marka

Howdy, Thanks folks. I think I'll take them up to the local rink and do a bake there. They didn't feel any more pliable than any of the other skates I've done. Is there anything to the "Easton oven" thing, or do they just mean "a real skate oven, not your house oven"? I'm withholding judgement for now. I'd like to make sure they get a good bake on them, then I'll wear them around the house for a half hour or whatever the next day, then decide if I'm going to sharpen them and give them a go (which means I can't return them for credit). Mark

Howdy, Ok, got my M8's today, threw them in the oven (regular oven, set to 205 deg, brought to temp, shut off, put skates in for 10 min), and baked them. Everyone talks about how crazy pliable / "play dough" like they are... Is that an exaggeration? Because while they were a little more pliable, they weren't what I'd call really pliable or soft. Anyway, we'll see. Sitting there for 20 minutes or so after I put them on for the bake, nothing hurt or anything. They seem to fail the pencil test pretty hard, but not sure that'll matter all that much with the plastic tongue guard? The comfort just sitting there was pretty well "eh, whatever" vs. "OMG these rock! Appreciate any input from folks that have baked these and know what they feel like coming out of the oven! I do have the option to go to my local rink and bake them in the "normal skate oven" there (the box talks about a specific Easton oven... and only putting them in a non-easton oven for 10 min? Not sure what's up with that). Mark

Howdy, And, with some advice from @JR Boucicaut, I dropped the size down to a 7.5D, since my current 8D Ribcor 46k's seem a touch too long. Nothing like starting over with skates. Sigh. :-) Mark

Howdy, Well, I guess I'm going to find out. Just ordered some M8's in an 8D size. Certainly can't argue with the price, so hopefully if they don't work for me I can flip them. Mark

Howdy, That reminds me of a question I had... Why is adjusting the height necessary? Are the various steels/runners not the same thickness? I'd have thought that once you adjusted the holder to hit the center of the wheel with an 1/8" steel, any 1/8" steel would also hit the center? The holders clamp directly to the steels, right? Mark

Howdy, Boy, I keep looking at these Mako M8's for such a great price.... Can anyone comment on how they compare size-wise to CCM Ribcors? Curious about all facets.... Length, width, and volume. I currently wear an 8D CCM Ribcor. My toes don't brush the endcap, and Easton's chart has a general recommendation for a size 9.5 shoe (what I typically wear in sneakers) to use an 8.0 skate. Width-wise, my foot seems to be sorta wide in front and narrow in the back... I have to pump up the Ribcors a decent bit (maybe 10+ pumps?) to lock in my heel but the side of my foot just behind the little toe and the big toe rub the boot hard enough that I've got bumps forming there. Volume on the Ribcors seems fine. I use Superfeet Yellows. Regular white athletic socks. About a year ago I had a set of entry level Easton Stealth in a 7.5D and my feet hurt a lot, under the arch of my foot. I then went to a set of entry level CCM Tacks in an 8D and initially had foot pain, but it got better over time, particularly when I switched to skating barefoot. Appreciate any advice on how the fits for the Makos would compare! Mark

Howdy, Hockey continues. I joined another beginner league team in Cranberry, PA (I'm in Youngstown, OH) two months ago. We played our last game of the session last night... Made it to the finals of the championship (four teams total), but got drubbed pretty hard last night. So that was sorta sucky, but at least we were the first losers? That league (E league) played on Fridays and just before it was an adult skills clinic, so for the last eight weeks or so I've done a skills clinic for an hour, then two games... One game with my real team, then I just jumped on another as a sub. So a good 3 hours of hockey, which was nice. I've had a couple E league teams be happy / want me to play for them, which also feels good. Locally with the all levels adult league and the over 40 group I'm still mostly a warm body and everyone is cool with it, but its still nice for the ego that a team exists that really wants me to play! :-) I've also been playing as a sub for a local team. They're pretty weak, at least compared to the other three teams in the league. There's not enough folks here for different levels, so you range from "Yeah, I was playing hockey for a D1 school last year" to "Mark". They have a lot of Marks. :-) Still, it's hockey and its fun. Joining a D2 level team starting tonight over in Cranberry. Should be interesting. I've played with some random D level folks in the E league there and they aren't "oh my god you rock!" level or anything, but I don't know how representative that's been. I'm gonna find out in about 4 hours. :-) I'm still improving. Its like a slow step forward every now and then... Everything continues to get better... Skating, stick handling, shooting, etc. I now have a bit of a shot at times (both wrist and slap shots), but its inconsistent and still not all that powerful / accurate. But better. Same with stick handling and skating. I get impatient not to be improving more quickly, but I'm still happy to slowly see a little improvement. My equipment is getting worn at this point as well... My skates have some holes in the liner at the top of the boot, the holders are getting nicked up, etc. My right glove has a small hole starting. Etc. Its becoming more clear that all this stuff is in the category of "wear items", at least at some level. I'm a little worried that my skates will need to be replaced sooner than I originally thought... I figured they'd last five years or whatever and at this rate I'm not sure that's realistic. As for other family members... My son just finished up a goalie day camp this past week. He seems to be having moderate fun with it... He likes soccer more (we're also doing that this summer, with me as the coach for his team), but still seems to have fun playing hockey. He's going to play in a house league this fall, and I'm going to be an assistant coach for that. Which means I need to take some certification classes and such, that I signed up for today. My wife is also doing some skills classes. There's a local one starting up that we'll do together and there's a women only class she's going to do in Cranberry. Plus we go skate together and such some. Anyway... Still going strong. I even found a skills clinic in Maine when we're up there in a couple weeks for vacation! :-) Mark

Howdy, Been a few weeks, guess I should do another update... Been feeling like I'm slumping lately... The pace of improvement has certainly slowed down, which I guess is to be expected, but also having a little bit of trouble from my left knee where I tore a meniscus 7 years ago or so. Now wearing one of those grocery store compression knee sleeves under my shin guard. Can't say that it really helps, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Nothing bad happened... Just started feeling like my knee was "looser" or whatever than it should have been and if I was walking around on it a lot outside of skating I'd get a little pain. On the playing front, there's no question I'm better than three months ago or so, but also no question that I need to improve a lot more. I seem to continually make bad "try and force it through" passes. And if I hold the puck longer, I end up turning it over then as well. I want to get better at being able to stick handle / skate out of situations to have longer to find a good pass. Not entirely sure how to actually get better at that though, outside of doing it a lot to learn (and letting my team down in the process). As summer gets rolling, seems like ice rinks grid to a halt. The beginner league I was playing at on Friday's at a nearby rink now has the rink down for 2 months as part of the normal summer schedule. And the local over 40 group had to drop back to just one day a week instead of 2, since the local rink dropped all Sundays from their calendar. Add in baseball games for my son that often conflict with stuff and I now get weeks like this one, where I have no games at all. Which sucks. :-) Anyway, on the non-bitching side... I'm making a little progress on skating. Started working more on stepping to the side (like iron cross drill style) and while still fairly unnatural I can at least sorta kinda do it a little. Still nothing like even an average normal hockey player, but better than before. Also working on sliding into a transition / transition turns with both feet and getting more comfortable there. Ditto using backwards crossovers to try and get more speed skating backwards. Not much of an update, but there it is. Still having fun, but also getting a little more frustrated. Just need to keep at it I think, and I want to try and figure out how to get on a "real team" this fall. Mark

Howdy, Guess its time for another update... Still playing three times a week, plus open skates, pickup, etc. I'm probably on the ice five to six times a week. We actually started to add up how much it was costing to have me skating a lot plus my wife and son skating a couple times a week and it was quickly apparent that just like with motorsports (my other expensive hobby), you shouldn't add that up. :-) I feel like I've taken a small step recently. More confident on my skates, particularly with sharper turns. Also getting better about positioning and being where I need to be as a defenseman, winger, and center. I feel like I'm hustling a bit more as well. I don't know if that's the cause, but in the last beginner / E league game I play on Fridays, I ended up scoring three (?? I think) goals, mostly just from hustling to the puck. I felt like I played decently well that night overall and our team ended up controlling the game. This is basically glorified pickup for beginners and the team mix changes every week. Though we play with a scoreboard and ref, which is fun. I like faceoffs. :-) Anyway, it certainly wasn't all me but I contributed, which felt good. Better was last night's over 40 game (we play every Wed and Sun). Unlike the E League game, I'm FAR from one of the top players with this group. Last night though I felt like I was inching toward "average player" status. Had some good passes, was better about going to the net without the puck, hustled back to back check on turn overs, etc. Also scored twice! :-) That was only my 2nd and 3rd goals ever with this group (been playing with them for a few months now). 2nd one was all about just being at the net without the puck as I picked up the rebound off a shot into the goalie's chest before he did and just backhand tapped it in. 3rd one was a respectable wrist shot from the slot into the open side of the net. Still lots and lots of room for improvement though, as I had some mental errors like trying to force passes through defensive players and not attacking the puck and letting it come back out across the blue line. Had a breakaway chance as well that I flubbed, just me and goalie after a quick out that I ended up just wristing right into his stomach / closed 5 hole. I REALLY need to learn some deke / fake out moves to try and get the goalie moving as in that situation I feel like I have no side to side movement at all. As for the rest of the family, we try and get my son out on the ice once a week or so, but he's mostly concentrating on baseball and soon soccer. Really I just want him to skate a little bit so that he doesn't slide back. This past Saturday we went to a public skate and just goofed around and he did fine, so that seems like its working so far. He's signed up for a goalie camp after school stops and then will be playing in a house league later in the fall in goal. My wife is also getting in on the action. We try and hit a public skate together once a week and we're taking a (non-hockey) learn to skate class together that happens right before my Wednesday over 40 game. The learn to skate class has been fun. Not a particular workout, but learning skating moves from a figure skating background has been neat. Turns out I can actually do a "3 turn", at least some of the time! :-) It's been good time together on the ice. We're also trying to work in an adult hockey skills class. My wife is doing all the sessions and I'm going to ones that don't conflict with my son's baseball games. That's been an AWESOME class that we've gotten a lot out of, but attendance has been pretty low. Really hoping the rink continues with it. The instructor is a local guy that plays for Youngstown State's club program and he's both a really good player as well as a good instructor. On the physical side of things, dinged myself a bit last night for the first time. In front of the net looking to redirect stuff and managed to catch a shot straight on the end of my left ring finger. Finger went numb for probably 20 minutes and now its got that "overstuffed sausage" feeling and a nice bruise, but it doesn't hurt to move so I think its fine. I've also been feeling my left knee where I tore a meniscus ten years or so ago, but it actually seems to feel _better_ on the ice, not worse. Keeping "an eye" on it a bit, but so far so good. Anyway, that's long enough. Still playing. Still having fun! Mark

Howdy, It was at 3:20 Mark

Howdy, Just seemed weird to me that you'd shove a guy over that wasn't in the blue paint. But I'm new, so maybe that's an accepted thing? If that's normal, I'm glad to learn about it now, vs. just after someone shoved me over and I got seriously pissed. :-) Mark

Howdy, Did the guy you shoved in the back at the end of the game ever come back on you in any way? Mark

Howdy, Yes, this one. I'm also new, and like Beardo at 46 I frequently am out on the ice with other folks that could be my children. My advice would be to focus on the people saying positive things and not the ones saying negative things. And as for the ones saying negative things... Beardo has it 100% right. Its not like you're lying to get into a group where you're not supposed to be. If they have a problem with it, _they_ can leave. Mark

Howdy, (I can't seem to edit that post?) Also, if I'm currently in CCM Ribcor 48k's in an 8D and like the fit (the width is good, they're perhaps a small touch too long), what would the recommendation be for Makos? Mark

Howdy, So, can someone explain the differences between the M7, M8, and Mako II and how they might relate to a beginner / lower skill level player? Thanks! Mark

Howdy, Other than that you have to use something like Yonder to actually make the service work... This one. Mark

Howdy, That's awesome! Good luck for sure. :-) I've been really happy with all of the skills classes I've done. One on one instruction is also good. I tend to get frustrated sometimes because I can't do something immediately that seems easy when its demonstrated, but I pretty quickly had to get over that and just laugh at my ineptitude and realize that even the minor stupid little easy things that good people do without thinking about them are things that I will need to practice and practice and drill into my brain as best I can. It helps that I can still remember stuff like not being able to stop with my left foot forward, which is something I can do now without really thinking about it, so I can remain hopeful. :-) Anyway... Have fun! Mark

Howdy, Another couple weeks, another update... My son has decided that he really wants to play goalie. He's excited about it and really energized, so we're going with it. This is a pretty big turnaround, as a year or two ago when we were dipping our toe in pretty much my only rule was "no goalie, way too expensive". My expectations for costs have changed! :-) Anyway, Saturday we went out and got him some starting out gear for goal and he's signed up for a "local-ish" house league for next fall. This summer we'll likely try and find him one of the week long goalie day camps and get him in net at the "actually local" rink during stick times or whatever to see if we can jump start his level & skill a bit so he's not completely raw for the fall. As for me... New experiences are still happening. I played in a beginner E league at the same "local-ish" rink that's about 30 miles away. It was an interesting experience. I've been playing with the local over 40 group who are all pretty experienced players and where I'm clearly near the bottom in terms of skill. I didn't realize just how much easier that made it for me to play, since pretty much all the other guys were "doing the right thing" and I just needed to worry about me. At the E league, it was a lot more all over the map as I was in the top 3rd or so of players. Lots of confusion as to where people should be, when I made a pass it needed to be damned near perfect (and even then it was about 50/50), etc. etc. Still fun though, and I still made plenty of my own mistakes so its not like I was Crosby out there or anything. It was also the first time I'd played with refs and a scoreboard, which was fun. Actual faceoffs are cool! Speaking of the over 40 league... I'm slowly getting better. We played last night and I actually had a legitimately good assist. :-) I play winger with those guys. We forced a turn over in their offensive zone and I went and got the puck towards the corner. Saw a lane to the net and our center was near the top of the crease. Instead of forcing a shot, I gave our center a hard pass just out of reach of the goalie and he deflected it up into the top corner. Felt great to see the situation, make a good call on what to do, and then execute it. :-) Anyway, still slowly getting better, still having fun! Mark

Howdy, Interesting. I was changing laces, so I tried this. With the tongues out and my foot pushed forward to where my big toe is hitting the side of the toe cap, I have just about exactly a pencil width between my heel and the heel of the boot. The pencil goes in easily, but is also touching both my heel and the heel of the boot enough that it will stay in position when I let go. The pencil test is fine 3 eyelets down. Below that, directly over the top of the arch of my foot, the pencil test fails for a couple eyelets but then goes back to passing again. I don't get lace bite issues and the arch pain I used to have doesn't happen with these skates however. Lately I also feel like I don't get as good of a heel lock as I used to, but pumping the skates (CCM Ribcor 46k) fixes that. Width-wise, they seem ok? I dunno. I have a bump that seems to have grown from skating on the inside of my right foot, where the big toe joint to the foot proper is. On the side of the ball of my foot. I had that section punched a bit and now am also wearing a callous pad there and that seems to be working to not have pain. I really do not want to be buying more skates. I'm married. :-) Mark

Howdy, Thanks Vet88. I'm a beginner and I certainly spend most of my time on my inside edges. I use the outsides, but not nearly as much. My shoes wear reasonably evenly. Perhaps slightly more on the outside heel, but its slight. I think I'm going to just live with it for now. It makes me curious if these skates are slightly too large, but after going through serious amounts of foot pain with my first two inexpensive pairs, I'm pretty happy not to have lots of pain when I skate now and it doesn't seem like they're holding me back from anything. Mark

Howdy, These are the wear spots on one of the skates: Mark

Howdy, So, this is what my tongues look like after an hour or so on the ice: I'm pretty sure its the inside edge of the tongue rubbing against the top part of the skate that's worn holes through the liner. I wouldn't have said the skate was too big for me, but "I'm new". The tongues rotating doesn't really affect me in any way I can tell. Mark

Howdy, Oh yeah... One other update... My feet are changing a bit. I don't get pain in my arches any more, but I do have a bump maybe 3/4" diameter or so forming on the inside of my right foot, where the big toe joins into the ball of my foot. Local ice rink guys say they call those "Bauer Bumps" and that they see them on the heel of the foot too. So I guess that's pretty common? I had that area of my skate punched just a bit and I started wearing a 'callous pad' there (little disc of foam with the center cut out) and its been fine / I don't notice it when skating. In other skate news, the top of both of my skates on the front of the inside edge has the liner worn away (maybe 3/4" or so along the very top of the skate). Doesn't seem to be hurting anything, but thinking I might put some shoe goo on there to try and protect the area? I wear shins inside the tongue, but I think it might actually be from the tongue rubbing against that area? My tongues on both skates rotate to the outside when I skate/play a bit, and I'm betting that the edge of the tongue is rubbing that are and wearing it away? Dunno. Mark

Howdy, Been a couple weeks, time for an update I guess. Playing / practicing four times a week or so now. The adult skills class I was taking in Pittsburgh is done, but another I helped put together locally (Youngstown, OH) has started and the instructor is AWESOME. I learned more about the mechanics of passing/shooting in 15 minutes with him than I had in all my time before. No knock on the other places... I expect they knew the same stuff, but for whatever reason his explanations just connected with me. Great thing is that he's local so I can also do one on one things with him. :-) Been experimenting with stick flex a bit. I started with a pair of Warrior AX3LT sticks, W03 and W01 curves. 85 flex and each cut down about two inches. They never felt like they were flexing to me. So I picked up an intermediate AX3LT W88 w/70 flex. Played with that for the first time last night and could definitely feel a little more flex. I think I liked it. And because I'm a bit obsessed I also ordered an intermediate DT5LT W03 w/55 flex. Should be here Monday. I'm interested to see what that's like. My wife is hoping I've gotten stick experimenting out of my system. But these crazy clearance stick prices are SO TEMPTING! :-) Playing wise... Getting better still. Skating is still improving. I'm now at the point where stopping on my 'bad' side is a non-event and I just do it without thinking much about it. Ditto crossovers turning the bad way (right). Backwards crossovers are coming along as well, and I'm getting faster with backwards skating in general via normal c-cuts. I've been told that when skating backwards & defending you're better off using c-cuts so that your feet aren't crossed up and you can react to the offender's movements better. Also getting better at receiving passes. I still suck, but getting better at settling the puck on my stick. I was a little worse last night with the new stick, with the puck rolling off the heel of the blade sometimes... Not sure if the curve is a bit different or if that's flex or ?? But I'm sure practice will take care of it. Had a nice highlight last night... Playing with the over 40 group that's 'half pickup, half league'... We tend to stick to the same teams and the guys play positions, but it's 'call your foul' and no clock / scoreboard / whatever. Great group. Anyway, scored my first goal with that group after maybe five or so games. Got a really nice pass to me in the slot and I one-timed it into the upper right of the net. I celebrated by peeling off my helmet tape with my name on it that the Pittsburgh adult skills class had us put on (and which the other over 40 guys gave me some shit about... :-) On the family side, my son (age 9) has decided that he doesn't really like playing as a player and now he wants to try out goalie... Looks like I've found some pads to borrow to get him out there and see if he really means it before I go spend way too much money on gear for him. Not sure if he'll really want to do it or not. Summer sports are starting up and I certainly am not going to pressure him to keep playing hockey if he's not as into it as his old man! Anyway, update from the past couple weeks. Still having fun getting into this crazy sport/life. :-) Mark

Howdy, Probably you all saw this already, but just in case.... Hockey Monkey is having 40% off clearance stuff until Monday and they have a bunch of Easton Mako skate versions on clearance.... Mark