forbs02

The Twin lock up Mauer for the next 8 years :D That news made my weekend!

I have the BR100. I have had the same backpiece for years and I usually use two of the magnet piece per season. I love this edge checker. I've used a couple of other kinds but I keep coming back to the BR100. It's easy to use and I trust the reading it gives me.

tomato tomahto

My boyfriend (who lives 4 hours away) knocked on my door Friday night for a suprise visit :). We got to hang out the whole weekend.

This kind of sounds like my boyfriend's ex... from five years ago... and they went out for 6 months. She is crazy! She asked my boyfriend if he was settling by being with me (wtf! who says that?) and wondering if he would ever get back together with her.

Here is a pic of me warming up at the pond hockey tournament last year. It was early and COLD! We ended up taking second place. The championship game was our 5th game of the day.

I hate to sound ignorant but would you mind telling me how to tell if a sharpening is a good one? I would really liek to know also becuase i hope to one day work at my LHS Looking at the steel will give you a pretty good idea. You can't just use your eye to see if the edges are level. You can set a dime on them and at least that will let you know if they are really off or not. Hopefully your sharpener is using a level to make sure they are even. Look at the bottom of the blade. It should look shiny and smooth. If it is brown or has a scalloped appearence they had a bad dress on the wheel or were just whipping the skate back and forth. When you lightly run your finger the length of the steel it should feel smooth. Over time you should look at the shape of your steel. They should maintain the rocker you have. If the skates are getting banana blades your sharpener needs to stop taking so much steel of the ends.

F--- you cancer

First game back after taking last season off. We played the team in my league that I hate... mainly because of the lady we call big nasty. Anywho, she stepped up into me with intentions of mushing me like a bug (she's got about 40-50 lbs on me). I saw it coming and dropped her instead. No penalty, and we won the game 8-3. I'm glad I'm playing hockey again :D

I'm headed over to the show in Naples in a couple of hours. I will go check it out.

Sometimes they get a little too appreciative. I was working at an arena part time after I had quit my job at the hockey shop. I had a customer recognize me from fitting him/sharpening his skates. We made small talk and then the guy put hands on my neck and pretended to choke me because he was so upset I didn't work at the shop anymore. I do still get people who remember me from the shop and its been almost 3 years since I worked there.

I got to check out Boston University's set-up with the FBV system this past weekend. It looks pretty slick... I guess all of their guys are loving it.

Dave's up in Fridley is the only location I know of. They only have the 90/75 and 100/75 spinners. Hockeygiant will be set up within the month... but their sharpening people aren't as good as Dave's.

Can you change the ROH with the spinner or do you have to stick a different one on? The video said it is set for 1/2". What do you do if you need something different? I like the weight of the team travel. I might be in the market if only so I can bring it on an airplane. My blademaster is too heavy.

Did you flat out refuse? Or did you suggest? Flat out refuse. The ice there was slush and there was no reason to put skaters of that level in a 3/8". It was explained to them why. I had more than one player come up to me at the end of camp telling me they were nervous the first time to get their skates sharpened by me but said I did the best sharpenings they had ever had. Once you get out of the shop you have a little more control over how a players skates are sharpened (within reason of course). You try to educate the player and work with them to find the hollow that works best for them. They almost always come around to see your side of things. If you can't answer that question then why would you refuse to sharpen their skates the way they want it? I meant it as a hypothetical question to start a discussion.

I think a lot of ideas on where your hollow should be come with experience and education. As an example: I worked the national womens camp last month out in lake placid and did a lot of sharpening. The U18 team almost all asked for 3/8" (which myself and the other equipment manager would not do, we put them on a 1/2"), the U22 team was a mix of 1/2" and 5/8" and the O22 team almost all wanted 5/8". The influence of their respective equipment managers, trial and error, and learning why it is more beneficial to skate on a shallower hollow led the more established players to go to the 5/8" cut. I won't be suprised if a few of them even think about going a little shallower. This then takes us slightly off-topic, but will a player's weight affect whether a hollow is too shallow or not? Would it be beneficial to put a 135 lb woman who is an excellent skater into something less than 5/8" or would they lose any "bite" they would have?

Shop around on that one... I had one ford dealer in the northern twin cities quote me $160 and another ford dealer in the south metro did it for around $60

I learned how to "borrow" pictures... so here are a couple. In whites I'm fanning on a slapshot and in green I'm just looking about as intense as I get.

That was always my arguement with parents over helmets. They'd want to put their kid in the absolute lowest end helmet, which usually fit poorly. It was like pulling teeth to get them to spend the extra $15/$20 to upgrade into something that would fit and be more protective. I'd tell them that the things they should spend money on are helmets and skates. You need to protect their heads, its the most important part of their body. It drove me crazy that these same parents had no problem dropping $160 on a composite stick, but wanted the cheapest stuff for everything else (skates included!).

What rink / league is that Forbs? WHAM (the women's version of AHA). My team usually skates out of Augsburg but the state tourney was at the Super Rink. I've played at Augsburg a few times..Its right next to their basketball arena. Nice little facility and a few bars closeby. Was like 10 years ago when I last played there. Ever skated at the old Fairgrounds Coliseum? Sure did. When I was in college the Hamline team used to play out of there so we played them a few times. The girls state tourney used to be there too. Nothing like watching hockey in a rodeo barn...

What rink / league is that Forbs? WHAM (the women's version of AHA). My team usually skates out of Augsburg but the state tourney was at the Super Rink.

Here is a picture of my league team from this past weekend. I'm second from the left in the front row.

I have had that backfire me back more often than not. I've had a few good customers who would say thank you and become repeat customers, but I've also had a lot who have a sense of entitlement. I would stay open late and they would complain because we didn't have the exact product they wanted, the wrong color, "we're just looking"... or they would spend an hour trying to decide which pair of $45 (new) skates they wanted to buy. "What are the benefits of the Impact 50 skates over the 92 tacks?, my bantam is on the ice everyday and I want them to last him." Heaven forbid you try to talk them into an appropriate skate though... "You are just trying to get more money out of me! These bottom end skates will be fine, give me two sizes up from what you put him in so he has room to grow." Sorry for the rant, I just found retail extremely frustrating. You try your hardest to put people into the product that is best for them (ex. not putting your 14 yr old bantam in rec. hockey skates) and they bite your head off. They always would come back two weeks later yelling again because we sold them an inappropriate skate and now jr has a broken foot from taking a puck. I could go on and on. There are great customers out there. You build a rapport with them and it's awesome. I had a lot of customers who would call ahead to make sure I was there so I could sharpen their skates, but on the other hand I had the jackasses who in front of their daughters would ask a male associate to sharpen their skates because "girls don't know how to sharpen". Respectfulness is a two-way street, you treat the customers with respect and hope they will give you the same. If they don't, you just have to nod and smile and hope that karma comes back to bite them.

Representing with the IHS jersey, very nice. When did you go? I used to work there...

I've never tried the concessions and I go there for school! Should I? I'm going to try out for the club team this year. I was really scared to last year, don't know why. P.S. I always think it's amazing how people can name rinks from a slew of pictures. B) Definately hit up the stand during a varsity game. They have great hotdogs, cheese curds, malt cups,... its kind of making me hungry. Its all really cheap too!