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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

Howdy, Looks like he's failing the pencil test by what, like a 1/2"? I don't think tube socks are going to account for that. 🙂 Hope you can get the skates to work for you, regardless. Mark

Howdy, Good. 🙂 I got in the habit of listening to it in the car last season and miss it now. It was just weird that I couldn't find anything about when its supposed to start up again. Made me wonder if it was gone for good or something. Mark

Howdy, Anyone know when / if the Hockey Central at Noon podcast will start back up? Mark

Howdy, Amazing how much "normal" shifts... I started out with this reffing thing last December as a way to still skate with my wife. Didn't plan to make money doing it. NEVER wanted to ref a kids game. Fast forward to yesterday. At this point I've got ~90 games in. Earned $3.6k (gross). Gotten certified with USA Hockey. And I reffed a kid's travel game. Something I was adamantly against doing. 🙂 It was fun though. I've mostly done beer league stuff (no stats, refs run the score board, running clock, etc.) I did do a couple informal-ish kids summer games. But this was my first game where I needed to see / report goals and assists, penalties, etc. Luckily it was a pretty easy game. I'd liked doing Squirt age stuff when I did those few kids games over the summer and this was no different. The pace isn't overwhelming (I did one highschool game as part of the summer stuff, and my brain just didn't process hockey that fast). Parents and coaches still seem to realize that these are 9 and 10 year olds. Etc. It was also nice that my partner was a good ref (Highschool senior kid of a guy I played with on a beer league team. He's been playing since he was 4. 🙂 Honestly though, the absolute best part of the whole thing is that they play music when the play is stopped. That rocked. Literally. 🙂 Just kinda struck me how different this is from where I started. It is very much still just a hobby / "something to do". But I've enjoyed learning more about it, getting better at it, etc. No question that a big part of how I got here was messing up my wrist in April and wanting to keep skating. Of those 90 games, 74 are from that point. I've still got a SHIT TON to learn to be anything like a good ref. And reading back over this thread I'm seeing plenty of stuff that I said I needed to get better at that I still 100% need to get WAY better at. But I see myself making progress and that's fun. Appreciate the advice I've gotten here! Mark

Howdy, Not fair to the other team. They paid to play too, and its the responsibility of your team to show up with enough players to give them one. Mark

Howdy, Depends. The short answer is to just do what the owners manual tells you to do. Actual engineers for the thing you're using almost always beat Google. Mark

Howdy, No. Seems to be a "wear this brace and we'll check in 3 weeks" thing. I'm doing some stretching exercises this week to try and get some range of motion back, then I'll start doing some resistance band exercises. If I can get it back to at least what it was pre-cast, I'll play and try to just manage the pain. Mark

Howdy, I certainly didn't expect my wrist to feel WAY THE FUCK WORSE. Maybe unrealistic. I'm guessing the pain is from other things (ligaments / tendons / whatever) than the TFCC tear, just because they've been immobile for so long. Still sucks. Mark

Howdy, Per my wrist tendinitis thread where it turned into actually being a TFCC Tear, I've been in a cast for just under 4 weeks. Got it off today. Was hoping maybe I'd be playing pickup tomorrow. Uh... No. Another 3 weeks in a brace and even if that wasn't the Dr. recommendation my wrist feels like pounded shit. Crazy, CRAZY stiff and sore when its flexed beyond what the cast allowed. Going to work on gentle stretches for a while and then hopefully wrist exercises if the stretching helps, but apparently I won't be playing any time soon. 😞 Mark

Howdy, That looks great, but I wasn't able to find anyone selling it in the US? Mark

Howdy, When I didn't get much response, I ordered finger tape from Amazon. I got the .3" version the other day and its pretty narrow... Not sure if its too narrow or not. Otherwise it seems roughly equivalent to hockey tape. Because I thought it would be a little too narrow, I then ordered some actual 1/2" athletic tape. Should be here today. Unfortunately my wrist is casted up at the moment, so I can't actually do a knob and go try either out immediately. 😞 Mark