marka

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

Howdy, That's about 45 minutes away from me. Been to the facility a couple times. Seems REALLY nice, but I haven't actually skated / played there. Pittsburgh is a pretty serious hockey town. Lots and lots of rinks / programs from small single sheet rinks to many sheet complexes like the Lemieux center. Mark

Howdy, Had a nice unintentional compliment last night... Was playing with the over 40 'sorta pickup, sorta league' group last night. Talking with another player between shifts and mentioned that I'd only been doing this for a few months. He was surprised and said he'd never have guessed that. :-) I still suck, but I'm getting better! Mark

Howdy, So... Got in with a private group that plays locally. All guys over 40, some a good bit over 40. I would say that outside of the goalies, I'm one of the younger guys. Which is kinda cool. Anyway, full range of skill sets from "me" to "used to play in the AHL" (I think anyway). I at least didn't embarrass myself too bad I don't think, though certainly I flubbed 90% of my passes / whatever. Still, had one good scoring chance and had one nice read / pass to one of our better folks in front of the net. A couple ok defensive plays too. The rest of the hour... Not really so much. And holy crap was I tired at the end. That might be the most tired I've been. I really need to get better. At everything. Skating, stickhandling, making moves to get around a defender, knowing where to be / what each position is supposed to be doing, etc. All of it. I can sorta feel myself plateauing a bit, and its pissing me off. I'm nowhere near good enough to slow down on improvements. I particularly need to get better at skating w/the puck and receiving passes that aren't perfect I think. If I could skate better with the puck, I think I could move more to find openings for better passes, without getting the puck taken away. And receiving passes... Its SO FRUSTRATING to get a pass and then flub the damn reception of the thing. But... Also still having fun. I really have yet to meet an asshole doing this. And I've met lots of people that have really gone out of their way to make me feel welcome. That includes here... I've been really impressed with the hockey community. On the physical side, I'm still losing a little weight. So clothes don't really fit and I'm on like my 3rd set of most of the gear due to either me shrinking or just wanting something that works better (or that doesn't reek). My endurance still isn't what it needs to be though. We had eight guys tonight, which meant no full line changes. By 1/2 way through, I was unable to go fast all the time (even at my level of "suck"). By 3/4 way through, I was able to go fast like once per two / three minute shift. By the end, I was just hoping I didn't pass out. Tonight was the first time I've really tried to play a particular position, because when guys would come off they'd tell you to play 'wing' or 'center' (the other guys were playing defender... I think my brain works better as a defender, but my skating ability isn't really there yet). It all seems WAY more fluid in hockey vs. basically any other sport I've played. I think some of that is me just not knowing enough, but some is just "its hockey" I think. I need to learn more about how that's supposed to work. Oh, on the physical side, I think I had my first injury a while back. My right side hurts. Doc thinks its likely that I strained the cartilage around my ribs or something? I dunno. I think that's what he said. They did an xray and didn't see anything broken and drew blood to make sure it wasn't liver (though I'm not sure if those results are back). Doesn't really hurt when I play and I can ignore it otherwise, so as long as its not "something is going to catastrophically fail if you ignore it".... I can ignore it. Anyway, long enough I guess. Short version... The old guy is still having fun. :-) Mark

Howdy, Wrong thread. Mark

Howdy, Update again... I've now played in two pickup games and have started helping out with my son's skills class. I'm now probably on the ice in some form four to five times a week, with two of those being pretty high intensity, one medium, and the others just sorta skating around a bit. The pickup games are awesome. :-) I'm slowly getting some sense of where I should be on the ice in the various winger vs. center vs. defenseman roles. Its pickup so mostly I just go to whatever spot is open vs. us having assigned roles. Skills are also a pretty big range from me as the worst guy up to guys that seem pretty damn good, but I really have no frame of reference to judge. 2nd game I did a lot better than the first. Settled down when I got the puck and worked on controlling it and finding an open pass / moving to create an open pass. My first game a couple guys (very nicely) mentioned that I didn't need to hurry it along as much as I was. Also worked on stick checking or poke checking or whatever its called and was able to steal the puck a few times from players that were a lot better than me, which felt great. I love making other people say "Fuck!" :-) I also scored, first time ever. At both pickups so far there has only been one goalie so on the other side the rule is that the puck has to be elevated off the ice and hit a post to score. I did a little give and go with another guy around a defender, controlled the pass that came back by kicking it up in front of my, caught up to the puck, and lifted it up to the post. Frankly... I mostly couldn't believe it. I bet I'm like 5 out of a 100 on doing that, but I'll take it. :-) On the skating front, I'm getting more comfortable going from forwards to backwards in a clockwise direction (which is my weak direction). Also getting slightly more comfortable with backwards crossovers. I really need to get more speed backwards though, as right now I can't skate backwards fast enough to stay ahead of an oncoming forward when I'm defending. I can cut the angles to try and help, but I don't even have enough speed for that against some of the guys. Still, its a lot better than where I was a month or two ago, so I know the answer is just "keep working on it". Last adult skills class of the current session is tomorrow night. Hoping my gear is at least kinda dry by then. Also hoping I still have some gas for it! :-) Mark ps. Also, I can hop over the boards getting onto the ice. I still look like a fish out of water if I try it coming off the ice though. :-)

Howdy, Wait, they offered you a job, then changed their mind and gave the job to someone else? And then decided that if you wanted you could have the in house guy's old job for a bunch less money? Sounds to me like they did you a favor by illustrating that you don't want to work there during the hiring process! You're for sure doing the right thing. I'll have to dig it up if you want to see it, but I took an online concussion training thing when I was an assistant coach on my son's soccer team. Among other good things, they had some guidelines as to how to know if a kid was ready to play again, plus some education stuff. If you'd like, I could try and track that down. My recollection is that the summary of that part of it was "let the kid's doctor decide", plus some 'evaluate when they come back' pointers. Concussion is no joke and you can't "rub dirt in it and get back out there". Edit: Here's the big 'fact sheet' from that training, which includes some steps to getting back going after receiving a concussion: http://www.cdc.gov/headsup/pdfs/youthsports/coaches_engl.pdf And here's the training itself: http://www.cdc.gov/headsup/youthsports/training/index.html It was pretty quick and I thought it was worthwhile when I did it last year. A lot of it is common sense, but there are some things I hadn't thought about / wouldn't have known to look for. Mark

Howdy, So, this week's update... Continuing to improve but so S L O W L Y... Still though, last night at the adult skills class the instructor had us stopping on one foot using inside edges, and I was able to do that with both right and left foot forward. I get a little annoyed that I'm not skating as well as others, but a year ago I couldn't hockey stop in any form with a turn to the right / left foot forward, so being able to do that on one foot is a lot better, even if its not perfect yet. Working on tight turns now. At the Learn to Play class I take with my son, the instructor frequently does a warm up where everyone tries to steal the puck off him. When you block him off and force him to go back where he came from, he makes this super tight turn with the ice chips flying and a great ripping sound... My firm goal is to be able to do that too. :-) I can do it a bit at this point, but I still frequently leave the puck behind me (maybe turning the puck / stick too much?) and I don't have that really loud RIIIPPPP on the ice. Also working on backwards skating, particularly backwards crossovers. I find that I frequently end up with too much weight on my toes. Guessing that I'm bending my back too much and my knees not enough? Not sure. Like all of it, its better than it was, but I still feel like a duck that's been shot. On the gear side... Learning to skate / play has been good for losing weight, but that also means that some of my gear doesn't fit as well now. Waist size has dropped 2 or 3 inches and now I'm having to really cinch up my pants or it feels like they're going to fall off. Using Warrior Bonafide pants now in size L and the waist seems too big. Also have Reebok 18k shoulders in an XL size and its starting to feel like I'm swimming in them a bit. My gloves are also pretty large... Winwell 14's that say "anatomical" on them. My hands end up getting a little tired after an hour or so from squeezing the stick or whatever. I did find some new Bauer Supreme One.8 14" gloves on craigslist for $40 though, so as long as its not a scammer shipping me rocks, I should have that one solved. Size-wise I'm 5'10", about 185 lbs right now, and probably a 34" to 36" waist in jeans. In terms of actual hockey... I think I'm getting a little better about on-ice positioning at the scrimmages we have at the end of our adult skills class. Working on protecting the 'house' when we're defending our goal and working on getting to open space (and staying onsides) when attacking. As for positions... Still pretty incompetent there. I get where defensemen, center, and wingers should be when you're starting out but that seems to go all to hell pretty quickly with people everywhere. When that happens I just try to look around to see where teammates are and fill an open spot. Not sure if that's a product of "fast paced game and that's normal" or if its "its a rookie adult skills class so nobody knows what they're doing". Last night during the scrimmage I did have my first "skate with the puck at the defender, toss it off the boards, go around him, and get the puck back"... That felt pretty good! Now if I could just skate fast with the puck and then get an actual shot on goal that wasn't some level of mostly missing the puck. :-) Anyway.... this old guy is still having fun and still improving, though not as fast as I'd like! :-) Mark

Howdy, Is there a Reebok to CCM chart that shows how the old Reebok #'s compare to the new CCM ones? And can anyone confirm that the last / foot shape being used by CCM for the Ribcors are the same ones Reebok used? Mark

Howdy, Ended up ordering that Warrior Pro Carry bag. Thanks for the recommendations. Done some skating and also a stick time yesterday. I'm awful at stick handling the puck. And that whole "keep your head up" thing... Man. Hard to do. Guess I'll have to keep practicing. :-) Getting a little better at receiving passes and controlling the puck and slightly better at kicking the puck along when I miss it with my stick. Also tried some slapshots into the boards. No elevation of the puck at all (stick is a Warrior Burrows / W01, 85 flex). Next time I'll take along my other stick (Warrior Henrique / W03, 85 flex) and see if that's better. Looks like the face is more open / tipped up / whatever on that one. It was a little interesting yesterday after the stick time to be changing in the locker room with a bunch of teenagers. Been a while for that! Worrying about how to get a ride somewhere, telling buddies not to tell Sarah that you like her, etc. :-) Mark

Howdy, Blech. That does suck. How long are you out? Did they have to screw/plate it? Mark

Howdy, I love it when I go watch the local Junior team (Phantoms) and one of the players does something mundane like fall down while going for the puck or whatever and they get back up without really slowing down and continue on their way. And I'm like "well then. I can't even do _that_." :-) Mark

Howdy, Also one more newbie question... Last summer I bought a pair of inline skates before I knew much about skate fitting... Bauer Vapor X40R, 8.0R. WAY too narrow. I think I've worn them a total of an hour and they're essentially new. Can I list them for sale here somewhere? I see there's a "Sell" forum, but it says I can't start a topic there. Is that based on post count or ?? edit: Ah sorry. Found the explanation in the How do I subforum. Mark

Howdy, So... Another newbie question... Check vs. no check vs. whatever else... My understanding is that the adult leagues around here are "no check" or "no hitting" leagues. And that sounds good to me. But I wonder a little as to what's ok and what's not. At the scrimmage last night at the end of the adult skills program, there were two or three times when a guy would be skating along the boards behind the net. I'd move over to get into his path. I'd arrive first to the particular spot, then he'd mostly skate into me or maybe stop short. The puck would often get tied up on the boards and we'd both use sticks/feet to try and kick it along / get control of it. Generally we'd end up leaning on each other, but both upright (absent "fall because we suck" kinda stumbling), the puck would come out one way or the other, and then play on. Is that kinda thing ok in a no check league? This was my second scrimmage type thing ever, so I have no real basis to know. The instructors didn't say anything, but I think we're all so awful that absent someone really intentionally laying someone out, they're not gonna worry about it. Mark (oh, and in terms of no hitting... The only time I "hit" someone was when I and another player on my team both went for the puck/attacker near our goal. I can't remember if we actually got the puck out, but we sure as heck got each other! Neither of us saw it coming until too late. No lasting bumps or bruises, but it was for sure a "holy crap! Wait... that didn't hurt" kinda thing. :-)

Howdy, Next adult skills class tonight. Excited to go and do it again. We ended the last class with a brief scrimmage, and I'm hoping we do the same tonight as I want to do better at that. :-) My wife is also getting in on the fun, just skating though. Swung by Total Hockey last night and got her a proper helmet, as she'd just been wearing a bike helmet. Really impressed with the new (I think) Bauer IMS 5.0. Much nicer padding and tool less adjustment as compared to my Bauer 4500. And its a good bit cheaper too. Of course, the one she REALLY liked was the IMS 11.0, but she wasn't going to spend anything like that much money. We went there primarily to return an Easton Stealth S13 helmet I got online on clearance that despite fitting squarely in the head circumference range was a decent bit too small for her. Also checked out hockey bags... The one I really liked was the Warrior Pro Player carry bag. Looked to be pretty sturdy, big zippers, had skate pockets inside plus some smaller pockets to keep tape/whatever organized, etc. Any issues with these? Are there any other go to hockey bags that are less than $90 shipped? My current one is pretty small and even when quite jammed I can't fit my helmet in there. All three of us went skating yesterday at a public skate. Had a great time. In a way, I think we're a little bit lucky that ice skating isn't as popular around here as it seems to be in Pittsburgh. That means no close hockey stores and just one rink close by, but it also isn't very crowded so we can sorta do our own thing at public skates and not be in other folks way. Had a bunch of fun playing tag, follow the leader, etc. Of course with me working on backwards skating, outside edges, etc. etc. One thing is a little strange... We all skate with some gear, even at a public skate. My son likes to wear all his stuff, and my wife and I usually wear a helmet, gloves, elbow pads, volleyball knee pads, and impact shorts. Kids notice that stuff, and ask if I play hockey / want advice, etc. Makes me feel like a bit of an impostor since I just started as well. I suppose I could skip the gear, but I really don't want to set a bad example for my son and the concussion stats for hockey seem pretty grim and I think I'd feel like an idiot if I fell hard and broke something when I've got pads explicitly designed to prevent that. Anyway... That's my update. I'd particularly be interested to hear if anyone has a bag they like and why! Mark

Howdy, The pencil test passed with the first two pair. I don't think I've done it with the Ribcors. All the pain is on the bottom of my foot, in the arches. I really don't think its lace bite, unless I don't know what lace bite is. I'm just going to skate for now. I think as I get more comfortable that I'm not about to fall and die, I'll get more comfortable. Plus if I bought new skates at this point, I'd have to go live in the garage. :-) So what do folks do to get better at handling the puck? Is that just a matter of lots of stick time practices? Mark

Howdy, Hmmm. Interesting. No I never really considered skipping eyelets at the top. What's the benefit of doing that? I seem to like the ankle area as tight as I can get it, but I'm also super new. I did notice that the instructor at the adult skills class seemed to be able to flop her skate over way more than what it feels like I can. In terms of foot pain now, I'd say I'm at the "truce" stage perhaps.... As long as I don't get the laces too tight over the arch area, its more of a dull aching that I can mostly ignore. Still not anything like "good" but I can live with it. I actually think in some cases its self induced as I have more pain when I'm doing stuff I'm not comfortable with... I think I'm clenching up all my foot muscles maybe? My latest equipment related discovery is that the bag I have for my gear is now too small since I got shoulder pads. It was already pretty tight with just the pants. So I'll be keeping my eye out for a bigger bag. My current bag is 36x14x15 IIRC. In the meantime, the helmet is just going to have to ride outside the bag. :-) But all that stuff is pretty secondary to getting better at handling the puck and skating. Mark

Howdy, Let's see if I can do this right... Theoretically this is a photo of me and my son from last night. Mark

Howdy, So, that all wrapped up at the end of last year. Now I've decided that I want to keep doing this for me, not just as something to do with my son. So... for xmas I buy myself more gear. Hockey pants, yet another pair of skates (CCM Ribcor 46k 8D, feet still hurt some), shoulders, a cage for my helmet, a couple sticks, tape, wax, laces, and whatever else. Its a bit of a pain in the ass, as there's literally no hockey stores near us in Youngstown. But we're also lucky at the same time because Pittsburgh is about 45 minutes away and hockey fever is going strong there. And now when we go anywhere, I always look to see if there's a hockey store or a play it again in town. :-) At this point I can do forward crossovers in either direction and 'sorta hockey stop' with either foot forward ('sorta' because I'm still working on getting my rearmost foot in on the stopping action, particularly with my left foot forward). I can skate backwards some, and I've just started working on backwards crossovers which are firmly at the level of "hey watch that guy, he's likely to fall over / run into you". My puck handling skills are non-existent... I can mostly go down the ice, but crossovers with the puck result in leaving the puck behind about 95% of the time. I'm doing the new session of the local rink's learn to play program again with my son... First one of those was last night. I've also started doing an adult hockey skills class in Pittsburgh at the RMU Island Sports Complex. I'm also dragging along a new buddy... Guy I met through our church and knew casually for a few years and who's daughter is a year younger than my son. She had some switch turned inside and she _wants to play hockey_. In the past year has gone from "can't stand up" to "is one of the better players on her Mite team". Anyway, I browbeat her dad into doing both the local learn to play and the adult skills class with me and with one class in for both... Huge fun. So.... That's it for now. There's a local group of older guys (it blows me away that "senior" in hockey means like 18+... :-) that plays every week... I'm going to try and get in with them when they start their spring session. And I'm going to try to put together an adult hockey skills class locally. My goal is that this spring I want to be playing real hockey with a team once a week. We'll see how that goes. In addition to not being able to skate or handle the puck well, I have only a very tenuous understanding of the rules. :-) Still, I can learn. As a mid-life crisis, so far this has been pretty fun. Mark

Howdy, First post here, but I've been browsing and reading etc. for a bit now. I'm 46 years old, with a just about to be 9 year old son. A year or two back, a buddy of his invited him up to watch him do a Learn to Play practice near our house at The Ice Zone in Boardman, OH (just south of Youngstown, OH, home of the USHL Phantoms). My son thought that looked fun, asked me if he could do it, and I said "sure, why not?" I'm not entirely sure I'd have given the same answer had I spent a little time researching costs. :-) But anyway we go hit up a few Play it Again stores, get him some gear, and he does a Learn to Play. He likes it well enough (not consumed by it, but goes and tries to do well, etc.). I get a pair of skates and a stick too. First time I'd been on ice skates since I was around his age back where I grew up in Maine, playing 'hockey' with my friends on ponds with whatever equipment we could scrounge up. Turns out... I like it. I'm awful, mind you... I start off being able to move around the ice and mostly not fall, can sorta do crossovers turning left, can do a hockey stop turning left, but that's pretty much the extent of any skill I have. Muscle memory from when I was 35 years younger only goes so far and its not like I could skate then either. I keep gathering some equipment and keep going skating. Skates in particular were / are an issue as I really don't want to pay $300 for a pair of skates, plus even though the skates feel decent in the store, when I skate with them my feet hurt like hell (arches / underside of the middle of my foot). With my first pair it was bad enough that after about ten minutes the only thing I can think about is how much longer I have to keep doing this so that I can stop the pain. Those skates were Easton Stealth 7.5, D width. Still I soldier on with it for a while. I decide that I like doing this enough and that its good for me (the whole "being 46, need to have something active to do" thing), and that I'll get some skates that don't hurt my feet. That pair is a set of CCM Tack 2052's Size 8, D width. They feel great in the store. I get home, go skate in them, and in 15 minutes... Tons of pain. Life is not great, I've just spent another $130 and my feet are still killing me. Read a lot, play with lacing, play with insoles, play with a heat gun, etc. etc. I keep skating, and it gets better, but never what I would call "good". I'm still getting more and more equipment as well. My son meanwhile is also getting a little more comfortable. He's no phenom... Hell, he's not really even any good. But he goes from that initial Learn to Play program where he can't stand up on the ice in the first class through a couple rink-run learn to skate programs, a couple private skating lessons, then back into the rink's version of the learn to play program. Meanwhile I'm sorta jealous... I want to do that learn to play program too! :-) At one of the learn to play programs last year, turns out there's another dad and he's actually out there with his son. I was already considering going out there too and that's enough of a push. I sign up. My 100% overriding concern for my first class was whether or not I'd fall over, crush a 6 year old, and have every parent there kick my ass. That doesn't happen. :-) Its fun. The other dad signed up for the new session too, and we make jokes about being ancient and all, but its good times. Kids don't seem bothered by having big people out there, my son is doing it with me and its a chance for him and I to be "teammates" rather than "father and son", etc. Meanwhile I'm skating when I can as well. to be continued... Mark