marka

Howdy, Our team was holding its own pretty well. I would say that the past couple seasons we've been in the "above average but not dominant" range and this session was similar. Things were shaping up that sometime later this month we'd likely have been going into playoffs with a realistic shot at a championship game rematch against the top team in our division, hoping to be on the other side of the 2 games to 1 defeat we had last season. And now its all cancelled. The rink shuts down in the summer months, and last week they officially pulled the plug on restarting before fall. Mark

Howdy, Also... If this is causing you stress and you want to just have it be done with... I don't think anyone would fault you for deciding that skip SummerJam this year. These are pretty wild and unprecedented days. If the Olympics can be cancelled / postponed a year... 🙂 Mark

Howdy, I really hope that we're all playing hockey before August 1st. And I'm for sure still wanting to come to SummerJam, assuming its going to happen, as long as I'm not putting myself or others at risk. At this point, I think it almost has to be a wait and see attitude though? Particularly for folks in the NYC area. If I were you, I'd put a line in the "date sand" out there (like maybe a week before the earliest "money has to be spent / stuff ordered" date?) and then essentially forget about it and concentrate on home life. Mark

Howdy, Re: how to motivate / encourage a player to engage when their natural instinct is to hang back... Its not hockey these days, but my son (now 13) struggles with this. Its been a consistent thing through all the sports he's played (baseball, hockey, now soccer). It drives me insane. Both as a parent and as frequently as the coach/assistant coach. I think in large part, its just not something you can train / coach out. His head coach on the travel soccer team and I talked about it some and he offered the only thing that's clicked at all... Namely that some of the hanging back is someone's natural instinct for wanting to evaluate and understand something before committing. Some folks are naturally more willing to (metaphorically) say "fuck it, I'll figure it out when I get there" and some less. If someone is on the "less" side, then confidence in their own skills and experience with situations is what they need. As a coach, you can help some with that, but making sure you're taking the time to explain the whys of situations, giving them the tools they need to be confident in their understanding of situations so they don't feel the need to evaluate what's going on as much. And perhaps even just a shared recognition of what's going (for the more self aware player) so that engaging becomes more of a conscious for them until it becomes more habitual. But all that said... for my son particularly this remains a constant negative as regards his playing of sports. Some of this stuff helps some, but I continue to see this as his primary limiting factor. I keep waiting for the aggressiveness switch to flip on, but if it never does and he's just out there running around getting some exercise and never becomes the athlete he could be... Whatever. There's more to life than sports. I think everyone has at least some of this, btw. And, to me, that's why its so important (particularly for younger kids) to be having fun. When you're having fun, you're not worrying about screwing up, you're not worrying about how much you suck, you're not worrying about gaining skills and experience. You're just having fun and after a while, you realize that hey, you're not bad at this and you know what's going on. YMMV. I'm not a real coach or a real sports psychologist. 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Interesting. How come? It sounds like its more than just comfort? Mark

Howdy, I have a love affair with Warrior Covert QRL and QRL Pro gloves. I absolutely love the (tight) way they fit, even more than the QRE's that replaced them (14" QRL's are perfect. 14" QRE's are a little short in the fingers and 15" are a touch too long). I probably have three or four pairs at this point and have auto searches on ebay. 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Did you ever find that green shell you were looking for? I've mostly settled in on what I like at this point, after playing for four years. I still keep an eye out for gloves / pant shells I don't have / are a deal. And I'm a total sucker for socks with sublimated designs. The main thing that reigns me in is that I'm kinda cheap, so I never want to pay retail. Though if Warrior would let me customize gloves with the full QRE flex cuff, I might be in some trouble... 🙂 In terms of sticks, I'm consciously no longer messing with curves / whatever and trying to just give myself consistency. I'm bummed that the P30 never took off as I really really liked it, but being locked into CCM made bargain hunting pretty hard. I decided to just go with the Sakic curve and live with it. New helmet tech also gets my attention. I guess maybe its not so much that I've lost interest as at this point there doesn't seem to be a lot of real innovation and I'm over my initial gear learning curve. Mark

Howdy, Podcasts are good. Its just that I've always only listened to them while driving. I'm not sure I can just sit here and listen to something. With the tv show, there was also something to watch. Maybe I'll try it, I dunno. Or I'll see if I can figure out a way to listen to it while I'm out for a (solitary, not near anyone) walk. Mark

Howdy, So it looks like this is still going on, but the NHL Network has dropped them as of yesterday... Anyone know why? Kinda a bummer. With no other hockey happening, I was hoping to be able to tune in and watch every day I'm working at home over lunch... Mark

Howdy, Baierl? They're still open for adult league, AFAIK. Which is fucking ludicrous. I'm not going to attribute it to trying to squeeze money vs. trying not to lose a ton of money / make sure they can keep paying their employees. Or even a misguided attempt at providing a place people can go to not go stir crazy. But its all just so "not the right thing to do". Mark

Howdy, Same general area as BenBreeg. One of the rinks I ref and play at closed. Two others nearby that I don't currently go to are closed. One's still open (the one he mentions). Another is so poorly run that I would expect they haven't yet heard about the Corona Virus. I think the one BenBreeg mentioned as still being open is a matter of hours until they make the right decision and close, but ?? Either way, I won't be there. My real question is if stuff like the Toronto Draft Tournament at the end of May is going to happen. Mark

Howdy, You won't have to skate like the wind to be able to help them on the ice, but you will need to at least get from one place to another in a reasonable amount of time. If you can get from one place to another, push goals around, gather up pucks, move cones/tires, etc... That would likely be a help on ice. Only way you'll know is if you talk to the coaches and see what they say. If you can't really skate, then I echo the off ice aspects... Helping out as a scorer, on the bench running a door, organizing referees, working with your local rink, doing tax forms, etc. etc. There's a lot of things going on you should be able to pitch in with. Oh! And yes, there are indeed crash courses at most rinks in terms of beginner skating classes for adults. So don't rule out just "learning to skate". There's often beginner hockey classes and even leagues as well. Be a little careful though... That was how I started and now I play beer league 3 nights a week and ref 2 or 3 more. 🙂 Mark

Howdy, LOL! 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Not that big a surprise. Mine is a tight squeeze for CXN holder steel (new, Step). It fits, but there's no extra room. Mark

Howdy, Yeah, typically all the out-of-towners end up at the same hotel and usually Friday's get together is there. Not a 'requirement' to stay there or anything, but it makes it easier. JR negotiates a block of rooms rate. IIRC I think NJ is $200/night? I'm guessing you could probably find a buddy to share a room with but ?? I usually have my family with me and I'm one of those folks that likes to escape off to be by themselves at times so I've never tried to get a roomie. 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Yep, exactly this. Anyone know the details for these? Mark

Howdy, Usually a dinner/get together the night before and the night of the game, generally later in the evenings for both (at least for an old man like me). I would say at these events the ice time / manufacturer demo / whatever is roughly half of the experience for me, with the other half being those get togethers or other activities (like if you've got family with you and do the tourist thing or something). "Worth it" is kinda a personal thing. Its worth it to me. Mark

Howdy, PP90 is a Medium. I would say "average"? For me, what I notice is the girdle itself (which is fairly tight) vs. the shell. I don't really look in mirrors with this stuff so unless someone says something on the bench like "yo, what's up with that weirdass shell?" I don't know how it looks... 😉 Sorry I can't be much help here. Mark

Howdy, Whoa! So routine tests led to them finding that vs. any type of episode/symptoms? That sounds actually fairly lucky if so? Any restrictions on activities or anything? Mark

Howdy, Still jealous of all that empty ice. 🙂 Mark

Howdy, I also have a 7092 girdle. I can't say I've ever really noticed how tight or loose the shell was particularly, so I may not be the best example for you. The shells I like the most are the Warrior pro stock ones with the Velcro / pull strap front. I have a medium girdle and use either the Medium or Large shells interchangeably. 5'10", 190 lbs, 35" waist. I have a CCM PP90 prostock as well that I like about as much as the Warrior. Similar deal, velcro front closure with a pull strap. Also a couple Bauer MX3 Supreme shells. Same thing... Velcro front closure with a pullstrap. Those have a clip buckle for the pull strap. I like these fine as well. I don't leave the shell attached to the girdle / don't attach it when I wear it, so I don't know anything about attaching any of them to the girdle itself. I can't say that I've noticed any of the shells I've ever worn restricting my movements. But I'm old and slow, so that might be more related to that than anything else. 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Yep, should be good. 🙂 Assuming we're not all sick. 😕 Mark

Howdy, Sorry to read about your son's head injury! Hopefully no long term effects. I really wish that manufacturers would prioritize protection over looks/weight/gimmicks and then back that up with published testing results. The poor VT testing results and this anecdotal report have certainly put an end to any interest I had in the new True lid, despite my interest in the MIPS system. Mark

Howdy, I'm still just amazed that someone has the same stick they want to use four years later. 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Yeah, agreed with Mike about that shin not being wide enough for you. If it were me, I'd break out the heat gun and a cylinder with a little bigger diameter or something to form the plastic a bit and see if I could make it a little wider. Might end up destroying the pad if you goof it up, but its not like its working for you the way it is, so you don't have a lot to lose... I would remove as much padding as I could easily, heat the whole pad in the areas where I wanted it wider, then press it down onto the cylinder and keep it there until it cooled. I would use just enough heat to make it a little more pliable. If it 'sprang back' after cooling, I'd heat it while it was on the cylinder/form. Mark