marka

Howdy, CCM 2 piece here. Not sure which exact ones they are, but the top of the line / 2nd to top of the line Tacks all seem to be basically the same thing in bold new graphics. All very similar to the Reebok 11k (?? I think anyway) that were the first pair of elbows that I really liked. When I got these a year or two ago I spent quite a while trying on all the options. I found that the fairly faithful copy of the Reebok design (which I think is the same as the Jofa 2 piece design?) were the ones I liked the best in terms of comfort & staying in place. Mark

Howdy, I wasn't looking to gain anything. I couldn't find the Bauer low cut basic socks anywhere in size Medium. I tried a couple pairs of Elite Hockey Pro-X700 Ultra Sport Bamboo Calf Socks. Interestingly, my feet hurt a decent bit in them. Not sure why. They're a bit thicker than the Bauer socks, but I think the real problem is the "2" compression arch support" they seem to have. Really that's just a tighter band around your foot at the arch. It seems crazy to me, but my arch was killing me the 2nd time I used them. Loosening my skates helped a bit, but just a bit. I switched back to the Bauers and no more new pain, though my feet are still sore from the night in the Elites (reffing, so I've been on the ice 3-4 hours a night since Tuesday, when I tried the Elites). Anyway, the Elites are going into the bags as emergency spares in case of extreme forgetfulness. Mark

Howdy, Yeah, I've always thought I would not try and separate. Agree with "not worth the risk". And I'm pretty happy that when I got taken down my head didn't hit anything / leg didn't get twisted, etc. But in the actual moment, it was a combination of seeing my partner surrounded and then later that one guy has another flat on the ice and not wanting someone to get seriously hurt. Next time I'll be a little better prepared and hopefully it will be less "instinct". And the plan is certainly to stay back more. Mark

Howdy, So, first serious hockey fight as a ref. Beer league A level game. A bunch of guys that played hockey "for real" mostly. Game was a bit "stick-y". Nobody taking runs at folks or anything like that, but the occasional stick whack or "nuisance hook". I missed a more real hook (saw it late, didn't process fast enough that it was too much to call the penalty). The guy I missed the hook on then proceeds to give a hook back, which I let go, then talked to him after the shift and explained that I thought I missed the hook on him, so I let the one he gave on the other guy go but that was it. Kept a tighter watch, but I'm sure I missed stuff. The guy above was bitching pretty constantly. He lost his temper and slashed a dude in the hands pretty hard, which I called. Talked to him again. A little later someone hooks him just about exactly like the first hook and I call it. But the tone is pretty well set and now each team is the aggrieved party. The one positive is that I'm reffing with the guy that literally runs the league and has been a ref, coach, league commissioner, taught me initially how to ref, etc. etc. And he knows most of the guys by name. So I'm basically letting him take the lead on when to start streaming guys to the box, which ends up not happening. A few calls, but not a parade. Boils over at the end of the 3rd with a couple guys pushy shovey which turns into one guy doing a half face wash, half punch. More pushy shovey. My ref partner is in there, so I go in as well to try and separate. Guys are pairing off a bit, but there's not like five fights or anything. As I'm doing that, one player skates in from behind me. Later the other team says he came from the bench, but I can't say that for certain without video. He grabs one of the pushy-shovey pairs from behind / jumps on him / knocks us all down to the ice. I saw him coming in late and tried to stop him, but wasn't quick enough. Guy he jumps on turns out to be tougher than he is, and said guy proceeds to get on top of him and pummel him for a bit. I'm still trying to separate. Notice blood on the ice. Turns out that the jumpee is cut under the eye (not seriously). Eventually the jumpee lets the jumper go. My partner takes the jumpee and I take the jumper. I hear a more commotion further away and apparently the jumpee is threatening my partner. Luckily my partner can handle himself and that doesn't seem to be escalating beyond loud noises. Stuff keeps calming down. I get the Jumpee to look at me so I can see if he's bleeding seriously (he's not) and realize that my arm is covered in blood (turns out he was dripping blood on me pretty steadily, how I had him trying to pull him off). Jumper by this point has finally left the ice (and apparently won't ever return... Pro Tip, don't throw a punch and accidentally(?) hit the ref that's the league commissioner and then threaten him with "you're next"). There's a minute left on the running clock and we all make weak jokes about if we should drop the puck for the remaining minute of ice time. Turns out blood seems to rinse out of a CCM ref jersey fairly well. Not really happy about getting bled on, of course. Take-aways... In hindsight, clearly starting a parade to the box earlier would have been smarter. I dunno what to do about calling penalties for infractions I don't process... I guess just be more ready to call a penalty and if I'm wrong, be wrong on the side of it being ticky-tack vs. something 'real'. I saw the game getting a little more out of control in terms of bitching, and instead of relying on my partner's judgement, I probably could have just started calling anything that even remotely looked like a penalty. Kinda hard being that I was by a LOT the least "hockey experience" person on the ice, but whatever. Again, likely better to be wrong on what was a penalty and have the teams be pissed at me, vs. pissed at each other. Probably. In terms of managing the fight itself, I think I needed to be less focused on the actual fight until I was sure there weren't going to be any more arrivals. If I'd seen the jumper coming in earlier, maybe I could have intercepted him. My recollection is that I was standing back a bit until I saw my partner getting in there, but my attention was still on what was in front of me with maybe 3 pairs of guys and trying to get them calmed down vs. watching behind for late arrivals. I'm pretty surprised this happened at this level btw. I always figured that the really salty folks were the late comers like me where beer league was the highest level hockey they ever played and they took it way too seriously. I'd have thought a bunch of guys that played AAA / Junior / college / minor pro would have been there and done that enough to just want to play hockey and have fun. I've only done 3 or 4 other games at this level and all of them have had exactly the vibe of a bunch of guys were damn good at hockey and are just out getting some exercise, playing hard for sure, but erroring on the side of clean if there's a question. Driving home, I was wondering a bit if this is worth it. I don't need the money from reffing by any stretch. In the end, I decided that I'm selfish enough that I enjoy getting paid to exercise and enjoy doing these faster games in particular. I'm certainly far from the best ref around and have no illusions about that. But as long as it seems like there are some folks that think I'm doing an ok job... Good enough. If I could reliably play hockey (vs. ref) five or so nights a week then I'd rather do that, but that doesn't seem possible. So I'll continue to ref two or three nights a week and play a couple nights a week and drive on. Mark

Howdy, Got the bag. Like it pretty well. Did a review for the gear section, but its waiting on moderator approval. Mark

Howdy, There needs to be something strong than a "like" icon. Will you be doing profiling too? Mark

Howdy, Time for new skate socks. I've been using Bauer low cut 'basic' skate socks. Pretty thin, no cut resistance, etc. I see that now they have Bauer Essential and Bauer S19, but both appear to be clearance / discontinued. Anyone have a go-to thin low cut skate sock they like? Prefer cheaper, but I can spend more if there's something that matters. Thanks! Mark

Howdy, Heard back from someone in Mid-Am... Sounds like they expect the seminar schedule to come out late June / July. Just in case anyone else cares. Mark

Howdy, So... Covid break from reffing over. Anyone know what the deal is with officiating seminars for USA hockey for the 21/22 season? I'm not seeing any listed here: https://www.usahockey.com/officialseminars I let my ref registration lapse. Hoping to buy that again, and attend another level 1 seminar this summer in preparation for the coming season. Mid-Am district, if it matters. Mark

Howdy, Yeah, same reaction here. If anything, I think changing a wheel in a Sparx is easier / faster than dressing a stone to a different hollow. I recently heard that the Pure Hockey closest to me has gone to Sparx for their general sharpenings, supposedly due to not needing to be an expert sharpener to get a good result. Mark

Howdy, Thanks folks. I've not done a scan with the new Bauer fit setup, but I did two scans with the older stuff. The first gave a result of a 7.5EE Supreme with a custom fit of 7.25 left, 6.75 right. The second scan was 7.0EE Supreme with a 7.00 left, 6.75 right. Both scans were just over the line into the EE range with one foot slightly below and one slightly above. In the 7.5R M8's, my toes don't brush the toecap. I also fail the pencil test a bit, but have never had an issue with lacebite (guessing that the M8's hard plastic tongue protector helps there). Thinking that means I should probably try the 6.5 TF7. Unsure about wide or not. I think the M8's worked for me because they were moldable enough that the forefoot area could widen out without the heel getting sloppy. Mark

Howdy, 32 page thread and I'm struggling to find sizing comparisons... IIRC, the consensus was that the TF9's fit a half size bigger as compared to most other skates but the TF7's fit about the same? In a 7.5 regular width Mako M8 now. I was looking pretty hard at the TF7's before the pandemic shut everything down. Vaccinated and back playing again and thinking I should probably pick up a pair. I'll probably go to a "local" shop about 1.5 hours away, but considering sideline swap on some used ones if I can make a pretty good guess on sizing... Mark

Howdy, I ordered the Grit bag. I'll try and do a review of it here when I get it. Mark

Howdy, I can go back for sure. Mostly this was to see if there was a better option. Discounting the mesh pockets ripping out, I also would really like a U shaped cover/zipper. Sewing new pockets is easier said than done. The big is pretty darned thick. Unless someone has a reason not to, I'll probably try that Grit pro style bag. Mark

Howdy, Anyone seen / used the Grit Pro bag? https://gritinc.net/collections/carry/products/px4-pro-series-carry-bag?variant=32909987741760 Mark