Santos L Halper

Ran across you guys on Instagram the other day and was intrigued enough to poke around on your website for a bit. Here are my thoughts: 1) As we all know, stock steel from the major skate manufacturers is largely crap. As such, I very much appreciate the fact that there are multiple aftermarket options where things like "steel composition" and "edge retention" are considered; as opposed to merely "cost to manufacture". 2) "world's fastest performance skate blade"? Really? How do you quantify that? 3) The weight reduction is definitely interesting and I love how you're pushing the envelope with your metallurgy and engineering. However, I'm not sure how much difference weight will ultimately make in the "real world". To me, proper profiling of the blade has a much greater impact on skating than the weight of the blade. Put differently, while neither a good profile nor the weight of the blade will take a crappy skater and miraculously make him/her a good skater; a good profile CAN make a good skater better...I'm not sure the same can be said about a feather-weight blade. 4) Admittedly personal bias here, but I'm 100% against colored blades for color's sake. IMHO, it's a gimmick that needs to disappear from the game. If a player is worried about the COLOR of his/her skate blades, then s/he is worried about the WRONG THING. If there's a performance benefit, fine...but having a red (or blue...or yellow...or pink) blade that, in the end, is nothing more than a fashion statement is patently ridiculous. In the end, while I have Tyden steel on my skates and my kid's skates, I definitely wish Byonic all the luck in the world. I love to see innovation and passionate people trying to redefine what's possible........just not in obnoxiously unnecessary colors.

Don't know if OP is still following this topic, but, if possible, I'd recommend giving FBV/Fire sharpening a shot and seeing what you think. The major issue with soft ice is that, instead of gliding on top, your blades tend to sink into the ice - a situation basically tailor-made for FBV/Fire sharpening to remedy. That said, if you're used to a ROH sharpening, it may take a week (or more...) to get used to a FBV/Fire sharpening (it's initially disconcerting to be standing on flat blades and not 'feel' your edges); so I wouldn't recommend just jumping out for your next summer league game with a FBV if you've never tried it before. (N.B. I live in Southern California and we ALWAYS have soft ice - in fact, it's usually bordering on sno-cone in the summer, given the heat and humidity out here. As such, I have encouraged everyone that I sharpen for to at least TRY a Fire Ring sharpening from my Sparx. Definitely not a scientific study, but I'd say that 85% of those that have tried it have moved exclusively to Fire Rings...and most of the other 15% do so during the summer slush season...)

*nods* Yep. Lowering the wheel one click reduces the upward pressure by the grinding wheel on the blade, which will absolutely help reduce burrs. To me, that whole "grinding wheel height adjustment" thing is still the biggest piece of voodoo with the Sparx - how high is too high? And...in the same breath, how low is high enough?

To your points: 1) Yes. They probably will hold up better under conditions exhibited by the general public. That said, the general public also doesn't typically have the option to easily replace a finicky Marsblade if something were to go haywire. Put differently, while the Marsblades may be less subject to problems when used by the general public; this benefit may be outweighed by the fact that if there is a problem, it's a MUCH bigger hassle for a member of the general public to remedy. 2) Possibly. It all depends on the magnitude of the benefit we're talking about. Until we see what it does for the 'general public', I'd say the jury is still out, there. All of that said, I'd love to try them, too.

Several other issues in play here.... (Full disclosure - I was asked by a friend and investor in Marsblade to fund the kickstarter campaign very early on, but ultimately chose not to after I could not get satisfactory answers to the questions I posed...) Anyway. To me, the biggest single stumbling block for Marsblade is the fact that the two major skate manufacturers (three, if you consider True/VH)* already have established, long term relationships with their holder manufacturers - relationships that they will not simply 'throw away' for the new kid on the block, particularly after the T-Blade debacle. Put simply, Bauer and CCM won't offer Marsblade holders on their retail skates unless there's overwhelming consumer demand that they do. Until and unless that happens, the Marsblade holders will have to be purchased strictly on an aftermarket basis. As such, I suspect that, at least for the foreseeable future, these will remain a purely niche product that do not really catch on with the vast majority of the skate buying public that aren't going to go to the hassle (and expense...) of replacing blade holders. Additional issues are: 1) Cost: High end senior skates now cost almost $1,000. Add a Marsblade holder, and you're talking +/- $1,250 for a pair of skates. That's bordering on the patently absurd. Can the Marsblade performance benefit be enough to justify the extra cost? If so, regardless of the soundness of the technology, how can they quantify this? How can they demonstrate this in a way that will convince the average skate purchaser get on board? 2) Suitability for the youth skate market, or "A new Marsblade every two years? No thanks...": It is no secret that the vast majority of skates that are purchased at retail are for kids. And kids' feet grow. As skate sizes go up, so do holder/runner sizes. Regardless of whether or not there is a performance benefit, it is flat out madness to expect parents to shell out an extra $250 for each time their kids' feet grow enough to require skates with a new holder size. If the skate manufacturers get on board, this may be mitigated somewhat...but Bauer sure as hell isn't gonna put Marsblades on a $300 pair of youth 180s and still charge $300 for them...the price will go up commensurate with Bauer's increased costs. 3) Adoption by competitive leagues: The major competitive hockey leagues in North America (NHL, AHL, NCAA, Major Junior, USHL) have not approved the Marsblade for use in games. I admit that this may not be anything more than a formality, but until they are approved for use in these leagues, all of this discussion is really a moot point. 4) Too damn many moving parts: As the TUUK Lightspeed Edge holders have proven, moving parts + skate blades/holders = potential for long term problems. The Marsblade doubles down on this phenomenon and adds moving parts galore. For elite players that (a) have access to new blade holders at the drop of a hat; and (b) can change their holders on a whim with no cost to them, this isn't a problem. For the rest of us, if our Marsblades break, at the very least, we're going to be considerably inconvenienced at a decidedly inconvenient time. The above said, however, I'm not against the concept. If it really works, awesome. However, I just see way more potential for Marsblades to become the next T-Blade, as opposed to becoming the next big thing... *Sorry, but Graf doesn't count as a "major skate manufacturer" anymore. No, it really doesn't.

Yeah...if you want TRULY authentic, what you need to look for are either "GAME WORN" or "TEAM ISSUED" jerseys. "Game worn" jerseys are pretty self explanatory - and, depending on the name on the back, can be EXTREMELY expensive. "Team issued" jerseys are jerseys that were actually purchased by the team equipment managers and delivered to the team; but for whatever reason, were not distributed to a player. When compared to game worn jerseys, team issued jerseys can be relatively inexpensive; however, they (generally) don't have names/numbers on them. As mentioned by Left Wing King, far as customization goes, you can contact Exclusive Pro Sports and see if they can help you. They don't currently have Vegas listed on their site, but it's definitely worth an email or a phone call. Fair warning, ESP doesn't sell jerseys - they only do customization, so you would have to SEND your jersey to them; wait for them to customize it; and then have them send it back. Or, yes....you could contact the jersey customizers that the Knights use, but seeing as how you're in Northern Indiana, that may not be a reasonable option for you. Anyway. Good luck!

*nods* Yep. In the end, I generally wind up back on the whiteboard as well. However, it just feels so....antiquated to me. A spaghetti dinner's worth of lines going every which way, erasing errant scribbles with the sleeve of your track-suit, no way to show players how it looks when everything is in motion - not to mention the fact that, depending on the age of the players involved, up to half (or more!) of them aren't paying attention to a whiteboard at a given moment. When I see the animations that can be done (particularly in HockeyCoachVision), I start to fantasize about mounting a 42" TV on a mobile cart, wheeling it out to the corner adjacent to one of the players' benches, and pulling it right up against the glass. Then, I'd pass cables through a hole in the "non ice" wall of the player's bench and have not only a huge screen, but also the ability to use my dry erase markers on the glass to emphasize a particular point. Unfortunately, still a pipe dream at this point.... Anyway. I agree that these tools are great for sharing with assistant coaches and (depending on ages, of course), players. I love it when everyone shows up at the rink prepared!

*nods* Yep. For some, it doesn't matter. For others, it makes all the difference in the world. For those that don't like the 'exterior' look of a white cage, I've had good success spray painting the inside of black/titanium/grey cages white. (Never tried it with a chrome cage, but if you simply MUST have a chrome cage, then you probably deserve to miss a puck or two... )

On the subject of technology.... I'm just wondering what other coaches think of the various computer based drill designing tools out there...and, if you use them, how you've integrated them into your coaching. Any DrillDraw guys? What about HockeyShare? Or, HockeyCoachVision? Personally, I see much value in being able to bring technology to the ice - particularly if it allows us to more efficiently (and effectively) utilize precious ice time. However, there are obvious limitations with these packages, such as limited screen size, the relatively large amount of time invested in learning to effectively use the tools, and the difficulty in determining whether our practices are actually "BETTER" once we start using them. Anyway. Figure this is a good a place as any to discuss this, so let's have at it.......

At the 8U level, I tend to agree with the USA Hockey ADM philosophy of enforcing equal minutes via a forced line change at a whistle or scoreboard buzzer every 90 - 120 seconds. That way, we, as coaches, don't have to think so much about who's had more (or less...) ice time - we just split our kids into roughly equal groups and change at every buzzer. The way I see it, there will be plenty of opportunities in the older age groups to shorten our benches while chasing victories - but 8U is NOT the time to start that. As far as 'meaningful minutes' go, as trite as it sounds, we can't let ourselves forget that these are kids, NOT mini adults. Especially at 8U, kids' motivations are different than ours - thus minutes we might consider especially 'meaningful' as adults may not have any special significance to the average 8U player. Put differently, individual kids (generally) don't care if they're the ones relied on to be on the ice with 1:30 to go in a one goal game...they just want to be on the ice, have fun, score goals, and celebrate afterwards with their teammates, greasy pizza, and overpriced video games. Don't worry about choppy teaching. Kids are generally episodic learners - meaning any overall theme you might be trying to establish will likely be lost on them anyway. Get the teaching you can done within the framework you have to operate and, above all, keep them smiling. If the kids you coach at 8U are excited to sign up for 10U, then you've done a great job!

Greetings and welcome, Ray! First off, a sincere "thank you" to your for your service to our country. Your and your family's bravery and sacrifices are appreciated. Ahhhh....coaching your own kids. Speaking from my experience, it can be at once the most rewarding and terrible experience a coach can have. That "dad/coach - coach/dad" dichotomy is occasionally difficult for everyone to manage and requires healthy doses of love, patience, humor, and understanding to successfully navigate. If I were to give any advice, it would be to enjoy every minute of it. Our kids grow up so quick and those hours we get to spend on the ice teaching them to love the game that we love should be the happiest of our - AND their - lives! Yikes! Get yourself some new skates! (Of course, you probably weren't a teenager as long ago as I was - so maybe they're not all that old after all....)

Yeah. Probably should have mentioned that.... I've tried both on in the store and the Warrior QRL Pros seem to fit "closer" than the True XC9s. Again. In the store. However, I cannot speak to how either glove breaks in or how it feels over the long term.

I'd probably disagree. Anecdotal to be sure, but I've personally seen two pairs of True gloves fail prematurely (...at least, what I would consider "prematurely") at the zipper attachment *to the glove*, not to the replaceable palm. I have not seen similar failures in Warrior gloves...but then again, Warrior gloves don't have the zipper. Definitely not a large enough sample size to conclude that said failure is representative of the overall quality of the gloves - but absolutely enough to give me pause regarding True, were I considering a new pair of gloves. Personally, I wear STX Surgeon 500 gloves and love them. I've always felt like hockey gloves could/should be more like lacrosse gloves when it comes to anatomical fit, overall finger dexterity, and wrist mobility; and the Surgeon 500s are the closest thing I've ever found to being sort of a 'hybrid' between a hockey glove and a lacrosse glove. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

People like the horse's ass that is in charge of OP's town's organization see a group of guys and girls that don't have kids involved - and yet, simply because they love hockey (and maybe want to teach a kid or two to love it as well), are STILL willing to coach...thereby sacrificing any semblance of a normal social/family life... ....and then discourage their participation. That attitude is so idiotic I have a hard time fathoming how it ever gets perpetuated. The people that don't "have a dog in the fight" are the coaches that we should be ENCOURAGING - not driving out of the game.

Just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! My 16s play for the state championship on Saturday - can't wait!!!

That. And they're typically more concerned with getting sticks/skates/bodies in passing lanes. At least, they should be. There are always exceptions, but I coach most teams to give the strong side point the boards as far down as the hash-marks and concentrate on taking away his passing lanes. If you're defending the passing lanes correctly, you can almost always get to the shooting lane as well; AND unless said defenseman is an exceptionally skilled shooter, he's not going to do any damage from out there, anyway. Presuming the angle is played correctly, they're almost always forced to dump the puck in the corner and get back to their positions. Gotta be careful not to let them get too low, though, because a savvy winger/center can trigger a low-to-high cycle which can be tricky to defend. Ahhhhh...the classic "Here, let me tell you how to do your job, while I neglect mine." It never gets old...

Speaking as the LD, I love it when guys stand on top of me at the point. For the reasons you stated, the puck is on my side a lot, so I know that I'm going to be making that "pinch/no pinch" decision pretty regularly during a game. If a wing spends his whole shift on top of me, I never have to worry about getting caught in that 'no man's land', where either decision seems wrong. If goofy flypapers himself all over me, I almost always pinch and, even if I lose the race to the puck, I know it'll be close enough that (a) he won't be able to just chip it by me, and (b) I can always tie up the play along the wall and create a battle that my team stands a better than even chance of winning. Sure, I may not have as many opportunities to unleash a clapper from the point...but, I don't have as many opportunities to shatter a stick that *I* have to pay for, either...

*nods* Yep. The intelligent, good skating, puck moving defenseman has rapidly become arguably the most important human commodity in high-level hockey.

+ about a million. We get too caught up with "systems"....and calling things like basic defensive zone coverage "systems"....and putting forth useless euphemisms such as "system hockey is winning hockey". It's all a bunch of festering male bovine excrement - particularly in a beer league environment. Honestly, if you don't have the time or resources to create AND EXECUTE a series of structured, progressive, scenario-based practice plans to teach a "system", then you're better off stressing general concepts. Hopefully OP has some more experienced guys around that can first get on the same page with each other and THEN show the team things like, "hey, wings, when your side defenseman drops into the play, drop with him, but don't stray too far into the middle or we'll never be able to break the puck out."

If you just want to work on your general hockey IQ, I definitely recommend USA Hockey's Intelligym online trainer. It's a bit pricey, but USA Hockey members get a discount. https://www.usahockeyintelligym.com/ You could try it for a month or two and see what you think - if nothing else, it's kinda cool to spend some time training your mind like the kids in the NTDP do. If, however, you're more interested in integrating 'system play' into your beer league games, that becomes a bit of a different animal. In order for it to truly work, you need to have a group where everyone is on the same page as far a commitment to the system goes....AND you need to actually PRACTICE. You can diagram specific system-reactive scenarios such as, "what does D2 do if F1 gets trapped in the corner in an odd-man down situation" on a whiteboard until you pass out from the dry erase fumes, but chances are, the only people who will be able to apply it in a game are those who have actually LEARNED the 'system' via structured, progressive, scenario-based practices. Just my $0.02...

Love this video - have been referring to it for years....to the point that I can hear the music in my sleep. The importance of skating simply can't be overstated - particularly given the way the game has changed in recent years. High level hockey has become a speed and finesse game. Though the physicality of the game remains, gone are the days of the plodding grinders and pure "stay at home" defensemen. If a player can't skate at a high level, s/he can't PLAY at a high level...it's that simple. It's gotten to a point that, if a young player shows ANY interest in getting involved in the club/travel hockey world, I immediately advise the parents to invest in skating lessons - regardless of how "good" their kid seems to be out there. (Hell, I believe in skating lessons so much that I advise the in-house kids/parents to do it, too...but, as far as I'm concerned, it's virtually a necessity for club/travel level players.) Bad skating habits are SO much easier to correct when a player is younger than 10-11....once they reach 12U (pee wees) and they start hitting the beginning stages of puberty, the little things have a tendency to morph into "big" things and become damn near impossible to fix.

Yep. My favorite thing to say in practice is, "LOOK! READ! REACT!". That said, particularly in the younger age groups, I also try to teach them not to be afraid of making a mistake. So many young kids are simply paralyzed by their fear of making the 'wrong' play that they either hold the puck until they're completely out of options (bad), or panic and throw it away (way worse). I try really hard to instill a 'no judgement' philosophy in my assistants in the younger levels - the only mistake we consider 'unacceptable' is the mistake of not working hard. Otherwise, they're teaching opportunities. In my experience, once kids figure out that they're not going to get barked at because they make the 'wrong' play, they become way more receptive to seeing the 'right' play and, more importantly, WHY it's the right play. Agree, to a point. Though I don't use them anywhere NEAR as much as my coaches did when I was young, drills still have their place in my practices - particularly drills that force kids to use their creativity and step outside their comfort zone when it comes to handling pucks and playing with pace. I will intentionally design drills that have multiple decision points for a player and insist they are done at warp speed. The only time the kids get barked at is if they slow down. It all goes back to "LOOK! READ! REACT!" The faster the kids can recognize a situation (even a contrived one) and make A decision...the easier it is to teach them to make the RIGHT decision.

This goes for everyone, regardless of gender.... Particularly recently, a disturbing trend in youth hockey in the States has been to jump way too quickly from coaching the technical fundamentals to ATTEMPTING to coach "system play". I've seen/heard way too many 8U - 10U coaches brag about how they've taught their teams to 'trap' or 'weak-side-lock' or whatever. Honestly, what a load of solid waste from a male bovine. At those levels, we should be focused on teaching our teams to skate, pass, handle pucks, shoot, and compete. Sure, they also need to learn simple team concepts such as defensive zone coverage and breakouts; but wasting precious ice time teaching a complex, overarching 'system' to younger players only stunts their skill development and creativity. I had a long, drawn out argument with a 10UBB parent at the start of this season - he was adamant that I should be teaching 'system play' to the team. I demurred and tried to deflect the conversation to a different tack. Of course, he was groin-grabbingly persistent - even in the face of my obvious reluctance to 'go there', so I finally flat out refused and said the following: "Shawn, I would waste the entire season trying to teach this group of 9 year olds how to trap and then transition to an aggressive 2-2-1 forecheck...and most of them STILL wouldn't 'get it'. Instead, we're going to work on skating, passing, shooting, and competing. And we're going to work on those 4 things again and again. And again. And we'll work on them next year. And all through pee-wees, too. Then, when they're 13 and 14, they'll (a) be mentally ready for 'system play', and (b) be able to execute the fundamentals well enough that we can teach a 'system' in about 45 minutes...instead of wasting an entire season." He was unconvinced. Until last week, when he came up to me, shook my hand, and told me that his daughter had improved more this year than she had in any year before now. He didn't tell me that I was right about the systems thing...but he didn't have to.

Just wanted to say that I love this idea and am weirdly excited to be the first one posting here.... Hopefully other coaches will join in and create a cool forum where we can exchange ideas, give feedback, and generally help us become better coaches and ambassadors of the game. Also...I hope that, in time, this can become a place where players, parents, and friends can come and get answers to general questions that they may not otherwise be able (or willing...) to ask their coach. (Please note that I emphasize 'general' in the above, because there's no way anyone here can give answers to specific questions pertaining to individual teams or situations that we're not part of. Put differently, it's unreasonable to ask how to approach your kid's coach about putting Jimmy, Mikey, and Bobby on the same line. Without actually coaching Jimmy, Mikey, and Bobby's team, no one on an internet forum can hope to give an answer to something that, ultimately, should be left to the coach's prerogative...) Anyway. Personally, I'm a full-time youth/minor hockey coach, currently coaching club 8UA, 10UBB and A, and assistant coaching 14UA and 16UA. Previously, I've coached 14U Tier 1 AAA, 12U Tier 2 AA, and local high school hockey; but have taken time away from the more travel-intensive teams to concentrate on building our club's younger levels. (Plus, I have an 8 year old, and having to miss more games of his than I attended wasn't working for me anymore...) Other coaches, jump in! Sound off! Let's go! It's state tournament time...how are your teams looking???

Absolutely! Glad you're seeing results!