Hills

The girl friend (she is breezie on the site) and I played in a tournament this weekend and since it was the 10th anniversary of it they gave us free photos! The first picture shows why I love 11ks so much.

Gloves look great, really interested in their custom options.

$40-60 is cheaper than buying an entirely new glove to try it.

Is there a reason I missed for their being no 15"?

There is a simple solution for people like this, ban them. I don't understand why leagues won't do it. It is easy enough for the refs to know who these players are and to not start the game with them.

Rinks here are public, and the leagues rent out the time. The rink won't really do anything or have any say in the matter. The league doesn't care, and they have lost about 20 teams to a new league forming up. If we withhold payment we simply lose our games. The only thing that would make a difference would be getting a lawyer involved and the players this has happened to do not want to do that, if this happened to me a couple of this video and others would have been handed over to the police and a lawyer as well as being sent out to any hockey blog or news site I could think of. But remember this is a hockey setting, so doing anything besides letting it happen on the ice is the "pussy" way out.

I agree 1000%. But the player didn't want to go forward with it. This crap is the reason my girl friend and I won't play in it anymore. As a goalie I don't have to really worry about this stuff happening to me. There is only 1 other league in this area with the talent level close to this and it is much better run and the hockey is faster and cleaner. 99% of the teams in this league would get absolutely destroyed in the other one, and until they make another lower division we can't really go anywhere else.

I've shown video to the league in other situations, where a ridiculous team that we and other teams complained about sucker punched a girl. Later that season the same team broke my teammates leg in 3 places when 2 guys hit him after the whistle from different directions. Leagues response: "sue us"

It wasn't, he was in considerable pain and couldn't really put any weight on his leg right after. Also, this is what the same player did the last time we played them. Now I understand doing something with the cross check, but this is to a complete bystander, and he was also throwing body checks all game in a no-contact league. https://youtu.be/GkTAktvBdqk?t=2m46s

This garbage has no place in hockey let alone a recreation league. This is the second time this player has attacked one of mine and both times he went after someone who didn't do anything. He was high sticked (by accident by a not very good player) when he was tying up another players stick it rode up his arms into his face, then he goes full lumberjack mode. End result is being kicked out of this game... he'll be back next time. Players like this is why my girl friend and I had to leave a league where we actually fit in skill wise to one of a much lower level (which still has it's issues). Adults need to grow up. https://youtu.be/qgYp-bmXXPw?t=2m57s

Or adults in general.

Try and see if Simmons can make a smaller boot for you? If you are fitting a 34 with as loose bootstrap that is what you want.

You're issue is that you have to deal with terrible LHS in Niagara. I am glad you found Hockey Supremacy like I did.

For the amount you pay on the skates I do not think it is asking to much to have better fit and finish (that tendon guard foam looks like someone just cut out a piece of foam and glued it on there) and to be made to your specifications when they say they can. The double eyelet is interesting to say the least.

Even in higher leagues you can still get no defense. I totally understand your pain... backdoor passes you are completely screwed as seen here:

Personal Details Male 6'3” 210 lbs Forward/Defence B-D level hockey Shin Pad History: Fury 17inch Graf 700 17inch Easton Eq50 16inch Easton RS 17inch CCM Ultra Tacks 17inch STX Stallion 16inch Initial Impressions: I was ridiculously excited and happy when I pulled these shins out of the box and slide them on for the first time. The fit and finish of these as well as the materials used give the impression of a really high end and innovative pair of shin pads. The plastics STX uses feel solid and have a very nice look aesthetically. The foams used on the outer calf protection feel futuristic and really high end. The velcro used has shorter hooks so it doesn’t catch on materials as easy but it still holds onto the attachment points really well. I like the outer knee foam flap showing the size and what leg the shin goes on (it is a nice aesthetic touch). I really like the idea of the Kevlar sleeve built into the shin for added protection (I always wear Kevlar socks when I play anyways, having more of it on me is always a bonus). I was disappointed that the shins only came in 16 inch fashion as I found 17 inch is the best fit for me (see my Tacks review). Fit: Right away these Stallion pads are at a disadvantage since they aren’t as long as I like and I feel they leave part of my skate exposed. The kevlar sleeve keeps your leg set in a certain area but the outer calf protection doesn’t really hold your leg in like the CCM Ultra Tacks do. The knee in the Stallions is also pretty shallow and I found that when putting these on they always seemed to flare outwards and didn’t sit straight on my leg. I found I could fix this a little bit but putting the sleeve on my leg first and then velcroing in the knee part very precisely to try and keep the pad to sit completely straight. When playing I felt these pads shift and start facing outwards and not straight on my leg, which I would attempt to remedy by hitting on the outside knee with my gloves to straighten them out. The 360 strap does a good job of tightening the knee area of the shins and like the Ultra Tacks Lock Strap resulted in me not having to worry about taping my socks anymore. I felt the calf strap didn’t have enough velcro (it doesn’t go onto the front of the face, and is not flush with the face so if you have extra strap for tightening it sits off of the shin and gets caught up on socks) so I couldn’t get this part as tight as I wanted. 6/10 Protection: These Stallion shin pads started off great with the Kevlar calf wrap built into the shins and thus I had high expectations for these. The first shot I took to the front of these shins I could feel a relatively weak shot but it didn’t really hurt… and then I took a hard wrist shot and had to get off the ice because of the pain that was on my lower leg. I hoped this result was just an unlucky hit but any shot that hit the lower plastic resulted in pain. I took a snapshot (not a ridiculously hard one either) which left a mark on the pad and a soft spot on the bone in my shin, which still hurt immensely over a month later. For a few weeks after this shot even while wearing the CCM Ultra Tacks shins any time a puck or stick hit near where I got hit in the Stallions pain shot through my leg. Unlike the STX Surgeons there isn’t a second layer of foam padding on the front of the pad, and only a small amount of foam separates your shin from the outer plastic. Not only is the front of the shin extremely disappointing the back of the legs are also left very exposed. On the outside of your leg there is a thicker foam that does a decent job of protection but it doesn’t cover nearly enough of the back of your leg. The inside protection is basically just a high end feeling nylon with no padding or protection at all. Every time a puck would slip through my legs while on a 1-on-1 I could feel the puck hit the inside of my leg and it felt like it was hitting my bare leg, pucks deflection off (not direct hits) felt worse than head on shots from previous shins I have worn. I stopped wearing these shins since I felt unsafe and wondered if they were actually defective… 3/10 Comfort: While these shin pads never really sat straight on my leg I never had any issues with comfort (besides the pain from whenever a puck hit them). There isn’t a tonne of padding in these so they aren’t super soft but they also do not have any pressure points or felt uncomfortable in anyway. 8/10 Mobility: These are pretty slim and mobile shin. 10/10 Weight: With the lack of protection and padding on the inside of the shin I figured these shins would weigh in at much less than the CCM Ultra Tacks. With that said these are not very heavy at all and it would never affect performance. 8/10 Durability: I am not sure how the wrap around strap will last as the velcro takes a lot of effort to pull apart and I almost feel like I am pulling the material apart. With that said I can’t see these shins breaking down in anyway but since I shelved these pretty quickly I can’t really rate the durability. N/A Intangibles: The Kevlar sleeve is a brilliant idea… but it is also REALLY annoying to get on and off especially with my setup which is where I put my shin pads last and over my skates. I wish the Kevlar sleeve had a magnet attach point that would all act like those magnetic screen doors. This would allow you to undo the sleeve and put the shins on like a normal pair of shin pads. The materials and design of these shins is really well done. The materials all feel really high end and the design is very aesthetically pleasing. I live the wrap around strap and the futuristic velcro on the calf wrap feels extremely high end and made of quality. One of my issues with these shin pads is that they are labeled as the “POWER FIT: Targeted zones of protection provide increased coverage to the power player” and yet these are considerably skinnier and and have less padding on the inside compared to the Surgeons that are labeled as the “PRECISION FIT: Designed with a sleeker fit profile to minimize weight and bulk.” 7/10 Conclusion: These shin pads have so much potential. The materials used and the Kevlar sleeve show great ideas that unfortunately just fall absolutely flat. This is the most disappointed piece of hockey equipment I have ever had. The horrible protection issues I have had with these mean I can’t recommend them at all and I won’t wear them again for fear of more unnecessary pain. 3/10 Comparison in sizes in inches: 17, 14, 16, 16 Comparison in sizes in inches: 17, 14, 16, 16 Looking down at my least favourite shins (Stx Stallion) and most favourite (CCM Ultra Tacks) The 360 strap works well but CCM's non-elastic Lock Strap works better to hold the shins in place. Lots of velcro for customization for liner placement, but it is not deep enough to really hold your knee well. Pureform foam as liner is nice and feels high quality. Thigh protection here is the best I have seen on a pair of shin pads. Knee liner needs a donut or deeper knee placement to keep the knee part of the shin pad in place. Inner leg padding seems useless. Kevlar sleeve is a great idea but a pain to put the shins on depending on your dressing order. Pureform foam feels high end but needs to be thicker here as getting hit with pucks here was uncomfortable. Shin pad had a nice aesthetics design, getting hit up high here resulted in no pain or issues. This puck park happened when I couldn't close my legs fast enough to get in the way of a shot, the inner calf protection is extremely lacking and shots here were very uncomfortable to the point of painful. This park mark was off of a decent snap shot. I had to leave the ice in pain and I never wore the shins after that for fear of my safety. A month later my shin was still in pain from this shot and it felt like there was a small dent in the shin pad where the puck hit. The sizing detail on the outer knee protection feels really high quality and looks great. Showing the width differences between the Surgeon and Stallion shins. Shows the massive size difference (and difference in protection) between the Stx Stallion and CCM Ultra Tacks Showing the difference between the Stx Stallion and Stx Surgeon. Surgeon is the "sleek" line for mobility and is considerably thicker. One piece of padding in the CCM Ultra Tacks is thicker than the entire Stx Stallion shins. Stx Surgeon is considerably thicker and more protective on the calf wrap than on the Stallions. Stx Surgeon calf wrap is decent in thickness, needs a larger velcro landing area though as it was too small to actually fit correctly. Showing the other side of the Surgeon calf wrap. Pureform foam used as the liner on the Surgeons as well. Thicker liner and knee donut on the Surgeon than on the Stallion. Stallion should use this knee style. Again inner liner and padding more adequate on the Surgeon than the Stallion.

Interesting that their stiff will be curved like that.

They did the entire Messiah line and the Fortress line (well at least the pads for the Fortress). Or, why did you get a stiff and medium with no outer breaks at the top?

Verber Vara Pro 87 Flex PM44 Stick History: Sherwood 9950 Wood Coffey, Bauer Supreme (Sport Chek SMU) Kane, Sherwood T70 Stastny, Winwell GX8, Easton RS Parise, Warrior AK27 , Warrior DT1LT Pavelski, Warrior DT1ST Grandlund, Verbero PM44, Sherwood Rekker EK60 PP26 Stick Info: Height: uncut Weight: 438 Grams used (paint chips) Grip: No Shaft: Glossy Blade Length: Usage: 6 Months Personal Details: Male, 6'3", 210lbs, 24 years old. Adult B-level. About me: I played hockey my life as a goalie and about 4 years ago I decided I wanted more ice time and that I wanted to skate out as a player. I had no idea what kind of stick I liked as well as what curve I liked and what flex, this was all new to me and my shot was terrible to begin with as expected. Since then I have obviously gotten better and stronger but I am still figuring out what curve/length/flex that I prefer. Review Details: I have used this stick for about 4 months as my primary stick but would end up switching to a longer or different stick here and there. It has about 4 months of 2-3 times a week use. Preface: I got this stick free just like the Vara Pro gloves in my earlier review. I was given these to use and create a review for these products. The reason this review took so long to come out is I wasn’t sure if I wasn’t used to midkick sticks and wanted to ensure the review wasn’t hampered by an issue with my playing style. I told Verbero to send me an 87 flex in an curve with non-grip shaft as I really don’t love grip sticks. I’ve found 87 flex to be a sweet spot for me for certain brands but too flexible in others (eg Warrior) so I figured I’d give 87 a shot here. Grip: While I don’t like grip sticks I have found that I like matte finished sticks. My EK60, Mako and RS sticks all have a matte non-grip finish, which to me gives the stick a high quality feeling and gives a little bit of grip compared to a glossy shaft. Verbero states this stick is offered in a Matte non-grip finish, but I would argue that it is a glossy non-grip. Of my previous sticks the low end Bauer supreme is the only thing similar to the glossy finish that this stick has. To me this feels extremely cheap, which is completely personal preference but the matte painted sticks just have a higher quality feel to them. While the glossy feel doesn’t hinder my performance, I would hesitate to buy the stick if it was next to a stick that uses a matte finish. 5/10 Aesthetics: Aesthetics are completely personal preference, and I have heard some negative things about Verbero’s design directly related to the glove’s plaid looking liner and that has been translated onto this stick albeit with a neutral grey/black design. I think this design looks both unique and really nice, it is understated enough to not be gaudy while also having a distinct look to it across both stick lines. I actually prefered the more white Latigo stick but the black Vara looks really nice as well. The logo is on the lower portion of the shaft and is a silver/chrome design, I actually wish this stood out more and think if it was green like it is on the blade it would make the logo stand out more while still be attractive. Like most sticks I wish manufacturers made it easier to see the curve/flex of the stick, too many times it is too high and covered by tape or too tiny and I wish Verbero made this bigger as well. I think Verbero did a great job with how the sticks look here. 9.5/10 Blade/Curve: Since I got this stick Verbero has revamped their curve chart on a couple of times and I believe this is now the V19 curve on their website. This curve is a big departure from my DT1LT and is much more neutral. My shots were no longer always going high and passing was much easier to control. The Vara Pro blade feels and plays fairly stiff, I’d say it is slightly softer than a new DT1LT but harder than my DT1LT is now, and for my time using it I haven’t noticed the blade get softer whereas my RS blade was already starting to get soft with similar time of use. With the stiff blade I can feel exactly where I receive passes and where you shoot the puck off of. Compared to the EK60 this blade is softer and feels more dampened. One of the issues I found with this blade is the length of it, it feels shorter compared to other sticks with a similar curve. In fact I handed it off to other players and I had multiple people come back to me and say “blade is not long enough” and I agree with their assessment. Too many times I ended up shooting off the toe and flubbing shots, even after 6 months I couldn’t get adjusted to it and really wished the blade was longer. Overall I liked the curve for passing and the stiffness felt great, but the blade length was too short for my liking. 7/10 Stick Handling: Since this stick is a few inches shorter than the Warrior DT1LT I had been using I was right to assume that my stick handling would improve because of the decrease in length. But one thing that was detrimental to my stick handling was the shorter blade. I would simply lose the puck off the toe because I was expecting more blade to be there. This stick is very lightweight coming in at 438 grams at the time of writing this, and that helps the stick feel very mobile in your hands when stick handling. 8/10 Shooting: Since the kick point of this kick is different than my DT1LT I figured there would be an adjustment period like it was when I used the Warrior for the first time, but I was wrong in that. I have real issues with shooting this stick, whether it be snap shots, slap shots or wrist shots the majority of shots I took felt like I could not find the sweet spot. About 1 in 10 shots felt like they exploded off the stick in the matter I was expecting with a “Performance” hockey stick, and even when I made the perfect shot everything felt slower with less pop than when I had a brand new DT1LT. At first I contributed this to not being used to the mid kick flex, then over the summer I got to try a number of mid flex sticks and instantly noticed the majority of shots coming off those being much harder with a faster release. I tested the Warrior HD1, CCM Ultra Tacks, True XCore, True 6.0 and my shots off those sticks felt ridiculously explosive next to the Vara Pro. I find it difficult where I’d equate this stick to in terms of performance/price since it is better than my low end Bauer Supreme and Sherwood T70 but my Warrior AK27 and Winwell GX8 are both too stiff for me and I haven’t used another stick around the $180 price point. With that said all of my high end sticks were considerably less than the $180 this Vara Pro sells for and a quick look around lists the Easton V9/V9E for $140 locally (both of which I feel shoot MUCH harder and better than this). When Verbero releases videos of ex-pros saying it shoots as good as the high end stick I fully expected it, but that is simply not the case here and to say I am disappointed in the shooting performance of this stick is an understatement. 5/10. Passing: With the firm blade and curve I had good experiences with passing with this stick but for long stretch passes I could feel the stick flex a bit too much for my liking. On some sticks with a lot of kick the flexing on the passing helps release the puck quicker, but with this since I never felt a strong kick the flexing of the stick never added to the pass power. Since that is always a tradeoff for sticks that aren’t extremely stiff I can’t really bring that as too much of a negative besides that it didn’t add power like my other sticks did. I did find it slightly harder to give saucer passes with this than it was in my RS or DT1ST but I was able to adjust fairly quickly. The firm blade really helps in regards to passing. 8/10 Durability: This stick has Verbero’s Durotec Resin Coating which is supposed to “High Impact DuroTec Resin Coating that produces a tougher blend for added durability.” Now I am not sure if that coating is below or above the paint but this stick has been chipping pretty significantly, more so than other high end sticks I have used for a similar period of time. The toe is a bit cracked as to be expected with pucks, skates and boards being jammed up against it, but the bottom of the blade itself is where the durability of this stick really shows. The top layer of the blade is cracked and can be pulled completely off, the crack also goes deeper than the paint and I feel the structural integrity of the carbon fibre is mostly gone. With that said the blade hasn’t felt softer when I use it but the results so far have not been promising or give me confidence in this stick. I can’t comment on the stick losing its kick like my DT1LT since this stick never felt like it had a kick to begin with. 6/10 Feel: This stick is advertised as being extremely lightweight and that is one of the first comments everyone has with it, Verbero did make a stick that feels almost featherless and when you put it in your hands it feels lighter or very close to sticks that actually weigh less. The reason being is the balance of this stick where the blade feels like it is non-existent. With other lightweight sticks (EK60) I can always tell where my blade is because the stick feels like it is heavier at the blade. With the Verbero the blade feels so light that when skating it really felt I was using a stick with no blade at all, which takes some getting used to and personally I like how the EK60 feels compared to this (my Easton RS also felt like the Vara Pro in where the blade feels basically non-existent). Now puck handling the stick feels good since I don’t feel the blade is very dampened and you always know where the puck when stick handling or shooting. 7.5/10 Closing: I tried to use this stick as my goto for many months and frankly was really happy when I finally put it away for good. I honestly can’t remember scoring a goal because of an absolutely perfect shot or even creating an opportunity for a goal on a perfect shot. Now I am no goal scorer but I am pretty good at getting fast and low shots off from the point that either make it to the net or are very easily tipped by a forward in front. With the Vara Pro 9/10 times I felt like I didn’t get all of the shot and I wished I was back to using my used and abused DT1LT. In fact during my leagues playoffs I ended up retiring this stick for good as I didn’t want to feel like I could’ve done something better with a different piece of equipment that was sitting on the bench. Now to be 100% transparent I did not pay for this stick, with that said at $179.99 USD I cannot even come close to recommending this stick. The only sticks I have used that this out performed are $60 price point sticks. Needless to say I am extremely disappointed with the performance in this stick. Overall Score: Price I paid ($0): 6/10. Retail ($179.99) 4/10

Sorry for you loss Chadd.

Pickup is perfect time to try everything besides playing with actual defense. Goals don't matter so you can specifically work on things.

How long have you had the skates for?

JSK let's be real. With those gloves you can't look bad haha. I am jumping on the SJ photo bandwagon. Some foreigners invading the the US. Being useless on defense. I am really good at pulling pucks out of the net!

I will never forget the time I told a grown man with kids to grow up when I was 20 after he punched me in the face because he thought I high sticked him... Hockey brings the worst out in people and all a bunch of us want to do is skate and have fun not be competitive. I am tempted to bring out a sign next week that says "Due to delays at the border, there are no scouts in the stands this week"

Today I got called a pussy because I told a guy to calm down after either being elbowed or cross checked to the chest in a very very low level (like a bunch of the players can't skate) and very uncompetitive league. The same player proceeded to slash my stick afterwards for no reason. Every single league it is the same thing over and over, the scouts are long gone guys it is time to calm down.