bunnyman666

One more session of drop in. Kick saves, a few stinker goals and finally got into a rhythm. Then it was time to go home.

Yes they do! I saw how many pair some Blues went through in a season as I used to hang out at the St. Louis Mills practise facility. It was mind blowing; yet the craziest thing was how many helmets for tryouts/training camp were reused!

Last Sunday was another Drop in played. Only a few more weeks before getting chopped on for hopefully the last time.

I automatically like this better than the Bauer trigger holder. I like the mechanism. If I ever go cowling-free again, I will use that holder.

I would not say even duped. Technically, since the heel and the quarter are together, it would qualify as one piece. Is there a performance benefit? Probably not except that the heel and quarter are stiffer and theoretically would not flex from each other. If the outsole is the same type of composite glued on, then there is another layer or two of fabric on top, then it would technically be one piece. So I would not say you’ve been duped; a 100% singular boot with outsole would most likely be very expensive with little to no benefit. True’s boot is not one piece for certain! It’s like a monocoque fuselage- many pieces compose the “mono” of the monocoque. I now want to watch the video @flip12 referenced. Now I am curious, myself.

“One piece” in composites can be a misnomer. I have not seen the assembly of any CCM “one piece” boots, but can say with certainty that many “one piece” composite items are not always one piece and can merely be finished as one piece. When the pieces are bonded together, they do act as one piece! I am thinking that the quarters and heel are the one piece and the outsole and insole are glued on/in. Many times, two halves are bonded together to make one piece in the midst of the manufacturing process. If there were truth in advertising laws governing truly “one piece” composite structures, I could think of few that would be telling the truth!

That was the biggest shock when I re-entered hockey six plus years back was the glove palms. I am so old that most glove palms, even in nylon-wrapped Senior editions were either horse or cow hyde, and they took FOREVER to break in! I liked the instant break in of the modern, synthetic palms, but eventually would custom order Eagle gloves with a goat palm, which was the closest to what I used to play in, albeit slightly softer. I am thinking 99.9% of NHL/ers use synthetic palms, now. Sorry for the tangent...

It was an old taperflex aluminium painted as a Z-bubble. A few guys hung onto those aluminium shafts for a long time! I will find it in my museum... I just added a Reebok helmet rebadged as a CCM spec’d like a 4K with the single density thin foam; I liken it to the modern version of a pro-fit CCM HT-2, with a small fitting like a medium/large. So the museum needs a good sort out!

69, because it is snicker-worthy.

As soon as I get my health back, I want to stock your runners in my little skate shoppe! Can’t wait for the new CCM trigger holders to come out so I can stock runners for them.

@STEP_Official love love love your runners!!!! I am just a Step fanboy!!!! Steel stays nice and sharp, does not take lots of runs to freshen up edges, and is in general better than the rest! Just had to get that out there!

Animal names for sports teams are always safe (for now)...

Yes- you can get the great Graf models from Graf Switzerland. I love Swiss Graf skates; Canadian made ones leave me a bit cold. Mine is a T-Flex, not bought from Pro Stock Hockey. When I first saw it, it seemed way too square-ish to be composite!

Yes. That is definitely the intent I wanted to put out there. Scott was not a shoe maker, therefore how he approached the method of building is VASTLY different. They are not far off from some custom composite cycling shoes that were built a few years back. The actual method of building them would have to change to purty them up. I have not reverse engineered my VH/Trues to the point of cutting them apart, but the build process they use and what Bauer and CCM would use are vastly different. I could probably build these after a few tries. I do have experience in composites, so I do NOT want to denigrade what the VH/True skate is. This is NOT some DIY project that would take the weekend to do and all of your supplies would be at your local Lowe’s. You would need a well-rounded composites background. Though a goalie mask maker with expanded composite building experience could pull off a True skate.

It is overlooked to a degree because of the methods used in manufacture. This is a one-at-a-time method; now made several in a day most likely. You can “purty up” hand-laid and multi-piece composites; it just takes a LOT longer, and would weigh more. If there were moulds for every size and pieces were not interchangeable, the finish quality would be better. I suspect that there has been zero evolution in build method since buying the process. My power skating coach has a pair of speed skating boots built very similarly, and they are not what you would call beautiful, but speed skates are most likely covered by a skin made of lycra coated with some aerodynamic treatment. As far as the recent fit issues I have read about, this sounds like growing pains for trying to make a one at a time process into a semi-production process. And Scott used to offer resizing, which essentially was building a new boot. And it doesn’t sound like True has gotten around the possibility of needing to re-build the boot. Edit: yes- there is an example in this thread about a boot being built a few times. But it seems that there are growing pains, none the less. The stick building has little in common with skates except that carbon composite is used. True has had their stick factories for YEARS! Stick shafts are pretty well idiot-proof as far as how they are made and can be duplicated in infinitum.

For me, the most beautiful skates to me would be an old pair of leather Bauer Supreme or Graf, hands down. I think once the bigs’ custom becomes more accessible, VH/True will have to up their game on the aesthetics. I chose True for one reason: I could not get what I needed from the big manufacturers in fit, at least easily and from a relatively low cost. VH did it for me. Are they pretty? No. Do they fit well? YES.

I have a pro stock Easton Aluminium stick painted as a (then) current model composite. I will have to dig around for it. A few guys are hoarding the late model Easton helmets, as well!

I agree 100%! I certainly am forgiving of the looks as long as the voids are cosmetic, which I surmise they are!

Those pits in the finish are voids. It is most likely cosmetic, as it is in the outermost finish ply. But it also implies that the resin did not completely wet out; not a problem in the outer layer but is in the structural layers (most likely there are few voids underneath). Some fabric twill patterns wet out better than others.

Facepalm was for your partner, not you! Wow is all I can say...

I took a freak shot off the ball of my foot. My pads were tabletop boot, which leave some skate exposed. Also- I was not down in the butterfly, I was up waiting for the shot, lost sight of the puck through a screen, and possibly stopped the shot instinctively with my foot. It was so quick and now two years in the past! Freak accident in the end, but I thought I had broken my foot when I got hit there. Can’t speak to Bauer cowling-free; was wearing True. I loved the attack angle I was getting. But it that impact freaked me out and I installed cowlings on my boots as soon as I could put pressure on my left foot again! I do stand up a bit more than normal goalies, and that could have impact on my tendency to feel shots to the skate. I do understand that a 100% butterfly goalie would NOT need a cowl, though it is seeming that a few are getting Custom Skateworks shot blocking material added to the outside of their boots.

It looks like a few problems with the unwanted blade release *may* have been solved, at least on paper. I was only against the quick release runner because of the fact that it can release at the most inopportune times it seems. As a men’s league goaler, I certainly don’t want to crawl to the bench hoping to have someone re-installing my runner. I tend to have Murphy’s law be observed when playing hockey, which is why I would not even risk it with the Vertexx holder when I had ordered my VH/True skates. Though I am famously anti-no cowling, I am not against it in theory, just in practise; however- I DO have a solution in the works to take advantage of attack angle of a holder with the protection a cowling provides. It is really not some top-secret project, but merely another idea adapted from elsewhere. Unless Price has been secretly testing a CCM skate, I think he is firmly in the Graf cowling camp but for a different reason: he likes the height of a Graf cowling. The best part of the protection is GONE with the way his is set up! Interesting as this is the ONLY cowling Step REFUSES to make an Extreme blade as it is too high of a combo. So I find it very amusing that Carey Price’s face is being attached to the new CCM goal skate, as well!

Power skating lessons from a figure skater really helped me. I am actually thinking of learning honest to goodness figure skating.

The only thing in new gear that excites me is if it can still be made the old way. I am still excited over my Eagle goat skin player gloves, and I have had them for YEARS. NOS “pro fit” CCM HT2 helmets excite me, though I use a Kustom Composites player helmet. Goalie gear can excite me, but only if I do some sort of customisation. I just got a pair of Vaughn pads that require no strapping change for me to use them; the plus 2” thigh rise will need to be corrected. Guess what I will be addressing whilst out for my surgery? Lastly, vintage gear and restoring it REALLY excites me. The vintage gear I have collected is not pressed into service again, but making it suitable to be used makes me excited. There is something about the old stuff that stirs the imagination for me.

Another small victory: played goal at drop in today. New exercise regimen has paid off as I was nowhere nearly as winded as normal when playing. I let in a few muffins, but it’s not like I get to play all that regularly at this point.