flip12

Sad but True.

MacKinnon's special skates have both 80K and 100K graphics elements to them. They don't actually correspond to a particular CCM model from what I can tell.

The blade paint isn’t quite the same. It’s clear there’s no texture on the shaft either. Bauer’s sloppy flex numbers look out of place on such an iconic and pristine design, as do the blade pattern IDs. It’s not really a Synergy, I know, but this is just a bastardization of such a great stick. It tarnishes the Synergy legacy.

Love the Modano. I have it on an HTX that I hope never breaks. I wish they would reintroduce the bumpy texture and clear coat finish. I would get a 100 Modano then. It would be interesting to see what that price would be with inflation. Synergy was 460g. It was beyond great in its day, but that’s not a competitive stick on today’s market. You have been able to get a stick around that weight and $150 for the last few years anyway. Edit: According to this inflation calculator, $150 in 2000 is roughly $255 in 2022.

Did you look at the gif I made? The sticks lined up (the angles weren't as misaligned as it looked from the static image), there was no glare obscuring the geometry, it's a better Drury to compare with (as I previously mentioned), and the pictures weren't all over the place. You haven't addressed any of the flaws in what you're showing. Adding P29 to the mix does nothing to clarify at all. Look back at the gif I made and tell me what you see.

Let's try with another gif: Does that help? I do use the heel curve capabilities of an X28 when I use one. What I appreciate about a heel curve or a heel and toe curve is the ability to saucer the puck without involving my wrists. The open face is made to elevate the puck as it travels from heel to toe. As always with the X28, the release point for this is earlier than it normally would be, otherwise the puck gets released in the rockered toe section of the blade. The problem then is, instead of the puck tilting upwards for liftoff, it partially loses contact with the blade, so the puck only lifts up on one side and falls on the other: flutter launch. If you release before the toe rocker kicks in, the heel works as any lofted heel curve does.

I get your point, but the gif is misleading, not because of anything you did, but because of the photos themselves: the offset between the blades and the subpar lighting washes out the nuances of these complex (even the Drury) geometries. There's even the issue of which Drury: P6 has more kink to it, which is clear when you compare P6 and W05: The blade face difference between those two Drurys shows the challenge of using HRS's images for this comparison: they're not normalized. They're not meant to be used as detailed comparison references, so to try and do it requires some work to fix the comparability issues. To be absolutely concrete on the original point: if W05 is a heel curve, then the W28 has a significant heel curve. Just looking at the first half of the W28 it more than keeps up with the curve of the W05, the prototypical heel curve. Therefore, the W28 undoubtedly has a significant heel curve. W28 is not just a heel curve, and it's also not just a toe curve. It really plays like two blades in one, which is one of the reasons why I think a lot of people that try it give up on it. Some dedicated Drury users can adapt to it once they see the similarities.

It's not an argument if we can keep it civil. I'm all for, "Really?" "What do you mean?" Etc. Good old days discussion, which the internet seems to be slowly annihilating... For the sake of discussion I made this composite image to better show my description. Believe me, I know the looks of things can be deceiving when handling a highly complex 3D object with compound curves on all sides. Reducing it to 2D can help with isolating single facets of these diamond-like geometries: If we can agree that the Drury is a heel curve, then so is the Kreps (X28). It's just as curved at the heel. When you compare this with the other facets of the Drury, it's easier to see the overall similarity. When I did this the first time in person, it was an E28 to E6 (original Drury) side-by-side, and I swear I recall the faces lining up even more than this W28 to W03 does. Seeing all of the similarities stack up, I had to believe the E28 is a modified Drury. It's too eerily similar in all ways to be anything else in my mind.

That could be. I had that issue with my Sakic Synergy, so I never tried the other variants. Though, it may be I wasn’t losing it under just the toe but the middle of the blade as well. It’s a long time ago, but that’s when I first appreciated the effect lie can have.

Sakic was a 6 lie. Or at least a lot higher than the Modano, which was Easton’s 5, and a bit higher than the Drury, which was 5.5.

Easton never had a P88 at retail. P36 was something similar but still different. True still has the Lidstrom but it’s probably not frequently stocked. They call it the HCS. HCR is their Drury. P28 is a modified Drury, but the toe alterations throw a lot of people off, especially the aggressive rocker, but the toe pocket can also get in the way. It’s meant to function as both a heel and a toe curve, but managing both types on one blade can be tricky. It’s probably not going to be a good time for someone who’s a dedicated Drury user and averse to change.

Are you counting Vasilevskiy in the learned-pre-butterfly group?

I suspect there's a significant genetic component as well, in regards to both gameflow facilitated by dynamic spatial cognition and the physical coordination required to learn and perform a movements.

Traditional eyelets, MLX tongues and tendon guards, Mako tendon guards, CCM tongues, and Micron liners are counterexamples. Injected plastic facing is literally one part. How it gets replaced seems complicated, to be sure, but it's not out of the question in my mind. We don't give shoe manufacturers that because shoes do have replacement parts.

Cars might last 15+ years, but don’t many manufacturers update their lines more frequently than that? Today’s skates can last longer than two years, even if a new skate in the same line comes out in that span. Planned obsolescence isn’t that tightly coupled to product release cycles (yet? I imagine Bauer having a leasing/subscription plan hidden in some garment or other). That is an interesting thought. I wonder if it would be possible to 3D print a decent replacement.

It's strange they "don't carry any replacement parts." This is a molded piece of plastic. They have them lying in assembly. They can't spare one? I imagine it's a PITA to remove and install a new one, maybe approaching the price of a nice set of aftermarket steel just for the service, but that's a different situation than "we can't spare a molded piece of plastic in a standard size." At least for the chain of peninsula eyelets, it would make sense to have a modular replacement possibility. I see a lot of Hyperlites with injected eyelets at the NHL and NCAA level. They seem popular, or maybe the frequency of skate replacement makes the odd break a marginal cost.

Could it be misalignment of the pivot point?

“Cheap rollerblade vibes” has been the industry standard for skate graphics since APX.

Tatar’s and Chabot’s Catalysts have had the Pro model mark for a few months now, and similarly less yellow than the Cat9 Chabot started the season in.

I get where you are coming from, but I think it’s more a gear tuning problem. If the boot’s flex and the blade’s pitch and profile work with you rather than against you, it won’t matter. Should you adjust your technique to your gear or your gear to your technique? Sometimes the match is so far off it’s better to adjust your gear in my opinion. Not that I think that’s why NHLers are tucking tendon guards, just that it’s another possible mechanism for altering skate performance; tucking as possibly helping rather than hindering.

Having some wrap around the tendon guard can reestablish connection to the back half of the skate blade which can get lost when lacing loose to allow range of motion. I haven’t skated in modern socks, so I don’t know how big of an effect this could have. My guess is it has no effect either way. Like Kovalchuk did, NHLers will skate the same tucked or untucked.

I thought TC1 was their Ovechkin-like curve. TC3 was a mystery pro-looking curve that eluded precise comparisons. The blade shape and curve remind me of some of Mogilny’s sticks from the early 90’s.

Aha! I thought you had tried that already, tongue with no insert at all. Just how crucial tongue stiffness is has been one of the most surprising things I’ve discovered in my years of hockey equipment nerdery. If the tongue is too stiff, along with a stiff boot, it can be terribly hindring to performance.

True had a satisfaction guarantee with the TFs. I’ll say again maybe give the Catalyst a shot if they offer that when they release. For the trial period, I don’t know if they’ll allow swapping the holder, but you could have the steel profiled to match what you’re used to, to have a better apples to apples comparison. It’s strange the Bauer service rep. is so confident you’d like the thick felt tongue; one90 tongues were far from that.

one90s were lower cut than Bauer’s usual and they went back to that from the one95 if I’m not mistaken. Add to that the one90s were tech mesh, with a little more give than Bauer’s CURV boots that came after, and you’re in for a pretty different ride. I’m biased by my taste for lower cut boots, but have you tried Trues on? The upcoming Catalyst line is supposed to have more give, with a flexible tendon guard (another one90 feature) and be about as light as the leading skates from Bauer and CCM. one90 shells molded more than needed up Bauers that followed, and Trues align there as well. CCM 100Ks could be another option.