shoot_the_goalie

1 - Number side up. Confirmed to me by a Blackstone rep. 2 - Blackstone makes a product called Tef Top. It works well, but I imagine any sort of spray/liquid lubricant would work well. You can also change out the felt pad with a new one on the tri-lie holder. 3 - In order to help get your tri-lie perpendicular to the sharpening wheel, you can take an edge gauge (that's magnetic) and slap it onto the holder, and do a visual check. Then you do micro adjustments to get level edges. I find this helps me immensely in getting even edges quicker, without as many test "taps".

Just revive the VH/True Skate thread...that will get some more traffic on here... 😃

Been stick handling and shooting on dry-land tiles a bit. Been really trying to work on more fluid toe-drags, forehand and backhand. Also working on short flip ups of the puck on both sides and cleaner backhand sauce passes. Also messing around with between the leg dekes and shooting through the legs...stuff I'll never really do in a game, so now's the time to try it out. Just ordered a pair of Marsblade O1, so that should be fun.

An aside, and maybe I'm going off topic here, but I wonder if there will be any increase in discipline (for all types of play) for a player spitting at or licking another player (i.e. Marchand). I've seen a player or two spit at another player in leagues I play in (not a common occurrence mind you). Usually it's an unsportsmanlike and a warning, and if you do it again, it's a 1 game suspension and a meeting with league coordinator.

Please forgive my ignorance then and going off topic here... How are others posting images directly in their posts?

I'm thinking it could very well be like this... https://imgur.com/a/7ZWfI6z https://www.coolthings.com/vizorx-bike-helmet-face-shield/ btw...is there a way to insert images into posts now, without using imgur?

I'm guessing this thing isn't going to be as elaborate as people are making it out to be. My shooting-in-the-dark guess is that it's going to be a new type of fishbowl cage that has side ventilation ports, or a much larger, full face, contoured visor. If you re-read the Dreger text, it just says "help protect", which insinuates that it reduces risk, not eliminating it... And I agree with stick9. If these are optional, most will not wear it.

Tacki Mac wrapped for me. Haven't torn a glove palm since.

Back when I used to play roller a lot more (I barely play now), I used to use smaller mm front and back wheels to mimic the rocker of an ice skate blade as much as I could. I would also use Swiss bearings for the middle two wheels and like ABEC 5 or 7 on the front and back wheels. Not sure how much benefit the latter gave, but the different size wheels definitely were noticeable. As far as wheel hardness, I typically used soft wheels when playing roller for better response to the surface. I typically didn't change wheel hardness depending on surface just because. When I would inline for exercise (anyone do this anymore...lol?), I would use very hard wheels, all the same size, all with Swiss bearings since I wanted those to feel more like speed skates.

did it ping when making contact?

IMHO, Trues seem to play in the middle category in terms of flex (when comparing to other mid kick sticks at the same flex). I find Bauer to be touch stiffer than True, CCM to be noticeably stiffer than True, and Easton to be whipper than True. Can't speak for other brands. To the OP. I agree. I typically play with the CCM Tacks line at 75 flex (cut to feel like 80 flex). With my True XC9s, I have both 75 and 85 flex, and the 85 feels more similar to the CCM 75. The 75 True is definitely whippier.

I'm sure this has been discussed before, so my apologies if this is redundant... But of those who've tried both the True Shift holder and the CCM XS holder, which do you prefer? Pros & Cons? Thanks.

As I said earlier in the thread, shooting low is indeed a lot like a long, hard outlet pass. However there are slight subtleties for me when shooting a low wrister vs making a low elevated outlet pass. The main one being that I'll typically draw my hands more into the body for a wrister to get more flex into the shot. The other is I'll have the puck more toward the heel of the blade when taking a shot, vs the pass.

Hmm. I really liked the CCM RBZ pants. Super light, protective, and fit really well on the waist and hips for me...but then again fit is subjective. Sadly the stitching came apart on mine after only a month, so I got it replaced under warranty, but since the RBZs were no longer being sold, I got QTL in exchange. (which are good, but not as good as the RBZs imho)

AS1 & AS2 lines pretty good, but ST was indeed such a mess. Ultra Tacks was my all time favorite. Next gen, they should just re-release the old Ultra Tacks w/ new graphics. Call it like the Super Ultra Tacks...lol.

This is good advice and can help immensely because a low, hard wrist shot has a lot of similarities to a long, elevated outlet pass. Why, in my experience, defensemen typically have stronger low wrist shots. (cause we all know in beer league, when a defensemen gets possession of the puck at the goal line, all the forwards are already at the red line!...lol).

Not when back in the day you covered all the logos by mummifying your ankles with tape!!!

To the OP: How do you coach/support a player to be more "hungry" and engaged in the play? I see kids who are highly skilled, but don't really engage in the play, aren't the first ones to the puck. They let the play come to them vs them initiating the play if that makes sense. Then I see kids who are less skilled, but they are constantly on the puck, always aggressively engaged, always trying to initiate play. It's not cause the passive kids are lazy or scared; they are very hard workers...to me it just seems to be a personality trait. For what it's worth, the skilled players always perform better in drills/practices, but in games, the less skilled but more "hungry" players create better plays and better results. Maybe a confidence issue? Or a scared to make mistakes issue?

That was a sweet skate too. Grafs were the bomb when I was growing up, but they were kinda hard to find unless you special ordered them where I grew up.

I had the Micron Mega 10-90s and they had the white "Power Clips". They were totally gimmicky and it was a real problem if they broke cause the eyelets were a part of the clip. That said, I wore those things for almost 7 years (playing 3-4 times a week) before one of the clips broke and I had to trash them. They were indeed a fantastic skate. Comfortable, durable, and looked good (though I wasn't a fan of the blue Tuuks, but they were all the rage then cause of Gretzky). Think Bauer eventually bought them out?

Nope. I can tell you from experience. Like I said previously, I wore CCM Supras back in the day, and I took a check into the boards that fractured my collarbone. (clean, shoulder to shoulder check) The one thing I would say, the old plastic cap style pads seem to do better against direct strikes, like getting hit with a puck or an errant stick. I would assume lacerations too.

I guess if there's any silver lining to this, maybe rinks can resurface their ice for when hockey/skating resumes, improving ice conditions all around. However, most of the local rinks here are completely dark.

I've been playing since 1990 and I gotta say my current True Skates are the best piece of equipment I've ever owned, and worth every penny. Never had a skate fit this well, this comfortable, and this level of performance. 2nd place is probably the CCM Ultra Tacks stick.

Yes. It's jaw-dropping playing against elite talent in any sport (who are probably not even trying their hardest if you get the opportunity to play them)

Hockey sticks are generally about 5'-6' long, give or take. I think I'm gonna take a hockey stick with me on the few occasions I go out now.... it can be used as a social distance measuring tool, a self defense weapon, and well...a hockey stick. lol. On the reality side, did anyone catch CTV, taping their mics to hockey sticks in order to interview people on the street?