marka

Howdy, No experience with that jersey, so I can't help there. Some guys/kids I ref with don't wear elbows. I wouldn't do it, but I'm also the guy that wore pads underneath when I went to public skates too. If you're just starting out, want to see if you like it without spending too much $$, and you're doing games where you're not likely to get wiped out I would say you could skip elbows. Wear your player shins though. Sticks to the shins on faceoffs are super common. You could also check with local refs in the area to see if someone has an old jersey you could borrow / buy. Mark

Howdy, I have one of these now as well. Protection feels as good or better than the 7092 girdle I was using before, other than tailbone protection. That seems a bit worse. I used a seam ripper to detach more of the loop on the back of the girdle to make it easier to hang up. Happy with it overall. There's not a lot of choice for a wrap style girdle out there. Mark

Howdy, Has anyone successfully gotten SkateScribe service via mail order? Last I heard from Nathan / the service email, someone was going to reach out with an invoice / whatever and then nothing for a couple weeks. Mark

Howdy, I just spray mine with 91% isopropyl alcohol, undiluted. Everything but skates. Mark

Howdy, Yeah, doesn't look like a helmet piece to me either. Part of your bag maybe? Mark

Howdy, Woohoo! Glad to see you getting back out. 🙂 So, full cage or sticking with the half shield? 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Way to go! Glad to see a pic of you up and smiling. Well, "New England Smiling" anyway. 🙂 Continued progress on the healing! Mark (You're gonna get little tattoo stiches next to the scar, right? And go as Frankenstein for Halloween? :))

Howdy, Hey man, been travelling and just saw this. Hope the procedure went well and you're annoying nurses right now! Mark

Howdy, Stopped there this morning on the way through the area... Pretty decent! New Sticks were $140 iirc. Hockey socks for $10/pair, half shields for $10, game jerseys for $100. Lots of other stuff too. And this was at 11am on day 3. Thanks for posting it! Mark

Howdy, Huh. I'm travelling to Maine this weekend and spending Saturday night near there. How good is this sale usually? Mark

Howdy, "Like" isn't really the right emoticon here for "holy fuck, I hope this goes well and sending you good vibes and hugs". Mark

Howdy, Holy shit! Hopefully catching it early (I hope?) means treatment goes well. And yeah, having a puck bash your face in ending up being a good thing... Wow! Mark

Howdy, I really need to show my wife that sticks picture. Mark

Howdy, I like my Tacks as well, and agree with the "tanks" comment. But if you're looking for lighter / lower profile compared to the 20k I wouldn't imagine that would be it. Mark

Howdy, Maybe to some extent (and I think its due to the stiffness of the boot vs. anything else), but I still think there's a lot to be said for explicitly being able to set lace tension on the instep/forefoot vs. the ankle area of the foot. To me, lace locks are one of the things I wouldn't mind having back on my skates for sure. The bigger question is how easy they would be to integrate well on a boot with normal eyelets. Mark

Howdy, Brace and ibuprofen is what I do as well. A doctor buddy that I played with for a while basically told me that there's nothing that's going to 'bring back' my knee. His advice was to do a brace / ibuprofen and when it became something I couldn't deal with anymore that I should come see him for a replacement. In my case, this is coming from an old meniscus tear though, so maybe your situation is different. Mark

Howdy, So, I finally baked one pair of the TF9 skates I've had for a while, since my TF7s were showing some more significant signs of wear. And then started using them. I don't like the thin TF9 tongues, as it puts a lot of pressure on a bump on my instep. I also don't like the thick felt tongues that one of the tf9 pairs I bought came with... I'm not sure of the name, but they're a thick felt with a sewn on metatarsal pad on the upper part of the tongue. I finally swapped in the tongues from my old pair of TF7s and they're just right. However, when I search for TF7 replacement tongues I'm not finding much stock. Ice Warehouse shows some in size S, which apparently goes up to a size 5 skate. I'm in a 6.5. No stock on the Mediums, which starts at a size 6. Does anyone know how dimensionally different the tf7 replacement tongues are size S to size M? If its just how long the tongue is, I probably don't care. and I have to tuck the sides in when I lace up as well, so if its just a bit narrower... Also probably don't care. Otherwise.. Are the felt cat 7/5 replacement tongues the same as the TF7 tongue, other than the color? I can probably live with the color. Edit: Are the goalie skate replacement tongues the same as the player skates? I see some of those on SLS. Appreciate any leads / advice. Mark

Howdy, Damn dude, that doesn't sound pleasant. You need like a frequent flyer card for medical shit or something. Like an automatic upgrade to the first class waiting room. Mark

Howdy, Maybe counter-intuitive, but if you make the thigh pad sit lower down, will it be less likely to get caught by the top of the shin guard in a deep bend? Mark

Howdy, Holy shit dude. Mark

Howdy, If you're handy, this isn't crazy to do yourself as well. The blade straightener tools I've seen make it easier / faster, but some sockets and a vice let you do the same things. Mark

Howdy, Really? I'm almost positive that the Crosby Learn to Play around here still has the 'free equipment' part of the deal... checking... Yeah. Still head to toe gear: https://www.nhl.com/penguins/community/learn-to-play Of course, this doesn't do much good if that's not available to you, but I thought this was the standard. That Bauer extend stuff looks pretty sweet! Certainly seems like a good option. Mark

Howdy, I really liked the Reebok 9k elbows I used to have. But if I was going to have to pay someone to repair them, I would 100% go to modern Tacks. If for no other reason, just because of the odor resistant materials. Mark

Howdy, I guess, looking at that, its not really all that triangular any more. An even earlier version had layers of 1.5", 1", and then .5" tape. Still weird though! 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Check out my weird knob. https://photos.app.goo.gl/e4e5hMW4zQoVKnt4A (wait, we can upload photos now? What is this, the future?) The one on the left is the one I use now. The one on the right is an earlier iteration, before I found VukGripz (from someone here, and its fucking awesome) which shows the layers of tape build up. My thought is that I'd design it so that the end of the stick was inserted into the knob, with maybe a 1/4" or so cap/top. That way most of the force would be in compression which seems like it would be stronger vs. just a plug type thing with the knob sticking way out and a bunch of leverage on it. That means that I'd need to measure up the specific sticks I'd do it for because presumably wall thicknesses can vary, etc. but if I have a 3d printer, that doesn't seem like the end of the world. I expect if I'm no longer constrained by "need to build it with tape", I can also smooth out the transitions, experiment with making it more of a spherical shape vs. a cone, etc. The biggest thing I need to help my wrist seems to be just the overall diameter giving me a little more leverage on the stick. Mark