marka

Howdy, FWIW the ProSharp profiles can be applied to skates outside the size range... For instance I have a Zuperior S (6/12/20) on my 254mm steel instead of a Zuperior XS (5/11/13). This is because when I went to Trues from Makos I dropped from a 7.5 to a 6.5. My recollection from the profiling thing that JR did was that I didn't feel a ton of difference between a Zuperior S (6/12/20) and a Quad 0 (6/9/11/13). That experience means almost nothing for what you'll like, etc. though. My advice is to just take your best guess and then try it out. In your position if I wanted a bit more rear stability compared to today I'd go with the triple and if I didn't want that, I'd go with the quad. Mark

Howdy, Re: skate lock harvesting... Be prepared to need to drill out the screw holding the lock into the old skates. On all of mine, sweat / whatever turned that screw/t-nut into a single piece. In terms of otherwise finding replacements... I have decent luck in the past just asking at LHS's if they had them. Often someone would open a drawer and there would be a baggie of them in there. I had essentially zero luck finding any online however. And count me as someone that's still grumpy that skate locks disappeared. Love them. Mark

Howdy, Got this the other day. Exactly as described. Thanks! Mark

Howdy, Seriously? WTF? Man, don't mess with house league. Mark

Howdy, Usually. Sometimes it doesn't seem to solve it though. But it can't bunch up if its not in there to begin with. As a bonus, maybe someone will chirp me about it and I'll have an excuse to cross check someone. Mark

Howdy, I need to start doing the socks over the tendon guard thing. Occasionally I get a build up of the hem / bunched up sock between the tendon guard and the back of my ankle and its irritating. Mark

Howdy, Weight? Mark

Howdy, I do something quite similar. First step is 1.5" for 10 wraps, 2nd step is 1" for ~20 wraps. Makes a knob about 1.75" on the long side. I used to use a pro/kane tacki-mac, but after I hurt my wrist I tried a bigger knob and that helped a lot with the pain I was getting. I've always been bummed that I can't use Tacki-Macs any more, since I really liked the grip / glove wear. And I have probably 10 of the stupid things laying around new in the package because I got in the habit of just buying a couple every time I went into the store... 🙂 Anyway... I've been trying the VukGripz for the past few games. Reduced my tape job above by 3 or so wraps and put the VukGripz over the top. In general I'm pretty happy with it so far. The provided grip is pretty interesting. It almost feels like your hand is locked onto the grip, but there's no stickyness at all. So when you release pressure a little bit, these no "residual grip" or whatever. Looking at the grip tape, it looks like up close its a bunch of very short 'hairs", each maybe .5mm or so. I haven't noticed any change in grip due to wetness. It has gotten a bit dirty, but again, nothing like tape does in terms of the adhesive pulling off tiny bits of the glove or getting dirt / whatever ground in. No issues so far with the adhesive failing and the grip peeling away either, which I was worried about. Applying it was a little weird. It doesn't stretch very much at all, so when I went over my stepped grip I got wrinkles, etc. etc. I also use a twisted up section of tape down about 6" or so from the knob to provide a rib. If / when I do it again, I don't think I'll do that... Laying the VukGripz over the lump the twisted up tape does made it a decent bit harder to apply and I'm guessing with the increased grip that I won't miss having it. I did an overlapping method vs. the edge to edge method as well, and the edges of the overlap also provide a bit of a ribbed texture. Anyway, its working well so far. Not that excited about $15 per grip, but it is what it is I guess. If it lasts without the adhesive getting loose / whatever then the $$ isn't quite as bad. I think next time I might try cutting it in half as well and only going down the shaft maybe 3" or so. Thanks to @PBH for the recommendation! Mark

Howdy, So all the C level teams are supposed to be at the same level? Like four house teams that all play each other, each with different coaches? I would probably have a group chat / email / whatever with all four coaches and bring up what you saw along with some comments about "this is supposed to be a developmental league" etc. Probably CC whoever runs the show. I would strive to keep it cordial and if it started going sideways, I'd almost certainly just drop it. All of you coaches are supposed to be adults with the kids' best interests in mind. At least give that idea a shot. 🙂 How are the rest of the players on that team? Is the one really good kid balanced out by some poor players? It sounds like it was a close game despite that kid? Mark

Howdy, I'll say. You've done a great job cleaning that up! Did you end up painting, or is that all elbow grease? NM: Looked at some earlier pictures. You've put a good bit of work into reconditioning that thing! I'd wondered if it was designed with a thinner grinding wheel in mind. Mark

Howdy, Can't help on the different types of wheels. If that were my machine, I'd pop off the red cover and see if there were spacers for the grinding wheel that were reversed or could be changed or whatever... But I agree with Buzz that it looks like it would work the way it is since it looks like at least the center of the diamond 'swing' is on the grinding stone enough to accommodate a skate blade. It would bug the hell out of me though. 🙂 And I suppose on a new grinding wheel you'd waste more of it getting the initial radius onto it. Mark

Howdy, I used to use Tacki-mac and loved them, but something happened in my hand/wrist such that if I play without a big knob, my wrist hurts pretty badly. I can't get a Tacki-mac (or Butt-endz or anything else) with the knob that seem to work best for me, so I just use cloth tape. I solve the glove palm problem by constantly buying gloves and rotating them fairly often. 🙂 I don't seem to tear them up as badly as I used to with cloth tape and a small knob though... I wonder if the bulk adds some give to the knob, so that the palms don't wear as badly? I might have to try one of the wrap overgrips over a knob built up with cloth tape. Mark

Howdy, So does that mean their CCM P90TM curve clone will only be available on a single Hzrdus stick model? That seems kinda unfortunate. Also... Hzrdus? Just stop it. Mark

Howdy, This sounds like what caused me to go to Easton Pro 15 pants a few years back. Same type of situation... a couple falls that hit the same spot on my ass/hip and it was seriously sore. The Eastons did have better padding, but I think the main thing was just being unlucky to have a couple falls that hit the exact wrong spot close together. Add in some pants that didn't have quite as much protection and it was a serious "Pain in the ass". 🙂 I've since moved on from those pants to a Tacks 7092 Girdle & Shell, just because of how extremely heavy they were. I realize I'm giving up a bit of protection though. Anyway, I'd 2nd the idea of sliding shorts / whatever. The primary thing there is that its yet another under-garmet. Shock doctor does make a padded hockey jock though that might combine the best of both worlds. https://www.hockeymonkey.com/shock-doctor-hockey-jock-591-sk-sht-cup-sr.html I have one and like it fine. I replaced the 'aircore' cup with a spare Mueller though and find it fits better /closer. YMMV. Mark

Howdy, I think the only "Must have" is an edge checker. I have both the Sparx as well as a cheapie ebay one. The ebay one is fine (its easy to check these... Put it on the skate facing one way, then put it on the skate on the same side of the runner facing the other way and see if it shows the same thing). The Sparx one is much nicer to use (mostly down to the spring loaded clamp that holds it on the runner, but also that its wider than the cheapie), if you don't mind the price. I call this a "must have" because for me, I've found that the alignment tool gets you close, but you need an edge checker to dial it in to perfect. I've also had one ring (out of maybe 10?) where the center of the ring apparently was off 6 or so clicks from the center of the alignment ring. Without an edge checker you basically can never know for sure if you have even edges. Now is the alignment tool by itself 'good enough?' My guess is frankly yes, that if the alignment tool says its centered then the range of unevenness you'll get is pretty small and probably small enough that most people would never notice. But most people don't want to play that game and want the edges even, period. After that its about "what's your usage?" If you want to be able to sharpen steel not in a skate, you'll want the blade holder. If you have coated steel you'll want a rubber stone. If you like non-dusty things, you'll want a cover. etc. You'll also want to think a bit about what grinding rings you'll want, if you're planning to do friend's skates. I plug the thing into a reasonably good surge protector. That's more of a "protect my device" thing vs. required by Sparx, of course. I really like using Wissota's Speed Skate to get a little better finish polish than the Sparx does by itself. https://wissota.com/product/speed-skate/ Mark PS... If the edge checker says you're off, adjust the alignment. DON'T do what lots of people recommend and turn the skate around and run the same number of passes in the other direction. Yes, that will give you even edges, but its at the expense of making a wider hollow. Sort of a poor man's flat bottom radius, which by itself isn't that bad a thing, but its pretty much unknowable as to what you're actually getting so being consistent with it across grinding rings will be quite difficult.

Howdy, Spoke with a guy who's working at the "now Pure".... Sounds like in the takeover they kept some of the experienced folks, are keeping the goalie section that KO was known for, and will continue to do ProSharp profiling. Profiling is waiting on getting a set of templates. Apparently the existing templates were taken by the outgoing owner for use at the Delmont location. We'll see how it goes, but it gives me a bit of hope that it will remain a good store. Mark

Howdy, Yeah. This has been being talked about on FB for a couple weeks. Bummer for sure. It was the best store around Pittsburgh by a pretty large margin. Saturday was their last day as KO. They're keeping their spot at the rink in Delmont / Center Ice apparently. Never been there so I have no idea on how much retail space they have, if they're going to be able to profile steel there, if any of their expert employees are going to move to work there, etc. etc. I don't think anyone knows what Pure intends to do with the main store location in terms of having good goalie selection, profiling, keeping existing employees, or whatever like KO was known for. IIRC, hasn't Pure gone to Sparx machines across the board? If the shop at the rink is a typical pro shop type of place, this just further cements "order it online" for me. Which, to be fair, was already pretty strong. Still, KO was 1.5 hours away from me and I drove past two Pure's and a Perani's to get there when I went. Mark

Howdy, How do you measure / determine if you pronate/supinate? Mark

Howdy, Signed up. Looking forward to it! Mark

Howdy, I think that's a pretty key assumption. And if its invalid, it may well be exactly why the helmet does poorly on impact tests. As to the assumption itself, it obviously doesn't hold up when pushed. A knit winter hat fits really, really awesomely, but I think we can all agree that it doesn't provide much protection. Until a company like CCM starts publishing internally generated impact data, the only game in town trying to quantify relative protection level is VT. Its pretty disheartening to see then being ignored by manufacturers. That's particularly true when how a helmet performs on independent impact studies could be a major advertising tool for them. There's not many parents that aren't willing to shell out another hundred if they believe you when you say their kid's head will be protected better. Mark

Howdy, Are the prostock ft1's called "FT1"? I'm not seeing anything like that on PSH. Its all HGCLP, or HG12, or whatever. Mark

Howdy, Thread drift alert, but I'm curious if you know typical margins on that type of thing? I've wondered a few times if a bulk buy of an equipment sale would be 'worth it'. Assuming, of course, that I could get enough of an "in" to even be in position to make something like that happen. I realize that it will vary, given the nature of one off deals and retail sale (usually with negotiation and/or auctions) to the public, just wondering if there are rules of thumb. Mark

Howdy, I've tried this enough times that until someone posts high speed video or something I'm not going to believe that this is true. I've literally never seen sharpie left over after a cycle. I think its WAY more likely that the sparks/swarf from the grinding is sandblasting away the sharpie long before the wheel actually grinds the steel. Mark

Howdy, Yes, I don't think the sharpie method works at all. My guess is that the sparks/swarf thrown from the grinding wipe out the sharpie long before the wheels actually hits the metal there. I've done it a few times and literally have never seen sharpie remaining regardless of the number of cycles. I've not done any microscopic analysis, but I tend to use 6 cycles when switching hollows. I can't come up with any reason that 5/8 Fire to 3/4 Fire should have given you more bite. I've done that same switch and not experienced that... My experience was what you'd expect... A little less bite and a more concerted effort needed to get onto your edge with the 3/4 Fire vs. the 5/8 Fire. I suppose maybe the 3/4 Fire ring without enough passes may have skinny-ed up the "fangs" on either side while leaving the center of the runner 'deep'? Just a guess. I would run more cycles and re-test. Mark

Howdy, Oh yeah... I was going to say... I started doing checking games this year. Nothing super serious, relatively lower level Bantam stuff local to me and I filled in for a period of a high school game when there was a scheduling issue and I was at the rink for a previous game. That wasn't nearly as big a jump as I thought it was going to be at least in the handful of games I've done so far. In hindsight its not all that surprising... Its still the same game and there's lots of restrictions on how you hit someone. The high school game I filled in for was one of the most fun games I've done so far... National anthem to start, being announced as an official, having penalty calls and goals announced, etc. Kinda takes it to another level to know that they're going to announce what you called / who you gave that 2nd assist to! 🙂 Mark