BenBreeg

Think about it, it may not seem obvious but the S&C coach's #1 priority has to be keeping guys on the field/ice. If you are explaining to coaches why guys are hurt or banged up from the weight room, you aren't going to be working for long. Check out The Hockey Strength podcast, tons of NHL and NCAA S&C coaches on there talking about their experiences and approaches. Yeah, they are 100% always open to learning and trying new things, but managing workload, stress, etc. is always in the equation. Guys like Joe DeFranco and Jim Wendler hardly ever squat or do straight bar deadlifts with their guys, either because they are training vets who are so beat up from years of playing and training, or because they learned new things. Wendler coaches HS kids now. He said he switched them to TB deadlifts, and when they would periodically test their squats, they were going up. So he is increasing whole body strength in a way that doesn't have the risk of a traditional back squat. This is coming from a guy who was an adherent to Westside, so that tells you how open minded you need to be.

Qualifying something as bad or good is subjective. Sustaining radical innovation is almost impossible, incremental innovation is the lifeblood of most companies. It is not uncommon to cede market share in the long run, it's sort of the basis of, along with serving existing customers, the Innovator's Dilemma. You need to find the blue ocean, the areas to innovate in where others aren't playing. Easier said than done. Eventually the entire ocean may become red in which case something becomes a commodity and competes on price alone.

The thing about training is there is GPP, General Physical Preparedness, all the way to SPP, Specific Sport Preparedness. Every exercise doesn't have to be, nor should it be SPP. There is a lot that goes into program design and exercise selection for athletes. Risk/reward is one. You can't have a high ratio of risk:reward and expect to have your athletes available for what matter, the sport itself. Most people don't have the technique to perform the bigger lifts correctly, now you are adding instability into the equation? Every exercise doesn't have to be everything. It is about applying load in a way that helps achieve your goals. If you are doing a heavy, bilateral lift like a squat or TB deadlift, you are probably using it in your program to build overall maximal strength. Doing it on skates takes away from that. Unilateral work allows you to load the limb with less weight, which can be used for introducing a greater stability component and managing the load on the limb vs. spine (this was the impetus for Mike Boyle going to so much unilateral work). Then you can do on-ice work which is very specific in translating all of that previous work into skating. There is no shortcut.

If acceleration is a weak point of his, why not examine his skating mechanics and training first? I would guarantee there is more potential there than with messing around with blade profiling. If I had a kid who claims he needs more acceleration, strength, explosiveness, and skating mechanics are the places I would be focusing on.

Mmm, as a product manager I have a hard time criticizing because I have no data that the hockey companies have. I also get sick of people with the tired "marketing" attack. It's marketing's job to try and present any given product in a certain light, period. You can't say it doesn't work. All I hear are people insisting that stiffer boots are better, arguing the minutiae of stick feel when 99% have hands like me, bricks, that .0007 oz heavier shin guards are antiquated. I would say in a lot of sports, with the way people are into gear, it's the people are driving things.

If you can't drive it to the market, you aren't going to get credit. People invent stuff all the time that goes nowhere, you need more than invention to be successful.

You said you tried a new profile. The first question is, why? What were you trying to accomplish with the +2 to begin with. If it is affecting his balance, why assume the pitch is correct and the skater needs to adapt to it? The proper setup should work with the skater. There is very little data available for picking profiles, BTW.

I have two pair of the Bauer Nexus. I love the similarity to the Cooper BDP from a long time ago. Other than that they are comfortable and the 15" fit my hands well.

Which come with which? Some are listed with the Balance profile, 13', which is what my son's 3X came with, size 2.5. At least with that you have a good base for further profiling. The other ones you are going to remove a lot of steel if you want to flatten it out.

Would love to hear about how this goes, almost forgot about this. I torched a few sticks when I was a kid just because I saw pros doing it. Mostly I delaminated the fiberglass or whatever that woven wrap was...

But he states the goal is visibility. He never once mentions reducing the opening size. He's an engineer, and understandably, focuses on the solution, assuming he knows the problem. Modern product development has shifted dramatically toward deeply exploring the problem space and the solution follows.

I feel for you. I never had lacebite in my life, but two weeks ago, for whatever reason I tied them a little tighter in the area you described. I could feel it but ignored it for half an hour but the bruising of my tendons I guess already happened. Now I am just skating with them even looser than before, but I can see how this can become chronic.

1- I thought it was a joke 2- If it isn't, is it rooted in an actual problem? Does he have ANY data preceding the engineering process that says current cateyes obstruct vision and reduce saves?

Anything more specific than that?

I have two Eastons I bought when I started playing again 5 years ago that won't die. But my Jetspeed Pro I got for my bday got scissored between two guys and snapped like a twig. If that doesn't happen, at least a year. I don't really care or notice all these subtleties people talk about, I have no hands.

There are adult league Facebook and even LinkedIn groups for specific rinks and general geographic areas, you may try searching there.

Unless there is some person running their own thing, you arent going to find adult league with checking. And none of the invite only skates around here with ex-pros and high-level amateurs have checking somI would imagine it is going to be the same elsewhere. People have moved on and need to go to work in the morning.

Cool, he more the merrier.

Hopefully Tampa just needs to shake the rust off, Rangers aren’t a likable team. Last night was crazy, Colorado just didn't miss on those Oilers breakdowns in the 2nd.

I wouldn’t describe it as aggressive. To me it takes the extreme parts of the P28 and tones them down.

Read and read more. It’s an idea that has very little data behind it so there is more opinion than fact.

Maybe, but I was first made aware of it almost 40 years ago (that was hard to type...) and I remember it being presented as, "the Russians have been skating with no laces for years" so it wasn't tied closely to the skate stiffness (see what I did there...) and isn't new.

Yes, you can build a "vocabulary of athleticism" (I just made that up) and some or a lot of that can be transferrable. A buddy of mine who played D1 and skates around here with invite-only type stuff said that there are a few ex-Steelers that picked up hockey late that they play with and he said even as adults they picked it up really fast. Said their skill isn't the same as the other guys but they are good enough to keep up. In addition he said they just have innate awareness of where to be, can keep the puck moving, etc. All the things that aren't flat showy skill that allows them to play with better people.

IMO if you are losing connection to the back half of your skate blade it is a technique problem and not going to be fixed by anything like we are talking about.