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Sounds like you have at least two stores near you. The store with the Bauer scanner and the one without. Go and try on a ton of skates. Seems like you need to figure out what size skate you wear and what boot shape best fits your foot. You’re all over the place with sizing. Do you have access to a store with staff who are skilled at fitting skates? Go and have them help you get your size and shape dialed in. You’ve already made a 1k+ mistake. If you don’t have a local store you trust, spend some time and money driving to one you do trust. Buying skates blind off of the internet, especially customs that may have some weird stuff going on, is just throwing more money around that may or may not work.

Kucherov changed to Jetspeed skates.

Also keep in mind that with ls2 holders you generally want to drill a hole in the rear of the boot to access the bolt to swap the steel unless you want to remove the holders every time you switch steel.

That's a fine jersey -- it's thin, so if you're in a cold rink make sure you wear something warm under it. For elbow pads, player pads are going to be very bulky, regardless of the sweater you choose. If you're just starting out reffing, you'd be better served by wearing volleyball knee pads as elbows. I did 9 years in the ECHL and AHL wearing soft foam elbow pads.

I did iterations of the “retail custom” MIC skates in the FT2, FT4 and FT6, had great experiences with all three. The fit and customization was great. As long as you’re committing to that, definitely find the most reputable shop close to you, and you should do fine.

I'd go 1/2 size smaller than whatever you are in the Nexus (assuming the Nexus fit you well). I have a wide forefoot, narrow heel. TFs fit me great. But I wouldn't count the newer Trues out just yet. Again - very moldable. I haven't tried them, so maybe someone who has can weigh in on the fit with a wide foot.

I have never skated on cobras but do still have several pairs of Makos with CXNs. the Lightspeed, Edge and Power Fly holders are not the same pitch as CXN with the Es4 steel when on the mako boot. I’ve spent hundreds of $$ on profiling trying to get the right feel and always end up back in the CXNs.

I only skated on Makos once and the pitch reminded me a lot of being on Cobras. It just feels so much better for me to have that pitch. Even though Bauer’s holders from LS2 on are supposed to be as pitched as Cobra and stock Graf steel it still feels off to me, too far back.

This is awesome. I’ve been having my steel pitched forward since the mid 90s. The CXN holder and stock steel has been the closest I have found without having to adjust the steel and when I can find them always put on my boots. The measurements and diagrams are very cool to see.

When he was working at a different shop before he had his own thing, he put inline chasis on a pair of ice skates for me, so essentially a holder swap. It’s been 12 or so years and I barely use them, but he did a good job. In all of my experiences with him, both mailing steel and in person, he has really good attention to detail, so I’d personally trust him.

I just ordered a set to try out after seeing the discounted price and refunded mounting offer. Got them last week, mounted them and picked them up this morning. Unfortunately the shop butchered the mount job and one holder is off center. My next ice time is Tuesday night, so I'm hoping it's fixable before then. I'll update on my first impressions if it can be resolved by then.

Today we actually tried on a pair of 13” Jetspeed ft680’s.. And they are actually even narrower than Warrior alpha shins. So going with Jetspeed shins might be a very good suggestion if not the Sr sizes are much wider. The store we were at did not have any 14” shins in stock at all, so..

No, no. Just trying to find a pair below retail

Can you elaborate a bit on the Vapor outsole and pitch?

While I didn't know Anthony personally, he was always a pleasure to speak with on the forum. My condolences to you and your family

Not sure why that came across salty, I was just trying to explain my original point that if you got 15 years out of a set of bearings you most likely didn't use them outside.

I personally never liked the open shield set up, skate on a dirty rink and the dirt always seems to get into the bearings. I prefer the Swiss setup with a rubber inner shield, removing the rubber shield is dead easy and it keeps the bearings clean for longer.

Some people have the opinion that there are differences in bearings but they would not be relevant as long as they are not defective. If a wheel spins 15-20 seconds without making a noise the bearings should be ok. The spinning time tells nothing about the behavior under load. A not serviceable bearing has grease as a lubricant needing to run in for about 50km and should be warm. A serviceable oil-lubricated bearing needs almost no running in time and spins better but has to be serviced! High quality bearings (100% european/us/japan made) should have a longer livetime and can make a difference for competitive long distance speedskating. But for inlinehockey the bearings have to stand the lateral stress caused by stopping and the sudden change of directions. So high quality low ABEC/ILQ bearings could do it better than more expensive midprice highend-bearings. I had the chance to get some greased SKF-ABEC5-skate-bearings (german manufacturer, 18 euro/16 bearings, online auction) and they are going into second season outside-hockey two to three times a week without any service. But there is a big noticeable difference if you have high quality wheels beeing optimzied for your skating-style, weight, skating-surface and even the temperature of your rink. So spend your money for wheels and not for bearings.