YesLanges

I love these. There are several different model numbers that are identical for all intents and purposes and I believe they all come in regular and with the longer forearm pad. I use 9144 regulars to practice, play in 5066 longs, and use 8044 (with the plastic caps) in wheels on concrete.

Sean Walker recommends aiming for a target no larger than one square of the net mesh. Visualize a laser beam coming from the toe of your blade and consciously aim that laser beam right at the center of the 5-hole, or in your case, maybe at the bottom edge of the middle of that hole. Take a video of your follow-through and see if it's really staying as low to the ground as you think it is. If it isn't, maybe try tying a string across your shooting lane a foot off the ground and follow through with your blade under the string. Lower the string as much as possible. You could also check the video to see where your stick actually is when the puck comes off the blade and see if you can release it a little bit later in your shooting motion.

I don't think there's any issue with those pads in terms of their primary function of protecting your elbows from direct ice impact. Don't pretty much all modern elbows (and most decent elbows for the last 40 years, for that matter) all do that well? It's the secondary coverage of the rest of your arm that varies from model to model and anything similar to Jofa 9135 should provide plenty of protection everywhere they cover.

I don't use it unless I'm protecting recent dental work (or have some other specific reason not to risk playing with my less protective vintage Cooper Pro-Tec cages), but I have the clear pro version of their original full visor. It works as advertised without any fogging at all, except for on the bench in certain conditions. Anybody have any idea why they seem to have discontinued the original product? It's pictured in their "About" page, but doesn't seem to be available for sale any longer. I prefer my vintage cage, but I wore the Boulder AVA for a month after a wisdom tooth extraction and during a double-header the night before I was scheduled to leave for a vacation that couldn't be postponed for stitches or dental repairs. (The Pro-Tec is full-face, but there are gaps large enough to catch a stick, although it's not that likely.)

If that were mine, it would be a reason to go back to playing ASAP😁

@Marsblade @PetterErlandsson Could we please trouble you guys for responses to the questions asked since your last response? Thanks in advance...much appreciated.

Same sizing as ice skates. Just get yourself a relatively cheap pair of "entry-level" skates from any of the manufacturers whose boots you're used to, already. A modern pair of $150 or $200 Bauers (for example) are much better than the top of the line skates that you could have bought 20 years ago. Same goes for modern ice skates if you decide to go with a conversion. I hadn't skated on wheels in 20+ years until I dug out my 1997 Bauer "Breakout 50" and used them until my Marsblades were installed on a new pair of boots. In the meantime, I tried and then resold a pair of Bauer RS; the boots were fantastic but I didn't like the Hi-Lo setup instead of smaller wheels in front and in back. The boots I bought for the conversion were virtually identical to them: entry-level Bauer MS-1 ice skates ($65) and they're great. You're not going to break down either of those boots without skating very hard in them for quite a while. If you spend $300 or $400+ on much higher-end skates, you may find them way too stiff, as I did: I also bought a pair of Alkali Revel II and returned them to Hockey Monkey immediately without even skating in them (obviously) just based on how uncomfortable and stiff they were compared with the Bauers, which felt perfect right out of the box and without baking. (The MS-1 are so "low level" that they're not even intended to be baked.) For reference, I normally use very stiff ice skates and tape them heavily for lateral support...so, if I'm saying these boots are plenty stiff, you can trust that.

It looks like it would be a very tight fit. There's barely 4-5 mm of space in between the middle two 76 mm wheels. Maybe less than that. I think they're talking about the fact that the 01 can only be adjusted for how much movement you want the center bolt to allow, while the R1 can also be adjusted for where you want the axis of movement to be and/or set independent degrees of movement for the front and back. They come with fixed spacers but standard bearings, so I'm sure you could use floaters. My question for @Marsblade is why the fixed axis 01 feels more like ice and why adjusting the R1 movement to suit your skating style makes the R1 feel less like ice, because adjusting the movement seems like the same thing as profiling steel runners to suit your skating style on ice. Why wouldn't the R1 just feel like skating on ice on a custom-profiled blade? So far, they feel really good...extremely smooth and already much better and less cumbersome than traditional chases even with the bolt fully tightened. (I'm using some ABEC 11 bearings instead of the ABEC 9 they come with, but that probably doesn't make much of a difference.) It's definitely much more like skating on ice and wheels no longer feel like I'm on skis and my skates no longer fight against some of what my feet are trying to do. But I wouldn't say that they "force" me to do anything different (which is the way MB refers to it); it's much more like they just allow me to skate much more like I normally skate. My quads do get more involved, but I don't notice it until I'm done and they feel sort of like I just did a light leg workout. Maybe when I open it more, I'll understand what MB means when they say the 01 force you into better skating mechanics. I've only opened the bolt about 1 full turn so far, maybe a little less...I only open it about 60 degrees after each time I skate. Whenever I first get back on them after opening the bolt a little more, it feels like my weight is too far back on my heels for a few seconds until I get used to it. The reviews I've watched suggest the exact opposite: that they put you more on your toes and that new users feel like they're going to face-plant. Another question for @Marsblade is you've said (here and in promos) that the smaller front wheel provides more of a challenge. Could you explain what you mean by that and what's different about skating on the advanced set-up? I'm not planning on trying it until I'm comfortable with the loosest bolt setting, but I'm curious how you'd characterize the difference made by the smaller front wheel.

In the meantime, can you suggest how far to open the bolt to approximate the amount of change that you'd recommend to increase movement each time on them to transition gradually between fully closed and fully open?

I'm not doubting any of what you say about why roller is noticeably easier for you, but I don't think it's the gear in my case. I'm using some gloves, helmets, and elbows that are in my ice rotation and I've just never felt as balanced or as athletic in skates only...roller is the only time I don't wear shins and pants...I'm much more comfortable and usually do everything better in shins and pants...and I don't wear shoulders to practice and usually use my lightest gear. I'm thinking there might be other variables related to being on wheels vs. ice...like maybe 1 upside to 10 downsides of wheels vs. ice is more leverage pulling in from on top of gripping rubber wheels across a much larger surface contact area and maybe that makes the motion quicker and more efficient...something like that. Obviously, what you're describing is the case for most guys, because it's much more common to prefer to skate without pads anytime that's allowed at sticks & pucks. The one TD I can actually do fairly well on ice is pulling it straight through my legs from behind and my pads don't interfere with that at all. Pulling it between my legs and off my far skate is harder for me, but been working more on that lately, too. I never even even saw a TD until one of my freshmen college roommates did it messing around in a room with a hard floor...and he was still just learning it when he became the 5th or 6th D-man at a Div II school ...he was about where I was with it before all the rinks closed, messing it up much more often than pulling a nice tight one. I never saw them at pickup in the late 70s, either, and that group included 2 future NHLrs (brothers), one of whom is now a HoF'r...and another NY Metro teammate of theirs back then who (barely) showed up on my first 50+ team in 2014. Never saw a TD among them (but I never saw the HOF'r play personally). Nowadays, it's a stickhandling fundamental that kids all can do really young. Back then, it was more of an elite skill among the highest-level players. Today, most bantams and lot of peewees have already mastered it. As you say, it's definitely a confidence booster and my body is getting very used to doing all the right patterns and postures....I'm even practicing it just with the top hand, which really reinforces the right mechanics. With a GB on a tiled (kitchen) floor, it's definitely as fast as a puck on ice...and the GB is lighter, so I'd be sort of surprised to be fumbling it again on ice for that reason....but the extra speed only seems to help stick it to my blade...so I dunno what to think...just gonna suck if it doesn't translate to ice.

Working out as much as always, because I haven't been dependent on a commercial gym for more than a decade...never been happier about that than this last 3 months, obviously. Skating for about an hour 3 x/week on a pretty good deck behind my building (roughly 80 x 40')...the only thing I can't do at all is shoot the puck out there. There's a railing on 3 sides and a gap on the bottom right over the parking lot...so I grabbed a whole case of those hollow 5' foam pool noodles on eBay for $50 and strung about 30 of them together (in 3 sections with carabiners on each end) and set them up around the 3 exposed sides of the perimeter (the 4th side is the building itself). I carry them out there tied up in a big bundle about the size of a boxing heavy bag and it only takes me about 5 minutes to deploy them and about twice that long to fold and bundle them all back up when I'm done. I was prepared for it to be a total waste of time and effort, but they work perfectly...maybe one of the best ideas I've ever had (besides putting together my own gym in 2008, after I realized we wouldn't even need a second car anymore if I did that). I've gotten very comfortable on my 1997 Bauers ("Breakout 50s") with 72-76-76-72 and with 78A wheels, my "edges" feel pretty close to ice but my Marsblades came back today installed on a pair of entry-level Bauer MS-1s that seem infinitely better than the boots I've been using. Hey, are toe drags much easier with a green biscuit than with a puck on ice or something? Because they suddenly just clicked for me since I've been out there on wheels. The GB puck speed on the surface I'm using doesn't seem much different than pucks on ice, but something suddenly changed very dramatically for me and I'm dragging that shit all over the place with relative ease, and pretty fluidly without them coming off my stick very much at all...in front of me, to the side, and from pretty far back behind to my back skate. The improvement really seems way out of proportion to the amount of extra time spent on it and I was expecting only gradual improvement and nothing like this improvement curve at all. Just hoping it carries over to the ice. When you guys perfected your toe drags, did they suddenly click for you like that, too?

Thanks again, Man...really appreciate your help in this thread...

@Marsblade The product pamphlet refers to the frame spacers, but only in connection with which arm of the skate key to use for them. There's no info about how the frame spacers actually work or how they're supposed to be adjusted (if at all) in conjunction with the center adjustment bolt. Any advice would be appreciated.

In that case, I'd go a step further. Cut out the 2 padded hip caps (including the plastic) from of an old pair of pants and sew them permanently into pockets created in something like the Shock Doc shorts (the tight-fitting ones with the cup and velcro sock tabs) and wear those under your pants. That's what I wear for reffing and for inline skating. If I had my hip done, I'd wear that under my pants anytime I played. You can use just about any material to create pad pockets and if they're too tight to sew them into the inside, just put the pockets right on the outside.

I've never found pants that don't have that annoying gap in between the pads exposing your hip socket. So I just slip a circular piece of thin supplemental padding under compression shorts to keep them exactly where they need to be to fill that gap. You can do the same thing with a supplemental tailbone pad.

I just sent mine (O1) out to be installed on some Bauer MS-1 ice boots. How tight or loose would you suggest for that center bolt the first time I try them out? Currently pretty comfortable on my old skates with a 72-76-76-72 mm setup. Is there any movement with that bolt fully tightened, or is that just like skating on traditional roller chassis?

Thanks, Per. I just found this new pair of Bauer (ice) MS-1s for $65 on eBay to have my MBs installed on them. The boots look identical to the Bauer RS (inlines) that I got a few weeks ago, except with an upgraded tongue. The Alkali 2s are going right back to Hockey Monkey because they're way too much skate for me; they felt totally foreign on my feet and are so stiff they seem like they'd take forever to break in even after baking. The Bauer RS felt just like my 22-year-old "Breakout 50s" as soon as I put them on. I'm still amazed at how stiff even low-level modern boots are. They seem to have the typical contoured bottoms that will fit the MB chasis. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bauer-Ns-Senior-Ice-Hockey-Skate-1056254-SZ-9-0/193394982832?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

@Marsblade I just received my 01s, thank you. That was a great decision to send them out in generic packaging instead of waiting for the custom packaging. Question: The boots I was planning on using with them have perfectly flat bottoms that don't match the contoured angle of the base plates. What should be used to take up that space so that they fit flush to the boot? Thanks in advance for your help.

JR, I sent a couple of messages to the PSP email but never got an answer to my 2 questions. I have two specific questions before sending them in: (1) What would you recommend to try for my Marsblades if 8'/13' w/aggressive fwd pitch still feels too flat for me? and (2) The PSP charts go by boot size, but my 288s are a little big for Size 10 skates; so would you suggest moving up to the next largest profile on the size chart or sticking with whatever corresponds to Size 10 boots. I'll send them in as soon as I know what to order. Thanks in advance for your help.

Welcome. I signed up here exactly 4 years ago, shortly before getting back on the ice for the first time in 24 years at 52. No doubt, the first time was brutal; but it comes back. Just go to sticks & pucks a couple of times a week and you'll be ready to play again in a couple of months. Everything comes back except for the speed and reflexes that you'd have lost anyway just by virtue of aging. If you haven't stayed in shape in the interim, you should just start working out and doing some cardio. That's something I never stopped doing and I know it would have been a lot harder to start playing again if I had. Been playing in a 50+ league, sticks & pucks once or twice a week, and doing clinics whenever I can ever since.

I recommend not responding to a 9-pg thread based only on reading the first post on P.1. The guy has come a very long way and has posted videos of his progress all along.

Before: After: Before: After:

I don't know about those flimsy old Jofa's, but I think the 40-year-old CCM Pro Standard and HT-2s (with some versions of their original padding) are as protective that way as current helmets. I've had my skates pulled out from under me and hit the back of my head on the ice as hard as you can hit your head and I was fine.

One I had from college and the other one I found on ebay. There was another one listed recently that was actually new and unused. If the Link doesn't work, just extract the item # from the url and search for it in "completed auctions." I don't know when they started or stopped making them, but they were standard NCAA issue beginning the first season that cages were required (1979). http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-PRO-TEC-HOCKEY-FACE-GUARD-MASK-CAGE-NEW-NEVER-USED-W-INSTRUCTIONS-/351829256660?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=beYfJY2JiZvCcCEVlYjDPD7MYzg%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Yeah. There are a few other guys with old CCM HT2s and Cooper SK-2000s. I'm the only one wearing the original CCM Pro Standards with the foam side bumpers...all original, down to the leather chin straps. Naturally, when I ditched the half-shield last year after a few close calls, my choice for cages was a couple of vintage Pro-Tec cat-eyes but without the foam lip pad...just some tape around the bottom bar. I love all that old shit. Practically every time I show up at open hockey, someone asks how much I'd take for one of them.