marka

Howdy, I don't know what characteristics you'd want for arthritis, but I use a shock doctor 875. Compression w/straps, plus metal hinges. In my case I have a torn meniscus from a number of years ago that was unable to be repaired due to lack of blood flow. Its a "just live with it" injury for the most part, though they can do arthroscopic surgery to clean up the edges of the tear if they're irritating the area. In my case, I opted not to do the surgery because it started feeling better between diagnosis and when the surgery was scheduled so I put it off. That was >10 years ago. For me, my knee hurts when running (to the point I don't do that), but skating is just minor pain. I started wearing the brace after I started playing hockey (started at 45/46, about 6 years ago). After about a year of skating a decent bit, I could feel my joint "loosening up", not in a good way. Started wearing the brace all the time and that went away. Its a bit bulky, particularly when putting it on and putting shins over it, but I don't notice it on the ice. YMMV. For reffing, I don't wear it and haven't noticed any ill effects. Often on the ice for 3 hours at a go for reffing, but you're not skating like you do as a player then. Mark (I also proactively take ibuprofen prior to reffing and skating, fwiw) edit: I've tried other braces... Shock doctor non-hinged as well as a Don Joy Reaction Web brace. They've all been slightly less bulky, but not enough to make a difference as to how gear fits. The Reaction Web brace was uncomfortable in terms of pinching skin. All of them have also felt less supportive.

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, Figured I'd do an initial review of this Grit PX4 Pro Series Carry Bag. This is the 32" version, with listed dimensions of 32" wide, 16" deep, and 20" height. They also have a 28" version which is 28"/16"/16" respectively. These are pretty standard "Pro Style" dimensions, which is the number one thing that attracted me to this bag. I'm coming to this bag from a Pacific Rink Player bag that was 35"/18"/18" and I found the extra length annoying on the floor of a crowded locker room. It was also annoying when going through doors or stacking next to another bag in the back of my car. Coupled with that, the center divider in the Pacific Rink bag meant that I had to fold over my pants/girdle to get it to fit on one side of the divider and even had to sorta jam my shin guards in. After giving the Pacific Rink bag a shot over 25 games or so, I decided to go back to a bag with pro style dimensions. I'd previously had a Warrior Pro style carry bag and I liked it quite well except for a couple things... I didn't like the zipper down the center of the bag vs. a U shaped zipper/top and after a couple years of pretty heavy beer league use (on the ice three or so times per week year round) all of the internal mesh compartments had seams ripped out on the bottom (compartments on the long side) or on the sides (both skate pockets). There were also some 'minor' holes worn in the corners of the bag and rips on the mesh vent slots, but nothing big enough that things would fall out. I'll be comparing this Grit bag to both of those. I went with the Grit PX4 bag out of all of the pro style bag choices because it had a U shaped top opening, skate pockets on each end, and 3 mesh pockets on the long side. The pockets were basically identical to the Warrior Pro bag, with the addition of a U shaped opening. The cost was also right in line with the other Pro style bags (including the Warrior), at $90 retail. This, of course, is MUCH cheaper than the Pacific Rink Player bag which retails for $220. Handling the Grit PX4 showed some immediate differences to the Pacific Rink bag. First, when the Grit bag is empty, it has no structure. It flops basically flat on the floor and you have to hold it up to put things in it. The Pacific Rink bag has much more internal structure due to both stiffer materials for the side of the bag as well as a center divider that provides more stiffness. The Grit bag is floppier than the Warrior bag as well. Warrior uses a plastic-y coated material for the outside of its bag and that material is stiffer than the Grit bag. The Warrior bag is a little more floppy than the Pacific Rink bag since there's no center divider support, but it still has significantly more structure than the Grit bag. The Grit bag's lack of structure annoys me a little, but its fairly minor in the overall scheme of things. https://photos.app.goo.gl/w6XcK5Fugy6xULTA7 The lack of structure also shows itself in terms of how well the mesh pockets keep things in them. This is particularly true of the middle pocket on the long side of the bag, which has the longest opening. Because there's not much structure, the top/opening of the middle pocket sags into the center of the bag quite a bit. Any thing you put in that pocket that has any height at all (like a spare jersey in a ziplock bag) ends up in the center compartment of the bag. The other mesh pockets have some of this behavior as well, but because their openings aren't as wide the issue isn't as pronounced. The Grit bag's lack of structure also affects how easy it is to stick a skate into the skate pockets. Its a two hand thing, where your off hand needs to hold part of the bag to provide some structure so that you can slide the skate fully into the pocket. Pacific Rink is much better here, with the Warrior bag somewhere in the middle. The mesh pocket construction looks to be very similar to the Warrior Pro bag. I've used the Grit bag twice now, so I have no idea what the durability of seams and such will be like, but I'm not expecting a lot here. We'll see how it goes. Both pale in comparison to the Pacific Rink pocket construction which is made of sturdy fabric. The skate pockets are additionally padded quite well, while the accessory pockets have zipper openings and even reinforced inner slots for "pokey" things like screwdrivers you don't want working their way through the bag's fabric. Btw, just above the skate pocket on the Grit bag you can see the mesh airflow opening. There's one of these on either side of the bag and they look to provide significant airflow. Pacific Rink has a similar thing tucked under a flap on one end of their bag, but unless you go looking for it, you'd never know it was there. Hard to imagine that there's any significant airflow on the Pacific Rink bag. The Warrior Pro bag has two mesh 'slots' across the top of the bag that provide airflow. After a couple years of use, those mesh slots showed some wear and tearing and we'll have to see if the Grit bag's mesh airflow areas end up with the same type of issues. Hopefully not, since small things can more easily fall out the sides of a bag, vs. the top. https://photos.app.goo.gl/a6ZaYoiZ3XiJHDxc7 https://photos.app.goo.gl/LzsvHbphktcPFmEZ6 Like the Pacific Rink bag, the inside of the Grit bag is a fairly 'bright' grey color, to help make it easier to see things inside. My black Warrior Pro bag's inside is straight black, which I suppose can hide things a bit more. Having said that, I can't recall ever not being able to find something in my Warrior bag that was actually in the bag, vs. left at home. Handles are next... The Grit bag comes with main handles that are a good length to put the bag over your shoulder, as well as grab handles on either end. This is basically the same setup as both of the other bags, except that due to the mesh airflow sections, the grab handles on the Grit bag are at the very top of the bag vs. being set down the sides a bit. I slightly prefer the handles that are down the sides a bit, but its a pretty minor thing. In terms of the shoulder handles, the Grit bag has one sewn on "handle combiner thingy" that you can Velcro around the other handle. I can count on one hand the number of times I've done that and generally dislike them (I removed a similar one that was sewn onto the the handle of my Pacific Rink bag), but giving a bit of credit, you can use the handle combiner as something to slip the other handle over the top of when the bag is on your shoulder, giving the outside handle a bit more resistance to falling off your shoulder (this may not be a factor for you hockey players that actually work out and have muscles in your shoulders). The Grit bag's non-combiner-thingy shoulder strap has the "carry area" folded over and sewn as well. I anticipated the result of this to be straps that dug into my shoulder a bit, but I've been pleasantly surprised that it wasn't the case, at least on a normal "parking lot into the arena locker room" trip. No idea what it would be like going from one end of an airport to the other... The Warrior bag just has flat straps here btw, while the Pacific Rink bag has the fancy addition of length adjusters for the carry straps. https://photos.app.goo.gl/K6k8UqeHjG6bJAAs8 https://photos.app.goo.gl/WS5y2uG66xyiU9sw9 The last thing to mention is something that's missing as compared to the Pacific Rink bag... "real" shoulder straps. The bottom of the Pacific Rink bag has a zippered slot that hides backpack style shoulder straps that you can remove from one end and clip onto the other end, converting the bag into a real two strap backpack. This is one of those edge case things though... I never used them and can't see a situation where I would, but if you're walking long distances with your bag that feature alone might make the Pacific Rink bag a must have. For me, the only two times those straps were out of their slots were when I first got the bag and when I was taking pictures to sell it. Otherwise they were just dead weight to me and I don't expect I'll miss that feature on the Grit bag. The next big question, of course, is durability. And I can't answer that one yet. The construction seems heavy duty and reasonable, but that doesn't mean a whole lot without actual usage to back it up. I'll try and update this review in a year or two to see how its going. So far, outside of maybe wishing the bag had a bit more stiffness / intrinsic structure, this bag is exactly what I wanted. My big priority was getting back into something with standard Pro player bag dimensions and this does exactly that. The U shaped top opening is easier to work through than my old Warrior bag. I miss the really nice pockets in the Pacific Rink bag, but not enough to want to deal with the sub-optimal dimensions of that bag. Locker room and cargo area floor space is precious, much more so than height, and I can carry this bag through doors easier. If Pacific Rink made a Pro dimensioned bag I'd want to take a hard look at it because I like the Pacific Rink construction better than the Grit bag, but until that time I'll be happy to save $110 on a bag that works better for me. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Vh3qDqYATdf1x98D6 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

Howdy, Ok, I've tried to like this Pacific Rink hockey bag, but dimensionally it just doesn't measure up to the Warrior Pro bag it replaced. I like the materials, the build quality, etc. etc. but its too long to fit in locker rooms / through doors as well as the Pro dimension bag and with it divided down the middle it also sometimes makes putting in longer stuff like pants or shins annoying. I love the skate pockets. I like the "other pockets". I like the U shaped zipper opening. But I'm sick of the dimensions. The Pacific Rink bag is 35x18x18 or so, while the Warrior Pro was 32x15x20. The Warrior Pro bag had all of the mesh pockets rip out in 3 years or so of reasonably heavy use, though the outside, zippers, and straps held together. So my question is... Who makes the best Pro style bag? I want it to have at least dedicated skate pockets. It would be nice if had some other misc pockets as well and a U shaped zipper opening. Price is a factor, but less of one than it being a quality bag. Mark

Howdy, Looking forward to this! Mark

Howdy, I think you meant "why you should wear a cage", right? 🙂 Mark

Howdy, One thing I found interesting in that video was that the guy said at one point something to the effect of "we can't have football helmets in hockey". Made me wonder why not. Will the football players laugh at us? Are we afraid of being as popular as football? 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Because everything is a fluke accident and will never happen, of course. 🙂 IIRC, don't youth games often have a requirement for some level of emergency care being onsite? When I ref youth games here there's an EMT there, but I dunno how common that is. As an out of shape 51 year old, I can say that I've wondered what happens if I manage to seriously hurt myself tripping over the blue line at 1am in the morning. OP, you're not going to convince anyone here that's not already convinced at this point. I agree with you that hockey could stand to have a fresh look at helmets, but this type of feedback has been part of any discussion around improving safety that I've ever heard of. Mark

Howdy, In your history with the sport, has there ever been a time when you've supported an increase in safety via equipment improvements? I ask because this seems to be your attitude with every safety advance topic that I recall you commenting on. When a player gets hit in the head by a puck and dies, it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask the question "Can helmets be better and prevent this type of thing?" And then, you know, actually see if there's a way to make it better vs. just dismissing it as a fluke thing and we're all going to die anyway, so get over it. Mark

Howdy, Never seen this before... Sparx 1/2 - 5/8 grinding ring... https://www.ebay.com/itm/363308089038?ul_noapp=true Anyone know what this is? Mark edit: Ah... Cross grinding ring?

Howdy, Reads to me like you're overthinking it. If they fit, they fit... Doesn't matter what letter is on the tag and what numbers are on a chart. When you're playing if you find issues, that's a different story, but play and experience the issues before you try and solve them. Mark