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flip12

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Posts posted by flip12

  2. Posted · Report reply

    Warning: slight bend in the thread ahead...

    @pgeorgan Thanks for posting that. I was going to say, Ovechkin does have some serious linear crossover chops. He really showed them in his rookie season. Then he got a Backstrom on his summer holiday and got to take it a bit easier ever after. (Note: the next few links are all from the same video, but each instance is cued to a spot showing Ovy's linear crossovers).

     

     

     

     

     

     

    This one with commentary by Robbie Glantz is a little more recent, but it captures his puck carrying ability perfectly, and to make it through the neutral zone into the offensive zone without getting suffocated by defensive positioning usually requires fluid linear crossovers.

    Is it just me or does he also have a rather short and choppy stride, especially in comparison with McDavid and MacKinnon?

     

    The phrase "short stride" is ambiguous because it can refer to a player's normal skating stride not using much ice for the glide-and-push, or it can refer to players with longer strides that deliberately take shorter strides while utilizing a linear crossover attack because it's trickier to defend. Mogilny is the perfect example. He has the longest stride I've ever seen,

     

    but he was also a master of the linear crossover attack using abbreviated strides.

    I get what a linear crossover is. I'm just wondering, what is it people think they accomplish or should be used for? Because there's a lot of ambiguity in how they are discussed and some of the ideas I've come across just don't make sense. LCs are so revered they almost seem to usurp the forward stride as a necessary component in hockey ability, as though being able to skate well in a straight line isn't necessary.

    But I don't see how you can have good linear crossovers or execute them effectively if you don't have an above average forward stride to begin with.

  3. Posted · Report reply

    13 hours ago, PBH said:

    Bad luck? LOL. That was clearly a trip though..... Cant blame the skates. 

    Absolutely. But it's hard to say without knowing how he thinks. Maybe it was just a bad memory he wanted to erase, i.e. weak superstition.

    The OG JetSpeed graphic is just better, too. The only way to improve on it is to go back to the RBZ. That skate looked really sweet.

  4. Posted · Report reply

    4 hours ago, PBH said:

    Talked to someone that confirmed it was nearly a miracle to get him to use the dressed up OG Jetspeed skates with XS holders and STEP.

    Apparently like Crosby, McD doesn't like to change ANYTHING unless something is broken. 

     

    Last time he allowed them to mess with the graphic of his skates:

     

  5. Posted · Edited by flip12
    PEP talk     · Report reply

    35 minutes ago, PBH said:

    Not short strides, lots of crossovers and crossunders (reactive linear crossovers) as opposed to Ovechkin, Jagr and others who have a much longer traditional stride. There is a ton of info online about this. PEP has a bunch of stuff about it too. 

    Any particular voices you recommend? (Seen some of the PEP stuff and it seems quite fluffy; promotional propaganda.)

    "Not short strides...others...have much longer traditional stride(s)." I still don't quite get what you're saying.

  6. Posted · Edited by flip12 · Report reply

    2 hours ago, PBH said:

    If you had a previous profile done and the pivot point was not altered, then it would be 20mm back of center. 

    When they reprofile the steel to an Ellipse the steel would be positioned in the sled holder based on that previously set pivot point. Otherwise, you would be 40mm back of center.

    I totally understand how you feel about the Ellipse vs the Quad 0 in regards to mobility. In my testing, I think the Ellipse XS would be significantly closer to your feeling of a Quad 0 as compared to the Ellipse 0. You can put both templates on a lightbox and see how they are the same yet different, specifically in the front 1/3 of the profile. 

    I am not entirely sure why the Ellipse was made with a much less aggressive front 1/3 compared to Quad or Zuperior. The Ellipse doesn't activate muscle groups that next-generation players are using (McDavid, MacKinnon, Bedard, etc) and results in much longer strides. For some older players, this might feel more comfortable but advanced younger players aren't coached to skate in the same way and I think the Ellipse might actually be bad for them. 

    Do McDavid and MacKinnon have short strides? What muscle groups are they activating? Are they skating differently than Niedermayer or Gartner did? Curious if there are any videos or descriptive posts you can point to for illuminating this.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    9 hours ago, PBH said:

    What size steel and what brand? 

    I know some shops will alter the pivot point based on the steel size or brand of steel. For example, when I profile Flare I usually dont do as much forward pitch since I want to remove a minimal amount of steel possible. 

    Also, I always tell my customers exactly what I am doing when I profile their steel. If they can't come back to me, or decide they want to go elsewhere, I don't want to be the "gatekeeper" to their profile. I know there are some shops that refuse to share details with their customers and while I understand some of that information could be considered proprietary I feel like it's customer lock-in. 

    Interested customers might be wary of it as well. Participation is impossible if the process is opaque. It's not a very sympathetic view of others.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    I found this comment from Dr. Bracko in the linked video:

    "Hi Nathan, thanks very much for your interest in my video.  I understand you to say you that you think someone who has full extension of the hip and flexion-extension of the shoulders/arms is a faster skater.  If you consider that we've know since 1975 that faster skaters have wider strides (hip abduction, not hip extension), they don't fully extend their knees during full speed skating, and that they have to abduct-adduct their shoulders/arms (Newton's 2nd law of physics). . .  then it's easy to understand how fast players skate.  Mike Bracko"

    I'm new to Bracko's work. What do people here think of this?

  10. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, colins said:

    Biggest challenge moving from P88 to P92 is actually the lie. They are both stamped a lie 6 (in Bauer at least) but the P88 is a lower lie and it's significant enough to take note of.

    The solution is to go shorter on your P92 stick length than you would on the P88. This will allow the rest of your mechanics to stay similar without putting just the heel of your P92 on the ice when stick handling. I'd estimate you need to go 1-2" shorter to balance things out, but your mileage may vary.

    The other option is to find a lie 5 P92. They aren't so common. Special order from Bauer. I have seen them in Sherwood, I don't know if the standard P92 is a lie 5 in a Sherwood but a couple I've got from a JrA team are lie 5 and they're great.

     

     

    31 minutes ago, boo10 said:

    The only P92 L5 I've seen readily available at retail has been True, (A5.2 & A6.0).

    When I saw some P92 L5s a few years back, they were still higher than the P88. Definitely lower than the P92 L6, but not as low as I expected when considering it as a "5."

  12. Posted · Edited by flip12 · Report reply

    16 hours ago, JGraz15 said:

    I saw an interesting observation that Adam Oates had Barzal and McDavid switch to a P92-ish blade to start the season. In the past couple of games they've both switched back to their normal curves. If you take a look at Getty Images at the start of the year you can see that versus the last couple of nights.

    What’s the connection with Oates?

    McDavid keeps going back to his IginlaJrMod pattern, and with good reason. He looked like he was playing a league down against the Canadiens last night, weaving through them like drifting pylons.

  13. Posted · Report reply

    23 minutes ago, 218hockey said:

    Hello,

    My son got cross checked in his last game right between the shoulder pads and the breezers. He's layed up now and going to miss four games this weekend. The docter commented on how his rib cage was slightly extended/longer than most. What is a good way to protect this part of the body? Just taller breezers/pants?

    I'm not looking for lower back support, just need a little more protection.

    Do you still have any of your son's previous shoulder pads that he may have grown out of? Or just a pair that you're not using anymore? You could remove the chest or back pieces and stitch them to his current pads. Failing that, check for used pairs in decent shape. With a little handiwork or service from a skate shop (or cobbler if that's not an option) you could have extra protection at little cost.

    • Like 1

  15. Posted · Report reply

    13 hours ago, epstud74 said:

    P88 is more of a mid curve than a P92, which is more of a toe curve.  I prefer the P40/P88 when shooting from the dots and back.  
     

    When I think of the P88, I’m more or less thinking of the old Easton Sakic, which I still use.  HockeyMonkey says the Ovechkin P92 is the P88, but I disagree and the P92 is more of a toe kink/curve with the intention of lifting the puck more easily.  I prefer to keep my shots a little lower but I can see why it’s so popular.  

    P92 is a heel/mid curve. It opens at the toe but the curve itself is at its slowest rate of change from the middle of the blade to the toe.

    Which Easton Sakic are you thinking of because I can’t recall any that resemble a P88?

  16. Posted · Edited by flip12
    Wrong True model quote; forgot how cheap they are.     · Report reply

    4 hours ago, 2nhockey said:

    I had business on the other side of the state yesterday that brought me to within 30 minutes of the hockey shop so I stopped in and found some Graf PK1900 and 3900 to try on. The 1900’s felt absolutely terrible. The 3900’s felt kind of ok. Completely different skate than the 1900. I couldn’t even see how they were related.

    The 3900’s just didn’t have enough volume. My feet felt like they were busting out of the skate. Pencil test failed from 2nd eyelet down all the way to about 3rd eyelet from the bottom. Second was arch pain immediately behind my arches. 

    Do 755’s have more volume?

    will changing insoles solve the arch pain (burning)?

    thanks!

    I'm not entirely sure how the pricing compares, and I know price can be a sensitive issue, but for the amount of skating it sounds you do, you would be best to invest in a higher end boot. Definitely finding the right fit will help, whether it's Graf or another brand, but I would avoid the lower end Graf boots, as my experience is they have had issues with drastic quality drop off below the top of the line. As it sounds like your foot is a bit deeper than ideal for the PeakSpeed line, you might want to look elsewhere.

    The RibCor line has similar plush fit qualities and even though they're represented as CCM's low profile boot a lot of people experience them to be very deep. That might be worth a shot. True TF9s (about the same price as Graf 755s from a quick online search) might not be deep enough, but with their wrap and support, you might be able to fit into them comfortably. Their toe box is very anatomical, which sounds like it could be a start in relieving some of the comfort issues you've had in the past. I'm not 100% sure about the new True TF shells, but the fully custom ones were moldable on the arch as well as the quarters, so if your arch is an issue, you could potentially address that.

    The most important point here, I think, is how unique everyone's feet are. Just because I have a historical penchant for Graf and now True skates, doesn't mean they're necessarily right for you, or anyone at random for that matter. Grafs used to be go to skates for refs, but other companies have learned a lot of the tricks that put Graf ahead in the 90's and Graf hasn't done the same quick enough in keeping up with market trends. As much as you use your skates and you probably make some income even on your time spent on the ice, I would definitely prioritize a boot that's the right fit and going to withstand the intense use you're subjecting them to.

    One way to get around being so far from many shops could be to get your feet scanned, so you have an idea of how they compare to what fits are offered at retail currently. Then maybe order several skates that best fit that description and return the ones that don't work. It's best to start fresh, with an open mind, as it sounds like you're still hunting for your go to skate make and model. Don't limit yourself by what you think you might need, as you might easily miss a much better solution if you're too keen on something before giving the search a proper go.

    • Like 1

  17. Posted · Report reply

    3 hours ago, Cavs019 said:

    @flip12 I don’t think you’re wrong at all and I’m probably chopping my words/explanation a bit. I think it’s mostly due to the fact that I tend to carry the puck in the mid-heel ish part of the blade (my first composite sticks were Modano/PM9s for the most part before I switched to Drury - wood Leetch/Lidstrom blades before all of that). At the way back of the heel the P28 is safe - mid heel you start to get into that weird twist/wedge part of the blade where unpredictable stuff starts to happen. At least for me that is. I also feel like the P28 wants you to carry the puck up by the toe and I just have a hard time unlearning the muscle memory of keeping the puck in the heel pocket for ~20 years. The 92 let’s me maintain the mechanics im comfortable with.

    I’m sure if I gave it enough time I’d adapt but it’s too late in the game/im too washed up to try to teach myself new tricks. 

    That weird twist wedge is exactly what can cause issues with that pattern. I agree with the relearning mechanics challenge too. Before posting that short story above I had a sentence or two about that in the section in the split personalities of the blade, but I tried to keep it down, as long as it already was.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    17 minutes ago, getthekidthepuck said:

    Can you please elaborate on this?

    Absolutely.

    I've already spilled the beans on that somewhat, and just realized that way of putting it after reading @Cavs019 description of his experiences with it as well as recalling what others have said about it, but I'll try to clarify it here.

    Background: The P28 is a subtle curve, without even going into the depths of its half dozen relatively common variations: E28 and BC28 are kinkier than Bauer, CCM, or Warrior's P28, while True's TC4 is more of a cousin to those curves than a sibling...then of course, there's MAX variants that were starting to come out before Covid19 and the popular Fisher Pro used by Kucherov, Karlsson, maybe even Ekman-Larsson, among many others. It was introduced with a nod at this subtlety, the infamous "dual-lie" marketing campaign, which ended up being more of a tease than a fair representation of the blade's character.

    What is all this subtlety then? Dual-lie is definitely one aspect, and potentially the trickiest. But it's also dual-curve. It's not a toe curve, but a heel curve with a toe curve added to it, and it can play like that: it can be a toe curve with the puck at the far end of the blade, or it can be a heel curve if you play as though the "dual" portion of the blade didn't exist. That is, you use it as a short blade with a heel curve and leave the toe curve and its sharp rocker out of the equation.

    Practically speaking... All this means is, for pick and fling wrist shots, push the puck out to the toe, grab and release in one direct motion. But note! Here the inverse of the key to using it as a heel curve is true: to use it as a toe curve, ignore the heel curve portion of the blade, or about 2/3 of the surface you've got for handling the puck.

    When it came time for me to try this out with the Leino the first time I used it, it felt really odd. I didn't know at all how to shoot at this point, mind you. But I had started seeing tips on how to do it on YouTube, so I figured I'd give it a go. It just felt strange to have the puck dangling out there at the end of this crazy long blade, ready to launch. It also looked strange, seeing all that blade I was bypassing, setting the puck up out as far as it could go. But then I launched my first shot and it went exactly where I had hoped it would. I wasn't used to my aim being any good, so I got giddy.

    But there's the rub-- It can be too good to be true, and in my experience, it was for a good while. I could shoot off the toe and skate with the puck, but I couldn't really manipulate the puck reliably to evade defenders in tight space or make consistent passes. After giving it some more time, I got the stick balanced better for my hands' feeling-expectations and discovered the gotcha about not releasing the puck from its natural heel-to-toe launch zone, but instead go heel-to-mid and suddenly I had the best of both worlds: the effortless saucers of a heel curve and the effortless lasers of a rockered toe curve. It took me an excess of 15-20 sessions with the stick to figure it out, but eventually it clicked. And then when I tried these techniques out on an E28, it was pretty much the same, just on a shorter blade at a slightly higher lie.

    Bananas split ~ Unfortunately, it doesn't work for everyone, and the point of all of this gets at why I think that is: it's hard managing a split personality, and the P28 is a split personality blade. The split personality requires awareness at all times, or you risk flubbing your maneuver entirely. The classic way to do this is to feel the puck on your stick without looking at it. If you can feel where it is on your stick, you can get it to the zone it needs to be in regardless of whether the heel approach or the toe approach is preferred in a given situation. You can also look at the puck, but it limits your effectiveness and it can get you into trouble really fast. If your feeling for the puck isn't as detailed as where it is currently and where it needs to be for the next action, you can easily get frustrated with the duality coming back to bite you. It's not all fun and games. Unless you like managing split personalities 🙂

    Post mortem. Not that the P28 is dead. By all means, it looks as though it is here to stay for the next while, it's just not the latest and greatest anymore. When it came out, it seemed to create such a sensation, in part, I think because it seemed too pro to be readily available to mortals. That was my impression at least. Then the feedback and reviews came rolling in, and they were quite mixed. Where there had been so much marketing about a blade pattern(!) that promised to make you shoot like Ovechkin, people seemed to be somewhat caught off guard by the blade not always behaving. Easton hadn't told the whole story, and I keep coming across frustrated people who seem to have half of the information, in no small part due to the (at most) half of the story Easton told when they unleashed the E28.

    ! When was the last time that happened? It seemed totally crazy at the time, but that campaign looks like it set the stage for the marketing of the other blades that have come and gone (P46, P30) or are just having their moment as the IT blades right now (All MAX Everything, P90T+/-).

    That's all I have to say about that.

    • Like 3

  19. Posted · Report reply

    39 minutes ago, Cavs019 said:

    Not disagreeing with any of the above, but...

    It’s easier to go to a P92 imo. The P28 toe is an absolute beast and you really can’t play with the puck on the heel/shoot off the heel because it’s completely straight and closed relative to the P92 and P91.

    Just my personal experience. After giving the P92 some time after using the P91 and P106 forever I’ve really come around to liking it - and can appreciate why it’s the most popular curve on the planet. It does everything well. 

    This hits it on the head, I think. Some people have this experience with the P28, and others find the heel curve of the P28 effective. In my opinion it comes down to whether the user can effectively use the blade as a two-in-one, with two different techniques or approaches depending on where the puck is on the blade. This is somewhat demanding of the user, as it requires solid feel and feedback or lots of looking at the blade, which doesn't really work. @Cavs019, I respect your views and often find myself in full agreement when I read your comments, however I must disagree with the description of the P28 being completely straight and closed relative to the P92 and P91, because to my observations it does curve right from the heel and the top of the blade doesn't curve in step with the bottom, creating considerable loft. It plays this way for me as well. I've encountered met many others who don't have the same experience using the blade though.

    1 hour ago, getthekidthepuck said:

    this is great info thank you very much. How long do you think i should test for before I can make up my mind?

    I would suggest just trying out a buddy's P28 stick during warmup and on a shift or two. Try that a few sessions and see if it can work for you. Incidentally, I didn't discover the flutter effect personally using a P28, but a Leino Pro, which is essentially a Kovalev Pro x P28. It has both a very similar toe curve and that shaved heel portion where it's flatter like on the P28 or P91. I just went to a corner with 4-5 pucks and tried saucering them lightly, trying to get as much feedback from the puck on the stick as possible, and then it dawned on my why my saucer passes sucked: I was launching them just as the puck started to fall off the blade because of the aggressive toe rocker. I tried feeling for releasing a little sooner and suddenly I could lob tight slow saucers at head height. I would try that routine with a borrowed P28 to see if the technique settles in or not. I'd hold off on buying until doing that "test" a couple of times.

    • Like 1

  20. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, getthekidthepuck said:

    can you sauce the puck with p28 like a p91?

    P28 is a modified P91, so yes, saucer passes are quite easy with one caveat: because the toe got shaved to make the pocket feel tighter on pick and fling wrist shots, you have to release before you reach that last 3rd of the blade. A lot of people naturally want to release the puck around that spot, where the "dual-lie" toe rocker starts which causes the puck to flutter. Otherwise, it's the same blade face and a similar heel curve on the P28. It just warps a bit into a mid curve until the toe curve starts due to the gravitational warping created by adding a toe curve to a P91.

    • Like 1

  21. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, 2nhockey said:

    Great help!

    so then the question is on radius. My hollow is currently set to 5/8. What will I gain/lose by going to an 11’ radius? I know what will happen if I change the hollow but don’t know what happens if I change the radius. 

    I like the idea of two different pairs of skates. I don’t know how switching intraday from a Supreme to a 755 or PK will go but I’m open to trying. 

    If you really like a 9' profile, 11' might feel weird. I had Vapor 8s before my first Grafs (705s) and there's no way I would go back to the Vapor boots after going Graf, but it took me a while to get used to the 11' profile. One day when I did though, it was like I had found a cheat code for skating. It just worked with my mechanics in a way I didn't know possible. A lot of people (probably used to 9' and 10') think it feels flat and sunk in, like you're skating on rails. I feel like the 11' is still nicely curved. I feel more in control on turns and accelerations, where a 9' or 10' feels like I'm a duck paddling my way through water and I feel like an penguin on an 11'. You'll probably love it or hate it.

    Because more blade is in contact with the ice, you'll dig in more if you stay with the same hollow as you use on a 9'.

  25. Posted · Report reply

    I came across this just now while I was browsing Scott Van Horne's patents, and it articulates my thoughts better than I would have:

    "The sport of in-line and ice speed skating, hockey, figure skating, cross-country skiing, and the like are all very competitive sports, at the elite level. For optimal performance these sports demand comfort and stability. A lack of comfort can result in decreased training time. A lack of stability can result in: a loss of power through excessive joint bending and increased fatigue through excessive lower leg muscle stimulation, these factors will cause a decrease in performance."

    From: High performance custom moldable footwear

    I like the idea of laces free skating for training but I am skeptical about its broad applicability for competition.

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