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The fact that almost every single person has highlighted a different "here is where to spend the most" proves that it's all personal preference. Don't buy the most expensive thing. Don't buy the least expensive thing. Do what makes you happy. You're gonna buy something you love and always return to, and buy something you hate and have to buy a new one of If you can, try things on in person and buy what is comfortable. If you can't try things on, find reasonable prices online and pray.

Was at stick and puck today and saw some guys wearing VH skates. One of them had their laces wrapped around the ankles, strangling the outside of the boot. I wanted to cry. :(

If it's an internet deal that seems too good to be true, jump on it immediately because it this Nigerian prince really does want to make you custom high end hockey sticks at a fraction of the price while simultaneous teaching you one weird trick to improve sex.

From my experience, blade flex and shaft flex are completely independent. Each stick brand, line, and price point has specific characteristics that make the blade stiffer or softer. I use junior sticks, almost all rated at 50 flex. For example CCM Supertacks 2.0 has a super stiff blade and hosel. Zero give on hard passes. Compared to my Alpha QX, when catching a hard pass, I can feel the stick flex. It's the same when I shoot. With something like my RBZ superfast, when I take a slapper, there's zero give, but if take a slapper with say with a QRL, I can feel the blade open up. Now those are the top end sticks from different lines. With something like say a QRL3 vs a QRL, because of materials and construction, the QRL 3 feels even softer in the blade than the QRL..

Common problem. Could be too much flex and/or the blade is too soft/broken down. From my experience, retail sticks (especially low end models) break down faster. The blade isn't necessarily broken, but the structure has broken down (lost its rigidity). Some people prefer a softer blade, for a better feel for the puck, but it comes at a cost of the blade over rotating. You'll probably feel this the most when taking slap shots or one timers. The blade will feel like it opens too soon or too much and the puck will just flutter off the blade. Here's a visible example of a blade (lower end model stick) that I had broke down after a mere 5 uses (you can see where the blade is flexing via the crease/crack lines): Image 1 Image 2 The shaft flex also plays a role in this as well. If the shaft flexes too much when receiving a pass, eventually the blade will close too much and come off the ice. Ideally, you shouldn't be using a stiffness that you can flex more than 1 to 2 inches. Beyond that, the flex diminishes the overall results. Here's a great video that demonstrates this effect with different types of objects when shooting (the reverse of this video's demonstration can be applied to accepting passes): Some retail and pro stock sticks have the option of a stiffer blade. The cost is that it'll be heavier, you'll lose puck feel, and it'll require more torque to shoot. For reference, I use about 105-107 flex sticks (85/87 flex cut down). If I use a 75/77 flex cut down to a 95/97 flex, I can feel the shaft and blade flex when taking passes. It becomes incredibly annoying, because the stick will act like a spring and shoot the puck back out if you don't catch it with extremely soft hands.

A young team got farther than even their coach expected in this series. They add a little veteran presence on the blue line and get another year older and they'll make a push next year. DeBrusk really showed something in this series.

What a crap ending to a great series.

My 2 cents. I finally upgraded a pile of my gear this year, did a lot of research, tried on a lot of different products to get the right stuff for me. Helmet - Buy brand new, not used. At least then you know there haven't been any dramatic impacts on the helmet. Whatever is most comfortable. I'll leave the visor vs. cage. vs. nothing debate alone. (I wear a visor). Shoulders - You can go fairly cheap here. One step up from the lowest price point should be more than adequate. Lots of stuff on sale. These should last you a long time. Elbows - Same as Shoulders. You don't need the top end stuff. I'd emphasize something that allows good movement, you don't want something way to bulky and limits mobility. Pants - The $100-$110 CAD price point to me offers the most value and best balance between protection and mobility. I found anything above this level cost more, added more but somewhat unnecessary protection, at the cost of mobilty. Skates - Starting off the price points one or two steps up from the lowest price point should be fine. If you keep playing these won't be your last pair. Sticks - Get a good composite one-piece. The best value IMO is pro-stock (if you can find the specs you want) or try to find a stick that is one price point below the top end, but one that is on sale. Even last years stuff if it's on sale. The lowest price point stuff is junk IMO from a performance stand-point. I own a pro-stock CCM Ultra Tacks and picked up a CCM Ribcore XT on sale (it's a low price point stick) for a back-up, same curve. The difference in performance is SIGNIFICANT. Gloves - This is an area I would spend some money. The comfort and fit between all the glove options out there is huge. If the gloves you find fit and feel the best cost a bit more than you were looking to spend, buy them. A poorly fit or uncomfortable glove will be noticeable when you play. I literally tried on every make/model/brand of glove last fall in search of a new pair of mitts. And when I put on the pair I eventually bought (Pro Stock CCM 4-roll IIs) I knew immediately they were the right pair for me. I wouldn't recommend the lowest end glove, just not enough protection IMO. I've seen a few broken hands lately from guys using the lowest end glove.

@mojo122 the channel size vary, small .75mm, medium 1.0mm, large 1.25mm Reduce hollow 20% for small channel ,25% for medium channel ,30% for large channel. For instance using 5/8ths as a current ROH Small Channel Z, Now sharpen 3/4 add small channel ,this will give the same feeling as 5/8ths Medium Channel Z , Now sharpen at 7/8ths add Medium channel ,this will give the same feeling as 5/8ths Large Channel Z , Now sharpen at 1" add large channel, this will give the same feeling as 5/8ths

I'm baffled as to why some people make it their mission to persuade/dissuade others on how they should spend their money based upon something they've never used... but I won't go down that avenue. Instead, I'll give a first-hand, unbiased, point-of-view about my experience with VH Footwear skates over the past 4 years. To abide by the forum rules, I won't turn this into a review, but instead an overview. To preface this post, I've never been paid, sponsored, endorsed(bribed), nor influenced in any way to use VH/True products; nor am I "fan-boy". The only reason I even heard about VH Footwear in the first place was from this very thread! To be brief, back in 2014, I became a coach/instructor/rink-rat at a local rink. As I spent more time at this place, I realized that having proper fitting skates was absolutely necessary when spending 6+ hours on the ice per day (getting all those blisters, sores, cuts, bruises, bunions... the whole gamut). Back in the early 2000's, Ice hockey in my city was somewhat of an up-and-coming sport. Vastly different from what it is today. So finding a local hockey shop that still had their doors open became a novelty (had 1 shop at the time that closed their doors shortly after I bought my first set of gear). Fast forward to 2014, and at that time, there are only two hockey shops in my city. A rather dumpy, tiny shop inside the local rink and a Hockey Giant down the street. During this time, I went on a spending spree trying to find a brand, model and size that fit my feet, starting from: CCM 1152 Tacks, 10.5D (had to double sock for these babies), Supreme TO 8.5D, Reebok 9K 8D (two pairs after I broke the first pair within a week), Reebok 20K 8D, Graf ??? 7R, Supreme NXG 7.5C (these gave me tailor bunions and were fitted by the small shop inside the rink--big mistake), and Supreme MX3 8D. Thousands of dollars wasted trying to find a fit that didn't leave me curdled up in the fetal position holding my feet after skating for a few hours. Fed up, I went to my local Hockey Giant and asked, "I'm looking to get some custom Bauer skates". An HG employee states, "Uhhhhhh... we'll have to call a rep for that and it can take anywhere from 3-6 months or longer before he'll be in town to fit you. And, uhhh, no guarantee he'll even show up". In a last ditch effort, I began researching online forums. This is where I stumbled upon an ever growing post about Dustin Byfuglien using some custom hockey skates by a guy named Scott Van Horne. I wasn't completely sold, and waited a few months before I saw other members skates/heard their experiences. I took the plunge, traced my feet, and bought a pair. When they came in the mail, I was initially a bit disappointed in the craftmanship and followed that up with my subsequent negative response (pics are broken, but it was a reference to a bad weld versus a good weld) among others. After some clean up with some scotch tape, they came out pretty sexy. After a year or so of usage, I developed a few issues with the skates: Rusty eyelets and instep peeling on the left boot. I wasn't too concerned about the instep, as there was still material underneath where it tore, but the eyelets and rivets needed some TLC. I took them to HG, where they attempted to install new eyelets, but within a few days they came loose; and by this time, the Velcro on the tongues were shot and I needed to glue them together (red dots illustrate where I had glued the two pieces together). The stiffness in the boot became too flimsy for my skating style and, to pile even more to the list of problems, the rivets that were replaced by the rink shop, popped out like popcorn as soon as I took a puck to the holder (I did, however, use some nuts and bolts, which remedied the problem; full breakdown posted after the fact). Unfortunately, after a year after purchasing, I realized it was just time for another pair of skates. By this time, VH had made some updates to their custom skates. They also made some updates to their pricing. They started to charge customers USD and CAD, despite only operating out of Canada. This left a bad taste in my mouth because they didn't operate nor have much of a presence within the US, nor pay US taxes (their reasoning was that some of their materials came from the US, therefore, it was their right to charge international customers USD). I said, "No." And stated I would no longer support/recommend this company nor its product (even had someone claim he was the VP of VH Footwear contact me, but who knows if that was real). As such, I vainly tried to buy their closest rival, the Easton Mako. Unfortunately, the Mako skates left my feet cold after about 30 minutes of skating (I'm told that's a sign of poor circulation -- not enough width). I also felt a fair bit of rubbing down the outside of the ankle that I just couldn't fix. I just had to sell them and move on to something else. So, I tried some Apx2 skates in a 6.5EE, but it felt too cramped in the toe area, and around this time the original 1X came out, so I tried a 7EE, but that felt too loose lengthwise. Seeing that I was heading down a path of buying one retail skate after another, like I did above (at this time, still only 2 hockey locations, the local rink that didn't carry EE and the local HG that had a very limited selection of EE -- so it was a fair bit of guessing), I reluctantly decided to give VH another try. As mentioned previously, along with the price updates, VH made some updates to their skates. Along came a thermo-modable plastic toecap, rust-resistant coated COPPER (not steel) eyelets, integrated shot blockers (for me, rigidity was what I was most excited about) and an enhanced metatarsal tongue. Pretty much all the issues I had faced earlier, were addressed with this new update. I ordered a pair with the new updates. First thing I immediately noticed was that the craftsmanship was vastly improved. I didn't have to take scotch tape to the outside of the boot to clean up the skates. They pretty much came looking sex-waxed and ready for war. However, no boot is perfect. I did have to tweak the sidewalls for more depth, trim the tongue near the toebox so that it'll lay flat across my foot, and lastly mocked up a tongue tab idea, sent it to VH and purchased new tongues with tabs because over my overpronation was causing the tongues to slide toward the outstep which was causing some discomfort. 3 years later and to this very day, I still use these skates and skate in them at least 3 times a week at about 2-3 hours per session. They've been rock solid skate after skate after skate. And here's what they look like today, flaws and all. But like all good things do, they eventually come to an end. The skates have lost some of their rigidity, the tongues are absolutely shot, from time to time, the lack of depth of the forefoot area numbs my toes (usually the result of over-cranking the laces), the rivets are super rusty and look like they're holding on for dear life (we have 3 hockey shops in the city -- local rink, Pure Hockey, and a small mom/pop shop -- and I guarantee that they will mess up the rivet replacements, so I may poke one of you shop guys with VH rivet replacement knowledge and have you replace when the time comes), and the Velcros are starting to lose their tackiness. Seeing that VH has been bought by True, I took the plunge and ordered a custom pair of True skates. I was fitted at Pure Hockey by one of the best managers I've ever dealt with (super attentive, answered all my Q's, and went above and beyond what I asked -- great customer service... just wow). My main reason for ordering new skates was that if these ever failed, I'd be up a liquid chocolate infused creek without a paddle -- at least now I would have something to fall back on. If it's the same folks that are behind my current VHs that are making the True skates, I expect nothing but good things. But, but... I'll hold judgement 'till I get some mileage with them...

Did a 13 year old from the PHEW Facebook group pick the name?

Without looking I'll just assume this is another "company" that can fill out an order sheet.

Thats the place to go in NYC

Westside Skate is apparently the skate mecca of NYC. https://westsideskate.com/ They're a True dealer.

Man, I remember watching an NHL player before practice, soak his feet in buckets of ice water for 15 mins so they'd shrink and fit into his custom made skates. I wont name the skates, but they rhymed with Sour Grapers.

Similar system, one change, better than TRUE because of that, but still not what the process could, or in @Nicholas G opinion, what it should be. It will NEVER be perfect out of the box! Further to my previous post, I was on the spot back in the day when Kor fitted Peter Forsberg. The skates were perfect; he didn't think so.

As the owner of custom Bauer skates I will echoe @JunkyardAthletic It took work to dial them in. Pain, punches and preserveareance. But the work was worth it and they are now far better than any retail skate could ever be. And I’d also bet, dollars to donuts, better than Trues.

I've been involved in pro hockey, in one way or another for 22 years. I post from professional experience in seeing these things first hand. Sure, opinions are like assholes; one is always bigger than another, however, NOTHING has changed with regards to custom skates. Ask Jeremy Roenick about his experience in LA with Easton skates and every skate rep being called at 11pm to be at the practice rink by 8am in order to fit him for skates. Your belief is that if you spend that kind of money, it should be perfect right out of the box. You'd think that would be the same whether you paid +$1000 or a NHL team paid $+900USD for the same. Unfortunately, there's a preconceived notion that custom skates should be PERFECT, and that's just not how it works. It certainly doesn't work with the TRUE brand fitting system and hate to say it, it will ALMOST work with the Bauer, but not 100%. I've seen one of the top NHL players IF NOT THE top NHL player receive skates from the company HE endorses and the skate was off! As a matter of fact, said player got the skates in last years playoffs and spent all of this season in last year's model skate (cue the Google searchers...LOL). I've seen a TRUE brand skate fitting. It is ANYTHING but perfect. I was invited to watch how it works and I wanted to kill myself after it was complete. It was that painful to watch and I felt bad for the fitter! What I came away with is that there's so much room for error just because of how the fitter has to move around. If TRUE had created a track with a tripod attached that the iPad could fit in and could slide around and capture all of the proper angles, I think that it would improve the fitting process and the final fit of the skate for the consumer. Would it be 100%, no, however, it might be closer than the "try and hold the iPad properly and walk around this poor bastard you're trying to fit, while making him/her stand in different poses to get the fit.