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No time for a full review, but I just took out my new S9 shoulder pads for a spin today and they felt great. I was never a fan of Easton shoulder pads, but the S9/S5 design stood out this year. I come from mostly playing roller, so I absolutely HATE shoulder pads. Tried them on at the store and they were very comfy. I was actually uneasy about the fact that I did not feel the shoulder caps. I hit the ice after work today, and after 5 minutes on the ice, I completely forgot I had them on. Not sure how they would hold up in a checking league, but they look well built. But obviously weight reduction and mobility comes with some compromise in durability. Nonetheless, they're the most comfortable pads I've played in.

Thanks for the support guys. And thanks to JR and the big boys for running this site in the first place. B) I learn a lot from MSH , so I'm just trying to help out where I can. :)

The R&D lurkers are gonna love this thread! :) Not many changes for my ideal skate: - Start with 1st gen. Pure Fly, add 1/2" higher cut (but NOT make it stiffer like S500). - Replace synthetic leather with Kangaroo leather. - Add tongue from 1st gen. Wicked Lites - Throw on some TUUK Custom+ 280 holders and stainless. Have more ideas for customs--but those are hush-hush :D EDIT: - Also can't forget my Yellow Superfeet insoles! - Just remembered, the higher cut is the Mission High-Fly

Or the rich pricks who park in the handicap zone and no parking zone in front of the door because they feel they are too important to walk an extra 20 yards!

Or the rich pricks who park in the handicap zone and no parking zone in front of the door because they feel they are too important to walk an extra 20 yards!

Look like Flyweights with S500 graphics. Weinrich's definitely has the Flyweight cut, and Rafalski's has a modified Flyweight cut.

Haha! My girlfriend thought the same thing: I was suiting up for a game of shinny and my girlfriend looks at me and says "Is your jock upside down?" :P

The posts about stolen jocks and new hockey moms reminded me of a VERY strange story a few years back. A fairly attractive new hockey mom came into the store requesting a fitting from head to toe for her 5 yr old. We started off with all the major gear fine... until we got to the accessories. She opted for the jock shorts for her kid, but then gives me this puzzled look and asks: "What size does my son need?" So I ask her what his waist size was, and told her that he'd likely still be in a youth size. She then makes a cupping motion with her hand and asks "What size cup does he need?" followed by "Can you cup him down there and measure him?" WTF?!?!?!? I thought! This is messed! I cannot believe she actually asked such a ridiculous question. I was stunned and did not reply, and she continued to repeat her question. I had to strain to contain my laughter. I just muttered.... "Errrr.....NO!!! They only come in one size" <_<

My three worst peeves: 1. Customers who can't control their kids 2. Customers who dont understand sharpening wait times 3. Customers who take forever to decide how to get their sticks cut. =============================== 1. About 3 months ago we had a customer come in with three kids. The boys were running around with sticks, shooting around an orange ball. I told them to stop. They did...for a while, and continued when I had to go sharpen some skates. Their little sister then started chasing them around and knocked some products off our racks. She then manage to give herself a nice gash on the forehead from running into one of the pegs where we hand our neckguards. The dad then comes up to me and bitches that the store is dangerously laid out and that pegs should not be hanging out like that. I told him they're only dangerous if you dont open your eyes and run into them trying to impale yourself. He demanded immediate first-aid for the girl, and at the same time he threatened to sue. We grudgingly treated her cut and were pissed that they messed up our products, made us waste time treating bratty kids, and also made our other customers wait as well. =========== 2. Customer: can you do my skates while I wait? Me: Yes, the lineup is about 20 minutes. Customer: 20 minutes? I cant wait that long! [Pauses, thinks, thinks some more, as I wait patiently to get back to sharpening the previous pair] Me: So, do you want your skates sharpened? Customer: My game starts in half an hour [Pauses to think some more] Me: Do you want them sharpened or not? Customer: Okay, I'm gonna go to another place. [by now we've killed a good minute or two of my time, meanwhile the nearest place to sharpen is a 5-10 minute drive, where he probalbly will also have to wait. He then walks off and browses through some of the OPS for 5 minutes before leaving the store.] ================= 3. Customer: Can you cut this stick for me? Me: Yes, where would you like it cut. [i hand them a marker] Customer: I dont know, where should I cut it? Me: It's personal preference, but anywhere between the bottom of your chin and your nose Customer: Ok, I can't figure it out without my skates on, can I go try on a pair? Me: [Reluctantly send him off to another person at the skate area] Customer: Ok I want it here. [Pauses] Oh wait, I have my old stick in my car. I'll go get it and line it up with the new one. [When he comes back the new marking is nowhere near the lenght of the old stick]. Its not a friggin science!!! If you cant' decide, go home and cut your own damn stick!

Images/Numbering of Blade Patterns for Ribeiro & Leopold 2 appear to be reversed (On page 33).

Thanks JR & Jason. I see that the bags are now in line with the whole theme of the new Salming lineup. Hope my input was of some use. =Þ Too bad National does not carry Salming anymore. I thought shafts and blades that we carried were solid.

The more I look at the Warrior curves, it looks like they pretty much did keep all the Inno curves. If they didn't add any new tooling as I suspect, then the Smyth, Robitaille, and Weight look rather familiar. Depending what angle you interpret the curves to be photographed at, and based on the shape of the blade face, I'm guessing the Robitaille might be the Hespeler Smyth/ Inno Hull. The Weight might just be the Mogilny, and the Smyth is just the old McCarty.

Yes, it is unsafe. First off, the helmet may have lost strength and integrity at the welds. Second, a rusted cage is normally a sign of poor equipment maintenance, i.e. not airing it out.

Love the Helium gloves! Here are my skates: http://www.metamorpheus.ca/LOGAN/LoganGEAR02.jpg

The black on the synergy blade is the carbon fibers showing through clear coat. I sanded 3 of the 4 sides on both the syn and xn10, and all of the true1. then clear coat.

Might as well join in on the fun. Here is my current gear. http://www.metamorpheus.ca/LOGAN/LoganGEAR01.jpg Will get pics of skates later.

I have a feeling the lie ratings are off. Hard to believe that they changed all that tooling to tweak the lies of all the popular curves.

Great work guys! I was hoping the Smyth curve would be the same as the Hespler Smyth with the Heel+Toe, but the Warrior version appears to be very different.

Most likely the result of lazy/careless "cut and paste" layout work by the graphic designer.

Adobe Acrobat Reader. www.adobe.com

Viewing note: For some reason Acrobat stretches the images. If you view at 75%, everything will appear more "true" and more legible. I like the look of the new Stealths. Its hard to tell from the scans, but you can see that the weave itself is not painted--It looks like the blue Z Bubbles. Also they now have Double concave dimensions similar to TPS--what Easton jargon calls CRT--corner reinforcement technology.