flip12

True's not a niche skate anymore. And they have significant momentum.

Well, Dave Cruikshank says D’cosi should be ready for release next year, so there looks to be some more direct competition with True on the hazy horizon. There are others here more familiar with all the latest boots, but my impression is True is cut lower so they encourage wrapping the upper cuff close to provide the stability other brands achieve by making the boots taller. But when the boots are taller the degree to which they would impinge on ankle ROM goes up too, so they pad like mad around the malleoli (protruding parts of the ankle) and then thin out, carving out a funnel of space for ankle ROM to compensate. Older boots used to crease/collapse so as to overcome the funnel, but the current demand from many players is this strange combo of committing to the wrap but not really. I think the next five to ten years could change all of that, to a greater degree than even 703, Vapor 8, one90, or SVH boots did at points over the last 30 years.

Looks like CCM P19: P92 with the curve and loft toned down a bit.

That's an interesting idea. Forgot about those. I'd still be interested in what these weightier plugs from Bauer and potentially other stick manufacturers are like, just for comprehensiveness.

On another note, is it possible to find the extension plugs with foam filling? Adding 50g of mass at the end of my HyperLite makes it play much better for me. I did it with a wood plug that worked out perfectly, but it’s opened up my curiosity about what’s out there. Edit: I have a retail 4” Vapor end plug that with a void all the way through. It weighs 22g.

If I remember it, Holmes says it was his custom pattern with Sher-Wood; Sakic says his was a weekend where they flew the big name players in and had them make their own patterns for fun, and he made that one. I could see Sakic thinking he made something they used, when in reality it came from somewhere else. Holmes would have that insider angle but looking at the legal situation surrounding his transition over to Warrior, it might be worth seasoning his statements with an appropriate amount of skepticism.

Good listen. Interesting Holmes takes credit for creating the Sakic pattern. Sakic says he made it.

More emphasis on the “weight” than the “fly” in Mission’s Drive Shaft holder. Bauer already plundered the Flyweight look with the Vapor 1X.

P28's a lie 5.5 just like the E6 it evolved from. The shaved toe makes it easier to lose pucks there.

If you go to https://grafhockey.com/downloads and click on Graf Hockey Workbook 2020/21, page 4 has a teaser on custom orders. (Google Translate converted the German...) Don't know if that's still current or a forgotten link or what, considering the date on the catalog.

Not quite. Scott Bjugstad took credit for making it. It’s basically a P92 curve with a touch of toe curve. The face is PM9 with a shaved mid-toe rocker. It’s a nice curve. I just wish its toe pocket were bigger than its heel pocket. It shoots out so much already on its heel curve that it can get in the way.

I would love a PM9 blade face with Barkov's curve. I'm tempted by the Barkov. It might be close enough to perfect for me.

How does the facing allow more forward flex and wrap?

I wonder if the flatter frontal region above the forehead has a significant impact on the score. There’s often a raised ridge there. It would be interesting to alter that on a few helmets and keep their internal padding the same and see if their Hockey STAR score goes up.

How would that work from a legal perspective?

Signaling / because they can.

You’re giving him too much credit. He doesn’t know the curves that well. Just watch his McDavid curve video for example. He’s surprised the blade shoots so well, but it’s because he can’t see it has a slight toe curve to it, which suits his mechanics better than a P92. He’s can’t even see what he’s looking at. A lot of his blade categorizations are quite off the mark. I’d still be interested if it weren’t doubtful what he’s actually got. He modifies curves away from what the original, but doesn’t always clarify the details.

Maybe they didn't even definitively work around the patent, but at least if they made an effort it could have made it a battle, which can get costly. As long as the potential cost of litigation is seen as potentially greater than the benefit of reducing competition, it can deter the conflict from becoming a case. If the defendant didn't even try to make the geometry different, there's no chance the legal black box probably contains a loss for them. If they did try, it could go either way, and the complainant could be lose and be out a lot of money for something that's not a big threat to their revenue at the end of the day.

I just interpreted him as saying they were not only working on making the boots more performant but the holders as well. He did mention Synergy's impact on sticks but I took that as him talking about the kind of pie-in-the-sky sea change scenario you put in a business plan, not to say the skates were going to fuse the holder into the boot. Not even Bauer went that far with nØD1N (even though a lot of people thought they did). From what I've seen, no. I think there's a lot of play in alignment, so speed skate blade assemblies allow for lots of adjustments. Last I saw it was metal chunks that bolt together and into the boot. MLX holders were supposed to allow for similar lateral adjustments, though from the pairs I've had, I don't really see that working. I don't think he'll give that idea up. Better to accept a slight weight penalty for optimum mechanical alignment. That's what I'd be anyway. I was hoping we might be able to get a sneak peak by looking at what Grant's wearing, but he's still in HyperLites as of St. Cloud's last game. I've never seen him wear a pair of Trues.

Like Juneau's gloves, just with laces instead of the velcro adjusted cuff? The GX 26 looked like this, just with a lace cuff and fixed cuff roll.

Which Eastons did you have? I’m fairly certain segmented fingers were universal at retail by 2001. Nike had them on their next generation Quest gloves.

The only gloves I can think of that had segmented fingers in 1999 are Mission Warp and Bauer Supreme. Ignite was just like 96% of the gloves on the market at the time. Sherwood and Itech had semi-segmented fingers, but not quite the same idea as we’re used to in today’s gloves. The first Easton guys to have segmented fingers (Kovalev, Zhitnik, and Morozov) didn’t have that mod until 2000 from what I can tell. I’ve always thought Ignite were the best looking of Nike’s gloves. Their segmentation pattern was elegant and efficient. I’d happily snag a pair if the price were right. A lot of Nike stuff is just stupidly expensive.

He’s been in Bauer and skipping the top eyelet for as long as I’ve seen and he was already modding the tongue like this with UltraSonics so it seems unlikely he’s suddenly in a boot that’s too stiff. He knows Bauer well and as one of their most prominent wearers today I’m sure they’d adjust his specs if necessary.

Silly but sadly probably true. Kaprizov’s history disproves the premise though. He skated just as powerfully, and elegantly for years in the KHL, with plenty of photo and video evidence on photo.khl.ru, GettyImages, and YouTube you can point them to (not that you want to spend your time on that necessarily). Reddit could have a bit that just posts that whenever someone asks.

Fully agree there. Makes me wonder just what kind of a dr. this guy is.