IPv6Freely

I bought those at one point (along with others... the Reactors, and some Vaughns if I recall) and they stayed up thanks to the garter clips (a must-have IMO) but I remember them feeling exceptionally bulky. I ended up going with http://www.goaliemonkey.com/brians-goalie-accessories-knee-pads-sr.html Very similar to the Bauer but the big pad over the knee cap floats a bit more than the Bauer did, kind of like the Warrior knee pads do. The idea is that when you go down the floating pad shifts up so that you're not kneeling on it, and its protecting the top of your knee and thigh. See: You wear socks? I couldn't do it, just too hot. Though I do like that they cover over the knee pads so they don't get caught up in my pants or knee stacks. I'm thinking of cutting off the top 12" or so of some Edge socks, stitching some elastic in them, and wearing them solely as knee pad covers. I definitely spin in circles when I try to butterfly push. I rarely do it at this point because I just can't seem to get it right and don't have anyone showing me. I can't do bloody t-pushes either. Why is that so much harder to do than it looks? And yes I agree about the novice thing. Thats the whole reason I started this thread, specifically for adults who for whatever reason decided to jump into it. I personally think it's friggin awesome that theres THREE of us in this thread all learning at the same time and are more or less at the same level in our development.

Good god man! Get some knee pads! That gap is way bigger than you think it is when you're in the butterfly.

No problem at all what so ever on the knees. You have a big comfy landing block on your pads, and combine that with some knee pads and you're not even going to feel it. The only real issue I've had has been my hips and hamstrings. I never realized how bad my flexibility was. As a kid it was tremendous. My personal trainer stretches out my hamstrings for me and he said I barely clear a 50 degree incline with either leg. It's really bad. Need to get on that Maria Mountain 15-day butterfly challenge! I also had lower back discomfort for a while at first, but I had that when I first started as a player too. When I first started into hockey and was doing beginner skill sessions I had to hold onto the boards after every time down the ice because my lower back hurt so bad. This was nowhere near that, but I knew it would go away once I got used to the stance a bit more. No issues there, anymore. I'd guess the knees are more of a damaged over time kind of thing, if anything. But in all reality from what I can tell its your hips you need to worry a lot more about.

Dude, looks good! Keep that chest up or your back is going to hate you though :) But seriously you look just fine all things considered. Just keep up the hard work!

Added a photo for the Mako skates. Also added Avision Ahead Elite mask.

Wills and Kate nailed it with the baby name! Charlotte Elizabeth Diana couldn't be more perfect and fitting. Or, for short: Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge

Indeed. I don't care what they call it as long as they keep the skate. Pretty much everyone is going that way. There's just no good reason to make them anymore. The demand is minuscule these days.

Ho-ho-hold tha feck up. Mako gone? Like completely?

Dude, great stop! way to get across! Sounds like you have enough to be happy about and also enough to play in your head for improvement. That's all you can ask for in your first time out. Keep at it!

Got dragged to see the new avengers movie. Bleh.

The new premier chesty looks fantastic. Going up to goalie monkey to try on the non-pro model next weekend. Excited to see how adjustable the arms are.

Added Mako skates. Will get pics up as soon as possible.

Do the new MX3 gloves fit more like the NXG, or more like the old TotalOne? I loved the Supreme line up until they released the NXG and then the fit changed completely.

Going back to player skates I found much harder. And I agree I prefer cloth laces for my goal skates. The gorilla waxed (which aren't really waxed at all...) are perfect.

Are the goal skates really so different for you? Once I'm in the crease I don't even notice them (aside from my ability to sit on my heels to give my toes a rest, which is nice)

That's probably a pretty good watermark, actually. (Then again LG obviously knows what he's talking about so that's no surprise) And yea, that would really suck in a pick-up. Ours is probably about D4/D5 level with some D3 guys mixed in. Luckily the more skilled guys spend most of their time trying to set up the less skilled plays. And theres a shitton of passing, I don't even remember the last end to end rush I saw. One guy cherry-picks but he has no skills so I end up stopping him on his breakaways most of the time anyway. The guys give him shit but he acts like they're joking... I usually disregard goals that were legitimately good (can't complain about not stopping a crossbar-down wrist shot mid-stride....) and then count the rest in my head. If I keep it under 10 in the 90 min session I'm pretty happy with that.

Our organised pickup is definitely not novice despite the name, but hey you just get better that much faster.

I get quite a few 2 on 1 rushes but that's not a bad thing. I try to read the play, whether shot or pass. Otherwise the D isn't too bad for us. The rookie league I'm in, the other goalie had never even put his pads on before. So no big deal there. I wish all rinks had a rookie league... I know it would have been hugely beneficial when I started playing as a skater a couple years ago. Drills for 4 weeks then 12 games, with coaches on the benches.

I dont know if I went into detail on the first few pages of the thread, but basically I bought my pads in.. September? I don't remember exactly. I was told by our captain that our goalie was away for December and I needed to learn. So the first thing I did was a pickup. I did pickup every week in November, and then played a couple league games for my team in December. So maybe it was 4-5 pickup sessions before my first league game. After that, I still did pickup every tuesday and started in a rookie league on thursday nights as a goalie. So I skated out sundays, pickup as a goalie tuesdays and league as a goalie thursdays. Assuming you're talking about a low level division, a month or so of pickups should be enough. You'll probably still be awful (I got lucky that my first game as a goalie was against a really bad team and the guys in front of me played amazingly well and we ended up winning) but who cares.. so is everyone else on the ice at that level.

Sorry man :(

Because it still sucks that I should have had to pay it at all. It could have been $5 and it would still suck that I have to pay for somebody else hitting my car.

After wearing Makos for a couple years now, and therefore being used to zero negative space in the toe cap, I think this makes a lot of sense. May not be for everyone but I know I definitely like not having extra space in there!

Thanks man, definitely planning to get a gopro to stick behind the glass. I have some video my wife shot of me but it's not very good and it's a couple months old at this point. Should still try to get that uploaded though.

Its seriously one of the hardest habits to break. Especially when dropping into the butterfly.

Get that stick down! Seriously though, that's awesome man!