Jason Harris

Greg Beaudin: greg@modernhockey.com

I'll try to compare the 46 with a Shanny next time I'm at the shop. My friend was busy sharpening, so he didn't have a lot of time to help, and the sad truth is I'm not the most knowledgeable about other blades.

Actually, I have the TF Evolutions with 44 curve in stock. Ask your LHS to call me.

Actually, Mike, I like your gumption. You remind me of myself when I was your age, although with a bit more savoir- faire! ;)

I'm comparing the 44 and 46 right now, and their lies are different. The 46 would be more vertical. To tell the truth, I'm now confused what lie that would make it.

Cheechoo, I brought our blades to my friend's shop tonight to compare with other models. Some of our curves might be a smidge different, but basically they are the following blades: Curve 11: Sakic Curve 12: Recchi with round toe Curve 21: Modano Curve 44: Drury with a smidge less twist Curve 46: Basically a square Sakic w/ a 5 lie and flatter opening 1/3 in from the toe (I mean the Sakic twists more while it opens.) Curve 51: Lidstrom Does anyone understand what I mean about Curve 46 and whether that describes a "name" curve?

Mike, I've asked him twice, but I've never received an answer and then the conversation changed. I'll try to remember to ask again the next time I talk with him

Sascha, Contact Christian Groß at create-sports@aon.at. His company is the distributor for Austria, Germany and Switzerland. He brought along his German salesmen to the Boston tradeshow, and they said they're starting to gain momentum in getting more shops to carry the products. I also met Hoppe -- what a character! -- and he said he's carrying Salming sticks in his shops. By the way, the TF Precision is a new model for 0607, so I don't think you'll see it until around July.

Echi24, check Salming Canada. I think he had three stores in the Toronto area.

whbd18, we can create the PG1 in any color combo with 12 or more ordered. It would take about three months including shipping, and it adds about $10 to $15 to the cost depending on volume. Jason, can you do the new Evolution Pro in any color combo just single orders? Or are single orders possible? How much will that glove MRSP for? Mike, I believe the Evolution Pro is being made at the same factory, so I'm assuming the same minimum will apply on custom orders, but I'll have to confirm with Sweden. The only way I could see getting custom colors on one pair is by luck. What I mean is another organization would have had to have bought gloves in the colors you like, and I would have had to have bought extras because I thought they would sell. Otherwise, I'd possibly have 11 extras to move in colors that might not work in the markets where we have stores. We're just not of a size yet to be able to do that. The MSRP on the Evolution Pro will be $115 in the US.

Cheechoo, I think the catalogue may be incorrect on the curve descriptions. We held a TF Evolution 44 curve next to a Drury and it was an exact match. It's possible Sweden changed around the numbering system, but I don't think they would have. I'm coaching tonight so l'll try to compare the two blades against other blades at the shop. The Evolution came down slightly to $185, while the Precision will be $199. The problem is oil is used in the production of graphite, so prices on the wholesale level have risen the past two years. Regarding availability, you probably won't see the equipment until around July. And even that is contingent on gently persuading your LHS that they should carry the products. :)

Patrick, have you held an Evolution OPS yet? Two surfaces are avialable on both the OPS and shaft -- either a smooth finish (almost a low level grip) or a sandpaper finish. I'm not sure what the shaft weighs, but my box just arrived back from the show, so I'll try to get it onto a scale that measures grams. I don't know what price the track suits are in Scandanavia, but feedback I've received from retailers in the States is they are among the best value on the market for a suit. MSRP in the US is $65 for senior and $50 for junior, which is pretty good for both pieces, considering the quality of materials. We wear them for coaching, but bear in mind they are somewhat lightweight -- just a bit heavier than a windbreaker.

Thanks, Logan. Sorry for never getting back to you on your feedback, but I became busy preparing for the tradeshow. In any event, your opinions were quite insightful -- certainly on a level I had never really considered. Greg Beaudin, Rikard and Borje met with National Sports in early November during the Induction Weekend. Unfortunately, National orders a lot earlier than smaller shops do, because they said they had already ordered for 2006. Apparently, we'll need to meet with them in September this year for them to carry the products in 2007.

whbd18, we can create the PG1 in any color combo with 12 or more ordered. It would take about three months including shipping, and it adds about $10 to $15 to the cost depending on volume.

What I found interesting at the tradeshow was some some people liked the Precision better while others liked the Evolution. Even though the Precision weighs 30 grams less, it wasn't as though everyone gravitated to it solely because it was lighter. I'd hand the Precision to people as they were walking by and they'd say, "That's a nice stick." Then I'd hand the Evolution and maybe as many as 40% would say, "Wow, I like that better." I think the whole Different Strokes cliche really applies to the stick world.

Thanks, JR! This is actually an interim catalogue, because a couple of the products arrived too late to be included in photos -- they're only in artwork form in the brochure. I can post the photos of those products once I figure how to provide good lighting for my digital camera.... Also, it takes forwever to load, so you may want to browse in another window, then come back.

Our F1's at $150 (less to MSH members). I guarantee you will not find a better value unless it had been sitting under your Xmas tree -- their MSRP was $280.

This is probably my favorite photo, taken about two years ago....and it doesn't even have Salming gear! :P

Good ol' Nifty, Rick Middleton, had flowing blonde locks. He had great balance, also; he'd jump over a player's stick and keep in stride.

I edited the post to take out brand names. Do I slide out of the gray area now?

It's been so long since I've seen him that I'm forgetting his style, but I'm sure Orr would have to fit into the "effortless" category. Except when he's flying through the air to your left..... ;)

Okay, JR, I understand what you're saying. Feel free to delete my response. By the way, I've never seen that Code of Conduct link, yet I've gone into the "Front Office." Where is it located? Jason

My wife wouldn't recognize that description.... :D

Thanks for the compliments, Sniper. Unfortunately we're not in a lot of stores yet. The Canadian distributor and I are working on it, but we don't have an extensive rep network yet. My website is Salming USA, which is being updated this week to match the website of the parent company, Salming Sweden. You can visit either website. Until mine is updated, it shows the 2004 products and colors, while Sweden's shows the 2005 products. None of them show MSRP's however. Regarding how they compare to Synergys, etc., I'd say we've tried to set our MSRP to be lower than sticks of comparable quality, although a lot of the time sticks can be found on sale far below their MSRP. Among the best compliments came from Joe with Oggie Grip. He came by my booth as I was packing up at the Vegas show and introduced himself. He told me about his grips and said he was looking for a stick manufacturer that could help provide him with sticks for his demo days. I only had a few sticks at the show, so I think I gave him 1 G1 and 2 TF1's. About two weeks later he called to leave a message on the machine. He said he had never heard of Salming before the show, but he wanted to let me know that he had retired his stick which is a leading seller since he liked the G1 better. That was a good start to the day! (In return, you may have read the posts and realize I love the Oggie Grip.....) Fire away if you have any more questions. Jason I edited the post to take out brand names. JR brought to my attention that I was getting into a gray area.

Thank you. Hey, I had posted the following in the Ice Hockey Forum, but maybe I should have posted it here: "JR was kind enough to upload our 2005 catalogue yesterday, but I think I may have sent him a file that's too large. I scanned the catalogue, then placed those pages into one PDF file, but it's taking forever to load. It seems obvious I need to make the file smaller. Since I still have the orginal scans on my computer, I have a question for any computer whizzes out there. What settings would you suggest I use on the JPEG and PDF to still be legible for people to peruse the catalogue. Or could it be that the entire catalogue has too many pages and multiple files be better? Thanks, Jason" Any suggestions?