marka

Howdy, The ones I have (A6.0, A4.5, X Core, etc.) all have the same dimensions as the Sr. sticks. Mark

Howdy, Looked to my fairly inexpert eyes like 25 played it fairly well, perhaps a bit too much gap, but the guy who carried the puck into the zone is just a good enough skater to smoke him to the outside (which could be why he gave him a little more gap). The weak side D is just hanging in space while that is going on and doesn't come over to support so you end up with the puck carrier in front of the net in close alone and presumably he makes a hands-y play to score (I can't really tell). Honestly, to me it looked good right up until the puck carrier was able to get completely around the outside of 25. If he'd been able to stay with him well enough force the puck carrier behind the net or to the corner, everything would have been fine. Mark

Howdy, I never know where to post these "Thanks for Winterfest!" posts... Move this as necessary. 🙂 Just wanted to post and say thanks for another great Winterfest! Really nice to see folks again, particularly after being hurt this summer and missing SummerJam. I particularly appreciate everyone being nice/welcoming to Laura. She had a good time, even though she thinks we're all weird. 🙂 My first time going up to Guernsey's as well, which was probably the part of the thing I enjoyed the most outside of chirping Dave. Already looking forward to the next one. JR and everyone else... Thanks! Mark

Howdy, I think it was the Chiclets podcast where I first heard about the need for respect... To me, that's really where the line is. Peters probably would have been fine if he'd respected Aliu enough to recognize that he'd offended him with his choice of words, then apologized and meant it, for instance. Hockey is a sport where you're occasionally just this side of assault on the ice, then an hour later you're shaking a guy's hand and congratulating him on a well fought game. I think, done correctly, that's what respect means. Heat of the moment, wires cross, and you lose it? What determines if that was over the line or not is what happens after that. When you've got time to think / reflect. That said, I think some stuff is too far over the line, even in the heat of the moment. A coach legitimately unable to control their reactions to a game situation / mistake well enough to stop from kicking/punching a player? Hard to walk that one back. Using overtly racist language? Unacceptable. Its going to be interesting if this keeps building or not. Its also going to be interesting if it builds to a point where things like the casual misogyny that's so common becomes unacceptable. Or I guess a better way to say that is it'll be interesting to see how fast it builds. Its going to build... That much is clear. Mark

Howdy, 1ms at 80mph is ~1.5". I think I'll worry about other things first. 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Hard to see how that would pitch the blade back 2/32 or whatever it was. Mark

Howdy, I would strongly recommend that you go skate on some synthetic ice before you decide to spend money on it. I thought I wanted to do that, then tried it and decided that it felt differently enough that it wasn't worth it to me. Mark

Howdy, Any chance there will be True reps at Winterfest and they'll have some of these with them? I want to check out out in person. Like the idea of the MIPS system. Mark

Howdy, How'd they do that? Mark

Howdy, That's great! Good luck! Mark

Howdy, Are softball teams really that hard to come by out there? Because if not... Other teams beckon. Mark (had something sorta like that happen twice on a hockey team I was playing on. The 2nd time was my last game with them. Good guys on the team in general and I liked playing with them, but life is too short for me to be pissed off when I'm playing hockey for fun).

Howdy, I think for every throwback jersey, they should be required to have a throw ahead one. Like Buck Rogers styling cues or whatever. Mark

Howdy, When I was in the same situation, I was leaning towards the Wissota but ended up going with the Sparx. The primary driver for this was comparing profiles on new blades vs. ones that had been sharpened for a while. There were drastic differences, and they'd been sharpened by folks that did them every day of the week (local Pure, known for decent sharpening). I figured if decent pros couldn't keep the profile within reason, then there was no way someone like me who would sharpen once or twice a week ever would. Other than that, the lack of dust everywhere and the "press go and do something else" are also big wins, but they weren't my decision point. The only real downside is that the Sparx is a significantly more complicated machine than a basic manual sharpener, so there's more opportunites to fail and its less likely that you can fix it yourself if the company goes away. Mark

Howdy, Its been quite a long time since I moved from 5/8 to 5/8 Fire... My recollection is that I felt more "stuck to the ice" in a straight linewith the 5/8 ROH cut, but its been so long I wouldn't put much weight into that impression. Mark

Howdy, So, got a 3/4 Fire and tried it out last night. My impressions are coming from long-ish time use of 5/8 Fire... I didn't find it a big change at all. In fact, it was close enough to the 5/8" Fire that I'm not sure I'd be able to tell them apart in a blind test. Other factors like ice hardness, how recently they were sharpened, etc. etc. I think would have a bigger impact on the feel. Strangely enough, if anything I thought I could feel my edges more with the 3/4 Fire than with the 5/8 Fire. I'm assuming that this is just because I was paying more attention to that, since I'd made a radius change and I use the CXN holder so back to back tests are a bit harder to do than with the quick change holders. We'll see how it goes over the next few hours of ice time, but at least so far I'm liking the 3/4 Fire fine. I should note that I'm an old-ish guy that just started playing 4 years ago. So maybe my skating just isn't good enough to pickup the differences and someone else would find them more significant! Mark

Howdy, All things are not equal. The grinding rings change and I've proven to myself that the center of my current 5/8" ROH ring is about four clicks off the center of my current 5/8" Fire ring. I also think that if you want actual even edges you need an edge checker. The difference you see between a few clicks on the adjuster is extremely minor in the optical tool... Enough so that you could easily be off. The edge checker makes it clear. You can make the argument that the edges may not be off enough to be noticeable and I won't disagree, but in my experience if you want even edges on an edge checker, you will need to make adjustments you can't see via the optical tool. YMMV. Mark

Howdy, So the machine references the existing bottom of the runner (where it contacts the ice) when clamping the running into position? That seems like an odd way to do it. Mark

Howdy, Ah... I'd seen 612, which wasn't all that helpful, but appendix II looks to be better. I'll need to check that out more. 🙂 Thanks! Mark

Howdy, So, for faceoff locations... I'm trying to put together a list of exceptions to the "nearest dot to where puck was last played, without advancing the puck for the offending team" face off location... What I have so far: Intentional offsides -- faceoff in their defending zone. playing the puck with a highstick -- faceoff in the defending zone. Offensive team shoots the puck out of play in the offensive zone -- Face off in neutral zone (this may just be "closest without advancing" in reality... Just that it almost never happens below the dots?) After the whistle, if any offensive player comes from above the circles into a scrum at the net, faceoff in the neutral zone Any others? Mark

Howdy, Are you willing to share more details on this? Particularly with exact products and procedures you're using? I think I've mentioned in this thread before that I use a Wissota Speed Skate after a Sparx sharpening, but I wouldn't describe the resulting finish as a true "mirror", as there are still subtle longitudinal lines. Mark

Howdy, Skates are expensive enough and enough of a PITA to fit / make work that I'm pretty much only going to have one pair. And given that, black is going to be the best bet for me even if I cared a ton about looks. And to be fair, I have a pair of white gloves (along with others), so I must care some... 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Thanks. I use a 5/8 Fire now and have no issues with grip / finding my edges or anything like that. So I was thinking of trying out the 3/4 Fire. I realize this is all mostly personal preference, just wanting to see if folks thought there were a large change between the two. I haven't ever skated on either 3/4 or 1" ROH. Mark

Howdy, Anyone directly compared the 5/8 Fire to the 3/4 Fire? Curious if its a big difference or a more subtle one. I'm likely going to need to get another ring soon and was thinking of trying out the 3/4 Fire at the same time. Mark

Howdy Damn dude. You need to catch a break. Keep fighting! Mark

Howdy, Fun day today. My son, now 12, gave up hockey a couple years ago after giving it a year or two and it never really clicking. His gear has been hanging around the house since. Today we went over to visit a long time friend of my wife, whose 8 (?? I think) year old daughter has just discovered the game and is falling in love. She's been going to learn/practices twice a week in rental/borrowed gear and LOVES it. We took along my son's old stuff and between that, a trip to Play it Again, and a stop at Perani's her daughter is all setup. Super cool to see how excited she was as well as how involved she was in getting gear that she liked. If she keeps having even 1/4 as much fun and enthusiasm for the game as she showed today, she's a lifer. Mark