Souldriver

I know pros usually have flex tailored to their stick length but... I know st Louie is about as tall as me, so his sticks are pretty short I would think. Maybe that's factoring into flex feel.

Since seeing their retro glove series ive been jonesing for a whalers colors set up

I know amity harbor sports supports alkali skates well and the skatesafe pro shop always has ads for them at the front desk. And I played at sportime (bethpage) for a while and comparing it to skatesafe I miss their refs, (they give a care) their A/c, their rink is still newer and is a bit bigger as well. The downside is their zamboni broke down and their rinks are sooo dirty and they won't allow my half visor that I have fallen in love with this past season. If you want pm me that shop name and I'll check it out. Unfortunately the ones I've tried rarely have the skate size or width I would like to try and make you pay for the skate for them to get it in and try it. And yeah back on topic. I do like the way alkali is going and although I'm set right now I always look at Justin's stuff, even this past time but the skate didn't fit my very odd shaped foot well enough. Not alkalis fault, my "will never get a skate that fits well" foots fault. I think Justin said that he will be providing demo pairs to stores that they can bake to let a customer feel how the skate will truely fit. This is an insanely good idea, especially for a skate that boasts it's moldability as much.

Thanks for the help but I'm good. I play at skate safe right now. They used to be good but they have gone a bit down hill imho, but it's a good meeting point for my work team. For bearings I have bones super swiss 6. They're awesome and last very long. For wheels my two insides are the orange addictions and the outsides are 78a rink rat hot shots. I found the addictions to be ok but they would get cracks very easily. I always liked the rink rats and they always lasted forever for me.so I went back and put on the two as the outside wheels and it's great. They also make the addictions crack way less. When I called rink rat directly i was actually recommended the hot shots over the hornets bc they're the same shell but just with less m-tech so it won't deflect as much on me. I have also always asked if I could get skates without the wheels and shops said no straight out to me. They also will rarely ever do anything with the skate price so I find myself buying online more and more when shops have their 20% off sales. That could be another question for Justin, I know some ice skates come.with the option of no steels/holders. Wouldn't it be good to offer roller skates with no wheels and bearings and knock off a but from the price. But in the end I could see the price differential not being worth it.

Justin. I have 2 questions concerning some business decisions a skate company named. I'm seeing, thankfully over the years higher end skates have been coming with some sort of swiss bearing. Though most of them are bsb, labeda, or mission brands. I see why mission would use their own stuff and skates using labeda chassis and wheels using labedas brand but for others why hasn't anyone used bones. They are considered to be the tops in the bearings world and are highly regarded around here as well. Are they cost prohibitive? Does bones not want to wheel and deal? Or are they really more concentrated on the skateboard/speed skate market? Also with wheels one of my pet peeves is that skates always come with soft 74a or 76a durometer wheels. Now I'm a heavier guy (250lbs) and am obviously on the very high side of the spectrum. But I feel like many players are over the magical 180lbs mark and would benefit from a slightly harder wheel. Am I wrong about this, are many of the players actually much much lighter? I know from my past teams I would say (not counting the really small light guys, and the bug heavies such as myself) the average weight is between 180-200 lbs. Not that well see it anytime soon but I would love a new set of skates to come with wheels I can use. I can't tell you how many sets of high end wheel I've had to pawn off bc they are so soft it feels like I'm skating on gummy bears. And if I do skate on them they fail within a game or two. It's not fun buying $400 skates then spending 80-100 more on new wheels, which is ampliphied if you change chassis styles Preemptive strike: iI know imI'm heavier than iI shoukdshould be but illI'll never be under 180lbs even if i perfectly healthy and in good shape. I've been in good shape before and became I'll for about a month once in high school, I lost a lot of weight and was only about 186.

That stinks. I would still get your foot measured somewhere. Boots mold to your foot more and more over time and to base a measurement off another boots size seems a little odd to me.

You would be much better off going to somewhere to measure your foot and had the skates in stock to try.

Reebok 9k Pump Roller Skates Size 8.5 E Used roughly 1 year, about 30 games Player Bio: Age: 24 Height: 5' 7" Weight: 250 Play: Semi Competitive 1-2 times a week. Previous Skates: Mission RMx, CCM pf8, Reebok 9ks, Mission AC2. Currently with the AC2s Fit: The fit at first was great and I thought "OK, finally a skate for my foot!" and i bought these bc the LHS told me with my foot size the Reebok E size would be the only boot wide enough for me. I played some games and I got used to it very quick but then i realized my foot was sliding around in the boot while other parts of my foot were cramped in. I then tried to use their lace lock and that helped but only so much. i would leave the bottom barely taught and the top had to be laced up tight, this led to other problems such as not enough forward flex but thats another issue. For an E width boot there is also very little volume for the top of your foot. mine was coming out so much that the top laces had to flex out to fit my foot. The toe box also doesnt get wider for the E width and that does other things to the boot that seem to inhibit it as well. I think half of this is the boots fault and the other half is that after getting my foot sized i was told the reeboks were the only option for me but they clearly were not. they are for a wide and flat/low volume foot, not a wide higher volume one such as mine. 6/10 Wheels/Bearings/Chassis: The wheels that came on the skate were alright labeda millenniums in x-soft. i used them for a game and they were like skating on gummy bears, enough grip but it slowed me down. I immediately saw chunking so i switched to my trusted rink rats. no issues since and i cant blame the wheels bc they werent made for my weight. maybe one day there will be an option for us larger guys to get harder wheels stock. Or better in my option, leave bearings and wheels out of it bc i will be putting on my harder wheels and sweet swiss bearings first thing anyway. The chassis is a disgrace. Heavy, clunky, can take a shot off them but the holes for the wheel axles go out of round and develop burs that i needed to remove. I was told by a trusted source that reebok just made the chassis haphazardly to put on a roller boot and then paid labeda to have their name and a license on it. for a real chassis look at the high end tours, missions and the new apx2r. now those are chassis. Bearings were abec 7s, they are weak especially for the $350 price point of the skate, immediately switched them to my bones swiss bearings. 4/10 Weight/Protection: Weight wasnt an issue but now in the lighter AC2 skate i see how heavy those things were. I even think my old CCMs size 10 were a little lighter. Protection was fine and i never got hit in the foot, ankle or skate and had any pain afterwards. 7/10 Durability: I never had a lace break except on these skates. mentioned above chassis holes needed deburring after a while to get the axle to go through. Screws stripped very easily. though the boot itself does seem to stay decently stiff it only does that around the ankle and the rest of the boot gets soft. the bottom outsole where the chassis bolts on also seems to be very thin and never looked like it was fitted right to a wider boot. 7/10 Intangibles: It took about 3 games to get used to the straight 80s chassis and i ended up really liking that set up because i could accelerate and skate faster than i used to even though it did cut down on some maneuverability. That larger front wheel is something i miss now but the switch is for the better. even with the straight 80s it still wasnt as good as say a tour skate where its all 80s but its recessed in the front to add some maneuverability to it. The pump is ok but it never locked my heel in there. It was more of a push my ankle forward so thats its tighter to the tongue, because of this i only pumped the thing about 2-3 pumps per game to take up the extra space that they put in there. Moving to the AC2 i now see a good heel lock with my heel all the way back and no need for any pump nonsense. the carbon outsole on the bottom is soooo thin that it flexes a lot and doesnt do its job really. a matter of fact my skate bottom flexed so much it rubbed against my second wheel and the wheel wore a hole through it. HUGE no no! but i do wish more skates had a skate lock, but going to waxed laces also helps with that. 6/10 Conclusion: Reebok roller really is lacking, especially for the price they charge. The little to no effort shown to make a roller boot is evident throughout the design and after talking to some industry insiders the whole thing just wreaks of a fast cash in at the cost of the roller market crowd. 30/50 = 6/10 I would say avoid at all costs unless you really, reaaaaaaallly reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaalllllly just want an easy switch, fit wise, for their ice skates, but even then the fit is different and the roller parts are subpar. I moved on to Mission AC2s and couldnt be happier at the moment.

I bought my franchises with the kovalchuck cuffs last year and the outside (top of the hand) is like the new blooming cuff you posted where its a little more ergonomically cut. the biggest difference is the part around the wrist, thats like the luxe gloves. I can move my wrist 100% and the glove doesnt inhibit any movement.

mine were perfect out fo the box but i have the kovalchuk cuff. what digs in? some sticking, padding?

I'm looking into helmets and the krown was one of them. I would like to see the new iterations of them bc warriors second gen products are usually majorly improved

I had this stick for about a year before it finally snapped but it did good for a tax return gift to myself Body: Type: 5' 7" 250 lbs Stick: RH P88 Kane 87 flex cut down to the 105 flex mark, about 55-54" Recent Sticks: APX, Widow, DT1 Blade: the blade is stiff and has that great sandpaper texture to it. its not a lot but it does help tape stick better and the puck as well., the texture also holds up nice over time and doesnt smooth out. The feel though is average and unlike both Warriors i couldnt tell where the puck was on the blade, I left a lot of pucks behind because I didnt realize they rolled of the edge of my stick 8/10 Shaft/Flex: The shaft has that great small round contour for it and it really helped me get back into hockey and relearn how to stickhandle a little better. Though i outgrew this and wanted a little more shoulder to fill my palms i did enjoy this and it was a good stepping stone. The flex feels stiffer than rating by a little, really stiff compared to the easy loading warriors. 9/10 Stickhandling/receiving passes: stick handling was great and rolling your hand around the shaft was a breeze when you needed to. receiving passes was a little pingy but not too bad, a little wax helped this 9/10 Shooting: Wristers and snap shots were great, right on target and real hard. For me the more i put into the stick the more i got out of it with these shots. the widows and dt1s were a hair harder but its negatable. Slap shots though for me were an atrocity! Only once during warmups did a get a good one. Maybe i was trying too hard as others suggest but I havnt had a problem doing this with other sticks. To me the intelli-sense tech is there but it didnt work for me 7/10 Weight and balance: Weight is great and balance is too. the stick was a pinch shaft heavy before i cut it but post cut it was spot on. 10/10 Durability: Lasted a full year before it snapped which is good seeing how much i used it, It must be that new epoxy their using. the stick never fully lost its pop, it did drop off though but it never fully died. 8/10 Intangibles: matte finish was nice and so is the blade texture. micro shaft feel will be greta for those with small hands or those that love a tiny shaft. Itelli-sense seems great for some but flops for others. 8/10 Conclusion: A great stick but overall not for me. I would much prefer a tiny bigger shaft and just a straight low kick, non of that intelli-sense nonsense. Right now though im cruising with my DT1s and couldnt be happier, it seems like that stick was tailored for me. as another member said the APX is great at a lot of things, but is a master of none. 59/70 = 8.4/10

Background: Thanks to my widow breaking I now am a proud owner of a DT1. RH W88 Zetterberg 85 flex cut down to 55-54" Recent sticks used: APX, Widow, DT1 Body Type: 5' 7" 250lbs Disclaimer: Im going to do a little copy and pasting from the widow review because there is A LOT similar here Blade: Great feel but not as good as the widow, just a tad bit less feel but still great overall. coming off of the apx especially with playing with a lighter roller puck this sticks feel is so good! I thought i had good feeling before but with this i know where the puck is on the blade. its stiffer than the widow but its not pingy or anything. and with my trusty curve i was able to put the puck where i needed it. half point off for having the clear coat on the blade though. tape has a hard time sticking to it so i hit it quick with a light coat of the krylon non skid spray and now its perfect. also another half point off because for roller i want that perfect feel. 9.0/10 Shaft/Flex: Flex feel compared to the 87 APX cut to the same length felt whippy, compared to the widow its a tad bit stiffer after cutting it down. As a big guy i needed a tiny bit of shooting to square up but after a quick skate i loved it! real low kick and it let me take shots with less effort than the apx. the apx wanted someone to really rip into it, the DT1 does not. the shaft has a bit more shoulder than the APX and a tiny bit more than the widow which i also thought would be bad but im liking that too. The shoulders fit my palms better than say the apx and i get a better grip that way also the stick doesnt roll in my hands when shooting like the apx. but its not too big like the easton RS sticks where i cant wrap my hands around it right. The flex really stiffens up when cut short too but still loads easy. 10/10 Stickhandling/receiving passes: Im not a big stick handler but i can do it a little easier thanks to the feel of the blade. My passing used to be good, legitimately good, but now they are superb! touch passes get exactly where they need to be with just the right umph. 9.5/10 Shooting: Hard, fast, and on target. I couldnt be happier. i took a couple of shots against the board and my teammates turned around to look at what just slammed against the boards to see me shooting there. thats a good sign. on one of my missed shot that hit the boards i heard the opposite goalie mumble "wow, glad that didnt hit me" as i rolled by. though the trick here is to let the stick do the work. really, just let it. when i try to power shots in i usually get a stinker and the puck just trickles forward. as for slappers this is one of the few sticks i can take a good velocity shot with, as in when i hit the glass i got that glass shattering, whip cracking sound that you hear come from NHL shots. My aim is still off but i rarely take a slapshot so im not going to worry. With one timers are nice and have a good snap. I thought the widow had a good release but this thing snaps to it. there were a couple of shots i took in traffic that i thought had no chance but i got them off and with a good velocity. 10/10 Weight and balance: as light as a top tier stick can be. balance is perfect for me, even after cutting. 10/10 Durability: Whatever Warrior did to up the fortitude in these sticks worked. Only a couple games in and where my Widow and even the apx would be chipped already this stick looks like new. 10/10 Intangibles: The diamond texture (dont want to call it a grip bc its on both the grip and non grip versions) is great, you dont notice it and it doesnt restrict you at all when you need it but it definitely gave me a little more of a grip when needed it and filled my hand nicely. I didnt think i would like this but its nice. The clear coating is ok on the shaft but ton the blade im nto a fan, i wish more people had that sandpaper grip texture on the blade like bauer and easton. Like I said, nothing a quick thin coat of the krylon non-skid couldnt take care of. 8/10 Conclusion: I really didnt think it could get better than the widow but its durability made me look elsewhere. Before buying a different stick the DT1 came into the mail just before my game and i couldnt be happier. Though I rather have the better feel of the widows blade over the extra stiffness, I do realize this is for the durability of the stick overall. I much rather have a stick thats a tiny bit less sensitive than have one that breaks the 4th game in. Hands down the best stick I have ever used! 66.5/70 = 9.5/10 A real winner here guys and I honestly can't wait to see what the dt1lt/st sticks bring.

Either those guys fell asleep or they're hockey playing automatrons that yacht been turned on yet.

5' 7" off skates. 250lbs. mostly playing roller now at days. coming off of an apx stick details: RH Zetterberg non grip 85 flex cut down about 8" from their original 63" flex is feels right around 100. Blade: Great feel! coming off of the apx especially with playing with a lighter roller puck this sticks feel is soooo good! I thought i had good feeling before but with this i know where the puck is on the blade. its pretty stiff and with the curve i was able to put the puck where i needed it. half point off for have the matter coat on the blade though. tape has a hard time sticking to it so i hit it quick with a light coat of the krylon non skid spray and now its perfect. 9.5/10 Shaft/Flex: Flex feel compared to the 87 APX cut to the same length felt whippy. I then read on the MSH forums that warrior made it so it loaded easier. I thought as a big guy i wouldnt like this after a quick skate i loved it! real low kick and it let me take shots with less effort than the apx. the apx wanted someone to really rip into it, the widow does not. the shaft has a bit more shoulder than the APX which i also thought would be bad but im liking that too. I used to be in love with tiny round shafts ::insert joke here:: but not going to the apx or worse, my cyclone makes them feel too round and toyish. the shoulders fit my palms better and i get a better grip that way. but its not too big like the easton RS sticks where i cant wrap my hands around it right. 10/10 Stickhandling/receiving passes: Im not a big stick handler but i can do it a little easier thanks to the feel of the blade. My passing used to be good, legitimately good, but now they are superb! touch passes get exactly where they need to be with just the right umph. 10/10 Shooting: Hard, fast, and on target. I couldnt be happier. i took a couple of shots against the board and my teammates turned around to look at what just slammed against the boards to see me shooting there. thats a good sign. on one of my missed shot that hit the boards i heard the opposite goalie mumble "wow, glad that didnt hit me" as i rolled by. though the trick here is to let the stick do the work. really, just let it. when i try to power shots in i usually get a stinker and the puck just trickles forward. as for slappers theyre ok but i didnt get the stick for those and i rarely take big wind up slappers to begin with. one timers are nice and have a good snap. 9.5/10 Weight and balance: as light as a top tier stick can be. balance is perfect for me. 10/10 Durability: Well, 3rd game in the stick snapped about a foot up from the blade. the blade didnt have the chipping issues others have seen but thats could be because i didnt have it for that long or bc of the krylon on there. either way its off to get warrantied. 2/10 Intangibles: I love the matte finish on the shaft but on the blade tape wouldnt stick but thats an easy fix. graphics on the warriors now are way more subdued but they look good and differently enough form everyone else that it is unique. they have a customizer but i bought this on clearance which is + points for me. 8/10 Conclusion: Great stick, really love it. im using the backup i have now and its been fine for the first game and ill update on the warranty conclusion. using it is effortless and i feel like its more of an extension of me than the apx which was something i felt like i had to wield. Im really hoping the other stick hold up better because its always disappointing when a stick breaks before hand especially on a pass to the point. the DT1 is said to be much stronger and depending on the outcome with the widows ill look into one of the coverts. 59/70 = 8.4/10

Justin, I prematurely had to shop for skates and as i promised you in another thread i decided to give alkali a try. I got my foot remeasured and using the same measurer and by the same person as last year he now measured my foot to be a wider D and not an E width which either i got a bad reading the first time or my foot has changed since i restarted playing hockey. but try as i might my foot just isnt built for your boot. without using any baking (LHS wont let me bake unless theyre bougth for obvious reasons) i got it on and it wasnt so bad but it just didnt fit my shape. with that said a guy just as big as me was buying his second pair and swore on them. for me im deciding between the tour fishbone pros in 9d or the mission ac2s in 9ee. for some reason even though im not measuring as an E anymore the regular mission Ds are a bit snug all around the toe box and an e width helped that. As for the new skate it looks awesome. i like the subdued look of it, mission and tour can take a note from you, all white boots are ugly and get scuffed up hard and why tour put a fish on their top boot is beyond me, their 750 and 725 series look nice though. It seems that the front wheels there are way lower in the max, are they recessed like in other brands skates? i wish more people would do a faux hi-lo with all 80s doing a quick skate with the tours compared to my reeboks the turns i got seemed much tighter to the point i was surprised i could turn that quick. am i ranting again? maybe i should stop...

So to start out I splurged on a set of custom franchise glove from warrior last spring and I have since been in love, previous gloves were their king pins, and before that some missions that had one hand with only 4 fingers, not defective, designed that way. The big options i got were the pro pack plastic inserts and the kovalchuck/luxe cuff, so they are a little different from stock Fit: Perfect! I have a wide big hand/palm but I dont have very long fingers. Other gloves i would have to go to a size 14 and deal with longer fingers that would get stuck wrapped around my stick. the normal fit on these are much wider than otehr gloves so i can get a length i need and a width that fits. for those with normal hands they do have a narrow option for width 10/10 Protection: Ive taken slashes, slapshots, front of the net battles, faceoffs to heart with these gloves and i havnt felt a thing. Though after letting up a goal with 4 seconds left i did slam the side of my fist on the rink. there is little to no padding there and i felt it for about a week. i feel other gloves may of had a little more over hang in this spot to protect my hand against my own stupidity so im taking 1 point off, and to be honest its a hard to hit spot but hockey is weird and you could get hit there witha stick or puck. 9/10 Weight: Theyre lighter than my previous gloves and even with their liner i dont feel as if theyre heavy. they dont hold water or sweat much for me so that is also a plus. 10/10 Durability: Ive had these for about a year and the outside carbon (i went all carbon btw) has pulls but nothing is torn through or cut. stitching is all in tact and the palms have some pilling but nothing serious. friends with the same micronash glove palm have gone near tearing through them though. I use renfrew cloth tape for my butt end so its not too grippy but it does leave the black on my palms. that neon yellow (which i dont like and kind of kill the blacked out theme) is starting to discolor a bit at the ends of the liner which i fold out after every game to dry. 8.5/10 Intangibles: Never had a big problem with hockey smell in my gear and the liner keeps it that way, a plus for being able to customize my glove and have it come from the canadian plant for little less than retail is also nice. the biggest thing is the kovalchuk/luxe cuff. it takse the mobility of the glove up much higher and i can flex much more. though i was offered many palms including jiri hudlers red redwings nash, no one mentioned digital to me, i would have taken this option but i went with micronash. i never had crusting issues with the micronash either, i see other pouring water on their palms to get them soft but not me! 10/10 Ive never been a 4 roll guy because of the fit but these fit so well and cover my hand nicely that i hardly know theyre on. unlike my past gloves i feel no restraint in my hands mobility and all the customized options really make them top of the line for me. Overall: 47.5/50 = 9.5/10

sweeeet! i like how theyre trying to unify their lines. no more odd names for tiers of their protective, numbers do that job much better. now i wont be worrying which is the better stick ie dynasty, widow, dolomite all sound like top of the tine sticks.

Got these about a year ago, spoke to Jason? to customize them. decided to post them because i can i suppose. -Big warrior logo on the cuff, no stitching all silk screen. middle black silk screen took out so the blacks match and it doesnt smear. -Luxe/Kovalchuk cuff a must IMHO - Black assembly thread - all carbon because i liek to pretend to be a space robot I may take a sharpie to the smeared silver to clean it up, and maybe to cover up the red. the red in my mind looked better than it came out but all in all really good and holding up well. wish i knew they offered digital palms back then but im not sure if they did or if they just didnt tell me. would of went digital.

sounds about right. right now my apx is holding up fine despite some slight toe chipping. if the apx 2 isnt too huge of a change looka like ill be lookibg at soke discoubted apx's. maybe ill go to the 102 flex (115 cut to my length) now if only i couod find a place to shoot before i buy... hmmm.

any wprd on the new sticks? i see kane is using the apx2 already. will thevapor line get updated or does it get skipped this year?

i spent about an hour in the store comparing the franchise and luxes, i decided on the franchises but i didnt like the cuff espcially compared to the luxes. i then found out that the kovalchuk cuff was pretty much the luxes cuff. it is by far my favorite. its so mobile but you feel protected honestly with weight i would think the palms are ao little that it wouldn't make a difference, maybe the outer shell would a little. but i have all carbon micronash palms with inserts and its so light. also with sizing im normally a 14" (even with old warriors) but these fit wide. their normal/wide 13 fit me perfect. but i needed a 14 luxe. ps edit: aorry i see now how bad my phone typing is. apologies.