BenBreeg

Rejuvenating this thread a bit as we have just finished year one of hockey. We did learn to play and spring ADM last year, just skated and did a little camp over the summer, and regular ADM this year. A couple things. One, our ADM program is very nice. The organization that runs it has coaches who are on the ice for all the practices, so when you take your team out there everything is set up and organized. No wasted time, parents run the clock to change stations, we get the practice plan every week two days in advance, and you can tell the whole season was planned out. For example, early in the season they were doing stationary forehand passes. Eventually backhand passing was added, then passing and receiving when moving. Same with skating skills. I know that not all ADM programs are like this (my brother’s kids are in a much smaller program and he isn’t real pleased with how things are run there). So I think I was a little rambunctious at the beginning. I knew not to push and that more wasn’t better, but it took some effort and I didn’t always succeed. I kind of “really encouraged” him to come to stick time or play in the driveway, but I wasn’t too bad. My son kind of wandered around the ice at times and didn’t pay attention to the coaches a lot of the season. He is almost 8. Then something happened. I don’t know what, maybe just a jump in maturity. One, his schoolwork started to make pretty significant strides. Second, he started “getting into” hockey. He paid attention to the Pens on TV. He wanted to make his stick bend like the video I showed him of Kessel (this had a big effect, he stopped “swinging” his stick at the puck and figured out how to put some pressure on his bottom hand, passes and shots were way better). He saw that pic for Daryl Evans and wants to skate with no laces, etc. Every little success made him want to do more. He got his fwd crossovers, went to bday parties for kids on the team, etc. Now he wants to play spring but I didn’t sign him up! 😊 Still a good move I think. We will play baseball and the closest rink has some sign up small group coaching sessions with a guy who is great with little kids. We will just do that a la carte and work on his skating. He should be excited next year to get back into it by the time it ramps up the end of August. So I have learned to lay back even more. Last night HE asked me to go out and play hockey in the driveway! And lastly, he has quit saying he wants to be a ref!

Thanks, that makes sense. He is in ADM and I am his coach. Practices are uber organized by the guy who runs it. Stations and no wasted time so we can't tweak skates between drills. Then game days are separate. I will have to see how that works out but the season just ended and he will just be doing free skate and some little stuff over the summer so I will have a lot of control over what we do for the next 5-6 months. BTW, he saw the picture of Daryl Evans and thinks it's really cool, so he's into doing this.

It's a brotherhood and I consider myself a proud member! 🙂

I remember back in my 20s when I started playing beer league I thought it was cool because I no longer had to wear a cage and could do a half-shield. Between my friend getting an errant high stick in the eye which required multiple surgeries and never got back to normal and several near misses myself, I am back to a full cage. I don't even notice it. I know my buddy who I coached with who played through NCAA won't back down from the argument that with more protection, people are more careless with their sticks. I don't have data either way but he takes it as gospel and I think that may be the source of some of the attitude from high-level players.

Thanks for the feedback! One foot slaloms with no laces, that will be my goal, but it is probably aways away. Unfortunately i will probably only be able to dedicate one day a week on this but we will see how progress goes. As an aside, my son (turning 8 soon) is down two eyelets with no ill effects, he actually said, “now i can bend forward!”, when i went down one eyelet, so that right there was positive. Kept him at one down for regular practice/game (adm). Is that correct for him? Unlace to build up, back to regular for games/practice?

I thought I might start a little journal thing to document trying to figure out my pronation issues. Background I have been skating since I was about 10 or so and am 45. I played through high school and then men's league with a pretty good chunk of time spent not playing and just coaching. I started playing again about 9 months ago. I know that I tend to favor my left side. When I am just standing around, that is the default foot I will put my weight on. My right ankle always used to get issues with posterior tibialus when I would run. My right knee tracks inward (the left doesn't) when I do something like a one-legged squat. So for the running injuries I would try to strengthen the interior calf, do lateral band walks, lying lateral leg raises with weights, etc. That never really solved it. So that carries over to skating where it is harder to get on my right outside edge than any of the others and just casually standing I tend to default to my right inside edge and am pretty square on my left skate. I have read most of the articles on the internet about pronation in skating. I contacted a figure skating skate guy and he mentioned the MLX but said most skates now have little room for moving the holder. So I decided to try the unlaced skating approach and see what happens. I had been down two eyelets except when playing, then just down one. I am on old Bauer Supreme 7000s (yeah, I need new skates badly...). So we went skating yesterday and while I didn't take the laces out this time, the tongue was flopped pretty far out and barely touching where it wasn't out of the boot. Observations: -it took a while but I started to realize that even when I was on my right skate, my upper body was a little left, while when on my left skate I was more over it (defaulting to how I am when I am just standing around) -I seem to plant my left skate and drive more through the heel, my right skate I seem to be a little forward of that spot (yes, they have been recently profiled and should be the same, so it is probably attributable to me) -I was able to do crossovers and turns decently, backwards was a little harder because you tend to be on your toes more and the heel wants to lift out of the skate more -Muscles around the ankle and inside of my lower leg definitely started getting sore as the session went on, and they are a little sore today -When I played this morning laced up to one from the top, I seemed better on my right skate, more square on my edges and was able to get on the outside edge a bit more easily even after only one session Will continue to see how this goes and report back periodically.

My current pet peeve is that while it makes sense if they don’t want to get in the youth market, their junior sizes only have M and L, no smalls for elbow pads or shoulder pads. I would like to try the elbow pads for my son. Every pair he has irritates him, for some reason he is super sensitive about this. Maybe the 3pc sleeve design would help.

I am not actually sure about that.

I don't wear anything extra, but I have thought of wearing a visor. First 10 minutes of ADM I was half bent over trying to show a kid something and he just completely lost his balance. Stick hit me above the eye and below the helmet so fast I didn't know what happened. Then it started to bleed and the kids was terrified. I tried to play it off but he just stared at me like I was crazy. I have caught an edge not paying attention and landed on my elbow bad before as well, so that might make sense but I haven't done it.

Does the code still work if you got it? I had it and planned onbuying shins and elbow pads but got laid off for the last three months so everything went on hold. The STX rep here seems to have gone MIA, I PMd him and havent heard back.

Yeah I realize what it is referring to, but it is a pet peeve, nothing major. I would just use the term excess space. I remember being "corrected" by other engineers for using the term negative pressure once, that is what brought it up.

I just threw our some old blades, one was a Shanahan, toe with straight face and square toe. That was from ages ago...

Yeah, i have seen it recommended in places, i just dont see how it makes a difference. It is the same lacing pattern as inside out, just “upside down”. The pressure on the tongue is the same. Some type of pattern where it only exited the top would change the pressue but I can’t think of a pattern that wouldn’t end up “skipping” every third eyelet.

How does inside out reduce tongue pressure? It is the same as outside in, just essentially upside down unless i am missing what you are saying. But i have seen proposed lacing patterns like this and it is the same thing. i remember someone on my team that just had two sets of laces in each skate,one for the bottom and one for the top.

The thing about lots of details and subtlty to designs is at th actual viewing distance all that is lost and it can look worse. To me that is why plain patterns work best. I don’t like the gradient, it can become dated too quickly.

I actually just found my 9000s when i was cleaning out a closet yesterday. When I bought them they were the only thing i could find in a tall. Probably going to switch from my Tackla girdle back to pants.

The old stuff is great design-wise. Nexus gloves and other 4 roll styles havent chamged a whole lot from the old Cooper BDP Pro style.

Isn’t that some auto generated default? I don’t remember choosing a name and only realized a couple days ago My name on there is some variation of that.

Wow, that was the old design when I was a kid! Nice! There some new BDP Pros I am tempted to grab right now, love the old stuff.

I just got back into playing this past year so I am getting back into the gear side a bit just because my stuff is old and kind of nasty. I still like browsing gear but not like when i was a kid where i always knew where the Great Skate, Ocean, and Kemps catalogs were in my house 24/7. Now it seems like a gear race with manufacturers constantly releasing new models with probably very minimal benefits. That actually gets boring to me compared when a new skate model was kind of a big deal.

I can’t see them doing anything about it. No doubt he launches upwards and he is a piece of garbage but too close to call. Patience, it is only a metter of time before he screws up again.

Stadium jerseys are hideous. But I am apparently the only person who likes the Jets thirds. In fact, i am getting a t-shirt with the logo. Simple design with a script to me is always classy.

Yeah, basically want to keep the same height and feel, use the same length stick, etc. Will probably get some skating ones and then add a few at a time here and there.

The trm “negative space” refering to skates. So many rip on marketing jargon then use this term to sound knowledgeable. So, is negative space actually a pressure point? If not, then it is just excess space...

I am planning on buying some HockeyShot tiles for the driveway. I was leaning toward the Synthetic Ice tiles vs the regular Dryland All-star tiles not so much to work on skating but just to be able to wear skates when we shoot and mess around. A couple of questions: 1) if i am not worried about skating could i just wear skates on the regular tiles? 2) if i need the synthetic ice tiles, are the thicker ones more stable (by that i mean heavier, flatter regardless of the surface underneath)? (Doesnt look like it as they only seem to be 1/32” thicker than the regular ones)