RickDC

I think if you demean people for having a different attitude to you, then you’re a distinct minority in ANY community. But go you.

Maybe it's just me, I don't really care what the score is, I try my hardest on each and every shift, I don't care whether it's 10-1 or 1-10 - if the other team are dropping the puck in our zone and we're 10-1 up and they still want to play, hey I'll play and respect them for it. We're there to play hockey - I think anything else is just condescending towards the other team and I'm not there to give pity, or take pity. If they give up, hey, I support them doing that as well, not my preference, but I respect that not everyone is the same as me. Personally, I find it super exciting to try and go for goal in 10 seconds, or defend against a goal in that time, and I'm there to be excited by the game. If people are dicks with that many seconds to go, on either side, then they're going to be dicks at any time. I'm just there to have fun, for exercise and to me, being pressured IS fun. Giving up, not pressuring - is just not fun and I think where people start to just take hockey for granted and lose interest - if you're not challenged, then what's the point?

I think if there's 6 seconds left and we're in the oppositions zone, I wouldn't want to run the clock. I'd rather have 6 seconds of trying to make it 2-6 than just giving up. If it's in our zone, I'd chat to a team mate and ask them should we run the clock, if they shrug, then yes.. but then there's the danger that the ref would just drop the puck and then we're caught in a scramble - it's happened ;-)

I'd be interested in the exact weight as well as that seems heavy.. my standard CCM Super Tacks pants in a Medium come out to 2.96 pounds

Gatorade and energy packs etc are really meant for long-endurance sports, not short-term high intensity burst sports like hockey and are really nothing but sugar with some salts. It takes 30 minutes+ before anything hits your bloodstream, so by the time you've drunk it or eaten anything, it's too late. I drink flavoured water, only because I don't like plain water during a game, even then mine's usually a few sips and that's it.. If you notice many of the nhl players spit their water / gatorade out.. If you're gassed at the beginning of a game, it might be because you've eaten too much, too close to the game - I've noticed this hugely if I eat and then play within an hour or 2 of a game, I feel like I'm skating with weights on. Digesting food takes a lot of energy (that's why you fall asleep after eating Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner, because of lots of calories and nothing to do with anything like tryptophan). I play 4-5 times a week, and I'll eat a fairly light meal minimum 3 hours before a game. On the way to a game, then I'll grab a drip or regular coffee and a banana. I keep track of HR and I've found now that I can play pretty intensely right up until the final whistle by playing more tactically in the first period, ramping it up in the second, and then going hard in the third.. Quite a few times I'm sharing centre, so playing 50% of the game and lots of ice. It might be best to keep a log of what you did, and how you feel during a game..

One huge immediate issue I can see is that as you sharpen the flared blade and naturally wear down the steel.. Then when you start out, you'll be on wide flared steel, after multiple sharpenings the width is going to get thinner and thinner until you buy another flared steel, whereon you'll start again with large flared edges. Now, most people can feel when they change a 1/16 of a sharpening, or 1 degree of pitch.. how is this going to feel when you're 80 games into a flared steel and the next time you need new steel? Are Pro's going to trust that in a play-off game? I think it's a gimmick, just the same as heated blades were..

Honestly, I take offence to this... We have a couple of hockey stores in the area, and I bought a Blackstone X01 primarily to do my own skates a couple of years ago.. Over time, I've got more and more people requesting my sharpening because I take my time and check absolutely that 3 areas of the blade are completely level, there are no waves, each edge is consistent, there's the correct hollow and sides are deburred. I've had bad sharpenings before, I've given myself a bad sharpening because I didn't check my work early on. But I never made that mistake again. I take great pride in my work and the fact that my team-mates and neighbours trust me to do theirs, backs that up. Being called "scum" because I choose to do that, and not do it for the money (simply I find it relaxing to do as not as stressful as running 3 successful businesses), is extremely derogatory and immature.

@PFraser If you have numb toes then there's either nerve pain or your tying your Mako's too tight. One thing with Mako's is you don't need to because their wrap is so good (I'm a long term Mako user). Just do them tight enough so there's no movement in the laces, don't yank on them.. The other thing I do is miss the second eyelet from the top and go straight from 3rd to 1st. The other thing you could try, which has helped me in the past, is superfeets, it will move your foot slightly in the boot, and it might be enough to alleviate some of the pressure. You can re-bake the makos when you change the footbed...

We won't call you stupid.. if Trump wins the US election, I think us, here in Canada, will opt out of being in North America.. ;-) So it's fair to say - North America and Canada ;-)

I had the mako bumps problem in both my Mako 1 and Mako II's (however strangely enough not in my M8s).. All I did though was heat up the back area of the top of the boot, with a pair of pliers, I flared out the both of the rubbing bits (just by the guard), put a baseball in, and clamped it down so it flared out the top of the boot.. Clamped the ankle area together to prevent it from getting wider, left it overnight. No more bumps... :-) Just permanent scars now!

I had the same problem, but I simply put the rivet on the edge of my vice and whacked the insole side with the end of the ratchet extension bar with a wooden hammer to re-flatten out the rivet. I did this on all of them and they haven't moved in 3 months or so.. I also put silicone sealant around each of the posts of the runner as there was quite a bit of space and had a thought that ice and crap would get underneath the mounts and accelerate rust / rot (even if it didn't, what harm could it do!).

https://www.sportchek.ca/search.html#q=easton%20skate I'm not associated with SportChek.. but they've just taken off about CAD$250 off Easton Mako's: Mako 2 - C$549 Mako M8 - C$419 Mako M7 - C$259 Free shipping. If you sign up for their newsletter, you also get 10% off your first purchase. These are not marked as sale price, so the discount should apply..

Just for those that have Mako's... my tendon guard on my Mako2 snapped the other day.. no damage, but decided to crack halfway through so it was floppy and cut into the back of my heel. No problem I thought, as these guards can be unbolted. I contacted Easton support and offered to buy new guards (boots are about a year old and not expecting warranty coverage). The told me flat out that they couldn't be replaced and that they couldn't help me any further. Just something to be aware off if you have them.. Fortunately my LHS (TheHockeyShop) in Vancouver is absolutely awesome and is helping me out way more than I expected..

They did say that this had been fixed in the v2, but myself and a couple of other people have them again... I actually got a free "upgrade" from v1 to v2 because of the breakdown in foam as well as mako bumps.. They're back for me too.. and whilst I hate the feeling of thicker socks, what I've found that REALLY works is these: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=wrightsock They're actually 2 pairs of thin socks in one and have completely cured bumps for me as well as some rubbing areas on my pronounced inner ankles (which have increased bone build-up because of the Mako 1's)..

When I met the designer, he did state that they were in the middle of designing v3 with the feedback gained so far.. larger quarter package, better foam, possibly redesigned tongue and they're working on the "mako bumps" issue by making the top more flared out..