MThockeydad

Was the fit similar to the Vapors? What holders did you use? A lot of forward pitch similar to Grafs?

I told you that you are ready!!! Were the church boys there? Whitefish at 9:15 on Sundays, 9:15 tomorrow night, this and next week only. :) It's a faster skate, but people are probably even more conscious to pass to beginners and give you space.

Cool photo, EJB! My oldest was out most of the early season due to a shoulder injury. After an MRI, the Orthopedic doc told her she could play if she wanted to, if she could manage the pain. She told me this weekend she misses it and wants to play again. :) :) :) I love watching her play.

I had to chew my kid out for tripping yesterday. She's a really good kid, learning to play a more physical game in Peewees. She's really learned to play the boards and body contact well. They had a 3-team festival this weekend. Played the other two games OK (teammates aren't passing --she's D, but the forwards weren't supporting each other) and then the other two teams played each other. They're rivals and they split the two games they played. The 2nd game got very chippy and dirty on both sides--5 penalties on each side. Then my daughter's team played the 2nd team and the dirty play came to the game (on both sides). Hooking, slashing, checking, tripping, elbows, cross-checking, cheap shots in the back. My kid must have thought, "Well, the other team is doing it and my team is doing it, so it must be OK." One would have been forgiveable/mistake, but three in a row were a trend I didn't want to see happen. I yelled at her and got her attention with my Dad voice. "NO TRIPPING AND CHEAP SHOTS. WE DO NOT PLAY THAT WAY." It pisses me off that I had to do it during a game. I am not that kind of Dad who coaches through the glass or in the car. I'm really proud of what my kids have learned, but I didn't want to see that sort of thing happening. It pisses me off that I had to yell at her when it pretty much crunched her morale for the next two periods (and an hour after). If I hadn't and she'd hurt someone, I would feel worse. It pisses me off that she'd do that. She knows better. It pisses me off that the refs didn't call it tighter--a lot of the crap (on both sides) happened in front of them. It pisses me off that neither of the coaches said anything--to the kids or to the refs. It pisses me off that the assistant coach (her D coach) told us after the game that he saw her throw an elbow. "I didn't teach her that, but I liked it." WTF, asshole? I don't want my kid encouraged to be a goon. One of her D linemates (there are 5 of them) is a complete little shit who throws elbows and cheap shots with abandon. He skates into his teammate's side and then bitches at them when they're not covering his back (while he leaves his back door wide open). He yells at the goalie, "Missed it, bitch", and tells the other kids he's the best player on the team and that they shouldn't tell him what to fucking do. He skates up the ice and launches floaters from the blue line, never hits the net, and never passes. Oh yeah, assistant coach's kid. The parent meeting is going to be interesting tonight. Half the parents want to tell the coaches to put in better power play lines because putting a goal on the board will boost morale. The other half of the parents see the bullying problem and lack of positive coaching as the issue.

This one?

If the tri holder is out of level, every single set of skates will be off from front to back, no matter how good you dress or adjust from edge to edge. This can happen easily if the tri-holder is dropped by one employee and the others don't know it. If they spot-check only the center of the blade, they may not notice if there's runout on the toe and heel. Edge level is definitely more critical with FBV than ROH. You can't just tilt the tri-holder to get the center of a radius to hit the center of the blade edge (even if the skate is not level!); you have to be at exactly the right height off the table with the dresser and center of blade while held level.

I had NoIcing do my steel with 100/50 and loved it. I bought one set of Step Steel from "jimmy" last winter and he profiled and sharpened it for me. I typically play 1 adult league game, 1 dropin, and coach 3 nights a week. One sharpening on the Step lasts me about a month. Seems like I can go about 3 weeks on Bauer steel. NoIcing has good turnaround, but I'm too cheap to want to pay shipping each way for one set, so I found a local guy to do mine. He plays in a different league, so it's almost impossible to get a quick turnaround from him, so I put my dull steel on a spare set of holders and give them to him for a week or two until I see him again. I also sharpen on the Wissota at my local association's rink. A month ago, he was busy and I shorted myself too little time to send my steel to NoIcing and ground off my 100/50 and did 9/16". I hated it. Great glide, but too little grip. I then went to 1/2" and found it to be decent. The grip I was used to, but glide suffered. To answer your question, OP, if I have no dings, I can probably sharpen my steel in about 4-6 passes. Grinding out the FBV and leaving them sharp took probably 8-10 passes (so just less than the amount ground in two sharpenings). Don't get hooked on FBV unless you have a source to get your steel sharpened as available as the radius you can get at your local shop! I have a super available Wissota at my local rink. I would much rather do it myself than the local sporting goods store. Sometimes they're sharpened very well by the gray old pro who has sharpened skis and skates for 30 years; sometimes poorly by the part-time college kid who sweeps floors to get lift ticket money. If it's the same pro sharpening your skates every time, then no, it probably doesn't save you time or money or get you a better job. If local sharpening availability is poor, or skill is spotty, or you really want a cut that isn't available locally, or your family represents a lot of volume, (or really any one of the four), then do your own. I plan to buy or build a spinner adapter for FBV on my local rink's Wissota. As for learning, I worked my way through a couple of racks of rental skates before I did my own or my kids'. Rental skates step on concrete and aluminum door thresholds and get knocked together so much that even a so-so sharpening is an improvement! :) Once I could get consistently sharp edges and level front, center, and back, I felt OK to sharpen mine and my kids'. Then when I could skate on mine and my kids were happy, I started sharpening the customer skates (see, you never know who you will get!). When I sharpened skates for visiting Canadian teams and people at the local Pond Hockey Classic and those skilled skaters were happy, it was a point that I had figured it out. :)

I like 100/50 and did not like going to 9/16 from it. I'm currently on 1/2" until I get my other steel back with 100/50.

I'm 6'-5", 190# and really like 100/50. MT is a vacuum when it comes to hockey shops, and I ran out of time to send my skates to Noicing, so I put a radius on them. Bob said that 100/50 was roughly equivalent to 9/16, but I HATED 9/16 and am now on 1/2" until I can send my skates back to him. What were you on for radius? At your weight and with hard ice, you might like 95/75 better.

You're just trying to remove the burr. I just do a single pass, dry. A student of mine suggested running down the edge with a piece of copper or aluminum to remove the burr; since both metals are softer than steel, they won't dull the edge.

My youngest daughter had Peewee practice last night. Sent her home for dinner. Bantams were scrimmaging their coaches and they needed a goalie, so my 1st year Peewee ('03) kiddo came back to the rink to play in net against the '00-'01 Bantams. She had some fantastic saves, and they only lost 3-5 I got my rookie adult program off the ground last night and we had 15 adult hockey hopefuls show up--INCLUDING MY WIFEY! She's the cute one in the white helmet/white jersey in the 2nd row. I'm the ugly one in the back with the white helmet and tan jersey. I'm smart. I had a couple of the assistants coach my wife while I coached their spouses.

Shot my first goal in C league tonight!

Buried my dog yesterday. We rescued her 6 years ago. She was raised by hippies who didn't believe in discipline or consistency for dogs. She was a hot mess. We brought her into a home with 2 well-behaved Labs and she beat up our younger dog for a couple of years until the oldest one passed away. Then she became a generally good dog. :) She was diagnosed with cancer in her front shoulder in July. Vet gave prescribed prednisone to keep her appetite up, and it worked really well--she was ravenous. We gave Lotus lots of treats and lots of love all weekend, but she hardly got up. She willingly loaded up for a ride to the lake, but she only waded and didn't swim. When a Lab doesn't swim, something's wrong. It makes things easier, in a way, since we really know it's the right thing to do and there isn't much second-guessing ourselves. Sunday night I dug a hole under our cherry tree where she used to watch squirrels. Final ride to the vet was yesterday at 4:30 and now she's resting under the tree. We still have that little chocolate Lab. She's 15.5 and failing as well. We may not get another dog until the girls graduate high school--they're very busy with school, 4-H, and hockey, and it wouldn't be fair to have a dog waiting at home for us all the time while we're gone. It sucks to think I may not have a dog for 6+ years when I've had one all but 1 of the past 35 years of my life (and similar for my wife). :(

Started league again on Tuesday night. I took power skating classes in the spring and have been on the ice for a month now. I thought I'd have an advantage. But the other newer skaters have also improved and the more seasoned skaters are not that rusty. It was so much fun. GREAT competition and great friends on both teams. We won 5-4 in overtime. A lot of people who were on the team we had a friendly rivalry with this spring were drafted on my team this fall, and several of my former teammates were on the opposing team. One of my former teammates was really pushing me around when I got in her house, and one of my new teammates shoved a good buddy of mine (they were on the same team last spring) right into the boards. I hope the whole season is like this. Life is f-ing awesome!

I played my first B drop-in last night. WAAAAY faster than I'm used to in C. I didn't feel like a complete hack, but I know I need to go back and spend a lot more time hustling in C to get my quickness up.

My absolute favorite is skating with my kids. I don't care if it's on a rink or a pond. Close second is watching them play. Close third is playing myself.

I signed up for a local summer games tournament. They were supposed to draw for teams. They drew two teams early and we hit the ice, but not enough people showed up for full benches for the later teams. So, instead of 3 games, I got in on 5 games for my $40. My daughters started their fall hockey clinics on Wednesday and played again yesterday afternoon. My youngest started there last season, and my oldest started last November. I was so proud seeing how much they have learned in a single year. It gives me a lot of joy to see how much fun, athleticism, focus, toughness, and maturity they've gotten from this sport. I have 43 adults interested in the rookie adult program I'm starting this winter. Even if only half of them actually commit, it's going to be a great group. Life is good.

My tall ugly mug back row, 4th from the left.

Typically there's an exemption for kids under 18 working on a family farm.

Don't ever feel a bit guilty about hitting the ice a lot, especially when you're learning. It's only money, and hockey is good for your health--which is priceless.

I have one of each. Youngest LOVES playing with the boys (and she's huge into Star Wars and LEGOs). Oldest LOVES playing with the girls and couldn't fathom playing on a boys team. As a parent, I like that they each have an option that fits them. Drives my wife nuts that there aren't more playing opportunities for the U14's, but she hasn't exactly embraced ADM. The girls LOVE being on the ice and don't judge their season by how many games they play in (or win). I hate to admit that "one girl at a time" is correct...but I tend to agree. It's hard to recruit a never-ever 10-12 year-old girl and hope she'll feel comfortable stepping onto the ice with girls who have been skating 3-5 years already. It's a bit too late for our girls, but we just have to recruit more girls into the Termite/Mite groups to have a bigger pool in 5-10 years. Our girls only started a year ago, but they REALLY wanted to play and dived in headfirst. They have really loved their hockey experience, and we've seen a lot less drama from hockey parents than from basketball and volleyball. I think those sports are limited by how few players can start, and a lot of good kids end up riding the bench. Hockey is physical enough that line changes are a MUST and 14-16 kids can all have success on a team. It's just a matter of convincing those other parents that their daughters can find fun and success in what they see as a boys' sport. We have similarly great women's programs and teams around here, and they take an active interest in supporting the girls groups. They secured ice time for Sept-Oct and are starting 1-2 months before the coed teams. :)

Awesome!! U14 in MT is girls only. There are only 3 other programs in the state, so travel opportunities are limited. Younger daughter plays Peewees with the boys and one other girl--they travel a lot! That's awesome that they have travel opportunities for the U12 girls where you are.

Starting youth hockey again next week. The girls are absolutely stoked. I am, too. I love watching them play. They never got this amped about basketball or volleyball. I love to play, but I REALLY love to watch my girls play. They're starting the same fall hockey clinic that our youngest started with last fall. Every Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon. I didn't realize how awesome it is to walk out of a 22ºF rink into 80ºF air in shorts and flip flops. Definitely going to enjoy that while it lasts. Younger daughter ('03) is playing PeeWee this year. Should be interesting as the boys are just starting to grow and she hasn't quite started her own growth spurt (she's 4'-10" and 85#). A bunch of the '00's moved up to U19, so we're left with low numbers on the U14 team. My oldest daughter ('01) and the remaining girls may combine with a neighboring town to fill a roster. Younger daughter will probably play goalie for them. There's an invitational U14 tourney in Dickinson, ND in October. One team each from Montana, ND, SD, and Wyoming. Our oldest REALLY wants to play, but it's 12h away. I'd push it, but I'll be in another town for the state association scheduling meeting, so that leaves it to my wifey to figure logistics, and she's not as gung-ho as the other 3 of us.

Didn't realize there was such a massive sale; I'd have searched harder. I was looking for gloves for my wife and daughter and scored Covert DT2 gloves for $20/ea in 13", but they were the last in their colors; I assumed it was a limited item close-out.

Scored Warrior Covert DT2 gloves on Amazon for my wifey and oldest daughter for $20/ea, and Easton EQ50 skates for my wifey and youngest daughter for $40/ea. The checkbook isn't hurting too badly this early in the season! :lol: There isn't much I need for my own gear this season (is that sacrilegious to say on this site?--I'm sure I'll buy something!)