OzziesDad

This build/curve is what he was using just prior to retirement. From left to right- Bergeron, PM9, and P88.

That's a longer wait than a full custom order of sticks from PSHS. I used Base pretty much exclusively prior to the pandemic, as I was a holdover from the 2 piece stick era, and liked that I had some shaft and blade options through them. However, how they handled their initial "closing" and how they are seemingly handling their business now- I'm all set. It's a shame, as I'm always a proponent of more equipment/stick options the merrier. I just don't trust buying from them at this point. Thank you for keeping us in the loop. Appreciate it.

I hated the tongues on the TF9's as well. I came from the TF7's. I ordered a pair of felt True replacement tongues from Ice Warehouse well over a year ago, and they've been fine. They seemed a little thick at first, as I was so used to the worn in, compressed ones from my 7's. They feel fine now though.

I'll let others review this one when it's available. However, as someone who was a 2-piece stick holdout for waaaaaay too long, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and "feel" of the few Hoapa 2-pieces I used as rinks started to open back up after the height of the pandemic and Base was nowhere to be found. I've since moved on to PSHS. However, I do look at Hoapa as far better sticks in just about every facet than say ABHS, No Name, Twig, etc. As in my opinion those are absolute crap.

I just placed my first custom order of 6 sticks with Geppetto. Now the wait begins. I've used a bunch of his "in stock" Red and Yellow line builds and have overall been very happy. For budget players, if he has a curve you like, there is absolutely no reason not to try a Yellow Line build. Obviously, I'm going to stick with his higher end builds at this point. However, at that Yellow Line price point- there's not much that comes remotely close in performance, and that's not even factoring in all the curve and flex options readily available during one of his restocks. The Red Lines definitely don't shoot like my Trigger 6 Pro does (last retail stick I was using), but the performance out of these sticks is definitely there. As long as his pricing structure and options stay somewhat consistent, he's got a customer for life. I'm actually contemplating biting the bullet and doing 6 more customs right now. That way I'm stocked up for a bit, and don't have to think about it for awhile.

Just walk into any Pure Hockey store. I'm kidding of course. It does make me sad thinking how good we had it (in comparison to now) just a few years back though.

PM replied to my friend.

Yeah. That's interesting. I played my last college game over 23 years ago. If I had to guesstimate, I'd say I've played around 4000 beer league games/tourneys amongst those helmets (I've probably averaged 4 skates a week on average during that time, and factoring in not playing during the pandemic.) Never had a ref say a single thing about any of them. None have stickers. Only one of the 4500's is currently within certification dates. I'm not condoning or promoting any of it. Just anecdotally giving my experience.

There's a rink here in MA that has a pro shop that sells them. They don't put them out, you have to ask. They are 30.00. I just bought another a few weeks ago. Shoot me a message and I can go grab one at some point this week. Helmet lineage over the past few years.

TSR is well worth the trip.

25g really shouldn't make a huge difference in regards to a stick as long as it has good balance. I mean 4-5 seedless grapes or cherry tomatoes weigh around 25g for reference. That's almost nothing. Everyone loves to talk about stick weight, and compare and contrast models. However, a sticks balance is far more important than minimal weight gains/losses in my opinion.

Can 100% confirm this is the case for Pasta.

My True's are a size 9.5 and came with 280 Shift holders. I had been in various CCM skates for the past couple decades in a size 10/10.5 and all had a 287 holder. For whatever reason, I couldn't adjust to the Shift holder and just didn't like it. I had the XS holders (287) from my FT4 Pro's mounted on the True's and it's been perfect. I'm actually very happy I did it. It's the most dialed in I've felt in a pair of skates in a very long time.

We got the opportunity to try a few out at our weekly pickups at Warrior Ice Arena in the past week. I'll preface with saying the stick I used was not in my preferred specs (it was an 85 flex in a W28. I like a 75 flex in a W88), but the blade felt the same as most warrior blades to me. Nothing different really stood out in that regard. I didn't find the blade to be pingy at all. Which is a characteristic I feel that I would definitely notice. I'm not a devout Warrior stick guy, but I've logged some decent hours with almost all the QR series to date, as well as a few of the Alpha series. The stick shot really well in my opinion. Definitely my big takeaway for the short period of time I got to use it.

Just to piggyback off the previous post, I'm not a giant (6'2"), but do generally prefer my stick on the shorter side in comparison to most players of the same height. I'd say with the couple 63" Warrior sticks I've had, I've cut them down to around 59". When cut, there is no discernable difference in how they feel in terms of flex when compared to other sticks I have cut to the same height and with the same flex rating from other brands (there's always a bit of a difference no matter what, but it's no more noticeable than comparing those brands at the same height/flex). Which would lead me to believe that Warrior may rate these sticks flex at or around the 60" mark and not the 63" mark. I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me can chime in on that though.

My FT4's did the same exact thing. To a tee. Only skate in 40 years that did this. I got rid of them. Great skate. Just not for me.

No. You are 100% on point. The Reddit hockeyplayers sub is definitely filled with some of the worst advice going at times. It's brutal.

I bought one about 6 months ago, and really liked pretty much every aspect about it. I skate one league game, and 3-4 pickups a week, and had no abnormal durability issues over that time. I liked it so much that I picked up 3 more when they went on clearance. I very rarely do that, as I always like to try new sticks.

We will have to agree to disagree. The way almost everyone ties up their skates (skate on ground, pull up on laces towards knee area to create tension, and then tighten to lock in place) has far more room for error in regards to pulling an eyelet out than pulling from the sides out and wrapping upwards to create the desired tension.

Not an old wives tale at all. A lot of people (most) lace their skates by pulling up and with decent force to tighten skates. When the boot is still hot and pliable, this motion can easily cause an eyelet to separate from the backside of the leather and pull apart from the boot. With pulling the laces in an outward motion, you are avoiding putting tension on the eyelet anywhere, and can still achieve the desired result of getting them tight enough to mold.

It's solely for cost purposes. Right before the pandemic, we played a charity tournament out of the DCU Center (Worcester Railers home ice), and a bunch of Railers players played in it. Athletic Knit had people there, as they had just signed the contract with the ECHL, and they supplied jerseys for the tourney that we were allowed to keep. We were told these would be exact specs that the league would be using. They were far and away better quality than any AK jersey I've seen or owned in 20+ years of beer league. However, obviously not near the quality of anything the AHL/NHL has used in a long time. I highly doubt the NHL would go with an "off" brand for their jersey choice when the next deal is signed.

I'm a size 10 in my FT4's. Like I said, this was more in reference in comparison to the tongue on my True's. I don't have the stock tongues anymore to reference which is a bummer. Like I said, most of my gripes were minor nitpicks.

I have the XS tongue to reduce volume in my FT4's. While it does its job perfectly. I have a couple very minor gripes. 1. I hate the "look" of the tongue. I understand it's meant to be universal throughout CCM's 3 skate lines. I just feel it makes the skates look cheap. At the end of the day it honestly is subjective and doesn't matter, but I do hate how they look on the FT4's. 2. I would have preferred it to be designed/built the same as the stock tongue, only thinner. Not sure if that was possible, but I'm not a fan of the smoother back of the tongue. The overall feeling of the materials and binding just feels and looks cheap to me. I want more felt. But, they have held up, so I can't really complain. 3. I wish the top of the tongue sat a hair lower. . If I set my True tongue to the absolute highest spot, so i have the most tongue showing above the laces, it's still about an inch shorter than the standard CCM placement. Once again, personal preference and an extremely minorgripes. Overall they are fine and do their job. So that's the bottom line. I just figured I'd throw that stuff out to share.

People are generally far more vocal when they are displeased with a product, it fails to meet expectations or malfunctions. Its not shocking to me that with the sheer amount of skates that Bauer sold with that holder/steel, that there appears to be a higher failure rate out there. I honestly don't think there is, it's just percentages. I don't think Bauer holders are any more or less durable than CCM or True. Honestly, I feel this is generally the case with a vast majority of hockey gear/equipment. We are at a point with equipment that it's all pretty much cookie cutter at each price point in regards to performance and durability. Between Bauer, CCM, Warrior, True, etc there's honestly not a real of difference between any of the products sans small nuances. It's sad, and the main contributer to my loss of interest in hockey equipment.

*current CCM skates have the Speedblade XS holder. In my opinion it's the best holder on the market.