Hills

That design was such a beautiful one and smartly integrated with the St.Louis arch. It would've been cool if they could've figured something out for Long Island.

Can you post more photos of the interior? I love that car!

New jerseys!

Girl friend got some newer pictures of me when I was subbing last week. Her phone camera quality is lacking unfortunately.

Usage: 8 Months Grip: I mentioned in the initial impressions for this stick that I was not a big fan of grip sticks. While my preference still lies with matte finished shafts the Warrior Covert QRL did a pretty decent job introducing me to the world of grip sticks. The gloss grip on the QRL is not the tackiest of materials and honestly had no adjustment period from my prefered non-grip sticks to their grip variants. I do really like the Pro CorTex Grip, which is 3D like teeth that line the shaft for added grip and feel. In my opinion the 3D ridges work well with the grip material since the grip is much less tacky compared to other brands. While the QRL grip isn’t my favourite shaft texture (nothing beats Warrior Velvet grip yet), if I were to grab another QRL I would probably pick up the grip version. 9/10 Aesthetics: This section is almost ruined by Warriors latest release of limited edition sticks, which includes 2 different designs for the top end QRL. These limited sticks (seen below) are throwbacks to Warriors earlier days when they had extremely complicated names for the different levels of performance. These throw backs look great in my eyes and make the QRL seem slightly less impressive. The Warrior Covert QRL stick does a good job of advertising the brand and Covert line heritage. The colour pallet is the same as the previous Covert line in the QR1 family and overall design is fairly similar as well, yet Warrior did an excellent job in making different changes to really distinguish how this stick looks compared to its predecessors. I am a fan of the baby blue, orange and black colour scheme and I really like how Warrior used negative space for the Warrior branded text on the shaft. Instead of making the colours baby blue, Warrior made the background baby blue and the Warrior letters black. This design looks even more impressive in the next stick down in price point in the Covert QRL Pro stick. With the QRL Pro Warrior decided to leave the blank carbon fibre visible throughout the shaft instead of painting it black. Since blank carbon fibre is one of my favourite design choices I am slightly disappointed that the stick I have doesn’t have this feature. On the QRL Pro it looks exceptional in the Warrior lettering, light bounces off the carbon weave to show off details and the letters pop even more against the baby blue background compared to the black letters on the QRL. Perhaps I am too easy with liking different stick branding, as I like the bold aesthetics of the QRL I also like the more understated approach that CCM has taken on the Ribcor Trigger. Either way I think the QRL is a great looking stick and Warrior did an exceptional job of continuing with the Covert QR heritage. 9/10 Curve: I like heel curves, and while I have been able to get used to the Warrior W03 I still miss my trusted W05. I didn’t have all of Warrior’s curve options when I got this stick and went with the curve that I felt would be best suited to my defensive style of game. I have been able to adjust and must admit that the increased curve has helped with stick handling, but I still miss my heel curves. 8/10 Blade: The blade on the Warrior Covert QRL is one of the more lively and pingy blades I have ever used. My previous stick being the Sherwood EK60 was a lively blade in itself, but the Warrior just feels slightly more alive and almost thinner. The blade is also extremely stiff and I have never felt the blade twist or give when taking a shot. The pingy blade gives the QRL great feedback when stickhandling and shooting, but I feel some touch is lost when making and receiving passes. I prefer the lively blades when stickhandling as I feel like I always know exactly where the puck is when it touches my stick, even the slightest of movements are able to translate the puck’s position on the blade. I feel the pingy blade is slightly worse for passing though, as pucks feel as if they jump off of the blade when receiving hard passes or making long stretch passes. I understand soft hands allow you to cradle the puck, using the slightly dampened blade in my CCM Ribcor Trigger makes it easier for me to handle the harder passes. 9/10 Feel: I mentioned the excellent and stiff blade earlier already. The balance of the stick is fantastic and it does a good job of being lightweight but still being noticeable. I never feel like the stick doesn’t have a blade and always feel in total control of the stick. The lack of weight also helps with making the stick extremely mobile in terms of movement, you never feel bogged down when moving your hands or attempting to move the stick (something I feel time to time when using much heavier goalie sticks). While this stick is slightly heavier than the Sherwood EK60 I really don’t notice the difference between the 2 in terms of weight. The one thing I’d make note of is that this stick plays considerably less stiff than the Sherwood EK60 or even other sticks I have used in the past. This 100 flex QRL plays about the same as my 86 EK60 and 87 Easton RS. My thoughts on feel haven’t changed with this stick since the first day I used it and the Warrior Covert QRL is one of the best overall feeling sticks I have used, my only minor complaint is receiving passes which was covering in the blade section above. 9.5/10 Stickhandling: With the lightweight and lively blade stick handling with this stick has been very good. Unlike some lightweight sticks in the past I never “lose” the blade of this stick and always know where it is. The stiff blade gives me confidence when handling the puck since it gives great feedback to how the puck is actually behaving on the stick itself. The excellent balance helps the stick feel like a natural extension to your hands and never feels unwieldy. To be completely honest I am not the best stickhandler on the ice, I am more of a defensive forward (or defenseman depending on the team) than the dangler and sniper. But the QRL has helped me in the stickhandling department because of its lightweight, great balance and pingy blade. I have more confidence that the puck is not going to roll off of the blade while I am moving because of the instant feedback the blades gives your hands, and if I do lose it it is considerably easier to find again or poke away from danger because of the balance and lightweight of the stick. The Warrior Covert QRL is my best stickhandling stick to date. 10/10 Shooting: If I wrote this review a few months ago I would’ve told you the Warrior Covert QRL is the best stick I have ever shot, with the fastest release with the most consistent shots I have ever used. But I must say the QRL has been surpassed by the CCM Ribcor Trigger in that regards. That isn’t to say the QRL is not a quick releasing stick, in fact my shots with it are some of the quickest releasing I have ever shot thanks to its T3 Dagger taper. The quick release of this stick helps get off shots while under pressure from defending opponents quickly, you don’t really have to worry about proper technique or loading the stick and can allow the stick’s flex and low kick do most of the work. Some defenders like using mid kick sticks for booming shots from the point, but I prefer low kicks to allow me to quickly get a low shot off between defenders legs without having to wind up. A quick sidestep to find an open lane and the puck is already going towards the net for a tip in front. The stiff blade helps translate puck feel extremely well to your hands when shooting, if you make a mistake and flub the shot you can usually tell why immediately. The blade never opens up on winding slap shots, but I feel the curve and the low kick launch my shots over the net. I have to work to reel in my slapshots to keep them below the crossbar. The Covert QRL is a stick that can do most of the work for you, and the quick release and low kick help you shoot off balance or off of the wrong foot much fairly easily. My shots still launch extremely quickly and hard coming off the QRL, and it is the second best shooting stick I have ever used. 9/10 Passing: As mentioned above in the curve section I prefer heel curves to assist with my passing. While I was able to adjust and become better than previously I feel the heel curves are still my favourite curves for making saucer passes and having the most control. For the rest of the stick the Warrior Covert QRL excels in this category. I had issues with low kick sticks in the past when receiving or giving hard passes. When making stretch passes the low kick would flex too much and my hard pass became a shot… which became uncontrollable to the intended target. With the QRL I am able to keep the low kick in check while making those long and hard passes. I have also rarely experienced the stick flexing when receiving passes. My only complaint for this stick is the blade stiffness, which I feel makes the puck bounce or jump off of the blade when making and receiving passes. The blade is so lively that even when cradling a pass the puck seems to just bounce off of it ever so slightly. Again this is one of the drawbacks of an extremely pingy blade. 8/10 Durability: My previous Warrior stick experience was with the Covert DT1LT, a stick that really amazed me with it’s quick release and shot power when the stick was new. A few months of use and the stick started to lose its pop and started feeling noodle like. I am very happy to report that the Covert QRL has featured no such degradation in performance. The stick feels the same as it did the first time I got it onto the ice and the blade is still as firm as ever with no visible cracks or chips anywhere. While my Sherwood EK60 has excellent durability it never quite had the release my DT1LT or this QRL did so I believed a trade off for durability came by sacrificing the quick release. The Warrior Covert QRL has proven my thoughts wrong in this regard, and has held up remarkably. While I take care of my stick I do not baby them, I block shots and am not shy from taking slapshots. Five months later and the Warrior Covert QRL feels as good as new and has changed how I look at durability in high end sticks. 10/10 Closing: I am unbelievably happy with the Warrior Covert QRL so far and am extremely grateful to Warrior and ThinkingJack for giving me the opportunity to review this stick. The QRL is in the top two of the best sticks I have ever used. It’s lively blade is excellent for shooting and stickhandling all while Warrior’s work on durability has certainly shown since the DT1LT stick lines. The Warrior Covert QRL is one of the fastest releasing and shooting sticks on the market and is backed by excellent durability. If you are looking for a high end low kick stick with a lively and pingy blade the QRL should be at the top of your list. 9/10 Second from the bottom is an example of the exposed carbon on the QRL Pro. Example of painted player stick Toes has relatively little damage. Showing the shaft grip and texture. Heel had what looked like tiny air bubbles in the finish when I got it, the issue has not worsened or affected performance.

Sorry to hear man.

Bell internet and TV providers are just like US Cable providers, they want people to suffer as much pain as possible while making the most profits. Crave TV exists to try and compete with Netflix as they wanted Netflix to fail. Bell tried to make it illegal for people in Canada to use US Netflix...

I was going to say... Vaughn has an R&D team? I thought that went away when Pete Smith left

A lot of those goals were garbage or off of bad rebounds that the team never cleared away. Like the 1 off the teammates skate and the rebound off of the nice toe save from the point. I know you watched the glove miss back but it wasn't that bad man. You looked rough at the beginning of the game and were very planted, meaning you didn't move side to side. You started moving better at the end and made a couple good saves by getting square first. Did that shot off the shoulder hurt? I wasn't sure what was happening when you took off your mask.

Unfortunately I never used the Reckoner, so I am going off my experience with other brands.

I haven't actually enjoyed playing hockey as a skater in months. Not sure if it is the tiny and horrible ice that has you falling anywhere or the people we are playing with but it is getting to the point that I have to drag myself to go out and play. Goalie is a totally different story though so that is good.

Senior seems to play consistent to other brands in my experience.

Quote from another forum: "Thanks for the follow-up question. I love the Sparx. I am getting a consistent cut every time I use it. The only thing that I do now that I didn't for the first month is use a SweetStick for 2 passes after I debur the sharpening. " They should not be doing that right? Isn't a SweetStick terrible and should only be used as a last resort?

First time I've gotten pictures of my gloves and chest in action... but I forgot a jersey.

Personal Details Male 6’3” 220 lbs B-C level hockey Price: $20 (including shipping in Canada) Preface: A lot of my comments on this grip (and all grips) are all about personal preferences. What works for me might not work for someone else. Fit: Since the Sniper Skin Grip shrinks and wraps completely around the shaft of the stick the fit is excellent and the grip never moves or shifts on the stick while playing. The added rubber rings and foam strip really allow you to customize how your fingers and hand grip the stick. 10/10 Feel: The Sniper Skin Grip feels like a silicon like material and has a borderline plastic feeling in nature. The holes offer a bit of finger grip and while you can feel them they are not uncomfortable or annoying. The included thick rubber ring does a good job of keeping your hand in place at the top of the stick, but my preference is for the knob to be longer in the sense that it would go further down the stick as I prefer some of my palm to be resting over top of it. The added foam strip does an except job in adding cushioning and widening the surface area of the stick for people with big hands. Unfortunately since I did not want the wider grip and prefer thinner flat grips I did not use the foam strip and wish the grip itself was slightly thicker to add a bit of dampening and cushioning. 8/10 Grip: The wrap itself does not offer much grip in terms of tackiness, but I never had a problem with my hand sliding off of the Sniper Skin during game play. Personally I prefer a bit more friction and believe that the material used on the Sniper Skin SS3 blade wrap might work even better as a slightly tackier Grip Wrap option. 8/10 Durability: While my time with the Sniper Skin Grip Wrap has been fairly limited. There are no signs of wear on the grip at all. The holes have not expanded since the initial application and there was no signs of wear, no cracks and no tears. I really believe this wrap would last the lifetime of the stick. The only downside is that these are not transferable to another stick once they are applied 9/10 Palm Wear: There has not been any noticeable palm wear while I have been wearing these gloves. 10/10 Customization Options: Here is where Sniper Skin and the Grip Wrap really shines. Allowing you to get printed names and numbers is a nice bonus on a hockey tape alternative. The supplied rubber rings, foam strips and rubber end are nice pieces to truly customize your fit exactly to your finger and hand size. The foam strip is an excellent way to increase the width of the stick if you like that thicker and dampened feeling. Multiple colours allow you to match any stick design or team as well. 10/10 Conclusion: While I enjoyed my time with the Sniper Skin Grip Wrap, I still prefer my Tacki-Mac grips because of their slightly softer and grippier nature. They offer just a bit more dampening and a longer butt end that I simply prefer. While Tacki-Mac sell for $8 and Sniper Skins sell for $15, for my preferences the Tacki-Mac is a better deal. If the rubber rings and the foam strip would fit your customization needs than the extra cost should be easily justifiable. I would recommend the Sniper Skin Grip Wrap if you are looking for a hockey tape alternative with customizable options to ensure you can replicate your standard tape job. 8/10 The excess was because of a poor installation job I did. No wear to be seen. No wear to be seen.

No Passau glove there?

Since I recently received my next stick to review, I now have the opportunity to try out the Sniper Skin Grip Wrap. While I appreciate the different customizable ring and candy cane wrap options I prefer a minimalistic and flat grip with a relatively small knob at the end (I find my Tacki-Macs are basically a perfect setup). I really liked how I could add the soft foam wrap to the knob of this Sniper Skin Grip as it would add cushion to the top of the stick and add for a larger grip surface if that is something you prefer or if you have large hands and want more surface area on the grip. The ability to have your name or customized phrase put on the stick is a nice bonus feature. I followed the instructions that state to place the first hole of the grip on the bottom of the knob for the setup without the rubber rings, from the end result I believe I either had the stick upside down or the holes should’ve been placed lower on the shaft. From @Bakum experience in this thread I wanted to ensure the knob ring of my Sniper Skin didn’t fall out buy putting the grip too low and not fully covering the knob ring. This ended up with me having a large excess of material at the top of the stick that not only looks bad, but actually feels annoying on the ice when I am really reaching with my stick. While people told me to cut this off, I tried to cut excess toe material on a Blade Wrap before and the end result was the wrap starting to crack I figured I’d just leave it as is so I can do the review and not destroy the grip. The grip and feeling of the Sniper Skin Grip Wrap is different than other products I’ve used or felt in the past. It is not tacky or grippy like other options or like tape. It feels pretty thin and has very little dampening to the stick, it really feels like you are just holding onto the stick itself. I feel the newly released Sniper Skin 3 Blade Wrap actually had more grip to it than this Grip Wrap. While I feel your hand can slide around a bit on this grip it hasn’t caused me any issues yet while actually playing. I will continue to write about my experiences here in the future.

They are basically a more traditional fitting and playing light weight pad compared to the Warrior G2 and G3. If you don't feel the need to switch to the Warrior pads you won't feel the need to switch to these either. To me these are basically the perfect mix between tradition fitting and playing pads and super boxy G2/G3.

I'd say don't give views to the guy that openly admits to taking a payoff to not do a negative review... but that is just me :P

You mean Czech Republic right? 2 different countries...

I find it funny how everyone is ripping on Bauer and when push comes to shove the only actual wear points are glued on logos and thigh rise rubbing together... which happens on all other pads as well. Bauer also isn't dumping their foam considering the 1X pads are basically a more flexible 1S. The dents on 1S pads are just the cord from behind the face of the pad pulling it inwards... which happens on all pads but is less noticeable since you actually see the cord. Here are my Warrior G2 pads, you notice how there are dents and wrinkles? But everyone circlejerks over Warrior being the best thing since sliced bread. It is all about people buying into the hype and marketing and right now Bauer are the big bad boys of the hockey world.

Yeah, I don't think that is right at all since VH isn't even showing Price wearing his 2-piece goal skate right now. They've been showing off their 1-piece version but not a 1S style skate anywhere. Unfortunately their website seems to be down but quickly skimming through their social media sites and the only goal skate they post are cowling ones and their 1-piece.

Has it? Because he's the first person I remember seeing wearing it for a while... To be honest VH didn't even do the whole carbon boot/cowling combination first either as Hiller and Halak have been wearing a European made one for years.

I noticed people online asking about slash guards and which ones they should buy, since I didn't have a lot of experience in this area I figured I'd grab a pair and test them out. @GreatestAmericanBeardo suggested these, and on amazon they were fairly cheap and on sale compared to most places and at $12 each I figured it'd be worth it to give these a try. He also pointed out that Dustin Byfuglien used them, seems like they should be good enough for beer league then. I recently bought a pair of Bauer Elite padded slash guards that are made up PoronXD as the protection material. When I slid them on and did the ministick test (I do the same test to the EvoShield in the video) the results for me were less than outstanding. The impacts were softened but not by much, so I decided to use those slash guards as added knee protection in my CCM Ultra Tack shin guards. One of the interesting features of these EvoShield wrist guards is that the protective shell comes out of the box in a gel like substance that forms to you arm. They arrive in a airtight sealed bag and once opened begin to harden and take shape. Be advised, ensure the shell is completely flat in the sleeve pouch so you don't botch the end shape and have shell overlap like I did to mine! From the ministick test I felt the EvoShield does do an okay job of giving added protection from those impacts, but you can still feel the brunt force of the stick. I believe the EvoShield Gell-To-Shell wrist guards will be a good compliment protective piece when worn next to your elbow pad, but by no means can replace the forearm protection quality elbow pads provide. Be sure to check back here for updates and the full review in the future.

Full Disclosure I was sent this after my review of the Blade Wrap. Sniper Skin wanted me to test out the new version and report on my findings. Since putting the new wrap on I have used it for 5 games so a little over 5 hours. Shooting: The Sniper Skin SS3 was a huge upgrade from the Blade Wrap I used before, I no longer had issues shooting and I wasn’t whiffing all of my shots far right. This tape replacement product performed just like the tape it was meant to replace. The only time it had an effect on my game was at the end of its lifespan, but tape will also do that if it gets bunched up. 10/10 Stickhandling & Passing: I didn’t notice an changes to my game while using the SS3 wrap in terms of stickhandling and passing. 10/10 Durability: This section is where the SS3 and the previous Blade Wrap switch scores. After about 5 hours of ice the Sniper Skin SS3 wrap was beat up pretty badly, to the point that it started tearing on the edges and a hole formed directly in the middle of the blade which edged up bunching the material up in a clump right on the playing area of the blade. Now, this can also happen with tape and I completely understand that. But unlike tape I couldn’t just rip off the bunched up piece and keep playing, if I were to rip a part of the SS3 wrap off it would end up removing the entire wrap and leaving me with a tapeless blade in the middle of the game. After the game I had to fully tear the SS3 off my stick and thus effectively got 4.5 hours of use out of it. 3/10 Summary: The Sniper Skin SS3 is a HUGE improvement in performance and aesthetics (that doesn’t really matter to me though) over the previous more plasticy version, but lasting under 5 hours was pretty disappointing. At $14.99 + shipping I would be very disappointed if my purchase was already worn out in such a short period of time. While I understand I might have to re-tape my stick after a game, that is something that doesn’t cost anywhere near $15 for 5 skates. My other issue is the convenience part, because you have to boil water to apply the SS3 to your stick you must set out a time to do so before actually playing. While that is in theory easy, everyone forgets and because I won’t be bringing a kettle into my hockey bag I can’t put the SS3 wrap on before or in between games. 5/10 Note: Sniper Skin informed me that they have Junior A players that have used the SS3 for over 10 hours without anywhere near the wear and tear that was on my wrap. While I wouldn’t purchase another wrap I wouldn’t tell anyone not to. If you hate taping your sticks or perhaps are younger and less demanding on them perhaps this will be a useful product for you. Not a lot of damage to the back. The bunched up material on the front. Where the front hole started. Top of the wrap, shows up the bunched up material. Lots of wear on the toe. Heel was splitting as well. Another look at the heel. More blade rips. More blade rips. More bottom of blade damage.