tvuollo

Gotta love Leo Komarov ... he's currently playing in Finland's top league and due to team rules he had to ditch the Bauer 4500 to CCM. So what did he go with? The HT2 - of course! Fully painted and refurbished 🤤 Here's the story about it in Finnish (you can Google Translate it😞https://www.jatkoaika.com/Haastattelu/HIFKn-konkarit-hämmentävät-varusteillaan-−-Leo-Komarov-pelaa-30-vuotta-vanhalla-kypärällä-ja-Antti-Pihlströmin-terissä-ei-ole-lainkaan-uraa/255798 "...I have an old CCM HT2 like that in a workshop somewhere, and it's still in its original package. I dug it, I sent Leo a message. He answered that of course! It's a good-looking helmet, Hallikainen (equipment manager) says. The question arises, why doesn't Komarov wear the same helmet as everyone else? Hallikainen answers with a small smile on the corner of his mouth. - Leksa is Leksa . It's nice that others don't have the same thing. He's an old school guy, and wants a traditional rubatex padding. It sits a little differently on the head. According to Hallikainen, the individual helmet used by Komarov was manufactured in 1994. It was originally white in color, so before being put into use it went through many work phases that took about six working hours."

Brand new Tackla Air 1051 gloves straight from their site's outlet sale. At around 40 USD I just couldn't resist 😄 Some curious design choices around the palms (holes and "air vents") but a pretty good feeling glove. Especially for the price.

Definitely go for the smaller size if at all in doubt. I was in the same boat in between two sizes. After the final bake the skate gave up a lot of space and I could have gone with the .5 smaller. For me the feeling with the skate between the fitting bake and final bake was like night and day with the size and fit difference. The toe cap itself didn't stretch being plastic, as mentioned here before, but the padding in the cap. I like my toes right at the cap and it's the only regret I have with the skates. Otherwise they've been perfect. In fact, the regret about the .5 size down has been so big that I've constantly been looking for deals to get a second pair in the smaller size 😆

Haven't tried on but seen in shops. Seems like the cheapest entry-level line, similar that Bauer does now with their X-line. Good for beer league for sure.

Old video but immediately came to my mind after reading this thread, here's Drew Doughty explaining his curve and why he switched to a toe curve many years back:

Neck guards are mandatory here even in beer league so I've been used to them right from the start. The one thing to get used to is the heat. However, I can't stand if the neck guard starts to spin so those "basic" Bauer/CCM ones are out of the question. Right now I'm using a Sherwood "half-a-shirt", that goes on top of the base layer. Many of my team use a CCM model that otherwise is pretty basic but has straps that go around and below the shoulders to negate the spinning issue.

I wish that we had something like Sideline swap here in Europe. Pro stock is hard to find and get.

Thanks for that opinion ^ I'm looking to try a girdle for the first time and seems like the Alpha is a one to skip.

Even if I could afford them, I couldn't justify spending the amount of money for custom skates when playing beer league 1-2 a week. If I was playing competitively at any level, a different story.

Surprised that he isn't rocking that Gretzky Jofa VM helmet. I remember seeing a news picture from last year where he was playing on that same team with that Jofa on 😄 Edit: Just googled "jaromir jagr kladno", wasn't too hard to find 😄 => https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-prerov-czech-republic-07th-feb-2018-jaromir-jagr-of-kladno-in-action-173675043.html

Right now I'm only looking for vintage stuff. Koho, Jofa, Tackla ... everything I love about 90s hockey gear.

It's been all Bauer, CCM, Warrior etc. since around 2006 or something. I think around the time Koho and Jofa were bought out, Tackla dropped off too. So yea it's a niche, maybe even a struggling brand right now. Nobody buys new Tackla equipment anymore and it's sold only marginally. Teams in finnish national league SM Liiga are sponsored and equipped either by Bauer, CCM or Warrior. My perception of Tackla for the last 10+ years has been that they've concentrated more on rink ball and ice bandy and those sports are dying right now. Obviously concentrating on those sports was a mistake.

Even being a finnish brand, they don't have their products in any usual retail stores that sell hockey equipment. I have no idea what their business model these days is. Our beer league team did order team jerseys and socks from them though. Back in the 90s everyone here had either Tackla, Koho or Jofa equipment. Now only those that have old or second hand equipment wear them. https://www.tackla.com/company.html

@nyquil How would you compare the fit/sizing on Warrior, Bauer etc. gloves? I have eyed a pair of Winnwell gloves online for some time now but never had a chance to try the sizing for myself.

https://www.kiekkobussi.com . I have no idea about how and if they ship outside of Finland. They sell new and used gear as well.