marka

Howdy, You mean the cars? The '95 Neon on the right is an SCCA ITA car for roadracing. Haven't run it in quite a while, its now mostly a rolling shelf. On the left is an '89 Civic Si that's prepped for STS class autocross. Mark

Howdy, I may have gone a little overboard with this dryland practice setup... Mark

Howdy, That's actually a good question... How many pairs have you sharpened? Of machines "in the wild", what are some of the higher sharpening counts out there? Mark

Howdy, I probably missed it in the thread but... If you want to have Tuuk holders mounted, it sounds like you can still ship them to True/VH and have them mounted. Does the boot get discounted since you're not using the True/Step holder? Is there any extra charge to mount the Tuuk holder instead? Mark

Howdy, Neat! Interesting that Bauer/CCM split in most categories, except for skates. Great marketing site by ProStockHockey.com. :) Mark

Howdy, That sucks man. I really hope it works! We also had some issues in that regard, but the turkey baster thing worked so we didn't get that far. Mark

Howdy, Maybe call these guys? http://www.torontohockeyrepair.com/ I know nothing about them, but the website seems to say the right kinda things and they came up as a recommended shop when I was asking about toronto shops here prior to Summer Jam... Apologize if you already know about them! Mark

Howdy, Look, I'm a pretty new hockey player. When I show up to the rink, folks there in some seriously crusty old equipment make it really, REALLY clear that I have a lot to learn and that the best hockey equipment in the world isn't going to bridge that gap for me. So why in the world did I buy a set of $150 Warrior QRL Pro gloves back in March, shortly after they were introduced? I'll get to that. I promise. What: Warrior Covert QRL Pro 14” gloves Purchased Date: 3/2/17 Price paid: $149.99 Purchased From: Total Hockey (Now Pure Hockey) Usage: Averaging 4 games a week, since purchase. ~100 games at this point. Previous gloves used: Bauer Supreme One.8 14” (two pair), Winwell Anatomic Air Ported Fit I'm going to start off with fit because this is why I bought new high end gloves rather than older high end stuff on clearance (my preference) or even used equipment. I like tight fitting gloves. I started my brief-to-this point hockey career with some used Winwell Anatomic Air Ported 14” (I think? Might have been 15”) gloves. I never liked them. They always felt like they were falling off my hands and that got worse as I played in them more. Next up was some clearance Bauer Supreme One.8 14” gloves. These were MUCH better. I liked them so much, I bought another pair when I found a deal on some clearance ones. As you probably know, the Supreme is Bauer's 'anatomical' or 'contoured' fit line, with the Vapor the 'tapered' fit and the Nexus the 'traditional' fit. The anatomical gloves are supposed to fit fairly tight everywhere, the tapered are supposed to be tight in the fingers/backhand with a relaxed fit in the cuff, and the traditional fit is supposed to be looser everywhere. Different folks like different things, seemingly with the majority liking either traditional fits or maybe a tapered fit. I like tighter fits. Here's the thing with the One.8's. I loved them when they were new, but the first pair wore a hole through my right palm in fairly short order (around 50 to 75 games or so). When I put the second pair into action they were great at first but when they broke in they were loose enough that I caught myself thinking about adjusting my gloves out on the ice rather than playing hockey. That was not good. I'm an awful hockey player. The last thing I need is to be distracted too. So I went looking for a tight fitting glove. What I wanted to find was a glove with a velcro strap across the back of the wrist so that it just could not ever come loose. I used to race motorcycles and that was how you made gloves stay in place. Everyone I talked to about that thought I was a complete nutter. So I kept looking and then noticed Warrior was coming out with an AnyFlex cuff. It was designed to stay tight and close to the wrist, attached to the rest of the glove with some mesh to provide some mobility. It seemed like the driving force with this design was increased protection from slashes & such, but I was interested entirely because it seemed like they might stay on my hands better. Of course, this was a new design for Warrior and it was only on their high end gloves, the Covert QRL Pro ($150 retail) and Covert QRL ($200 retail). The cheaper gloves in the line (QRL3, QRL4, and QRL5) had a different (more traditional) style wrist/cuff. That wasn't awesome, but I put a pair of them on at my local Total Hockey and loved them. Compared to every other glove I tried as well as my Supreme One.8's, there just wasn't a comparison. They just felt super. So I violated my own rules and bought them. The first game, I wondered if I'd gone too tight. I needed to use two hands to put the gloves on, with the 'other' hand pulling up on the Axy Flex cuff to get the glove fully on my hand. However, that was a tradeoff I was more than willing to make (remember, I'd have been ok with a velcro strap!) I mentioned needing to do this and all the experienced people again thought I was insane. But when they were on my hands, I loved them. No hint of falling off. I never thought about them at all. And that was perfect. As they broke in over the next 10 or so games, that gradually changed a bit with the cuff getting a little looser. Today, around 100 games in, I can easily put them on 'one handed” and my hand slides right in past the cuff without needing to hold it in position with my other hand. The fit is correspondingly a little bit looser all around. It feels like I have a little more room in my palm/backhand area with the glove on and if I shake my hand moderately / try to the gloves come off. They are still tighter than the Supreme One.8's they replaced however and I haven't yet tried on another pair of gloves while standing around getting skates sharpened that I like the feel of better. Most important, they still don't ever feel like they're sliding off during a game. I don't notice much difference in flexibility / palm feel / whatever in most gloves I try on and these seem to fall in the “average” category there. I did recently put on a pair of Warrior's new Alpha QX glove with the “butter soft palm” and can confirm that that indeed is a more flexible / compliant palm than the Covert QRL Pro palm, but its more flexible / compliant than any other glove I've tried on too. I'll rate fit as 11 out of 10. They really are exactly what I wanted. Note btw that Ice Warehouse calls these a “Tapered Fit”. I don't agree. Certainly they have plenty of wrist mobility for me (and in that respect may compare directly to other “tapered” gloves), but every part of these gloves is close to my hand/wrist. It seems to me that there's a lot of blurring of the lines between “Tapered” and “Anatomical”/”Contoured” Speaking of fit, here's a super cool tracing of my left hand, so that you can compare it to your own: Protection Let's move onto protection. Here's the thing... I don't regularly slash my hands with sticks. While it happens in games occasionally, I fully expect that “how I get slashed” is WAY more important than “what gloves am I wearing” in terms of how likely I am to experience pain. I can confirm that catching a puck on the end of your unpadded finger still really hurts, as does blocking a shot with your unpadded palm. I've tried both and wouldn't recommend it regardless of what gloves you're wearing. That said, the glove seems pretty protective to me. There's certainly less of your wrist exposed with the Axy Flex cuff vs. the other gloves I've used / tried on. That has to be a good thing, protection-wise. The outside padding seems fine and comparable with other gloves and I've blocked a few shots / slashes with the outside of the gloves with no pain at all. Keep in mind that I'm a low level beer league guy, so YMMV. I imagine Marc Methot has better people advising him than me though. Given all that, I'll rate the protection as 10/10, mostly because the Axy Flex cuff seems like it should do a better job than most any other glove I've seen. The only times I've felt something are situations where any other glove would have resulted in the same type of pain / bruising or worse. Weight One of the gloves tips the scales on my trusty, completely uncertified, postage scale at between 10 and 11 ounces. You can compare that as you see fit, but on my scale of “how much do they seem to weigh in comparison to other gloves / do I notice the weight”, I'm going to rate them as a 9/10. They don't seem at all heavy, but they don't seem crazy light either. Durability Here's another place where I'm blown away by these things. As I mentioned, I wore through the right palm (I'm a left handed stick user) of a set of Supreme One.8 gloves in maybe 50 to 75 games. I also wore through the end of the outside canvas / material on a finger padding, which exposed the internal plastic covering and foam underneath. My next set of Supreme One.8's wore a little better (I switched to Tacki-mac grips during that period), but still showed a decent bit of wear on my right palm and loosened up quite a lot. Internal foam on both gloves in the fingers also loosened up and would bunch up / slide around / whatever. With these gloves, I've used Tacki-mac grips exclusively and spray the inside with a 50/50 alcohol / water mix after every game. This makes it not a direct comparison to that first pair of Supreme One.8's above, but the QRL Pros still look and feel almost new. No loose threads. The right palm has a couple letters of the screen printed “SMART PALM” text worn off. The outside of my right index finger where I grip the stick is maybe showing a bit of wear. But in general I'm 100 games in and these things are still pretty much brand new in look/feel/function. VERY impressed. The only thing I've noticed is that my right palm seems like it might have gotten a bit more stiff when I first put the glove on, but that's it and I'm not entirely sure I'm not making that up. My rating here is 10/10. Probably it should be an 11 like the fit rating, but I've already done that once. This top hand palm is holding up well: As is the outside of my index finger area: Intangibles Style/Looks aren't my most important criteria with most any hockey gear and certainly not functional protective gear. I think the gloves look fine, but so do lots of other gloves. Only you can make that call for yourself anyway. One intangible style thing that does matter to me is “how much does my wife hate my hockey gear?” The other gloves I've used have reeked. They were bad enough that if I wore them for any amount of time, even just putting them on for 10 seconds and then taking them back off, my hands would smell horrible. And lord help you if you sniffed the inside of the first pair of the Supreme One.8 gloves I used. I still remember the expression on my son's face when I tricked him into doing that. That's going to be responsible for some therapy dollars later. The QRL Pros attempt to address that with their Polygiene / WarTech FnC (Fresh and Clean) liner system. It seems to work. My 100 game gloves won't knock you over when you hold them up and breathe deeply and I've never washed them. I'll lump 'dexterity' in here too. When I was asking for recommendations for tight fitting gloves I heard lots of comments from folks about how they need a ton of wrist mobility, etc. I seem to be able to move my hands/wrist in any direction / orientation I want to with these gloves on. The thumb is flexible (I have not cut the loops) and its easy for me to pickup a stick or puck off the ice, etc. The index finger has three foam segments and I can curl my finger with the glove on just as tight as I can curl it with it off. Keep in mind that I'm an old guy that just started playing though. I have crap hands in terms of stick handling, so maybe you younger, more flexible, and/or better skilled folks will have a problem I don't have. But this is my review, so do your own. Axy Flex cuff: All together, I'll give the intangible rating a 10/10 as well, with the primary reason being the lack of stink. Cost I like to put cost as its own category in my reviews (this is my 2nd one, now I'm an expert!) because its a factor for everyone. If there's a single good thing about starting hockey later in life, its that in terms of life/career/etc I'm reasonably established and can afford basically any hockey gear I want to buy without needing to eat ramen noodles. That doesn't mean I WANT to spend money I don't have to though, and these gloves were no exception. As a top level glove, they're on the expensive end like all the rest. However they are only 75% of the cost of the regular Covert QRL gloves, and outside of some seemingly minor palm differences I couldn't really tell any difference between the two. They do cost more than previous high end clearance gear or used gear, but that's not even close to a fair comparison. As such, I'm going to rate the cost as 9/10. They're a decent chunk of coin, but they're a great buy in comparison to the only other glove I like as much, the Covert QRL. Conclusion This was a hard purchase for me to make, or for me to justify to myself. Compared to those guys I sit next to on the bench that have been playing for a while I looked horrible before and still do today. These gloves didn't change any of that. But I don't care. They don't fall off my hands, they're comfortable to wear, they don't stink, and they've been really durable. If I lost these in a horrible boating accident, I'd order another pair immediately. They earn an overall 10/10 rating from me. I can't imagine how they could be better. About me Height: 5'10" Weight: 175 lbs Location: Youngstown, OH (Pittsburgh, PA hockey area) I'm a 47 year old parent who got skates and a stick when his son got interested in hockey, then discovered I loved it. I've been playing for a little under 2 years now, typically on the ice four or five times a week. Nobody would mistake me for someone that is good at the game, but I'm slightly better than a true beginner at this point. Mark

Howdy, Had a nice assist to my wife tonight for her first goal ever. :-) Mark

Howdy, Really appreciate you coming Steve! Super nice to get to meet you and talk a lot about sharpening in general and the Sparx in particular. I'm quite impressed with various features of the machine... You can tell a clever engineer or two were involved in it as there are a few "oh, that's a solution that's obviously awesome" (once its pointed out) design details. Very impressive toaster! :-) I've been skating on a 95/75 FBV for a maybe 6 months or so now. I went to it from a 7/16" ROH, hoping to keep the same turning grip and pick up a little more glide. I originally wanted to run 1/2" Fire, but that ring wasn't working when we tried it so I went with the 7/16" ROH. The Sparx seemed to cut it just fine. And I was impressed that it seemed to do the radius change with just a few passes (I think two out and back cycles on each skate? Something like that). On the ice I was pleasantly surprised to find that my turning and stopping grip was similar to before, not a huge change either way. I suppose that makes some sense, given the chart I used to pick the 95/75 FBV profile in the first place, which put the 'grip' as being similar to 7/16". :-) It did seem like my skate was 'stuck' a tiny bit more to the ice going straight, but it was subtle enough that I'm not sure if that was a "I know its different, so I'm going to feel a difference" kinda thing or real. Anyway, super impressed. I'm a pretty mechanical person by nature (a good bit more so than the average bear I would say) and have plenty of room for a "real" sharpening machine. But the "put skate in machine and tell it to go" stuff with the expectation of no learning time to get a great sharpening is a powerful draw. It would not surprise me if one of these was in our family's future. And if something happens to my current skate sharpening arrangement (basically, there's a Total Hockey that has yet to fuck up my skates 45 minutes away and I'm over there every couple weeks currently), it'll happen sooner. Thanks again for all your time! I wish you guys luck with the commercial machine and look forward to the details when they become available. Mark

Howdy, Super cool. I'd like to try out a Fire setup similar to the 95/75 FBV I use. Probably 1/2" Fire? Mark

Howdy, Been playing with this D league team for almost a year now. It was a big stretch for me when I started with them, and still remains a league where I'm over my head a bit, though I've for sure improved and gelled in better. We finally make it to the championship game. Which is scheduled for July 28th. When I'm in Toronto for Summer Fest. Fuck. Mark

Howdy, Snake oil in a can is not the way to go. Even if it "works" for a while, you're just fucking the next guy. Don't do that. My guess is that it won't work for a while anyway. The only way you can know if that's a reasonable # is to call around and get quotes. While I'm not familiar with this car, that's a job where a large component is going to be labor. You may well be able to find a non-dealer mechanic to do it for less, on the side, etc. Ask around your hockey team buddies for a local reference. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there was a lot of labor as the head needs to come off the motor and there's more and more shit in the way of that with modern cars. :-) Depending on why its leaking, there may be other things that need to happen... if the head is warped, it'll need to be cut (machined to a flat surface) or replaced. If it can be cut, that's again mostly just labor but it may not be able to be. Same with the block. You'll know you're talking to a mechanic you want to do the work if they are able to speak to what the common problem is, whether its weak head gaskets, heads that warp, or whatever else 60k miles is pretty darned low for a leaking head gasket. Was the car overheated / run without coolant for some reason? Or do these have a reputation for this problem? I'm assuming there are some type of symptoms the car is exhibiting, vs. the dealer just telling you out of the blue that its got a leaking head gasket? Mark edit: There's no question that independents are out there that will charge you less than the dealer and who will do at least as good a job. Equally there are independents out there that will rob you blind and/or suck. The only reliable way I know of to sort them out is experience with them. With the dealer, one of the things you're paying extra for is someone to call if they fuck it up badly enough (in addition to typically more familiarity with the vehicle than a general all makes mechanic).

Howdy, What's the alarm thing? Mark

Howdy, So just how expensive (retail I guess) is the Bauer skate fitting thing? Mark

Howdy, Wow. Yeah, I don't have any artistic bent at all, but that strikes me as a pretty awful thing to have happen. Hopefully an honest mistake and all, but still lousy man. Sorry to hear it. Mark

Howdy, I think the goal is probably less "unattended" and more "the minimum wage counter person can use it without destroying skates". The pro shops and such are usually closed when I have league games, but there's always a counter person there. IIRC, that's kinda how your NHL teams are using it too, right? Not as "now we don't need our equipment manager" but rather as "trained people aren't available and as long as nothing special is needed, this will sharpen well"? For now, I'm still not a target customer because I have a good pro option available that's 'easy enough' in terms of accessibility. Were that to change, I'm still not decided if I'd go Sparx or a traditional single head portable. I have a workshop (i.e. dust isn't an issue), am comfortable with tools & basic metal machining, etc. but the convenience of "throw skate in and just works" is quite high. The biggest drawback to me is that I think I can reasonably expect a traditional single head machine like a Wissota to last for my entire lifetime w/plenty of consumable support and I don't have anything like that expectation of longevity for something as complex as a Sparx in as niche a market as home sharpening machines. Of course, if every rink's counter person had a Sparx then I'm even less likely to buy my own. :-) Mark

Howdy, I thought we agreed not to do this? Mark

Howdy, Don't forget colored laces... ...and mine are super bright orange because I like them and realized that I'm old enough to not give a flying fuck what some other wannabe beer league guy thinks about how I dress. :-) Mark

Howdy, Depends on the vehicle. The point of replacing more than just the one tire is to keep any differentials from constantly slipping. The safe thing for most awd vehicles is to replace them all (to keep the center differential happy) and for any 2wd vehicle to replace in front or rear pairs (to keep the front or rear diff happy). These days there can also be some impacts to the stability control / abs systems, but you have to make a pretty large diameter change to effect that, probably more than just the difference in worn vs. new in the same nominal tire size. Mark

Howdy, Glad I'm not the only one that had that thought. :-) Mark

Howdy, Yeah, that makes me tired too. Mark

Howdy, Btw, I'm now using a True TC2-5... So Sakic it is. :-) Mark

Howdy, So, haven't posted here in quite a while. 1.5 years in. Still having fun. I finally got a shooting tarp setup in the garage and realized my phone does slow mo video and figured I should play with that. Below is 4 vids of my wrist shot from the side and the back. I'd be interested in any advice re: form / whatever to get more power. I'm also guessing I need to look up and aim more, though for these videos I was just trying to look at form. Note that the slow speed vs. normal speed is different shots... I dunno how to slow mo the same video or whatever. Technology is hard. :-) Side, normal speed: Side, slow speed: Back normal speed: Back, slow speed: Mark

Howdy, Put my hands on one of these at the "local" Total Hockey the other day, along with a Re-Akt 200. It was just a quick play though, I was just there getting skates sharpened. I dunno if this will match everyone's experience, but I would say that the 710 is for more rounded heads than the Re-Akt 200, even though both show "round" on IW's fit guidelines. The 710 had noticeably more room on the side of my head / temples than the Re-Akt did. I didn't back to back compare, but it seemed like even more room as compared to the Resistance 300 that is my current helmet. Same adjustment mechanism on the 710 as the Resistance 300, that adjusts both length and width together. Like I said, just a quick grab and stick on my head (with adjustment for size) for each helmet, vs. anything extensive. I hope to check each helmet out more extensively later! Mark