Mister_NoDangles

Ehhh there is a difference in the way steel feels on the ice. I'd say some pros might care. There are some really picky people out there.

That's a custom cuff. You can see the 1X Lite logo in a video clip with him.

I tried on the 2X Pro in the store and the toecap feeling is amazing. It's far superior to my FT1s. It's a very nice boot. I do like my one piece though and it's really a tossup but I felt the Bauer was more comfortable due to the toecap and the tongue. It's a give and take. I think they each do things better than the other. I'll never understand why bauer puts those shit laces on the skates though.

I'm not skeptical. Pros use stuff that they're comfortable with and don't typically like to change. Plenty of players in the league using one piece skates. Ovechkin being one of them. I've worn both two piece and one piece and definitely notice a change in performance going to a one piece. Feel the ice a lot better than with a two piece. But different people have preferences and that's fine though.

Flexorb isn't really a gimmick. G-Form has been using it for years. It's pretty solid. I've seen liners on ebay. They've got some of the RBK liners out there for sale that you could try to frankenstein into your pads. Honestly though, probably would be easier to just sell those and buy a new set unless you can get the liners on the cheap.

No, bags go on sale often enough that it doesn't really make sense to drop this much coin on a bag. I bought a Verbero duffel for 24 bucks. It's pretty well built minus a few things that aren't significant issues for something that I bought for that cheap. If I had to buy one at full price, I'd just buy a pro player bag with some skate pockets only because I don't want them banging around when I toss my bag. PR, CB, even Mammoth all make a decent bag, but do you really need that? Just toss everything in and go. When I first started out it seemed appealing, but then I started realizing I don't want to spend time putting everything back in its place and I just want to go do the next thing. None of them are really any better than the 99 bucks bags you can get or even a JRZ player bag that's a bit over 50 bucks.

Not very protective is the word on the street. I took a look at some prostocks over the weekend and there were so many mods to shore up gaps in protection that I'm certain they'd be dangerous to play with if you have guys who can rip shots.

Whichever one fits your foot best. They have slightly different fit profiles. One should fit better than the other.

Size 8.

Finally got them end. Haven't baked them yet but fit feels good with some niggles around the ankle. Have no idea where to get replacement steel though.

Picked up some Pro Stock Trues over the weekend that seemed to fit ok. $100. Baked them at home. Hope to have some fresh runners in them and go for a test skate tomorrow. Wish me luck.

prostockhockey.com of all places. They had tons of sizes.

Ended up buying them because they dropped further in price to $99. Figured it's worth the gamble to get my feet wet.

It depends whether it's team stock or for a player. I've noticed that certain player gloves will be sized a bit different than team stock.

Unfortunately not, sold of my last pair recently.