CL line released and skates, aside from steel/holder enhancements haven’t really gone anywhere aside from perhaps better baking results. We’ve also seen a decline in unique products. We’ve been P92/P28/P88’ed to death and quirky stuff like custom Franchise gloves have completely disappeared. Did I also mention that all of this stuff has been increasing in price at an absurd rate? It’s hard to generate buzz when there is nothing to buzz about. /rant.