fatwabbit

JR, I havent been back here for some time as I've had to unofficially hang up my skates last year. Sorry to hear about whats going on, and no one will know what is going through your mind. I hope and pray that you continue to keep strong and be there for your family. Kev in Brisbane.

Got a message from my parents on 31 Dec, that my grandmother had passed away. She was 95. That was the last day she was going to spend at the old folks home. My parents were going to move her to a hospice the following week so that she could receive more specialised care. The doctors had already thought that she had another year max to live, but her health was deteriorating fast. The last time I saw her, in my heart I felt that it would be the last time I would see her. She didnt recognise me then, and wasnt answering any of the questions I had asked her. I live in Australia, while my parents and her are in Singapore. I wanted to fly back, but my dad told me that her wish was for her grandchildren like myself to not return as it was a big inconvenience. Yesterday was Day 7 after her passing, and in the Asian culture (and I think others as well) there are beliefs that the recently passed would always try to communicate with you. I got a message from my mum that a large brown and white moth had landed in her balcony. And to which I recalled seeing a brown and white butterfly in our yard yesterday.... and we never have butterflies in our yard. I remember it flying around me a couple times before flying off. When I told my wife about the picture my mum sent me of the moth, my wife said she had also seen a brown and white butterfly in the garden at church (two blocks away). I told a colleague of mine about it, and she told me that these things happen, where the recently passed tries to tell those they have left behind that they are loved. And she also told me that I didnt have to fly to Singapore, as my granny flew to me instead. RIP Mama... I love you.

42 here, and game time is normally Sunday evenings. Lunch is normally some Asian spicy food depending on what the wife wants to eat. She's very petite (4'11 vs my 6' frame) so she doesnt eat much. I normally just finish what she cant eat. 1.5 hours before the game I might have a PB&J, otherwise its just a choc bar or banana, and plenty of water in the car to the rink. Edit. Forgot to mention that my team is part-sponsored by a place that does fried chicken. So if we have an early game, we convene at the joint to partake in some beer and wings.

Try getting checked 50% of the time... not the random drug swipe that they do at the airport, but having to wait 15-30 min while they check your passport details and verify that you dont have any outstanding warrants of arrests. Found out that someone else has the same name as me, and apparently he isnt the model citizen that I am.

They served their purpose. My son's school puts everything on the Google platform (calendar, work assignments etc) so it works. Cost less than half of what a typical laptop would have cost, and so far lasted 2.5 years. Its on its last legs, but at least my son is making use of it.

Got a call like that the other night, inconsistency in the refereeing. I was on the blue line against the boards to prevent a wraparound. Puck did in fact get wrapped around although weakly. I took maybe one step towards the puck and touched it first. This other guy was coming around from the bottom of the faceoff circle and was really pumping to get to the puck. I kept it in the zone, and saw him coming... just lowered myself bracing for the impact. This guy ends up on his ass, and I get called for the penalty for body checking. I told the ref that it was a BS call, and she said "it was a clean hit, but in this league we have to give a penalty for a body check". I told her that the guy ran into me, and that he was the one that was going at speed. I mean how much speed can i generate from one push. Still got the 2 min... the coach on our bench went nuts.

Background: Played inline hockey for about 16 years (up to State and Nationals), took a 3+ year hiatus with kids, and then got back to playing Ice Hockey (C Grade & Beer League) last year. Went from Gear-obsessed player to now part-time gear whore. Previous gloves are too numerous to list, but have used the top end offering of each of the various product lines for a large number of different manufacturers. Most recently my gloves were a Warrior QR1 before switching to the STX Stallion 500. I also have a pair of STX Surgeon 500, and both pairs of STX were 14". With previous gloves, if the gloves were too snug, I would have cut away the internal padding. Fit: I'm normally a 4-roll glove user, as I prefer a looser fitting glove. The Surgeon 500 gloves were too snug and were cast aside very quickly. The Stallions were an awesome fit from the start, marketed as a tapered finger fit to a wider back of the hand fit.... There was no limitation for wrist movement, and gave me very good mobility. The fingers did not feel any restriction nor snugness, I've been practicing circling around and quick turns on my weaker side for the past few weeks (top hand going under) and these do not hinder any movement. 10/10 Protection: The protection on these gloves are excellent, and I've tried using my stick to hit the back of my hand and have not really felt anything. I've played about a dozen or so games with the gloves and have taken hacks and slashes to the back of the glove, and so far they continue to provide me excellent protection. One point to note is during one play, I was tripped pretty badly and landed on the thumb of my right hand. While it was sore, the hyper-lock did its job and prevented hyper extending my thumb. Point to note that I also took a inline slapshot off that same thumb before and protection of the gloves then also prevented injury. 10/10 Weight: Very lightweight gloves, have not actually weighed them myself. However due to the material of the palm it tends to absorb quite a fair amount of moisture during the game (both sweat and water). They dont feel waterlogged, but noticeably heavier as the game progresses 8/10 Durability: No complaints about durability at this stage. Gloves have seen about a dozen games, and more than a dozen drop-ins and training sessions. No piling of the material, and I've used sticks with both Tacki-macs and standard cloth tape. There were a few stray strands of thread, but no damage after cutting those off. 9/10 Intangibles: Nothing flash about these gloves. They get the job done, and I do feel more reassured that the protection of these gloves are excellent. Maybe its a psychological thing, but I value protection over performance. 8/10 Conclusion: Excellent pair of gloves, I was a little skeptical trying out STX especially without the distribution network in this part of the world. These have performed well, and considering the injury I potentially could have sustained when i fell heavily on my thumb, they have given me reassurance to keep using them. 45/50

I normally modify my shin pads, as I wear knee braces under both shin pads. I've currently got some old Jofa 9060 shin pads, and had to some of the liner to get my knee braces to fit. I have a pair of Farrell pads (jock?), that had additional padding in the thigh area. I unstitched the padding, and then used some velcro to stick it to the area where its supposed to cradle your knee. I think its provided additional padding, if thats what you are looking for.

Team I've been on for this first year of ice has just started our summer league. Most of the players are the same and the group is really starting to gel together. We've implemented a short shift strategy, and ironed out a couple of issues we had during the pre-season that is starting to work our way We played against the reigning champions, and played an awesome game. For a C grade team, I think we used the boards well, passes were tape to tape for periods of time, and we had plenty of chances to score. One play we had a quick break out, and then 4-5 passes before our newest guy that we pulled up from D grade just ripped a wrister that just rang off the post. Our youngest player got a goal, and even I tallied on from the blue line. Still buzzing, and even after the game we were chatting and having a good laugh with some of the other team guys. Some of us started playing this year, and its just a good feel between the teams... hard fought games that end with handshakes, pats on the back and good chatter. Beers in the carpark just top it off after that. One thing though, someone took a video of one of the 'scuffles' during the game, and I was in the video that was posted... never realised my ass looked that big!

Went to drop in last night, played on the same line with a good team mate of mine. While the night started off with two of the know-it-alls trying to tell me how to play my game, the ref/coach asked me in the carpark "how come you dont play in the B grade? You've got the hands and skating, maybe you should try playing up a level". I told him that it was my first year playing ice, after swapping from inline. He added that my skating isnt like a typical inline playing, but looks more fluid. Happy that all that additional focus I've been putting into my skating to get the right stride etc has started to pay off.

Try this thread. I took pics and did a run down of what I did with my last conversion (years ago)

Gotta love how people on MSH look out for each other.

In the past few weeks, I had sold all my spares sticks, shafts and blades, along with some other gear. Thought I needed to update what I had and am happy with the purchases I made. I ended up with only two sticks left, both which I brought to the Sunday night game. I have two of the same make, just different model. Been using the lower end model as its a lower flex, but decided to use the higher end model this game. I bought the higher end model about 3 months ago, but could not get it immediately due to me being in Australia. Had to ship it to a buddy in the US, who then had to resend it to me in Australia... Total time with this stick is about 10 min of ice time. Warm up was great, stick really crisp and pucks hitting top corners with some zip. Played about 3 shifts with it, really controlling it well. Blocked a slapper with the shaft, and I think the puck really struck the shaft dead on. 2 shifts later I got the puck and was about to do a snapper... and snapped the shaft about 1/3 from the top. It was a really weird spot for the stick to snap there, and everyone on my team said 'wtf'. Not happy that the stick broke with only about 10min of ice time with it. I thought it had really good feel and good zip off the blade. Dont think it can go on warranty because its about 3months since purchase, but obviously didnt get any usage during shipping time within the US and to me in Australia.

Get some plastic tubs/boxes, and a couple of drying racks. Believe me you can hoard a LOT of gear without people knowing, as long as you keep the 'spare' stuff outta sight. At one stage I had over 50 sticks/shafts, but because I had it neatly packed in a corner the wife didnt say anything. I also bought about 8 really solid plastic boxes, the type that has interlocking lids. Bought 8 of them, and when the wife asked why so many, I told her it was to help the kids organise their rooms... 2 went into their rooms, and the other 6 used to store my gear. Or it could be my OCD...