IPv6Freely

Awesome game tonight. Probably my best ever. We won 6-3 against the best team in the league. Everything seemed to go right for me. Even when I got in trouble I was able to scramble. Some saves where I just caught a piece with my toe, or a pretty big sequence in the second period where I had to make a leg, shoulder, then blocker save all from different directions. Even managed to kick out a partial breakaway even after had had me beat. Three goals: first a shot that went high glove. It was actually right over my shoulder which made actually getting my glove into place difficult. I should have had it but just couldn't get the glove up in time. Second goal was a great cross crease pass that I just couldn't get across on. He just barely snuck it in past my outstretched leg. I correctly read the pass but just couldn't get over in time. Third goal was just a mess. Guys got knocked over in the circles, and somehow it was a 3-on-0 in the slot and in front of the net. Tic-tac-toe and in. Maybe I could have stopped that but they did a good job of a making a quick passing play. Overall, extremely happy with the game. Oh, and this one was a great win on a personal level too. They had a sub goalie who turned out to be the guy who played goal for the first hockey team I ever played on. The last time he saw me was about 5 years ago and I could still barely skate. Felt good in a "hey, remember me?" kind of way. He's a great guy though and an awesome goalie. Also, I'm now leading the league in GAA, SV% and Wins.

Put my custom SIDAS insoles into my VH skates tonight (along with the red insole). Much better. Still a little sore, but I'm guessing that's just because it wasn't fully healed up from last week yet. Nowhere near the pain I had after last week. I'm now confident that the yellow insole was the issue.

Al Molinaro http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/31/entertainment/happy-days-star-al-molinaro-dies/ Honestly I was shocked that he was still alive until now. He wasn't exactly young in Happy Days.

All Blacks 2015 RWC champs!

I use those same laces in my Makos. For my VH I use what I USED to use in my Makos, the Sport Mate unwaxed gorilla laces. But I don't need laces with a lot of grip in my VH since there's so much wrap I barely have to tighten them anyway.

Been eyeing these for a while. Prohockeystock had them so I went for it. They're not bad but a bit stiff. Can tell they'll need some breaking in.

Gorgeous! The Nexus is one of the best looking skates on the market and these look fantastic.

Facebook just informed me that it was one year ago today that I put on goalie pads for the first time. Time flies! Just wish I had more time to actually try to get better.

Pretty good game last night. Won 6-3. I got scored on in the first 12 seconds, and then in the last 9 seconds. First goal was off the first rush. Simple wrister that hit my stick paddle and I was expecting to hear the puck hitting the boards or glass behind me as I thought I got enough of it. When I heard no sound my heart sank. Unfortunately it had apparently trickled into the net behind me. Crap. Second goal I knew I messed up the moment it went in. I've been trying to work on staying square to the puck rather than the shooter, and unfortunately on the second goal I did that pretty well but also kind of lost my net and the angle in the process. Shot it far side over my glove from a not great angle. Last goal was kind of crap. This asshat on their team, down 6-2, decided to wind up and fire a high slapper from the top of the circle that hit our d-man right in the chest/shoulder. Our guy managed to get to the bench, and meanwhile I was yelling at the guy for going high in a 6-2 game. 15 seconds later he comes into our end and does it again, this time keeping it down just enough for it to sneak under the cross bar on my blocker side. Whatever. I should have stayed focused but I was pretty angry. Otherwise I wasn't super busy. The D was great and always seemed to be there to clear it if I got into trouble. Mostly happy with the game.

Hmm. Changing the insoles is definitely a first step. Maybe I should try putting my custom SIDAS in there. I hadn't bothered because I had no problem with the stock VH until recently. Thanks!

I'm having a major issue with my skates. I'm getting significant pain on the balls of my right foot, specifically just below the big toe. It's at a point now where it hurts like hell to bend my toe, making it painful just to walk. I didn't think it was the skates, but it had almost started feeling better again until I played last night. I have absolutely no idea what to even look at or try. I did notice there's a lot of front to back movement of the yellow insole because the toe of it seems to have curled upward. I wonder if that's causing my foot to jam forward or something? I'm confused by that as I never lose my great heel lock.

Looks like I forgot to post last week's pickup video (I didn't get to play this week as I'm out of town). I'm pretty happy with my play last week. A few stinkers went in, but that's par for the course in a pickup game generally. We actually had the crappy nets out, so a couple of the goals actually went right through the net. Pretty funny. We also had some kid out there who I think was part of the Jr Gulls (now Wildcats, I think?) practice before our pickup. I think somebody may have asked him to play because we were short. You can't miss him... #6 in white. You know, the guy who skates around everyone. Check out the "poke check" aka "throwing my goalie stick at the puck" that actually saved a goal! hahaha He beat me once glove side on a shot that I think I should have had. The play at 0:56 where my own D-man banked it in off me. I never saw it. I felt it on the back of the leg and assumed it was the other team that had done it. I didn't know it was my own man until I saw the video! haha Had a nice windmill at 6:45. Those are always fun! hahaha

If you use 3rd party footbeds I'd recommend you try them with the red insole still in, or else you're going to create volume in the skate. When I got my VH I tried pulling out both the red and yellow insoles and putting my Superfeet in and it was WAY too much room in my toe box. Put the red back in and it felt much better. Though I ended up going back to using the stock footbeds. They're mostly good, they just seem a bit too wide in the heel... I need to trim them.

Yea, I had my liner rip. I'm not 100% why it happened exactly, but It wasn't during the molding process. I think I just didn't open up the top enough after baking and tried shoving my foot in too forcefully the first time I wore them on the ice. See pictures a couple pages back in this thread.

All good now?

The funny thing is that since they're a raquetball glove, there was ONE SINGLE left hand glove, and it happened to be my size. I thought about one under my blocker, but I don't have nearly as much of an issue there. I love subbing in higher divisions. Having some actual structure and (usually) some guys who know how to play defence makes a ton of difference. Tends to be less bullshit goals, too. Though I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be in a D4 game until I get my new pads. I feel everything with my current entry-level blocker and had a pretty bad bruise on my thumb last week from a slapshot that caught me the wrong way. Speaking of new pads... ordering these soon. I wanted Gnetik Pro II but the exchange rate makes these such a great deal right now. I wouldn't even consider them if they didn't have their Smart Strap clone, though.

Won tonight 6-2. First goal against was a wraparound attempt that I stopped twice, then covered it with my glove and they kept poking and it went in. I guess the ref didn't see that I had it covered? I was shocked when they went to center after the whistle. Second goal against was in the last two minutes. Their best player just sniped me blocker side. Hell of a shot, can't get too down on myself for that one. Otherwise, I played pretty well and so did my team in front of me. We only had 8 guys, they had a full bench. Stopped 36 of 38 shots. Probably 10+ of them were glove saves... which brings me to the next point. This was my first game wearing a glove under my catcher. WOW what a difference! I tried on baseball batting gloves, golf gloves, football QB gloves, just looking for something thin but grippy. Actually settled on a racquetball glove, of all things. It could not have been any more perfect. Great ventilation, fantastic grip. No more pushing my glove onto my hand the entire game. I think I'll be doing this permanently. Finally, I'm now leading our league in GAA and SV% which is pretty cool since it's a division up from where I was last season.

I saw it, but my buying of tape/laces/etc is so sporadic it's not worth it for me.

I'm talking constantly, even more so in our own end. The D needs to know how much time they have with the puck and if anyone is closing in on them, etc. Being vocal is crucial. I expect the same of my teammates, so I know if I need to "squeeze" (if I have it but not sure) or "loose" so I know I'm in trouble, as well as what to do with it when I stop it behind the net. Communication is so incredibly important!

I can definitely get them on without it, it's just easier because of how tight a fit it is.

Yup exactly. And I actually now use the shoe horn every time I put my skates on.

Fixed the video link.

Great segment on the new VH goalie skates without cowlings.

Wow. ROFLMAO. Amazing.

Hah, funny! I'm just happy the baseball gods made things right!