UMWhockey

It is fun to watch right now, but if the game tomorrow is played the caps have to stop with this sleep walking through the first 30 min of each game. The last 4-5 games have been 30 min of "well they are going to loose this one" and then the final 30 min are more of a "I don't think anyone can beat this team" Would like a full 60 min effort against Pit though

I beleive all three are the highest scoring teams in their leagues as well

Don't care what division you play in, 10 in a row is kinda good

So looks like the shop will have FBV in the next day or so. Excited to finally be able to give it a go and see how it skates. Only took a year+ to get it in the shop

take it for what you will, but hockeybuzz.com is reporting that Nylander is signing with a team in the KHL www.hockeybuzz.com

I have a feeling he won't make it to the 13th round in the MSH draft tonight

Well as usual I was too lazy to change out the holders, so I went with the stock set-up. After a couple months, here is my review so far of the S17 Intro I finally couldn't skate on my 8090's anymore as they had completely fallen apart after 5 years and a lot of skating. I use Kor Shift 2 skates for coaching, so these S17's are my playing skates. I use them twice a week in Beer league and whenever I play in tournaments. Even though I am a lazy hockey player now, I still put these skates through some hard skating from time to time, so hopefully this will be a good test for the skates Fit I love the fit of the boot. The heel lock is great the after baking the skate fits real close to my foot without pressure points. The boot is a stiff boot as you would expect in a composite skate. One thing I don't like about the skate is how high cut the boot is. Not saying it needs to be a S500 type boot cut or anything, but maybe a slightly lower cut would help. I feel like I struggle with tight turns and crossovers as I can't use my ankle's as much since the book is a little constrictive. Might have to not do up the top 2 eyelets and see if that helps as I already don't do the top one. Only other thing I would change is not have the felt tongue be so thick. 8/10 - would be 10/10 if it was a little lower cut Blade/Holder It hasn't been as bad as I first through now that I have been on it for a little. I am not playing super competitive hockey anymore so it's not a huge deal for me. the holder is fairly responsive and a little stiffer then the Tuuk Lightspeed's that I have used in the past. The steel seems to hold the edges well so far. I skate on a 3/4 hollow and still get 6-7 games out of a sharpening. 7/10 Protection Coming from the 8090 and how much heavier it was then the S17 I was a little worried about protection. I just started playing D on both my adult league teams so wasn't too sure about blocking shots. After taking a couple shots off the foot, I will say I was impressed. Guess that is the advantage of a composite skate. You will feel it, but the sting went away after a minute or two and no problems afterwards. 9/10 Weight Both skates seem to weigh the same as one of my 8090's, so I would say they are very light. No complaints here 10/10 Durability This is what I was curious to find out with these skates. There were a lot of complaints about the S15 and them falling apart very quickly. I have had these skates since May and there is no real visible damage to them. All the stitching is still in great shape and the composite shell is in great shape. No cracks and the holder still looks brand new. No complaints so far. Will have to see what it is like in a couple more months. 9/10 Conclusion I have never skated in Easton before and wasn't too sure about it as I have never seen them as a real good skate company. I kinda wish I had waited until the S17 Black came out as I am not a big fan of all the silver. The only drawback so far is how high cut the boot is, but other then that I love the skates so far. My 8090's were tanks so my big question will be how long these skates will last. Can they be a skate that I am in 4 or 5 years from now? Hope this was helpful. PM me if you have any other questions. ~Mike

Ok, so I have played with, and broke both sticks as of yesterday. Here is my little comparison of the two. Bauer One95 - This stick has the best kick right off the shelf I have ever used before. I used an 87 cut down a little and with most 85 flex Easton sticks I use I tend to have to play with them a little to get a little more whip in them before I get the flex I am looking for. Not the case with this stick. From the first snap shot, the puck was jumping off the blade. What I liked the most was I could feel the flex in the stick. Some sticks I feel like I have to really go down into in order to get that flex and snap on my shot, but this stick seemed real easy to flex and the shots were effortless. The shape and grip of the shaft were right on as well. Not too tacky like the original XX Stick-ums, but still enough that when I grip the stick to shoot, my hands don't slip at all. My eagle palms are real slick, so a non grip stick just doesn't work for me. The downside of the stick is the durability. From day one the blade started to chip and it wasn't long before the blade started to go soft and eventually crack on the bottom towards the heel of the blade. Easton SE16 - This stick was a little different for me as compared to the previous SE that I had used (and loved) I broke this stick in about a month of use while both my SE sticks lasted over 6 months. I don't take a lot of slap shots, so I am not all that hard on sticks, just tend to whip them out. Compared to previous Easton sticks I have used, I really didn't like the SE16. It was the complete opposite of the Bauer where even when it broke, I just didn't really feel the nice smooth flex in the stick to really load it before shooting. It is almost like the SE16 was made stiffer then the previous SE or even the first run 100 flex S17 sticks (that were really more like an 85 flex). Maybe my stick was mis-labeled an 85 flex but was really a 100 flex. In order to really get the puck to jump off the stick, I had to really go down into a snap shot to get the flex required to get the shot speed I was looking for. That makes off balance and other quick shots much harder to take with the velocity I like. Overall I was impressed with the Bauer stick as I haven't really liked any of their previous sticks. The biggest disappointment for me was the SE16. If you read back through any other reviews that I have done, I have always spoke very highly of the Easton sticks I have used, but I was truly disappointed in the SE16. Hopefully I just got a bad stick off the production line, but I was not impressed. ~Mike

So between this and the stick reviews, I have some new toys to play with. These S17's are a size 8 and I have skated about 5 games with them so far. First impression is that the boot is great. It does a great job of locking my heel in the boot and the baking really molded the skate well around my foot for a nice tight fit. One thing I don't like is how thick the tongue on the skate is. The went with the pro felt tongue and for the way the rest of the boot fits I just am not a fan of the thick tongue. I am not one to block shots eaither, so I really don't need the protection. Before I really get down to the details of what I like and don't though, I am going to need to put some Lightspeeds on these skates as I can't stand the holders and steel that Easton puts on these skates. Once I get the Lightspeeds on there I will have a better base to really review the skates... Til then...

Well since my replacement for my Fuel Ti grip came in as well I will do a side by side compairson of the Bauer One95 and the SE16. I have had a chance to use the SE16 twice so far and here is a little of what I think. The SE16 seems a little stiffer right off the bat then the SE did. Almost like I needed a session to "break it in" before it really started to load well. After that the puck war really jumping off the blade. I feel as though the SE16 has a little bit better puck feel over the SE as it is a little easier for me to feel where on the blade the puck is for stickhandling with my head up and also getting quick shots off. It's only one game, but I will be playing in the Labatt tournament in Laurel this weekend and should have a chance to use both the SE16 and the One95 and see how they compair. The One95 is a Malkin curve 87 flex stick-um

Going to do a review of the Easton SE16 here. I have used a lot of the easton sticks and reviewed them on the site, so this is my next in line. I just got the stick yesterday and haven't had a chance to use it yet, but will be playing in a tournament this weekend and it will get a lot of work. Easton SE 16 non grip 85 Flex Zett

I don't think we ordered anything other then what i added for myself. I need to check to see when that stuff is coming in anyway, picked up a fuel ti pro as well

Chadd... should have some new pitch steel coming here soon... mission closeout for $8 a peice..... still trying to convince Andrew to get at least the portable, will have to take him to the booth in Vegas

they did last year

2007 Easton Synergy Elite Grip Forsberg 85 RH Introduction: I'm 5'7 200 lbs, 24 years old. I skate anywhere from 5-8 times a week between playing beer league and coaching travel hockey. I am not a big slap shot guy, so my sticks don't take that kind of a beating, but I would say I have an above average wrist and snap shot in which I really put a lot of flex into the stick. With that, I whip out sticks long before they break. Aesthetics: I am starting to care less and less about what my equipment looks like, so this is not a big deal to me. I think the stick looks sharp without being overly flashy. 9/10 Assembly: I can't say I really looked that closely at the stick before I got it. I didn't notice anything cosmetic wrong with the stick and there seemed to be nothing wrong at the taper or the blade when I received the stick. 9/10 Weight and Balance: Coming off using the Stealth, the adjustment wasn't as big for me as the adjustment I made from the Si-core to the Stealth. The stick is very well balanced, much better than the Stealth, which added to more puck control. I think Easton's goal was to make it more balanced than previous models and they did a wonderful job. 10/10 Blade: Maybe this stick took a little more of a beating then my Stealth did, but the blade was not as durable in the SE as it was in the Stealth. Off the shelf, the blade was a little softer than the Stealth, which I liked. It offered better puck control and receiving. As I used the stick more and more the blade started chipping much more than it did with the Stealth, along with getting much softer than I like a blade to be. I guess there is a give and take between making a stick more balanced and giving it better blade stiffness. 6/10 Shaft/Flex: I have always loved the 85 flex Easton makes. They always have a very good feel when I flex them and creates a perfect flex for me to shoot with power out of any position. The shaft seemed a little thicker than the Stealth, which provided for a softer puck feel which I like. The shaft also seemed to fit a little bit better in my hands which made it a little more comfortable to play with than the Stealth. 10/10 Stickhandling and Passing: This stick had a slightly unfair advantage over the Stealth since I was now used to a much lighter stick than in the past. That being said, I had much better feel with the SE than with the Stealth. The shaft seemed a little thicker along with a softer blade gave me much better control as well as better feel. My only problem was that the blade went too soft too soon and I lost a little bit of the strength in face offs and battles for the puck. 8/10 Shooting: Although the stick felt better to me off the shelf, I was able to whip out the stick a little too quickly. To me the stick shoots much better than the Stealth right off the shelf, but the Stealth had a lot more durability as far as maintain stiffness. Also I felt the stiffer blade of the Stealth gave me a better slap shot as opposed to the SE which went soft and made it hard to transfer all my energy to the puck as well as keep it online. for a pure shooting aspect, the Stealth is a better stick 8/10 Durability: Like I said before, I do whip out sticks, but don't break them very easily. While the stick has yet to break, it is broken down. This shaft and blade chip very easily. My stick looks like I have had it for years, even though I have played with it for about 3 months. I was very disappointed with the durability of the stick and hope the S17 has improved on this flaw. 5/10 Performance drop: This was also another area where I was disappointed in the stick. The blade went soft after only a couple weeks and the shaft whipped out much sooner than with the Stealth. While the softer blade and shaft allow me to take quicker and harder off balance shots, I am unable to get the max out of a hard wrist or slap shot in which I really try to get my weight into. 6/10 Conclusion: Off the shelf this is a better stick I felt than the Stealth which I had before. It would be my stick of choice if I had an endless supply of them and was able to use a new one every couple of weeks. Like most of us though, I don't have that luxury. I need a stick that can take a beating and maintains it's stiffness. I put a lot of flex into my wrist and snap shots and need a shaft and blade that can hold up to it. If the next stick I buy is an Easton, I might have to go back to the Stealth. 8/10 Sorry that I compared this stick to the Stealth the entire time, but since it was the last stick I had used it gave me something to compare it to. Hope someone finds this review helpful. ~Mike