marka

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

Howdy, Interesting to look back on this post from three years ago. Things have definitely changed... 🙂 Looking back at my log sheet for this year and I ended up doing almost exactly the same number of "IRS games" as I did in 2019... 115 this year to 116 the year I started. Of course, due to the virus I ended up doing those games from May to now vs. across the whole year so in actuality I was reffing a lot more often. I don't track the one-off cash games, but I would guess that I did quite a few more of those this year vs. in 2019 as well. Its pretty crazy the difference between the gross income vs. actual net income... This year I grossed ~$5700 across those 115 games, but netted less than half that at ~$2200. Mileage and tolls were by far the biggest expense at ~$2500 (not helped that I ref a lot at a rink ~45 miles away), but a skate purchase, ref seminar, jerseys/pants, etc. etc. too... It all adds up. Occasionally I talk to another ref that doesn't bother to track that stuff for whatever reason, but doing a Schedule C is pretty darned easy and keeping a log is not at all hard... Saving $1k+ or whatever tax wise is a good thing. That's all just focusing on the financial side, of course. Which certainly has an impact in why I ref, but I don't actually 'need' that money. Still, its really nice to be able to pay for my beer league hockey (and glove, jersey, and sock) addiction and get paid to exercise. But there's non-financial incentives as well... I've seen some REALLY good hockey, both with adults in beer league and kids. Its just impressive being on the ice with the A level beer league guys that used to play 'real' hockey and marvel at how they basically never have to look at the puck, fly around the ice, seem to already know where everyone is, and that any time the puck comes to withing 4' of them they control it regardless of whether its on the ice or not. And then there's the elite kids... Nothing like reffing a 10U game with the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams in the country. Its like seeing a half-sized NHL game. The less skilled stuff is often fun for other reasons... The kid stuff is great, seeing all different levels out there trying hard and having fun from ADM "cluster of kids all chasing the puck" on half ice (I don't do many of these though, since they're good games for young refs) to non-elite older players. Those kids will probably never be superstars or whatever, but they're still out there doing a good job and having fun playing a game with their team. Most of the coaches and parents, the overwhelming majority, seem to get it as well. The less skilled adult games I ref are often people I know from playing, or just from reffing a lot. Even if the hockey doesn't blow me away, its still fun to be out there skating, catching up with friends, etc. Those slower games are also a great chance to work on some edgework. 🙂 The other refs have been good to get to know as well. What a cross section of folks! All income / professional levels, people that have been involved in hockey since they were 5, people that started just a few years ago, etc. Its a little bit of a bummer that its literally all white guys, but it is what it is. At least at the reffing seminars you see some diversity and its great to see women getting publicity reffing at some higher levels so I'm sure this will improve. Still, that doesn't take away from me liking the folks I'm out there reffing with. I didn't really start this out to be the long rambling thing its become, so I'll cut it off. Reffing has been a real net positive for me. It can be easy to listen to the problems and watch the youtube videos and forget that nearly everyone in the rink is there for the right reasons. Not that its all been roses... This season I had to wash blood out of my jersey from a fight, I've been told in pretty explicit ways just how horrible I am as a ref and a person, I've made some really horrible calls / non-calls, etc. etc. That stuff happens. But its (by far) the minority. Mostly people at the hockey rink are there to have fun playing hockey. I like that. I like being part of that. Mark

Howdy, MHO, but the point of a cross grind wheel / station is to use a more aggressive abrasive to remove material faster (with a correspondingly rougher finish). Assuming that the normal Sparx rings all use the same abrasive (which I think is the case), I don't see any benefit to using a really flat ring vs. your normal ring. If you happen to have other rings that you won't be using anyway, then sure, burn those up for 10+ cycles to remove dings, but if you're going to be buying rings anyway, just use the normal ones. The other option is to get the pro unit that they sell actual cross grind rings for. At least until someone hacks the chip or whatever and enables the use of the pro cross grind rings on a home unit. Mark

Howdy, Yeah, I could really use a curve that helps my decision making. Mark

Howdy, I mean, maybe that's a reason. But there's what, maybe $30 of materials in a $300 stick? I don't think "lots of warranty replacements" is the main price driver here. Mark

Howdy, Now I'm wondering how many hockey sticks are sold per year vs. gaming systems... 🙂 And "because people will pay it" seems to be the answer. Mark

Howdy, Since we're talking about tape now... Question I've had... For Howies, are all their tapes from the same manufacturer? Or are like the patterned tapes or whatever from a different supplier? I'd notice what I thought were differences between some patterned stuff from them vs. the basic white or black, but I'm also not sure if that's just in my head. Mark

Howdy, So preheat oven to 180 deg shut off oven, and put in skates on a towel, on a cookie sheet, middle rack wait 10 (?) minutes.. The time to use seems to be all over the map? remove skates and fit ? Figuring I'll just do one at a time. I have a hard time believing the oven will maintain 180 deg for 10+ minutes without being on, particularly with opening it to put the skates in. Gas oven, with a bottom burner (when in 'bake' mode). Is it really the end of the world to leave the oven on to maintain temp? Mark

Howdy, Going to rebake my TF7's finally. Someone remind me of the oven procedure for a conventional home "non-convection" oven? Mark

Howdy, That's a good find. I'd checked IW, Monkey, and Pure, IIRC. Yeesh. They show 3 across all their stores. I wonder what the chances are that they'll have them when I'm actually ready to buy some? I'd been looking mostly just to see if there were any clearance sticks, didn't find any, then decided to check full retail stuff and was surprised that they didn't seem to be out there. Mark

Howdy, I was looking around a bit and I can't seem to find an FT4 or FT4 pro at the moment in a left, 75 flex, P90TM. Is this another pattern like the P30 that CCM is going to convince me I like, then discontinue it? Mark

Howdy, No, I'm just an idiot and said it wrong. Fixed in the original post. My impression has always been that the 7092 and ST girdles are very similar protection wise, with the 7092 version being a wrap style without leg pad height adjustment and the ST having a diaper w/height adjust. Mark

Howdy, This is the first I've heard of the Tacks 7092 girdle being way less protective than the Super Tacks girdle... Just surprising. I have the 7092 girdle and I'd have said that I felt more protected in it than anything else I've used outside of some Easton Pro 15 pants (that are TANKS and weigh about twice as much). Mark

Howdy, IW's black friday 15% off applies to new True skates. I'm only about 6 months into my TF7s and they still look mostly new, but I'm tempted to pick up another pair at $280! Mark

Howdy, So is the Benn Pro the same thing as CCM's retail P90TM? If not, what is? Mark

Howdy, For playing or coaching? For playing, I tried both the UA ear loop mask as well as the CCM cage attached mask. I used the UA with a cage (so obviously no fogging problems) and the CCM mask with a bauer concept 3 / whatever fishbowl. No fogging problems with the CCM mask. As mentioned, I noticed hot wetness on my face with both because of trapped sweat, which was one of those "sorta annoying, but otherwise doesn't seem to affect me" things. For wearing to coach on the ice, I'd try the UA mask with a helmet without a shield just to ensure no fogging issues. But... Not sure if no shield is allowed? The UA mask, to me, does as good a job of moisture management as anything else does and better than most. In terms of "can people hear me"... I think masks don't actually muffle people very much but we all think they do... Just force yourself to use it / not pull it down to talk loudly and you'll get used to it. Easy for me to say though, given that I'm not on the ice coaching. Around here (eastern OH, western PA), masks aren't required and even though I mask up everywhere else, I don't wear one on the ice as a player or a ref. My view on mask usage in those situations is that its much more about "knocking down particulates you exhale" vs. "filtering air you inhale" so since nobody else is wearing one, it seems a little pointless for me to. But who knows, maybe all the other people there are thinking the same thing... Mark

Howdy, I tend to agree, at least with the "don't be afraid to say that you don't like something you've tried" idea. My take is that you likely shouldn't ignore that a different profile may help, but also be comfortable with the idea of discarding changes that don't work / don't show promise fairly quickly. I might be inclined to stick with something a little longer if there's a skating coach or something working directly with your son who's making the recommendations and can explain why, but if its just "the MSH forum guys love the 0.5 quad profile" like it sounds like... Give it a try and if you don't like it, move on. Mark

Howdy, No fix, but I've had the exact same thing happen. Stored in the garage as well, but I would say temps rarely get higher than 90 deg even in the heat of summer. Its only happened to sticks that are 2+ years old. Interested if there's a fix for it. I'm guessing that the grip coating just needs to be removed. Mark

Howdy, (side note: If you're going to take the time to post about how you hope something you said isn't too non-PC... Maybe instead just use that time to change your phrasing? ) Only you will end up being able to answer your question. That said... I had the same concerns as compared to my Mako M8's when I got my TF7s. Over a period of a couple weeks I felt like I got the TF7s dialed in, then played/reffed in them for another week or two. I then decided I'd wear my M8s again for a game I reffed. Luckily it was a lower level game, because the M8s that'd I'd previously loved / was really worried about moving on from felt like totally floppy pieces of junk. Same runner profile / sharpening, but it felt like I couldn't hold an edge nearly as well, wasn't as fast, wasn't as agile, etc. Literally nothing about them felt better than the TF7s. I was able to re-adapt over the course of the game, but even at the end I was never back to "feels good". I'm really glad I put those M8s back on, mostly because now I know how much better I have it. Mark

Howdy, When I tried them both on, the only difference that stood out to me was the tongue. That definitely changed the way the skate seemed to fit my foot a bit and resulted in a little different feel. it wasn't better or worse to me, just "different". Just trying them on, I obviously couldn't evaluate any difference in the steel. I couldn't tell any difference in weight whatsoever. For me, the extra $$ wasn't remotely worth it and after 3 months of reasonably heavy use (playing and reffing) I'm not sorry I went with the TF7's. YMMV. Mark

Howdy, They could do way worse things. If my choice is between execs falling over themselves to show they're good people / allies or the racist and misogynistic bullshit hockey (and lots of other things, tbf) tolerated for a long time, I'll take the allies. Mark

Howdy, For me, I wear the same skates to ref, so I'm super boring and get straight white. Not even the black dots. Does anyone make rainbow / pride laces? I'd think that would do well. Not sure its realistically possible to die laces multiple colors though... Mark

Howdy, Hey man, you do you. Rock whatever laces you want! Mark

Howdy, So these came in. And @Buzz_LightBeer also noticed a barely used pair at a Play it Again when we were in Detroit for FallFest and I picked those up too. Couldn't resist for $20! Wife played in the used ones last night and LOVES them. No more readjusting gloves for her / feeling them loose / falling off / whatever. We went with the size 13, which is supposedly the length of a normal 13 and the width of a 12 and they seem perfect for her. Build quality / etc. etc. also seems fine. I'm no Hills though, so I have no idea on the true protection, how they're made, etc. etc. etc. 🙂 Anyway, thanks again to @Asian Tomatoe for the recommendation! Mark

Howdy, 3 more months and the Grit bag still looks identical to the pictures above. No QC problems at all. Living with the bag, I still sometimes get a little annoyed that it doesn't hold its shape a bit better, but that's it. I've given up trying to keep my spare jersey in the mesh pocket and it just lives on the bottom of the bag in a ziploc. Both issues are extremely minor. Otherwise the size is exactly what I wanted, its been holding up great to playing 3 or so times a week, etc. Recommended, if you want a "Pro Bag" with internal pockets / modern features. Mark