shoot_the_goalie

If you do take off the tendon guard for repairs, you might as well flare the copper rivet when putting a new one in or change out to a bolt. In my experience, the copper rivets at the tendon guard fail pretty easily.

Yeah. Those aren't great. Is that out of the box or post bake? I had very small glue "blemish" areas, but nothing like the ones in the pics. Call True. They're pretty good at responding to e-mails, but phone is even faster. Their customer service department is very helpful.

Certainly can't hurt, but not absolutely necessary I think unless you play a lot or you sweat heavily. I just take my insoles out to make sure the skate dries out fully, usually overnight.

I've had mine for over 2 years now, playing about twice a week. Normal wear and tear, and all pretty good with the exception of the copper rivets in the tendon guards. They kept popping out until I replaced them with hex bolts.

One of the many aspects of why Miracle is such an enjoyable film to watch - the actors/players can actually skate. (well, maybe not Kurt Russell) Drives me nuts when actors play professional level athletes in films, and they look like complete beginners. It's just so distracting and takes me out of the movie. Also, in regards to Bombay, you should search for Jamie McKinven's take on the Mighty Ducks and Gordon Bombay. Pretty funny stuff...

Bunga pads typically should not be used as a permanent solution. If you need to always wear Bunga pads to prevent pain, your skates probably don't fit properly. I used to use Bunga pads during the break in period of any retail boot, where I would use them to cushion hot spots temporarily (for first 10-15 hours of ice time). After break in, I removed them. With my Trues, there was no break in period, so didn't need Bunga pads at all with them. Back to the OP. I don't fit in any Bauer boot either due to the shape of my feet. Vapor too narrow all around, Supreme too narrow in forefoot (though heel is great), and Nexus just too big all around. I find CCM may have more variety/options for you going the retail route. And again, all else fails, you can go custom.

Completely agree. I wear a 9 sneaker and wore 6D CCM Tacks as my last retail boot. (I'm in Trues now). I will say though that I like a very snug fit, and I wear super thin sock liners instead of socks.

Get away from Bauer. Try other brands or worst case, go custom.

I don't find a difference in terms of length of time between sharpening between the two. Where I see a difference is that Blacksteel sharpens cleaner and with less burrs (or even no burrs) than regular Step, all things being equal.

Agreed. 1st gen Tacks was surprisingly a great stick. Ultra Tacks was ever better, and might possibly be my favorite stick of all time. Nexus 1000 was a pretty great stick too.

Sorry, Should have probably been more clear. I'm trying to use the True 1st gen Step steel with my Sparx using the Sparx blade holder. Am I missing something, because I can't see how to get the steel to seat into the holder if the bolt is in place? I can see how, if it was in say a Tri-Lie holder, it wouldn't be an issue... but not sure how to get it to work with the Sparx holder.

So you're saying to tap this part out? (marked in red) https://imgur.com/M2r0rEB

I use the AS1, and I do find the variable mid-kick to do what it says it does. My wristers and snappers are cleaner, heavier, and with more control/velocity. The AS1's made my slapper suffer though, as the mid-kick is not as smooth as my previous stick, which was the CCM Ultra Tacks (which had probably one of the smoothest/truest mid-kicks imho). My slappers have suffered, but then again, I take maybe 1 or 2 a game at most... so the tradeoff with the AS1 is worth it. Interested to hear how the AS2 is different from the AS1 if anyone has tried both.

The mid-range CCM RBZ series (particularly this model) is a fantastic option for beer league if you can find it. Light, flexible, low profile, provides pretty decent protection.

Seems like the screw bolt on the steel would make this problematic? Or can the bolt be taken off easily?

I too am interested in how this affects True skates from this point forward. I'm sure this has been discussed before, but does anyone know if the XS holder holes line up with the 1st gen True holders and the Shift holders? Or do you need to drill new holes?

Concur with Sniper9. I've never seen this happen unless they're really cheap wax laces or the wax laces were baked with the skate. I use Elite Prolace waxed laces and never had a problem with my Trues. Probably don't need waxed laces with the Trues (as I barely tighten my laces), but it's just a preference thing.

They definitely are on the heavier side of the skates out there, but at this stage of my hockey playing life, the difference in weight is negligible. I also have the shot blocker protection, and that's definitely worth the extra weight considering I've gotten pucks to the foot and have felt very little. Also, I might be wrong, but seems a larger portion of the weight differential is from the use of Step Steel in Trues. Also, the new Trues are supposed to be around 15% lighter than last generations?

My "award" for best money spent on new gear has gotta be my own skate sharpener (first a Blackstone X01 and now a Sparx). It is so nice to get consistent sharpens for the family whenever I want. Well worth the money spent.

Eh. This looks gimmicky. Seems like we're in a period of "gimmicks" for hockey gear right now. (i.e. Bauer hole in the blade ADV). I am excited though about the blade tape that Chara uses SKPNW posted about previously. That's something I would try. Any update on those? Anyone use them? Available to general public?

Gosh. I used to have these in high school and thought these were the greatest gloves ever made. But compared to today's gloves, these things are like wearing bricks on your hands.

Take the caps off your Bauers and see how that goes, if otherwise you're going to abandon them. If that doesn't work, Iceman's suggestions are good. Or you can go even less protective, and get a lacrosse shirt of a padded hockey shirt.

Lots of current NHLers grew up playing with this helmet, although probably more from the previous generation of NHLers (think players who are now in their 40s-50s). A lot of it is probably players wearing what they're used to. I still have one in use. It's not particularly light (average I would say), but the foams are incredibly comfortable, and it's a good looking, low-profile helmet. Wasn't very expensive if I recall too. I only use it now when coaching or stick & puck sessions, cause my V08 is a touch big, so I wear a better fitting helmet for league play.

Pulling from my past refereeing experience, here's my scenarios: From the hit in the video, 2 mins for interference or checking. Doesn't look like an intent to injure, but definitely intent to use the body on you in a no check game. Since the puck was in the same vicinity to the play; interference or checking. If this happened completely away from the puck (say you were just driving to the net for position), I would give the opposing player 2 mins for checking and maybe a 10 min misconduct if he was previously running around, using the body, getting penalties, generally being reckless. 1st infraction, just 2 mins and a warning to ease up on physical contact. Assuming he used his butt end and speared you like you said.... 5 min major and a game misconduct and a recommendation to the league for an additional game suspension; more games if player has a history. With that said, spearing is really hard to catch from a refs viewpoint though, especially sneaky butt end spears. If this was a full contact game, I would honestly have to say, the play looks fine and I would have allowed it, assuming I didn't see him spear you. But then again, you probably would have prepared for contact if this was a contact game.

I prefer to not use spacers, but the spacers will solve your problem like Sniper9 said.