moose77

When I played minor hockey back in the early and mid-80's, you HAD to have long Cooperalls or you were looked at as some sort of dweeb. CCM had their system out at that time as well called Pro Pac. Pro Pac evolved into the Ultra Pac, in which the upper part of the system was similar to the current style of hockey pants but they had zippers at the knees, to which you could attach the fabric to make them long pants. Yes, you could wear them long or short! I believe Christian had a similar product as well, because a guy I played Midget with who had moved out from Minnesota wore it. I can easliy see how the top part of the CCM Ultra Pac evolved into their Supra pants. Considering where hockey pants were prior, I have a hard time accepting Cooperalls as a bust. Anyone remember when you ordered your hockey pants 6" larger than your waist size for freedom of movement and the only real hard padding was the thighs, tailbone, and kidneys (sort of)? The hip padding was just foam.

I'm beginning my sixth season as an official and I'll list my gear top to bottom: Helmet - NBH 4500 Visor - Oakley Aviator (medium, CSA approved model) Sweaters - CCM (I have separate sweaters for lining and reffing, sewn bands on my ref sweaters) Elbow Pads - CCM EP100 Girdle - NBH 900 Pants - Stevens ST102 (the shell pants) Shin Guards - Stevens DVS100 Shin Tights - Viceroy Skates - NBH One95s with white ref laces and yellow Superfeet. In addition, I wear Stevens' protective vest when I line ACHA Div II games. I do get hot wearing it, but it's saved my neck many times doing those games because the players don't often look where they're firing the puck!

I'll be honest, the first couple of times on 5/8", I was positive my skates were going to slide sideways out from under me. The guy at the shop that profiled my skates and recommended that hollow told me it would take two or three times on the ice to get used to it. He was spot on and that depth soon felt "right" for me. The idea is you're skating more "on top of" the ice as opposed to digging in as much. As an official, it really helps me conserve energy and when you skate several games in the same day you need to save all the energy you can. BTW, your avatar shows one of the pairs of skates I'm going to be looking at this spring. Those, the One75s, and some in the Graf Ultra G series.

On the other hand, this happened to me at a LHS in British Columbia recently I took both mine and my son's skates in for sharpenings. They have cards/claim tickets you fill out indicating your name, work you want done, and when you'd like get them back. For sharpenings, there are two check boxes indicating how deep you want them cut, one saying "Reg" and the other saying "Deep". Below those boxes is a line where you can specify a specific hollow. I wanted both of our skates done with 5/8" hollows and I accidentally checked "Reg" then wrote 5/8" on the line below. I then realized my error and scribbled out my checkmark in the "Reg" box. I filled out the second tag correctly and left our skates on the counter while I looked around the store for other items I might wish to buy while I was there. While walking around, I was in the area near the sharpener and overheard one of the employees telling a co-worker about "some idiot that wants a "regular 5/8" hollow". In their store I'm pretty sure their "regular" hollow is 3/8". Luckily the co-worker saw both tags and said to do them both 5/8". I stayed in the area pretending to look at new visors and when he finished, he again remarked about "the regular 5/8ths are done". Needless to say I wasn't especially cool with being the butt of this guy's humor. On the way back to the border, I decided I don't think I'm going to spend any more money there for at least a while. This spring I'm going to be in the market for a new pair of skates and was originally going to return to this particular shop because I've gone there for years. However I've also spent dough at a LHS in Vancouver and last spring bought my boys each new skates there. The Vancouver store took real good care of us and I felt I was treated well. So even though the Vancouver LHS will take longer to get to, I think I'm going to spend my money there instead of another store in the Lower Mainland that I'm not going to mention by name.

Blue A at Burnaby 8-Rinks! Recognized it right away. What sort of toe caps do you have on your skates? Is that a custom deal? Oh, just went back to see my "new friends" at Ultimate Edge this past Friday. I got a super deal on a pair of Bauer 8090s that a kid barely used for less than a month down in the Bay Area. Took them up there to have them contoured to the same profile as my current skates. Hope to pick them up next Friday and head to the Giants game if there's a Game 5 vs. PG.

Here's one of me outside during a rare cold snap: and here's one of me officating:

As soon as you mentioned chasing the store dog around, I had an idea what shop you work at. Reading point #5 confirmed it. Thought you might like to know, one of the main reasons I shop at your store when I'm in Surrey is the chance that Bode (sp?) will be there. My boys think he's pretty cool as well. In fact when I tell them we need to make a stop at The Hockey Shop, first thing they say is "Bode!" You folks do have one of the coolest LHS's I've ever been in.

Helmet: Bauer 4000 Cage: Itech RBE III Shoulder Pads: Jofa 8800 Elbow Pads: Jofa 8044 Shin Pads: Jofs 6090 Pants: Bauer 3000 Gloves: Bauer BDP Skates: Bauer 8090 Stick 1: Easton Synergy Si-Core Stick 2: Easton Ultra Lite Shaft w/Sakic Focus Flex Blade Stick 3: Easton T-Flex w/Sakic Pro Blade Bag: Team Canada roller bag I bought at a Costco up in British Columbia Undergear: Old Rush Limbaugh "Ditto Head" t-shirt I got for free from a radio station . Hey, it was FREE! I had to put it to use for something! ;)