Westside

There’s a pair of 13’s I’d love to get my hands on, but it’s a pricey mistake if they wind up being too small

Did you go with 13’s when you normally wear 14’s? Every time I’ve sized down in a glove based on other’s recommendation, the fingers are always too short. Was looking at picking up a pair of these as well

Where is your tongue positioned? The further down the less volume you’ll have. You can gain more volume by moving it higher or using a thinner tongue. I have one pair with the retail TF9 tongue and move it slightly lower. Another pair has the old custom felt tongue and I move it higher.

Thanks. Yeah, unfortunately they won't ship to the states

Can you please tell me where you're able to find FT3 team sticks for $80 CAD and do they ship to the states? Cheapest I can find them for is $140 USD

Awe man, I used to love H2O back in the day. Good memories

Had two games this weekend and swapped super feet carbons with super feet comfort. No issues with rubbing or blisters. So…. Maybe the carbons push your arch up a bit higher than the comforts? Either way, I’m hopeful swapping insoles was the simple fix I was after

I know Thom had a handful of sizes available a few weeks ago. Might be worth reaching out to him to see if he still has any A7 left. https://sidelineswap.com/gear/hockey/inline-roller/chassis/3191271-new-sprung-a6-in-line-roller-chassis-frame-6593

The CCMs look nice, but I can’t seem to find them anywhere. If I ever stumble upon an UA outlet I’ll stop in and see if they have any hockey tops/bottoms

I'm not sure when my attitudes towards base layers shifted since growing up I would play in boxers and that was it. As an adult, I'm not a fan of the feel of elastic/velcro/etc and have been wearing base layers top and bottom for years now. It was a bit of trial and error to find what worked for me and recently I've gone through that process again. Figured I'd make a post about it in case it helps anyone else. My go-to base layers for the last 5 or 6 years have been made by a company called TSLA (not the cars) on Amazon. I forget who suggested them, but at the time you could buy ventilated tops and bottoms for $25 total. Insane price and they've held up amazingly well! They're not made for hockey so they don't have any rubberized bits to help keep pads in place, but they do breathe well, wick moisture, and are the best bang for your buck. I run hot so ventilation is important to me. The top has vents along the length of the arms and across the entire back. The overall material is on the thinner side, which I appreciate, and then there's the lighter mesh material for ventilation. It's a compression top, but doesn't make you feel like you're in a sausage casing. I think the version that I wear have been discontinued, but this this new version is very similar and under $20. No frills with pads on. They keep velcro and all that off your bare skin and help soak up sweat. Basic, but they work Trying something new, but not wanting to break the bank, I gave Adidas hockey base layer a shot. Price-wise it's under $40 and they use the 3-stripes along the arms to help keep pads in place. This is another compression top which is more form fitting than the TSLA, but could also be due to how worn my old tops are. The entire back is mesh for nice breathability. As my first experience with rubberized elbows, I felt like there should be more stripes or they should have been relocated. Based on the shirt I have, the stripes wrap more on the top of the elbow vs the bottom and don't do much to help keep the pads in place. Getting them to the underside of my elbow causes the sleeve to contort in an unnatural and uncomfortable way. For the price, it's not a bad solution, but I feel it leaves something to be desired. For me, the stripes didn't really help keep the pads in place Next up is a version from Shock Doctor. I've used other items of theirs in the past and am typically impressed by the feel and function of what they offer. The Core Hockey Shirt they offer not only has rubberized texture on the elbow, but the sleeve also folds over itself to further lock pads into place. At less than $60 the price is starting to creep up, but not terribly so. You may sense a theme, but this is another compression top. The overall material is the thickest I've tried so far and definitely helps keep you 'compressed'. I sized up and still felt it was a bit tight, but am hopeful it'll loosen up with more wear. The only ventilation panels are on the armpits. Seeing how thick the material is, I would have really appreciated the back panel to have mesh; especially given how it's constructed (multiple panels instead of a single piece of fabric). On the other hand, it's useful at extremely cold rinks like the one I played at yesterday. The rubberized elbow pieces contour your elbow much better than Adidas' version and the sleeve that slides over the pad does so very easily and holds the pad on exactly as you would expect. When the sleeve is folded over your bare forearm is exposed which I guess kind of helps you cool down a bit. The sleeve folded over the forearm part of my elbow pads Last up is a bit of a splurge and that's the TILO Pro Paddlock from Warroad. They also offer rubberized textured patches on the elbow as well as a sleeve that folds over itself similar to the Shock Doctor. Their claim to fame, however, is the cut resistant forearm sleeves. Before I go any further, let me get the elephant out of the room. This top costs $140! Even with the 40% discounts they were running over the holidays, it was still $80. That's a lot of coin for a top seeing as I've previously been happy with something that cost under $20. But now that price is out of the way, let's get into the shirt itself. TILO stands for 'tight and loose' meaning their arms are tight and the body is loose. That's generally not what I look for in a top so I ordered my regular size and a size smaller hoping to get the body a bit more conforming. Unfortunately, the cut resistant sleeves become too tight when sizing down and feel like they're cutting off circulation. Regular size body isn't terribly baggy which is a plus, but it's not as form fitting as I'd like. That said, the entire top is made of a lightweight mesh material. By far my favorite material as it breathes extremely well. The elbows have the most rubberized material compared to any of the other tops I've tried. The folding sleeves are a bit tight/finicky to get on with one hand. You basically have to fold over one side, press it against your chest to hold it in place over your pad, and then fold over the other side. Nowhere near as easy as the Shock Doctor even with the handy loops. However, once they're in place, the elbow pad doesn't move at all. I have to imagine they'll loosen up the more I wear it, but if you wear bulky elbow pads, it'd be a PITA to put on. I've never had my forearms cut, nor seen it happen to anyone in person, but I know it can happen so I suppose the cut resistant sleeve is just another preventative measure. The sleeve fits obviously snug and warm, but the fact the rest of the shirt breathes crazy well doesn't make this too big of a deal. With the sleeve folded over you can see the cut protection sleeve underneath So that's that guys. Options from $20-140 with a variety of different features. I don't feel any of them are perfect, but the Shock Doctor and Warroad are easily my new favorites. I don't see myself using any other tops going forward. If Shock Doctor created a thinner/more breathable top it would be the perfect base layer for what I'm after. I feel their sleeves grip the pads well enough to keep them in place and the fold-over portion is easy to use. I could take or leave the cut resistant sleeve on Warroad so that's not a major selling point for me. If they sold the top for about half the price and offered a slightly more compression version, it would be much closer to what I like to wear as I'm a huge fan of the mesh material. Time will tell if the fold over sleeve will open up and become easier to use. I don't plan on trying out anymore tops as my wallet has had enough with these, but if there's a brand I've missed that would check all my boxes, maybe I'll try it out too.

Darn tough ultra thin wool socks. Been wearing them for years without issue. Maybe the boots have loosened up after a half season of use and I need to rebake them tighter? ie, a more compressed wrap in the forefoot and heel

Question for you guys regarding hot spots. I’ve got blisters a few times on the inner upper arch of my right foot. At first I thought it was my ‘tape tab’ to more easily remove my superfeet, but that didn’t seem to be it. From there I’ve tried using a rock/clamp to punch the area out and rebaked them with a tape bump on the spot of my foot. Both the clamp and the rebaked seem to have fixed the issue for a game or two, but I just got off two hours on the ice today and got a nice puckered piece of skin again. I’m kind of surprised it hasn’t callused over at this point, but I’m looking for other opinions on how to correct this. I don’t feel my foot moving in the boot and am not getting any hot spots elsewhere. For my next game I was going to swap out the superfeet for the stock insoles to see if that makes a difference, but in general I like superfeet and would prefer to keep them. thoughts/suggestions?

I ordered a customized felt tongue from these guys last summer. Not sure what their supply chain is like now https://www.hockeyvancouver.ca/products/true-tf-pro-replacement-tongues?_pos=2&_sid=600891a49&_ss=r

Thanks. I found the shock doctor with the reversible sleeves at Dicks. Will give it a shot https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/shock-doctor-mens-core-hockey-shirt-16skrmmnscrshrtxxhkc/16skrmmnscrshrtxxhkc?sku=14260617&camp=CSE:DSG_92700048881828022_lia_aud-1230883829427:pla-827551432983&segment=&gbraid=0AAAAADv4bTYm7LfyzaNZxO6TJwW7ndoFO&gbraid=0AAAAADv4bTYm7LfyzaNZxO6TJwW7ndoFO&gclid=CjwKCAiAtouOBhA6EiwA2nLKH1v5M8ibGK7mk7tXHoL_CJQyvsFimn_4Xma13gXw4w6eLhVxQ-_oEhoCY-kQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Curious to see if anyone has used Warroad base layers. Can’t seem to find anything outside of the couple generic reviews on their website. I like the idea of the grippers on the elbows and sleeves that go over the elbow pads. The cut resistant part I haven’t ever needed (knock on wood), but I guess it wouldn’t be bad to have. https://warroad.com/collections/tilo Or does anyone have recommendations for something similar or a DIY? I’ve considered trying to add silicone patches on the elbows/knees of my current base layers just to keep gear a little more locked in

Two totally different pants. HP70 are more traditional bulky pants. HP45 are more streamlined. Can’t tell you exact weights of either but I skated in HP70s a few years ago before moving onto HP45. Would never go back but that’s my personal preference. Plenty of people like the older fit

Just saw wood sticks and didn't zoom and enhance the photos on the site. Thought maybe he was branching out into wood! 🤷‍♂️

Wait, so they’re not actually wood sticks? Just carbon sticks painted to look like wood?

My TF9s (all 3 of them) have opened up a bit after use, but I don’t think I could have gone down another half size from what I wore in Bauer. A 1/4 size smaller would likely be perfect, but not worth the money to go customs when the retail skates fit close enough

I also got a pair of 14’s when I normally wear 14’s, but feel the fingers fit almost the same as I would expect. They might be the tiniest bit longer than the Warrior/Bauer/CCM gloves I’m used to but nothing dramatic enough that it impedes stick handling. The overall gloves are quite snug but I’m hopeful they’ll open up a bit after some use. The palm in between the index finger and thumb is definitely the tightest compared to any other glove, but I think that’s simply how STX stitches them (which I’m not a fan of)

Funny, a teammate of mine commented in the locker room last week how my TF9’s look so new. Think the rubbery side material really helps keep the skates looking newer compared to chipping/flaking of graphics on Bauer/CCM skates

Sadly, this was done by a recommended pro shop here… No, they are not

I switched to True TF9s at the start of this season and have maybe 10 skates/games with them. Two rivets are already loosening up. I've never had a single rivet loosen up with any of my Bauer/CCM skates after years of use. I've read a number of posts in the past about this being an issue so I can't exactly say I'm surprised, but after this few uses!? The second piece to this might also lend the issue down to the quality of the job... Here's an inside view of one of the boots. I'm sure you can guess which rivet is loose on this skate: Here's an outer view. Why would washers be used on one side and not the other? I am also blown away by the fact that rivets are already rusting! I dry off my skates and remove the insoles after every single use. Again, never once had this issue with a single one of my Bauer/CCM skates. Suggestions/recommendations?

Hey all, quick question with a brief background. Last week I had back to back games and was on the ice for about 3.5-4 hours. I ended up getting a nasty blister on the inside/side arch of my right foot. Never had this happen with a skate before and hadn’t it happen with these skates (True TF9) in the first 6 or so games that I’ve used them for. I also don’t have this problem with my other set of TF9s that I use for roller. No change to the tongue placement, socks used, Superfeet, etc. At first I thought maybe it was the tape tab on the insoles rubbing against my foot/sock so I cut the tape, but I’m still get rubbing there. Can’t think of any reason why rubbing would all of a sudden start which led me down the rabbit hole of skate punching. I came across some DIY tips from years ago and decided to give it a shot. I have a c-clamp and an oval stone to apply pressure and reshape the area that’s giving me problem. I wasn’t planning on heating the skate, just leaving the clamp on overnight. Are there any reasons I shouldn’t punch this area out? Will letting it sit for 12 hours keep the foams how I punch them or should it be longer? Any other ideas on what might have begun to cause this? I don’t get any movement in the heel or front to back and my foot is suctioned in the boot when I remove them, but I guess if I’m getting a blister, clearly there’s movement somewhere. Slopping Neosporin on the blister non-stop in hopes of healing it up for this week’s game. Was pretty brutal to play on by the end of the second game. Hoping punching the boot out and using moleskin for the next few games will eliminate the problem, but as I’ve never had this problem I’m looking for someone with more experience.

I’d think any side by side comparison on a seller’s website would answer this question for you. Carbon vs fiberglass, different liners, different tongues, different steel. No different than a top tier skate from another brand compared to one of their mid range offerings. Are those differences ‘minor’ to you? That’s for you to decide where you want to spend your money